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Rumbo
al' Anacua Rosa y Joe Pérez Olmito, Texas Natives
of Premont, Texas, graduates of Texas A&I University in Kingsville, Joe and Rosa currently reside in Olmito on the outskirts
of Brownsville. They have lived in the Rio Grande Valley since 1980, relocating from Austin to accept teaching jobs in the
border area, first in McAllen and then in Brownsville. Self-taught musicians,
Joe and Rosa perform as a vocal and guitar duet they have named Rumbo al’ Anacua. In a rustic
style that speaks of a “voces y guitarras” heritage as it has been preserved among people living north
of the Rio Grande, the spirit of Rumbo al’ Anacua keeps the tradition of music performed in livingrooms
and backyards throughout South Texas. Playing 6-string and 12-string guitars, the duet performs old
música ranchera as well as original folkmusic, ballads and poetry. They like
to say, “Music is too much fun to leave to the professionals.”
Rosa and Joe are two of the founding members of the Narciso Martínez Writers’ Forum in San Benito,
a venue for Valley writers to express their bi-lingual/bi-cultural literary interpretations of the region. They
also produced and hosted North of the Border, a radio program of Mexican roots music that previously aired on the NPR
affiliate KMBH FM 88. Joe is a former
Drafting and English teacher and Rosa taught English and Mexican-American Studies at Hanna High School in Brownsville from
1984 until her retirement in 2001. She is a former Board Member of the Narciso Martínez Cultural Arts Center, and both
have been volunteers at the NMCAC in San Benito and at the Casa de Cultura Carlotta Petrina in Brownsville.
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