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How does Conjunto Sound Today?

ITC sits down with a 40-year veteran of the Texas music scene. Shelly Lares, a.k.a. “Little Miss Dynamite,” began performing professionally at age 10 with Orquesta Hot Talames. At 17, she began touring, launching a 40-year career that took her around the world and included more than 25 albums. Now retired from the stage, Lares is the first Artist-in-Residence at UT San Antonio, where she mentors students, produces music and teaches the traditions that connect conjunto, orquesta and progressive Tejano

Texas Treasures

Every artifact displayed in a museum represents trust and confidence. These items are more than historical objects; they are vessels of memory, identity and lived experience. When individuals choose to share their family treasures with a museum, they entrust the institution with preserving the artifact and the stories it represents.

Beyond the Music

Generations of San Antonians have handed down a story about a man at a pachanga who amazed guests with his dancing. Ladies lined up to be his partner for the next number, but everything changed when one party guest looked down and saw this mysterious dancer’s bird-like legs.

Strings of Tradition: Exploring Conjunto’s Fiddle

Join the experts from the Texas Conjunto Music Hall of Fame and Museum for a lively conversation at the UT San Antonio Institute of Texan Cultures about the history, culture and evolution of conjunto music. Along the way, you'll discover how generations of musicians have experimented with new sounds, highlighting the fiddle's role in a deeply rooted Texas tradition.

"Puro Conjunto" Opening Reception

Friends of the UT San Antonio Institute of Texan Cultures gathered at the museum the evening of June 10 to inaugurate the new exhibit, "Puro Conjunto: Border(less) Sound." Through treasured artifacts, family memories, and stories from the intersection of indigenous, Spanish, Mexican, German and Eastern European traditions, "Puro Conjunto" celebrates the soundtrack of South Texas. The institute will also have a schedule of programs to complement the exhibit's year-long run, closing May 30, 2027.

Puro Conjunto: Border(less) Sound

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Conjunto music is one of Texas’ most powerful cultural expressions—born from migration, working‑class life, and creative exchange. Shaped by German and Eastern European dance music and transformed by Tejano communities drawing on Indigenous, Spanish, and Mexican traditions, conjunto emerged as a sound that is unmistakably Texan. This exhibition traces conjunto’s layered musical heritage and celebrates San Antonio and South Texas as its heart—where neighborhood clubs, family record labels, school programs, festivals, and backyard gatherings have sustained the tradition while continually reimagining it for new generations.
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