HispanicBusiness

The Narciso Martinez Cultural Arts Center in Harlingen today opens its 2013 season with a duo whose songs tell the stories of the Texas-Mexico border.

Rumbo al'Anacua, made up of Rosa Canales Perez and Joe Perez, will take the stage with their blend of ranchera music spiced with folk and blues at 7 p.m.

The arts center, 225 E. Stenger St., presents the legendary Ramiro Cavazos on Feb. 14.

"We're trying to bring the best in terms of border music and I think they represent that," arts center founder Rogelio Nunez said, adding that the music of Rosa Canales Perez and Joe Perez is rooted in the border's rich cultural heritage.

As retired schoolteachers, the husband-and-wife team is "committed to the idea that cultural diversity is precious and

must be preserved through education and the arts," Nunez said in a press release.

"From its repertory,

the duo performs old musica ranchera along with original compositions of blues and folk music," according the press release said. "As self-taught musicians, the interpretation of musica ranchera by Rumbo al'Anacua evokes a

rustic style that speaks of a 'voces y guitarras' heritage as it has been preserved among people living north of the Rio Grande."

Cavazos takes the stage Feb. 14 as one of the last living musicians who pioneered conjunto music, Nunez said.

For more than 50 years, Cavazos played with the late Mario Montes in the duo Los Donneos.

The famed duet fused the music of its native Nuevo Leon into part of conjunto music's legacy, one of the few groups that's shared the spotlight on both sides of the Mexican border, Nunez said.

Cavazos, with his trademark bajo sexto, has teamed up with grandson Alan Cavazos, whose accordion squeezes sounds steeped in the history of the Texas-Mexico border.