Estevan Azcona
Estevan Azcona has been active in the world of Chicano/Latino arts and culture for over twenty years as a scholar, arts presenter, and musician. Azcona is Assistant Research Social Scientist at the University of Arizona's Southwest Center and Assistant Professor of Mexican American Studies. He studied Ethnomusicology and Mexican American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin where he received his doctoral degree. He has taught ethnomusicology and Chicano/Latino music, history, and culture at University of Texas at Austin, Indiana University, DePauw University, University of Houston, and San José State University prior to his appointment at University of Arizona.
Azcona's research and teaching interests lie at the intersections of Chicano/Latino music history and folklore, Latin American ethnomusicology, and borderlands anthropology and history. He is particularly interested in how ethnic Mexican music-making represents processes of cultural and political change and exchange. Utilizing ethnographic and archival methodologies, his work has documented cultural histories of Chicana/o music-making and cross-border practices of Mexican regional music traditions in the U.S. He is also co-producer of the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings release, Rolas de Aztlán: Songs of the Chicano Movement.
Azcona served as a performance and arts curator in Houston, Texas for numerous Latina/o arts projects and organizations and served nationally as curator, consultant, and panelist for local and national arts service organizations, including National Performance Network (NPN) and the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture (NALAC). He is a former director of the University of Texas mariachi ensemble and a founding member of Austin-based Chicano/Mexican son group, Mitote.
Degree(s)
- Ph.D. Ethnomusicology; The University of Texas at Austin
- M.Mus. Ethnomusicology; The University of Texas at Austin
- B.A. Music; UC Santa Barbara