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The Frontera Collection
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Frontera Collection En Vivo features music from all regions and artists who have gone unnoticed, shining a light on their contributions both musically and culturally. Tune in to the show on YouTube, and check this page to find playlists, selected images, recording dates, and resource links.

      Next Show / Promixo Programa

8/31/2023: Las / Los Dos

RECENT ¡EN VIVO! SHOWS

6/22/2023: Latin Soul

3/23/2023: Artist Spotlight and Interview: Santiago Jiménez Jr.

2/23/2023: Canciones de Dave Bartholomew y Fats Domino

12/22/2022: Canciones Navideñas

9/29/2022: Rumbo a California Spotlight: Pedro J. González

8/18/2022: Artist Spotlight: Oscar Martinez “El Gallo Copeton”

7/28/2022: Ideal Boleros – The Lost Album

6/30/2022: Trenes – Trains

5/26/2022: Family Submissions

4/28/2022: ¡Canciones De Guerra!

3/31/2022: ¡Viva La Mujer!

1/27/2022: Animales

  11/25/2021: ¡Felices fiestas!

10/14/2021: Canciones Bilingües

8/05/2021: Falcon Records

7/15/2021: Tributos

6/17/2021: Cities – Ciudades

5/27/2021: Composiciones de José Alfredo Jiménez

5/06/2021: Estilo Rockola!

4/15/2021: Pedro Infante Cruz

3/25/2021: Songs About Nature

3/04/2021: Artist Spotlight: Dueto Azteca

2/18/2021: Popurri De Discos De Pasta!

2/04/2021: Label Spotlight: Capri Records

            1/21/2021: Acompañamiento De Los Alegres De Teran

     1/07/2121: All Request Show!

12/17/2020: #60YearsOfArhoolie – Segunda Parte

    12/03/2020: #60YearsOfArhoolie – Primera Parte

 11/19/2020: Label Spotlight: Azteca Records

11/5/2020: Label Spotlight: Small Texas Labels

10/15/20:  Duetos Femeninos

10/1/20: Introduction to the Frontera Collection

6/7/2020: Last of the Shelter in Place DJ Sets

5/24/20: Frontera En Vivo! A fine of mix genres with a focus on 78rpm Platters!

5/5/20: 5 De Mayo! Today we take time to honor and reflect on the Batalla De Puebla with Music!

4/16/20: Cuarentena Mix – First sheltered-in-place DJ set!

ABOUT THIS SHOW

Hosted by Juan Antonio Cuellar, this bilingual two-hour show will feature music from the collection on all formats including 78rpm, 33rpm, 45rpm, and digitized files. Some episodes will highlight a genre or a theme, others will bring in guests for expert commentary. Some episodes will feature a historical background on the artists, composers, and more.

ABOUT JUAN ANTONIO

Juan Antonio Cuellar is the Lead Digitizing Engineer for The Strachwitz Frontera Collection, the largest collection of Mexican and Mexican American recordings in the world. Since 2002 he has personally listened to and digitized over 130,000 songs.

Born in Los Caños, Aguascalientes, Juan Antonio immigrated along with his family to Northern California to start a new life. A musician since childhood and avid record collector, he played the trumpet and the valve trombone. From 2002-2015 he played and toured with San Francisco bilingual punk band La Plebe, called “one of the Bay Area’s most exciting independent bands” by El Tecolote1 and voted “Best Poder to the People” by the San Francisco Bay Guardian.

Juan Antonio is in the final stages of digitizing the collection. After 18 years of absorbing the vast historical and cultural knowledge contained in this one-of-a-kind archive, he is excited to share his expertise and passion and spotlight artists and songs that have laid dormant.

Dear friends, 

We’re thrilled to announce that the Arhoolie Foundation and Les Blank Films are joining together to purchase our longtime home at 10341 San Pablo Avenue in El Cerrito. 

The decision to buy the building comes after several months of thoughtful consideration and a strong response from our community. It has become clear to us that continuing our work in the place where Chris Strachwitz originally conceived it is the best way forward for the organization. Staying in our longtime home preserves an important part of Arhoolie’s cultural legacy, prevents the disruption that moving would cause, and—most importantly—opens up possibilities for closer collaboration with Les Blank Films, Down Home Music, and our local East Bay community.

Now comes the hard part. While we are under contract to buy the building, we need to raise $2.4 million to meet the purchase price by April 15. Here are two ways you can donate to our cause:

  • The GoFundMe page for the capital campaign
    (donations to this fund are shared by all three of the tenants).

  • Direct tax-deductible donations/securities to either of the two non-profits who are buying the building:
    Contact Harrod Blank at Les Blank Films https://lesblank.com/contact/;
    or Adam Machado at Arhoolie Foundation, adam@arhoolie.org.

As we begin this capital campaign, we will continue our normal operations in the building while forging a closer institutional bond with Les Blank Films and taking modest, collaborative steps to bring more public programming into Down Home Music. We plan to revive Les Blank and Chris’ tradition of in-store film screenings and will host more informal, free performances and gatherings in the store as part of our outreach work. We believe this collaboration will result in a vibrant community gathering place dedicated to music, film, and deep roots culture. 

We’re grateful for your support. We look forward to updating you on our progress in the coming weeks and months.