The crowds in Austin are vibing to the music for another day of South By Southwest.
Fans are getting the chance to explore some of their favorites while also discovering new artists and diving into podcasts.
A San Antonio area band, Combo Cosmico, was invited to Austin to take part in SXSW to share their spin on cumbia.
“Combo Cosmico is a good mix of traditional cumbias that we were all raised up listening to in our region here in San Antonio and even farther south, different border towns that we’re from. But we put our spin on it with, some psychedelic sounds with the Moog and the keyboards,” Felipe Iruegas, a bass player with the band said.
“For us, it’s important that, a place like, and a platform like South by Southwest is seeing that there’s a….Latin culture is going to represent,” drummer Joquin Muerte said. “One of the things that I love about there being a representation of San Antonio at South by Southwest is that, San Antonio is like an art incubator. There is so much good music here. There was so much good art here. There was so much good talent,” he said. “And finally, for a group of us to go from here to Austin and be in the South by Southwest as official performers is like, it’s one of those, where being given the flowers that we, we’ve been planting ourselves.”
“I feel like Combo Cosmico is one of the first bands to do something really unique, really interesting. And I think that that’s the reason why, so many people are reaching out,” Arturo Barz, a percussionist with Combo Cosmico said.
It’s not just the music drawing out huge crowds, the chance to hear from successful podcasters also brings out lots of people in Austin.
Big crowd here for the Unwell House activation @sxsw. Alex Cooper, of @callherdaddy, says this is her first real SXSW. *language warning* @ksatnews pic.twitter.com/a4i7nBLLb8
— Leigh Waldman (@LeighWaldman) March 11, 2024
”I can’t thank you all enough for being here. It’s a beautiful day to sit outside and to listen to some beautiful humans,” Call Her Daddy podcast host Alex Cooper said at her Unwell House activation.
”So far my podcast has really been audio only, so I’m really looking to elevate to a visual aspect of my story telling,” Austinite Ashley Woodcock said about her podcast.
”So cool and inspiring to see like I’ve been following her since I was in college and to see her grow to this level, selling herself to Spotify it’s inspiring,” first time attendee Jane Santiago said.
If you want to take part in the fun, there’s a free music festival happening this weekend, with The Spurs.
”We are trying to generate revenue, $100,000 to go back to the community to play ATX. So as fans come, there will be photo ops, games, prizes, free swag. It’ll be so much fun, but we’re also going to be giving back to the community. And there may or may not be a special appearance there,” Veronica Oviedo, associate director of marketing for The Spurs said.
All of the info you need for a successful SXSW can be found in KSAT 12′s user guide.