Texas Folklife: The Folklorist Next Door

Texas Folklife
  • 5.0 (4)
  • Arts
  • Updated Weekly

Folklorists explore foodways, music, ritual celebrations, and more. Several episode producers participated in Texas Folklife's Community Folklife Fellowship program where they received mentorship, training workshops, and project support. Learn more at TexasFolklife.org This project is funded in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts  Executive Producer: Jeannelle RamirezTechnical Producer: Lamont Jack Pearley

  1. 3d ago

    Flor y Palma: Symbols of La Primavera in South Tejas

    Send us Fan Mail As Spring returns to South Texas, the winds and rains help our iconic wild flowers break through the soil.  Communities are planning gatherings and activities that connect them with the world around them.  In this episode, we look at some of the ways ecological wisdom, spirituality and cultura have shaped the ways we interact with the return of the la primavera.   With reflections from community organizer, traditional healer and land steward, Helga Garza and Chicano Studies Scholar Dr. Tomás Ybarra-Frausto we gain insight on how flores de papel and tejido de palma have remained important crafts in South Texas for generations. Episode Credits: Producer – Beto DeLeon Interviews Dr. Tomas Ybarra Frausto Helga Garza Dora Alicia Gomez Lupita Dominguez Manuel Davila ______________ Series Credits Technical Producer – Lamont Jack Pearley Executive Producer – Jeannelle Ramirez Support the show Learn more at TexasFolklife.org  This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts

    20 min

  2. Jul 1

    Archiving the Ephemeral: The Art of Preserving Dance

    Send us Fan Mail This podcast explores how dance, though ephemeral, generates tangible artifacts and living histories worth preserving in San Antonio. Opening with Mona Lisa Montgomery’s poem “Bertita’s Legacy” honoring Berta Almaguer, Montgomery shares her efforts to research Almaguer through interviews, limited archival traces, and rare community-held recordings. These artifacts like shoes, costumes, instruments, studios, and recordings function as mementos of what communities value. Southside dance studio owner, Sarita Zúñiga emphasizes storytelling, cultural pride, and innovative work that blends genres, while costumes become cherished, reused links to memory and craft.  Contemporary artist Catherine “Cat” Cisneros discusses scarce documentation, sacred dance spaces, and preserving artifacts such as Vladimir Marek’s salvaged wooden floor. Closing with Gio Bazaldua’s activism-centered “PanzaFusion” and dragtivism, the podcast concludes with two goals: the importance of interviewing elders in the dance community and documenting artifacts to counter cultural reduction and ensure dance legacies endure. Episode Credits Producer - Amber Ortega  "I would like to dedicate this podcast to Dora Ruffner" _______ Series Credits Technical Producer - Lamont Jack Pearley Executive Producer - Jeannelle Ramirez Support the show Learn more at TexasFolklife.org  This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts

    21 min

  3. Jun 24

    Our Transnational Plant Lives

    Send us Fan Mail Through the stories of community members from Houston’s East End, this episode explores how culture bearers have sustained relationships with the land through transnational plant-ways, affirming their identities, in the face of colonization, migration, and neighborhood changes over time. Throughout, Alba Donajhi bears witness and synthesizes her own plant life in her accidental homeland. Episode Credits: Alba Donajhi Sereno – Executive Producer, Writer, Sound Designer  Mincho Jacob  – Field Producer Wisdom Keepers:  Olivia Moreno  Laura Veles Drey Armando Álvarez Music:  Fragile by Spoq - Tribe of Noise bronze license ___________________ The Folklorist Next Door Series Credits: Technical Producer - Lamont Jack Pearley  Executive Producer - Jeannelle Ramirez Support the show Learn more at TexasFolklife.org  This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts

    34 min
  4. The Sound of Community: Puerto Rican Plena in Texas

    Jun 17

    The Sound of Community: Puerto Rican Plena in Texas

    Send us Fan Mail Born in the working-class neighborhoods of Ponce, Puerto Rico, over a century ago, plena is a genre of music that continues to travel wherever Puerto Ricans gather and build community. Communal in nature, it is played at social gatherings of all sorts – celebrations, funerals, protests, and open jam sessions called “plenazos.” In this episode, we will identify the characteristics of plena as defined by practitioners in the Houston, DFW, San Antonio, and Austin areas, and explore how it has been connecting Puerto Rican communities across Texas. ____________________________________ Episode Producer: Adam Rosario Narrator/Interviewer: Adam Rosario Interviewees: Héctor Matos Miranda, Danny Rodríguez, Enqrique Quiñones Arocho, Joaquín Hernández, Leonard Vázquez Music: Opening sequence and instrument demo percussion and cuatro puertorriqueño: Adam Rosario Closing sequence (Tamborfest ATX 2026 live recording) “Bailala” by Rafael Concepción Collazo ________________________________________________ Credits for The Folklorist Next Door Series Technical Producer: Lamont Jack Pearley  Executive Producer: Jeannelle Ramirez Support the show Learn more at TexasFolklife.org  This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts

    26 min
  5. [Special Series] Stewed and Chopped - Gulf Caught: Shrimping in the RGV

    09/13/2024 ·  Bonus

    [Special Series] Stewed and Chopped - Gulf Caught: Shrimping in the RGV

    Send us Fan Mail Shrimpers in Port Isabel discuss the historical and cultural influence of the shrimping industry in the Rio Grande Valley.  Produced by Jeannelle Ramirez with reporting by Kevin Parme.  Support the show Learn more at TexasFolklife.org  This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts

    37 min
  6. [Special Series] Stewed and Chopped - Rooted: Food Cycles

    09/06/2024 ·  Bonus

    [Special Series] Stewed and Chopped - Rooted: Food Cycles

    Send us Fan Mail Food scholar Erica Cavanagh discusses the importance of understanding where our food comes from.  Produced by Imgard Khosravi.  Support the show Learn more at TexasFolklife.org  This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts

    42 min
  7. [Special Series] Stewed and Chopped - Food on the Border

    08/30/2024 ·  Bonus

    [Special Series] Stewed and Chopped - Food on the Border

    Send us Fan Mail Stewed & Chopped is a limited series produced by Texas Folklife, exploring foodways in Texas.  In this episode, food scholar Meredith Abarca (UTEP professor and producer of El Paso Food Voices) and taco expert Mando Rayo (Tacos of Texas podcast) discuss the foodways of the Texas-Mexico border, the influence of matriarchs, and shifting cultural values.  Produced by J.A. Strub.  This episode is supported in part by Humanities Texas. Support the show Learn more at TexasFolklife.org  This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts

    29 min

  8. 08/09/2024

    Recuérdame: Roadside Descansos in East Texas

    Send us Fan Mail Join Community Folklife Fellow Blanca Jenkins as she takes you on a journey from Mexico to East Texas while exploring the historic and religious background, purpose, and use of crosses as focal points for roadside memorials.  Mrs. Jenkins’ journey will also explore the changes over time to this tradition that is visible all around Texas and the role of faith to overcome grief and make sense of the loss of a loved one. Support the show Learn more at TexasFolklife.org  This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts

    21 min
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Folklorists explore foodways, music, ritual celebrations, and more. Several episode producers participated in Texas Folklife's Community Folklife Fellowship program where they received mentorship, training workshops, and project support. Learn more at TexasFolklife.org This project is funded in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts  Executive Producer: Jeannelle RamirezTechnical Producer: Lamont Jack Pearley

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