A Mexican American musician who helped bring Tejano-style music to Michigan is being celebrated with the state’s first historic marker honoring the state’s Mexican community.
In the 1950s, Martin Huron Solis Jr. and his cousin Willy Huron formed the group Conjunto Los Primos (“The Cousins”), one of the first groups in the Midwest to play the Texas style known for combining the bajo sexto, a Mexican twelve-string guitar, and the accordion. Despite never releasing any recordings, the group became a favorite in Southwest Detroit’s Latino community and was eventually inducted into the Tejano R.O.O.T.S. Hall of Fame in 2018.
Solis died a year later, at the age of 90, but not before a collection of homemade reel-to-reel recordings of his music were discovered in his attic and passed on to fellow son of Southwest Detroit Jack White’s Third Man Records, which released it on vinyl for the first time ever in 2020.
Now, Solis’s legacy will be honored by a historical marker to be unveiled at the Mexicantown Community Development Corporation Plaza on the northeast corner of Bagley and 21st Streets during National Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15.
“My dad never dreamed that one day his name would be on a historical marker. He just loved to play music,” said Frank Solis, president and co-founder of the Martin H. Solis Jr. Tejano Association, in a statement. “It’s truly an honor for the state of Michigan to recognize and celebrate his legacy and the legacy of all of Michigan’s Tejano pioneers with this marker.”
“Music draws us together across time, cultures, and geography,” Sandra Clark, director of the Michigan History Center, said in a statement. “It is fitting that the first Michigan Historical Marker to commemorate the Latinx community of Detroit and Michigan should focus on Tejano contributions to the soundscape of Detroit. The Michigan Historical Commission and the Michigan History Center know there are many more stories that need to be told, and we look forward to sharing them in the years to come.”
A dedication ceremony is planned for 2 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 29 at 2826 Bagley Street, following live music from 1-2 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
Born in San Antonio, Texas, in 1929 as the oldest of 12 children, Solis came to Detroit when his family moved in the 1940s as migrant farmers as part of a wave of migration to the state.
The Martin H. Solis Jr. Association is a nonprofit dedicated to preserving the legacy of the Tejano music pioneers in Michigan.
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