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The History of the Bajo
The history of the Bajo instrument was first brought to Mexico by the Spaniards. It evolved from the 12-string guitar, emerging sometime late in the 19th century as native to the bajo region of Jalisco, Mexico.
In the early development of conjunto music, the Bajo was used mainly as a bass instrument in conjunction with the bass chord elements of the accordion. But later, with the addition of bass and drums in modern conjunto groups, the Bajo players were free to expand on its primary use as a rhythm instrument and played as a solo, melody-line instrument. The first to do so was Santiago Almeida who played with the pioneer accordionist Narcisco Martinez in the early 1900s.
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