Tejano Roots (5) : Conjunto Bernal

Conjunto Bernal - Mi Unico Camino (buy) (1958)


Conjunto Bernal - La Novia Antonia (buy) (1958)

Led by Paulino Bernal, this conjunto started recording in the 1950s, and became the best of its generation.
It was a classic tejano group, with Paulino on lead vocals and accordion and his older brother Elias on bajo sexto and harmonizing. Like many conjuntos, they started in South Texas, playing in bars for blue-collar immigrants to support their family.

I really love their modern sound and their harmonizing is divine. And they were the first tejano band to play rock 'n' roll, as you can hear on the second track, a cover of Larry William's "Bonie Moronie".

There's a great Arhoolie compilation of them (see the image above) that you can download at e-music.

If you're interested in Tejano music, check this article from the University of Texas site.

Perfect for reading Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy.
God, that is a great series of novels, the perfect companion for the music on River's Invitation.

Tejano Roots (4) : Valerio Longoria

Valerio Longoria - El Canoero (buy) (1989)

Lisandro Meza - Cumbia Pa'Oriente (buy)

Valerio Longoria - Pasa Tiempo (buy)(1963)

Valerio Longoria & Freddy Fender - Escarcha (buy)(1963)

Valerio Longoria (1924-2000, see his bio here) was an innovator in many many ways for Tejano conjunto. He was one of the first to sing while playing, and to do so while standing up on stage. He added new instruments to the traditional ensemble like a set of drums or the saxophone and bass guitar; he could repair his instrument and manipulate new sounds (by adding an extra row of buttons, by altering reeds and bass stops), an ability that made him, as AMG says "a Les Paul of the accordion".

He also added a lot of new genres to his repertoire, and especially "tropical" music styles like cuban bolero and cumbia from Colombia. The first song posted here, "El Canoero", recorded with his sons on bass and saxophone, is a typical cumbia, a genre originating in Columbia, as you can hear in the next track, "Cumbia Pa'Oriente" (by Colombian singer Lizandro Meza).

The next 2 songs are Cuban boleros, the first tropical genre to be recorded by traditional musicians both sides of the Mexican-American border (see my post about Lydia Mendoza). The second one is sung by hispanic country star Freddy Fender.
The appropriation of these styles brought a more sophisticated tone to Tejano music.

PS : For those who speak Spanish, two great articles about Mexican cumbia here (from a lecture by Mexican scholar José Juan Olvera) and here (a Wikipedia article about Mexican cumbia)

And you know what ? It definitely makes me want to get deeper into Latin music, so I'll post again about it, maybe going South from Texas to Mexico, and then South again.

Tejano Roots (3) : Don Santiago Jiménez Sr.

Don Santiago Jiménez Sr - Ay Te Dejo En San Antonio (buy) (1979)

Don Santiago Jiménez Sr - Viva Seguin (buy) (1942)

Don Santiago Jiménez Sr - Zulema (buy) (1979)


Don Santiago Jiménez Sr. is not only a great musician and Tejano conjunto pioneer, but he's the father of Flaco Jiménez, probably the biggest Tejano star, who mixed his father's style with country and jazz, and Santiago Jiménez Jr, who played in the traditional way.

Don Santiago was himself the son of an accordeonist, Patricio Jiménez, from Eagle Pass, Tx. Patricio was from this generation of Mexican musicians who borrowed polka, mazurka and waltz from the German-American musicians and mixed them with rancheras to create a wholly new sound.
Santiago made his first records in 1937, mostly polkas or waltzes, bringing innovations like the use of the small double bass called tololoche, combined with the 12-string bajo sexto. You can hear its distinctive flapping sound in each of the three tracks posted here.

For all his life, Santiago Jiménez kept to the 2-button accordion, even when the instrument became dated. The first and third track here are from a beautiful Arhoolie record he made in 1979 with his son Flaco on bajo sexto and Juan Viesca on the string bass. The first song, "Ay te dejo en San Antonio" was covered by Los Lobos in 1983.

Here's a video taken from Chulas Fronteras, a documentary on Tex-mex music shot by Les Blank in 1976. Most of the video features Flaco Jiménez and in the very end, you can see his father, playing his small accordion. Sadly the interview is cut off, but it is very interesting to hear the difference between father and son (and you get the grandson too).

Tejano roots : Lydia Mendoza

Lydia Mendoza - Mal Hombre (buy) (1934)


Lydia Mendoza (1916-2007) was the first female star in tejano music, a living Mexican-American legend on both sides of the border, with a life story that reads like a novel, full of carwrecks, alcooholic fathers and husbands, and segregation. Her recording career spans 6 decades, from 1928 to 1988, but her golden days were in the thirties when she started recording solo with her 12-string guitar. She was called 'La Alondra de la Frontera' (The Meadowlark Of The Border) and 'La Cancionera de los Pobres' (The Songstress Of The Poor). Thanks to Chris Strachwitz at Arhoolie Records, her beautiful recordings are now available in CD on various compilations.

