Monica Saldivar won Female Vocalist and New Female Artist at the third annual Guadalupe Awards on November 20, 2021, in Houston, Texas. | Courtesy photo
Guadalupe Productions is proud to present its inaugural Conjunto Awards on Saturday, June 25th, 2022, at La Lomita Park, in McAllen Texas, and the fourth annual Guadalupe Awards is set for Saturday, November 19, 2022, in San Antonio, Texas, at Far West Event Center.
The kickoff party is on November 18, 2022. The Guadalupe Awards have recognized the best in Tejano and Conjunto each year since 2019 including outstanding performers, songs, productions, and more in 35 categories. The event was created by veteran Tejano events promoter and a disc jockey of 35 years, Andrew Belmarez (aka Kumba Champs), and is dedicated to the life and heritage of his late mother Guadalupe M.
Belmarez has always loved the music genre and was always willing to help and support veteran bands and new upcoming artists. He promoted and booked many bands in the past and started to take notice that many of the new, hard-working, exceptional talent artists were not receiving the proper recognition.
Belmarez commented, “People that were always recognized were from the usual big bands, I wanted to do something to help the new artists that had a lot of talent, so people could hear and acknowledge their hard work.”
RELATED: Joe Lopez, Lazaro Perez, Monica Saldivar, and Los Chamacos top 3rd annual Guadalupe Awards
This year’s awards will also be geared to highlight more women in both Conjunto and Tejano genres.
“It’s true, women in this industry don’t get that much recognition but I’ve seen so many talented women in Tejano and Conjunto music and I’m excited because this year it will be in my hometown,” said Mary Ellen Botello, Guadalupe Productions Administrator, booking manager for Tejano Highway 281, and a member of Serrata Nation. “Rick Garcia will be our commentator, who did an amazing job at the Third Annual Guadalupe Awards.”
This year’s Lifetime Achievement Awards will be awarded to Pepe Maldonado, Bobby Salinas, and Gilberto Garcia from the Los 2Gs. Chris Rodriguez, founder and keyboardist of Tejano Highway 281.
Tejano Powerhouse Entertainment will be this year’s Musical Director for both award shows. Bands scheduled to perform include Los Dos Gilbertos, Cindy Ramos, Andie Bustamante, Ramon Lucio y Dominante, and Riley y Los Gilitos.
Guadalupe Productions are blessed to have accredited personnel, such as Mary Jane Segura, a Tejano Roots Hall of Fame inductee, a ’90s radio station DJ KYST/Super Tejano 108, and is now running Redhead Creative Services, which was launched during Covid in 2020, to help artists in this industry obtain and learn about the processes involved such as music registration in ASCAP/BMI (songwriter/publisher), cover song licenses, copyright, digital platforms, and more. Esther Serrata, who founded Serrata Nation, in honor of her late brother, Jessy Serrata, aka “Mr. Iron Throat,” is also a member of Guadalupe Productions.
Guadalupe Productions invites every Conjunto and Tejano artist to submit their bios to guadalupeproductionsaward@gmail.com for nomination consideration for the 1st Annual Guadalupe Productions Conjunto Awards. Submissions are accepted through April 9, 2022. This is an open invitation to all Conjunto and Tejano artists, to recognize all contributions and outstanding work.
Follow Tejano Nation on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with everything Tejano. Listen to new Tejano music first with our playlists on Spotify and podcast on iHeartRadio.