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Thousands of musicians converge to play shows, network, talk about music and the industry, and discover new music at South by Southwest Music in Austin, Texas. In 2016 and 2017, KJZZ's Sarah Ventre followed bands from Arizona and kept an ear out for great new music from around the Southwest.

SXSW backstage: A conversation with Tucson band XIXA

XIXA SXSW
Daniel Martin Diaz
Tucson band XIXA

KJZZ’s Sarah Ventre is in Austin at the South by Southwest music festival and has been following bands from Arizona who are performing there.

Thursday she caught up with two members of the Tucson band XIXA — Brian Lopez and Gabriel Sullivan. They are both veteran musicians and have played with well-known acts including Giant Sand.

She met them at their hotel to talk about their unique hybrid style of music, sometimes referred to as southwestern psych rock with a cumbia influence. They also discussed sharing a stage at the festival with Bombino, a guitarist from the West African country Niger, whose music is often referred to as desert rock.

Sarah Ventre was a producer for KJZZ's The Show from 2014 to 2018.