For biographical information, you can check the short AMG bio, but if you want to know more about the lady, please don't miss this awesome article on fRoots site.

Born in Houston, she had to support her family by playing music in San Antonio plazas with her sisters. Recorded in 1934 by Bluebird, her song "Mal Hombre" became an instant hit but his father, a drunkard who prefered to stay at home and spend the money his daughter had earnt, prefered to be paid cash rather than in royalties, so although her records sold, Lydia stayed poor and on the road for the major part of the 30s and 40s.
After the war, things got better for her. She recorded for companies (especially Ideal) who paid her better, got to tour extensively in the US and in Mexico (but not before the sixties)where she was welcomed by huge mobs. In the seventies and eighties, thanks to her rediscovery by Arhoolie, she continued to perform and received all due honors.

Lydia Mendoza - Adios Muchachos (Canción Tango) (buy) (193?)

According to Strachwitz, "Lydia's totally unique. She's from the early era of recording and was the first and only real star of that era. She sang all types of songs and never stopped by limiting herself to any one genre as did, say, Chelo Silva, who only sang boleros in the early '50s. But that was the happening genre by then and catered to a better class, kind of like Bessie Smith versus Billie Holiday. Conjunto accordeon music came to the fore in the early 1950s with musicians like Flaco, Santiago, Trio San Antonio, that's really after Lydia's era. Lydia has recorded with accordeons, orchestras, mariachis, every kind of Mexican music backing. That said, she never fed into the tejano orchestra sound that was to become very popular."

I love her songs from the thirties when she's alone on the 12-string, but she also recorded great sides with orchestras, especially in the fifties, with a bolero flavor that links her music to other parts of Latin America.
Generally speaking and compared to Narciso Martinez (see previous post), her music is much more Spanish and Latin then the very Central European polkas and mazurkas that were often praised in old-time conjunto: The rhythms, the song structures with verses in minor and choruses in major (something that the Beatles adopted on some songs but that was alien to American roots music) make her sound like Cuban son singers like Eliades Ochoa from Buena Vista Social Club.

You'll find her best recordings on Arhoolie compilations. In The Best of Lydia Mendoza, Pedro Almodóvar fans will notice a version of "Piensa En Mi", a song featured on the "High Heels" soundtrack.

Lydia Mendoza - Aunque Me Odies (Canción) (buy) (1954)

Tejano Conjunto Accordion Pionneers

Narciso Martínez - Muchachos Alegres (polka) (buy)(1946)

After Mexico's independance, Central European immigrants, and especially German farmers and brewers settled on both sides of the border. They brought with them the accordion, a recent invention in Germany. Mexican and Tejano musicians borrowed it quickly, seduced its loudness, cheap price and ability to play bass and melody. Accompanied by bajo sexto and contrabajo and later with saxophones and drums, the accordion became the leading instrument of Norteño music, in Mexico or Conjunto Tejano (Tex-Mex) across the border.

This music adapted all forms of styles and dances from central europe (polka, waltz, mazurka) and from hispanic origin (corridos, the border ballads, but also bolero, mariachi or ranchera). Tejano in 20th century became the hispanic equivalent of country music for Southern Anglos or the blues for Afro-Americans.

Bruno Villareal - Un Capricho (buy)(1935)

Bruno Villareal, a blind itinerant musician from San benito, was the first to record in 1930, and was soon followed by other pionneers like narciso martinez, the first great accordion player and the father of Tejano Conjunto.

According to Chris Strachwitz at Arhoolie Records, "Narciso Martínez made hundreds of recordings of mostly instrumental dance tunes emphasizing the melody side of the accordion and leaving the bass parts to his bajo sexto player. This established a new sound, a sound which to this day is immediately identifiable as Texas-Mexican Conjunto Music. Not only did Narciso establish the conjunto accordion sound, but he was also one of the first to accompany singers on commercial records when he became the house accordionist for the newly established Ideal label of San Benito, Texas in 1946. He played with popular singers like Carmen & Laura, or Lydia Mendoza.

Lydia Mendoza with Narciso Martínez - Si Fue por Eso (bolero) (buy)(1954)

(...)Martínez learned many tunes from German and Czech brass bands. He'd listen with a friend who had a good ear and memory. The friend would whistle the tunes to Narciso when they got home, allowing Narciso to transpose them to his accordion!"

Narciso Martínez - Patricia(mazurka) (buy)(1951)

Without Chris Strachwitz at Arhoolie Records, a great tejano lover and record collector who purchased the Ideal Company and recorded numerous tejano and norteño artists, this joyful music wouldn't be so available.

For more information, check these articles about Narciso Martínez and the roots of Tejano music written by Strachwitz.