NOW AVAILABLE ON DVD WITH AN ADDITIONAL FULL HOUR OF MUSICAL PERFORMANCE FOOTAGE

“Galán profiles this infectious, often heartbreakingly beautiful music with great style and panache in this beautifully shot documentary…”
-Austin Chronicle

“One of the most important documentaries ever produced on the history of Tejano Music… a compelling thought provoking piece not to be missed.”
–San Antonio Express News

“You couldn’t ask for a more comprehensive- or more accessible- introduction to Tejano music than Songs of the Homeland.”
–Texas Monthly

“One of the strengths of Songs of the Homeland is its multigenerational reach and the way it shows how the cultural sea changes were reflected in the music.”
–City Paper, Baltimore

A special collector’s edition DVD of the Hector Galán music documentary classic, Songs of the Homeland, narrated by the Grammy Award winning Freddy Fender, and featuring such musical greats as Lydia Mendoza, Tony De La Rosa, Valerio Longoria, La Tropa F, and Mingo Saldivar, is now available for purchase on our on-line catalogue. This “must have” collector’s edition DVD of the critically acclaimed Songs of the Homeland has one full hour of exclusive bonus music performance footage featuring a selection of music performances by some of the greatest musical artists of the conjunto, orquesta, and Tejano music genres. Soon to follow will be the DVD release of the award-winning companion music documentary on the button accordion and its journey through conjunto and Tejano music, Accordion Dreams also with bonus tracks. DVD Release Date: Sept. 15, 2005.

Now available on our Catalog Website

Mingo Saldivar takes center stage in this electrifying music performance documentary that will surely make you want to dance. Produced and Directed by Hector Galán, I Love My Freedom, I Love My Texas captures the passionate spirit of one of conjunto’s most admired and popular accordion masters who is considered a National Treasure. Mingo Saldivar was honored by the National Endowment of the Arts with the highest honor- the National Heritage Fellowship for lifetime achievement in American music traditions. Mingo Saldivar and his band, los Cuatro Espadas (the Four of Spades) take us into their world and behind the scenes as they travel the highways and backroads of Texas in their RV. We go with Mingo all over- from honky tonks to Texas size dance halls.
Mingo Saldivar is known as “The Dancing Cowboy” for his unique stylized dancing moves as he pours his heart and soul into his exciting accordion style while performing. He has taken his accordion-driven conjunto all over the world. His artistic reputation has spread outside of Texas and the Southwest through performances throughout the country and in Europe, including at venues like Carnegie Hall, presidential inaugerations, at universities, and on a special tour of Africa and the Middle East sponsored by the U.S. Information Agency. He has performed extensively in northern Mexico where his fans have developed a dance in his honor, called Mingo Mania. Texas born and Texas bred, Mingo Saldivar, in a career spanning five decades, pays tribute in “I Love My Freedom, I Love My Texas”, to the very land from which conjunto music was born.

“Like conjunto music, “Accordion Dreams” will definitely move you.”
–Ramon Renteria, El Paso Times

“…an exciting look at the new generation of players.”
–Agustin Gurza, Los Angeles Times

“…both a Tejano cultural history and a heartfelt love ballad to the most maligned of instruments…”
–Marrit Ingman, The Austin Chronicle
Narrated by Tish Hinojosa
Accordion Dreams, the much anticipated follow up music documentary to Hector Galán’s classic Songs of the Homeland. Accordion Dreams had its premiere broadcast on national PBS in August 2001.

Accordion Dreams was nominated for a 2002 American Latino Media Arts (ALMA) Award in the documentary film category.
Accordion Dreams was screened throughout the country including at SXSW in Austin, Texas, CineFestival of San Antonio, ,the Los Angeles Latino Film Festival, and the Dallas Video Festival. A special screening was held at the historic La Villita DanceHall in San Benito, Texas and at the Great Plains Film Festival in Lincoln, Nebraska. Accordion Dreams was honored as the “best film to explicate the Latino/ethnic heritage of the Great Plains Region” with the prestigious “Rainbow Award”.

