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Sunday, August 27, 2000

Museum honors legends of Tejano
Alice's hall of fame displays artifacts, mementoes of regional music groups
By Darren Barbee
Caller-Times

David Adame/Caller-Times

Irene Lichtenberger, niece of La Mafia band member Mando Lichtenberger, holds her dog Roxy as a video about the Tejano band plays in Alice.

ALICE - Their music still plays, and they will not be forgotten.
   Tejano music thumped, tickled and quickstepped through the open streets of Alice on Saturday, as residents and musicians celebrated the opening of the Tejano Music Hall of Fame Museum.
   The museum's small, unassuming building at the corner of Third and Wright Streets is filled with many memories, inspirations and scars and serves as a reminder of a rich heritage.
   In one corner of the museum is a bright orange jumpsuit, a flamboyant product of 1970s fashion, worn by Armando Hinojosa Jr., the keyboardist for Los Fabulosos Cuatro.

Tejano Hall of Fame
Address: 213 N. Wright St., Alice
Times: 11 a.m.-6 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday
Admission: Adults, $3; Children 12 and younger, free
Phone: 661-1111
On the Internet: www.tejanoroots.net

   Displayed behind a glass case is the garish, multicolored accordion that went with La Mafia on their 1986 tour.
   And below the Beto Villa shrine, among descriptions of the Father of Orquesta Tejana in the 1930s and beyond, there is a sign to mark the bitter past: "We serve whites only. No Spanish or Mexicans."
   The artifacts and keepsakes have come out of the closets and dusty storage rooms to celebrate the musical genre and its pioneers, said Javier Villanueva, CEO of Tejano Roots, the nonprofit group that created the museum.
   Villanueva said Alice is the perfect place for the museum, since it is where Ideal Records, the first exclusively Tejano music company, was born in 1946.
   Hinojosa said a lot has changed since Los Fabulosos Cuatro began touring in 1963. In the early '60s, finding airtime on the radio for Tejano music was a rarity. Instead, the music was played in free concerts for migrant workers in California.
   "This is great, because people can come in here and see all this: pictures, uniforms, trophies," Hinojosa said.
   The museum owes part of its origins to Juan Sifuentes Jr., whose father, Tejano musician Juan Sifuentes, died in 1983. The musician was inducted into the Tejano Music Hall of Fame in 1993, and received a plaque for his induction.
   "I told my wife, 'There should be a place to display this,' " Sifuentes Jr. said. "My father belonged to the people."
   Now, there's a table devoted to Sifuentes and 13 other legends of Tejano Music.
   Robert Mendez came from his Orange Grove home on Saturday to visit the museum and remember those legends. Mendez said he found the museum interesting, but a little small.
   "They need a bigger building," Mendez said. "There's a lot more to say."

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