Rita Vidaurri, actress, musician and businesswoman. Rita was born in San Antonio in a neighborhood called El Callejon de Montezuma. She was very popular and in high demand in the mid 40s to late 50s throughout Mexico. She was also well known in Central and South America and even toured in Cuba with “La reina, Azucar,” Celia Cruz, and the “queen of boleros,” Olga Guillot. In addition, she performed with the likes of Tin Tán, Pedro Vargas, Trio Taiacuri, Lalo González (El Piporro), Cantiflas, y muchos más. Famed Mexican singer, Lorenzo Barcelata gave her his own personal, autographed guitar and baptized her with the name of "La Calandria." Throughout México, she was also known as “La Ranchera.” Because of her popularity abroad, Rita was not and is not as well known in her own hometown of San Antonio. Even though she was the official Jax Beer Poster girl in 1957!

As part of the Arte es Vida project of Esperanza that seeks to solidify the cultural grounding of the Chicano community in San Antonio by recovering cultural memory, Rita Vidaurri, La Calandria, performed in a special program for the San Antonio
comunidad. It is our hope that Rita Vidaurri will be remembered as one of our own Tejano queens of song with the addition of this performance to her already illustrious career as a cantante.