{"id":797,"date":"2023-02-26T22:40:57","date_gmt":"2023-02-27T03:40:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/music-of-texas-spring-2023\/?p=797"},"modified":"2023-03-19T23:22:41","modified_gmt":"2023-03-20T04:22:41","slug":"narciso-martinez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/music-of-texas-spring-2023\/2023\/02\/26\/narciso-martinez\/","title":{"rendered":"Narciso Mart\u00ednez"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Narciso Mart\u00ednez was born in 1911 in Reynosa, Mexico. His family migrated to La Paloma, Texas the same year in search of work in the Rio Grande Valley. His family often moved, and Mart\u00ednez did not receive a formal education. He often found himself listening to orquestas t\u00edpicas<\/em>, which were regional musical groups that consisted of violins, flutes, bass, and guitars but he was much more infatuated with the accordion, which his brother also played. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Reynosa, Mexico<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In 1928, Mart\u00ednez got married to his wife (who he later had four kids with) and also took up the accordion. He completely taught himself, learning techniques and getting inspiration from the Czech and German immigrants in the area, he was soon able to perform at parties and dances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1930, Narciso Mart\u00ednez purchased his first new accordion, a Hohner, which was a one-row button model. Five years later, in 1935, he switched from the one-row button to a versatile two-row button accordion. Around this time, he also began performing with Santiago Almeida (born in Skidmore, Texas) who was a bajo sexto<\/em> (twelve-stringed bass guitar) player. The two became a notable duo and established the Tejano Conjunto sound; Mart\u00ednez focused on the right-side melody and treble notes and Almeida focused on the left-side bass notes. Mart\u00ednez had very successful recording sessions, sometimes recording up to 20 tracks in one session!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Narciso Mart\u00ednez (left) and Santiago Almeida (right)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Additional Work and Contributions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>
\n

Mart\u00ednez popularity grew beyond the Mexican American community, but he had additional work that was recorded under different pseudonyms for different markets. His record label, Bluebird, believed that his work would not sell elsewhere as is, so he had to record under a different name. For example, in order to sell in Louisiana, he recorded under the name ‘Lousiana Pete’<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

for Bluebird’s Cajun series. Mart\u00ednez had to rebrand his conjunto music to cater to the market. His original conjunto song, “El Delfo” was rebranded to “Delta Waltz” for the Cajun market. In northeast Texas, he was published as either “Polish Joe” or “Polski Kwartet.”<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

After World War II, Tejano artists were struggling to have their music heard because labels were not producing their records. There was a rise of independent, Mexican-American labels, such as Ideal Records, which was founded by Armando Marroqu\u00edn and Paco Betancourt. Ideal’s popularity skyrocketed and it quickly became an important part of the Tejano music industry. Mart\u00ednez was one of the first artists under Ideal Records, with his most notable contribution being the popularization of the accordion in Tejano music. He also would record with other artists signed to Ideal Records, such as Carmen Y Laura, Las Hermanas Mendoza, Mar\u00eda and Juanita, and Lydia Mendoza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Narciso Mart\u00ednez is known today as the father of conjunto music<\/strong><\/em> and was given the nickname “El Hurac\u00e1n del Valle\u201d (the Hurricane of the Valley) because of his fast and powerful accordion playing. In 1983, Mart\u00ednez was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the United States’ highest honor in folk and traditional arts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Songs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n