Accordion Dreams was also selected by the American Film Institute as a program participant in the 2001 Enhanced Television Workshop, where it is being developed as a prototype in the use of new technologies for the development of interactive, digital TV.

Please visit the PBS Accordion Dreams Website for more information.

Accordion Dreams is available for purchase on our on-line catalog. Galán Inc. also has a selection of conjunto and Tejano music cds from specially selected accordion artists, including an Accordion Dreams Companion CD.

HECTOR GALÁN’S CLASSIC DOCUMENTARY ON THE ORIGINAL COWBOY- THE VAQUERO- now on DVD!

NARRATED BY HENRY DARROW

The screen is filled with visual pleasures, particularly the faces of Samuel Torres, Chanate and Wanche Alarcon, which are as dramatically contoured and weather beaten as the land that has sustained their livelihood. Galán’s intent in the story was to focus on more than just the bond between vaqueros and their ranching skills. “The land has its own beauty,” he said. “I wanted to make a portrait of the people, the work they do and the land, and the interaction of the three.”
-San Antonio Express News

The cowboy has been American’s mythical hero in countless books, television shows and films, a universally recognized symbol of America. Yet few people realize that the first cowboys in America were the Mexican American Vaqueros. They are the unsung heroes of the American West. “Vaquero” literally translated means “cowboy” in the Spanish language. These Mexican-American cowboys began their trade almost 400 years ago, shortly after the conquistadores from Spain brought horses to North America. Today, there are only a handful of these descendants of America’s first cowboys since a rapidly changing industry is quickly making this lifestyle obsolete. Shot on location in South Texas and narrated by Henry Darrow, the actor who portrayed “Manolito” from the “High Chaparral” Television Series, this documentary pays homage to a breed of men that history has overlooked as they practice a dying trade from an era gone by. Vaquero: The Forgotten Cowboy is told through the stories of these few remaining vaqueros. In the hard but beautiful environment of South Texas fifty-six miles from the Mexican border, the cattle industry is still important. Here, where the American cattle industry began, the old vaqueros faces attest to years of hard work in an unrelenting climate. In the film, vaquero Chanate Gutierrez (pictured above) says:

“All my life I’ve been on ranches, horseback all day…until ten or eleven at night sometimes…all month working, only on the last day we’d go to town to have fun…28,30 days in the brush, that’s what I miss. It’s very different now…you come back to town every night. Everything’s different.”

Although there is a sadness about the uncertain future of the vaquero, those portrayed in this film show no bitterness of resentment. In keeping with their tradition, a sense of dignity and pride prevails. “The documentary pays homage not only to the vaqueros of today, but also to the vaqueros who came before them, those who never received their due recognition,” says producer Hector Galán.

This special collector’s DVD of this now classic Hector Galán documentary (1988) has both the English and Spanish Versions of Vaquero and a bonus track of La Mujer en el Rancho, a documentary short that examines the role of women in the ranching culture of South Texas from 1750 to the present, exploring the sources of these roles in Mexican and Spanish cultures. Check out our on-line catalog for more info.

’Her songs are richly detailed slices of life…(Tish) Hinojosa’s is a strong, poetic, sensual, and conscious voice’
- Spin Magazine

This special release music documentary DVD produced by Galán, Inc. features the story of the critically-acclaimed singer/songwriter Tish Hinojosa, a musical artist who continues to cross borders with her unique music, a reflection of her bicultural Texas roots. Tish Hinojosa: My Heart, My Life is like a road trip with Tish in the driver’s seat, taking you through her music, through her life. This collector’s dvd includes an intimate personal interview with Tish, rare archival footage and photos from Tish’s personal collection as well as performance footage.
“Working with Tish on this project was a wonderful experience. I had worked with Tish before when she narrated the music documentary Accordion Dreams. She is truly one of our great singer/songwriters,” says Hector Galán.
Bonus tracks include complete Tish performances and music videos, including two songs from her newest 2005 CD release, A Heart Wide Open. For more on Tish and the DVD release, go to: www.mundotish.com
Release: TBA