Photo by John Loggins, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives He oversees all of Hohner’s accordion products and has been at the forefront of a resurgence of accordion music, especially the button accordion favored by Mexican and Mexican American musicians.
“We came from very humble beginnings, working in the cotton fields, so my perspective in music comes from humble beginnings,” he recalled.
Gilberto grew up in the heart of the Texas Rio Grande Valley, born in Harlingen in 1961 and raised in Weslaco. His parents were from General Terán, Nuevo León, on the Mexican side of the border, and they eventually settled on the Texas side. He remembers how rural border life shaped both him and the music we today call conjunto: while neither his father nor grandfather were widely known as musicians, they were friends with musicians now considered to be among the most notable names in Tejano (Texas Mexican) music―accordion pioneer Narciso Martínez, Los Alegres de Terán, Los Donneños (named after Donna, Texas), Tony De La Rosa, Valerio Longoria, and many others.Īs a young boy, Gilberto had little idea of the cultural importance of these musicians.īoth his grandfather and his father played the two-row button accordion as a pastime and as part-time professionals. He knew Narciso Martínez, for example, as a zookeeper, his day job. In 1975, he met Arhoolie Records founder Chris Strachwitz, who was in the valley to film the milestone documentary on Texas conjunto music, Chulas Fronteras. As a young boy, all Gilberto realized at the time, though, was that his father had killed a steer for the barbecue that was the center of the party documented by the filmmakers.
He was intrigued by his grandfather playing in cantinas on the weekends, and he learned to play guitar, bass, and accordion. His father, though, encouraged him to go to college.
He did and eventually moved to Sacramento, California, where he worked for Wells Fargo and Lt.
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