Narciso Martínez

Narciso "El Huracan del Valley (The Hurricane of the Valley)" Martinez is considered the "father of conjunto music." A prolific artist, capable of recording 20 tunes in a single day, Martinez established the framework for the music of the borderlands between Texas and Mexico. In addition to recording such classic tunes as "La Chicharonera," "La Parrita," "La Polvadera," and "Los Coyotes" on his own, Martinez used his distinctive accordion playing to accompany such norteno and cajunto artists as Carmen and Laura, Beto Villa's Orchestra, and the Mendoza Sisters, including solo recordings by Lydia Mendoza. Born in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, a small Mexican town across the Rio Grande from McAllen, Texas, Martinez moved to the U.S. as a youngster and spent his early years in the Lower Rio Grande Valley city of La Palma, near Brownsville, Texas. Following in the footsteps of his older brother, who played accordion, he began playing the squeezebox by his mid-teens. In addition to being influenced by the orquestra tipicas, which featured violins, flutes, bass, and guitar, he found inspiration in the playing of accordionists such as Jose "La Bamba" Rodriguez, Lolo Cavazos, Francisco Gutierrez, and Alejandro Aguire. Teaching himself to play the accordion, Martinez moved from the traditional German approach to the accordion and developed his own style which emphasized the treble end of the instrument. Although he began on a two-row accordion, he moved to a three-row model by the late-'40s. By 1928, Martinez had become so skillful on the accordion that he began to conceive a career as a musician. Temporarily relocating to Bishop, Texas, near Corpus Christi, he was inspired by the Bohemian, Czechoslovakian, and German music played by the city's many immigrants. He returned to La Paloma...