Soul to Squeeze

Just try to call Rocky Beltran a geek. Just try.

The 29-year-old accordion player for Los Badd Boyz del Valle comes from four generations of accordionists.

And in high school, when rock ‘n’ roll was king and his friends thought the awkward, bellows-like instrument was uncool, he quit.

“Now, I see my high school friends go out to see us at our concerts,” he said.

This National Accordion Awareness Month — yes, an accordion advocate designated June as the month when America celebrates its squeezeboxes — the state of the instrument remains strong among lovers of tejano, norteño and conjunto music, and it is getting stronger in the wider world.

In the Rio Grande Valley, thanks to those fusion border music styles and the central role the instrument often plays in cultural celebrations, the accordion has retained an edge. It’s no electric guitar, but a corps of young players maintains that their instruments have always been — and remain — cool.

Jorge Arechiga, a Mission accordion champ who idolizes Los Invasores’ Javier Rios, said his instrument of choice draws admiration from Hispanic classmates and friends.

“People are like, ‘Wow,’ ” he said. “They get amazed.”

But nationwide, particularly among what National Accordion Awareness Month founder Tom Torriglia calls the “white bread, white milk” segment of the American populace, the accordion has spent the last few decades in maligned obscurity, considered about as cool as the Keytar, but with less ironic retro potential.

The memories of The Lawrence Welk Show and, more recently, the early, goofy polka stylings of satirist “Weird Al” Yankovic, have poisoned the environment for young players.

Don’t get us wrong. The accordion has its enclaves — and not just here in South Texas, where accordion kings like Ramon Ayala and Flaco Jimenez have earned it a cult following among the likes of Beltran and Arechiga, but also in Central and Southeast Texas’ German and Czech settlements, where polka is revered.

Now, though, the squeezebox is poised to make a mass comeback.

“Rock ‘n’ roll essentially killed the accordion as a mainstream instrument, but it had nothing to do with the accordion itself — it’s just, the accordion didn’t make the transition from an acoustic instrument to an electric instrument very well,” Torriglia said.

Plus, “Every kid wanted to play the guitar once the Beatles came,” said the lifelong accordion player — and owner of the online resource All Things Accordion — with only a trace of bitterness.

Today, a resurgence of folk and world music influences have brought the accordion back for guest appearances in pop-rock acts, including the Counting Crows and Bruce Springsteen.

The unique range of sounds available from the accordion and its rootsy origin as the instrument of European ethnic immigrant groups may be the key to seeing more accordion players at central stage in Middle America.

“A lot of different music can come out of that little ol’ squeeze box,” said Juan Tejada, a professor of music at Palo Alto College in San Antonio.

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Sara Perkins covers Starr County and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach her at (956) 683-4472. For this and more local stories, visit www.themonitor.com.