Introducing Oscar Hernandez

From what I've been able to gather, Oscar Hernandez was born in Pharr, Texas (he still lives here and gives accordion lessons). His name is spelled two different ways, sometimes it's spelled "Oskar" and other times it's spelled "Oscar". Not sure what is the actual correct spelling but I'm going to refer to him as "Oscar" in this piece. When he was a kid, he already had his own band here in the Valley.

The one thing that sets him apart from other conjunto musicians is the type of accordion he uses. In conjunto music, most accordionist used the three row button diatonic accordion. On the other hand, Hernandez prefers to use the five row chromatic accordion. By the age of 13 years old, he was already recording music with his own conjunto.

His first band that got him a lot of attention was Oscar Hernandez y Los Profesionales. He would go on to join the legendary Conjunto Bernal in the 1960's. While there, he encouraged and convinced Bernal to also use a chromatic accordion. Together they created some absolutely beautiful dual accordion music. Hernandez is rumored to have played lead accordion in some of their most well known tunes like Odiame and El Preso Numero 9.

During the 1960's, Hernandez and Esteban Jordan created "Would You Believe", a fantastic jazzy number on an Jordan Brothers album called La Bamba. At some point, Hernandez also recorded a chromatic version of the TV theme of "I Dream of Jeannie" on an obscure 45 vinyl! Hernandez is also credited with playing with Fabuloso 4 and his Tuff Band. Among his peers, he's considered one of the greatest accordion players ever.

Here are some Hernandez songs and videos to check out. They are all pretty great and a good introduction to one of the greatest musicians South Texas has ever produced:

This track it titled "Homenaje a Paulino Bernal" (Homage to Paulino Bernal):


Oscar Hernandez (chromatic accordion) and Esteban Jordan (diatonic button accordion) creating a beautifully trippy and jazzy tune:


Oscar Hernandez and Paulino Bernal putting together a dazzling number:


Hernandez totally shredding on the chromatic, playing a great polka called "Pantalones" (Pants):


Oscar Hernandez, Juan Tejeda, and Joel Guzman having a fantastic jam session in San Benito:


Oscar Hernandez y the Tuff Band (which features Jesse Serrata as the vocalist) doing a cover of "Yesterday" from The Beatles:


Oscar Hernandez on his classic Playing with Myself album:

My third article for The Monitor.

My third article for The Monitor was published on March 11th, it was on Juanita Garcia of McAllen, TX. The article is available here for your reading pleasure. On my way to Juanita's house, I actually got lost around her neighborhood. I couldn't find her house, so I walked into the beauty parlor in her neighborhood. I saw a sweet woman about to leave and without even thinking I just asked, "Are you Juanita Garcia?", she just lit up and said "yes". 

I had a great time talking to her and her cousin Adelaida Ortega about her singing career. Very sweet person and she even sang a couple of tunes for me which I thought was awesome. 

IDEAL Records, Discos Falcón and Sunday morning television.

This video clip is from a PBS documentary called Accordion Dreams. It aired on that station back in 2001, and it featured a lot of great conjunto artists like Ruben Vela, Oscar Hernandez, Paulino Bernal, Benny Layton, and Eva Ibarra.

I'm posting this excerpt that discusses the creation of IDEAL Records and Discos Falcón. I've written here before about IDEAL records, which you can find here and I plan on writing more Discos Falcón related material in the future. One thing I never realized before was that Falcón had it's own television program and that it seemed to be syndicated rather well. In the brief clips we see of Fanfarria Falcón we see "El Monarca de la Acordeon", Donna's Pedro Ayala and Los Dos Gilbertos. This show started in 1964 and lasted until the early 1980's.




A September 7th, 1974 issue of Billboard Magazine has some more information about this locally produced television program:

"To promote this line of Falcon artists, the company produces a 30 minute TV show titled "Fanfarria Falcon," which is shown over some 160 TV stations nationwide, including major markets of Chicago and L.A. The show is hosted by Mr. Falcon and is produced by Falcon a&r Director Jeanne Le Normann with the facilities of KRGV-TV, Weslco, Texas. Falcon is also releasing this year a series of LPs titled after the show and featuring the top stars that have appeared in the show."

At some point the name of the show changed to Super Fanfarria and Carlos Guzmán would take over the hosting duties. Some records indicate that the show was finally taken off the air in 1981.

The Monitor: Simon Reyes

My second article for The Monitor was published on February 19th, and it dealt with the life of Simon Reyes. I couldn't have written this article without the great help and kindness shown to me by Rudy Reyes. All the help, information and photos from Rudy is greatly appreciated. Thanks. Here is my article:

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As a young child living in Weslaco, it was obvious what Simon Reyes intended to do with his life. The son of Simon Sr. and Juanita Reyes, he would grow up having a passion for music. He was influenced by his grandfather, a full time musician, early in his young childhood. While he was still in elementary school in the mid-1950's, he made his television debut on KRGV's "The Moulton 'Ty' Cobb Show". This afternoon television program was produced at KRGV studios in Weslaco and aired all across the Rio Grande Valley on the Channel 5 station.

"He would paint fake sideburns and pretend to play a guitar without strings while he sang 'Hound Dog'," recalls Rudy Reyes, younger brother of Simon. "He would also dance like Elvis and would perform this way on that TV show."

Like various other talented musicians, he never completed school and would eventually drop out in his Sophomore year. Music was what he was most interested in.

"He never really had a job, music was [Simon's] life," Rudy said. "Once he dropped out, he tried to organize himself around musicians."

His first band was named Simon Reyes and The Vikings. That name was eventually changed to being Simon Reyes and The Outlerlimits, which led to his two most well known recordings.

"He cut his first [45] record 'My Baby Hurts Me' and 'Mistake Number Three' and it gave him a bit of popularity."

Those two songs, original compositions by Simon Reyes, were recorded at McAllen's Pharaoh Records in the mid 1960's at a time when they were recording a lot of local popular music from other Valley bands such as Christopher and The Souls, The Playboys of Edinburg, The Headstones and The Cavaliers. The notoriety he gained from those two songs helped him get many opportunities to perform all across the Valley.

He would go on to make another television appearance, this time on KRGV's "El Valle Alegre Show". This show was also shot in Weslaco and would showcase local bands from various different genres.

"Just about everyone knew about him back then because they would hear his songs on the radio. Above everything else, his music and his singing was admired by a lot of people here in the Valley, especially in Weslaco, his hometown. Another thing that had to do with his popularity was his charisma."

Simon would eventually head towards Galveston, Houston and New Orleans to continue his unique musical journey. He started up a new band called The Gypsies and that's where he got some help from an old musician friend of his from San Benito.

"He became very good friends with Freddy Fender when he was just getting going here in the Valley," reflects Rudy Reyes. "When [Simon] was in New Orleans, Freddy Fender would offer him some spots where he used to play but couldn't play that night and gave [those gigs] to Simon. So him and Simon became really good friends."

His final band was called Simon Reyes and the Bourbon Street Bums. With this group he recorded another one of his most well known compositions, "Mama, Mama" (both English and Spanish versions), for Teardrop Records.

Along with being the frontman and leader to those bands, he also went on the road to play for the band of a South Texas conjunto legend. He toured California and the Southwest with accordionist Ruben Vela, a grand musician who was affectionately known as the "King of the Dance Hall Sound."

Unfortunately on November of 1973, Simon Reyes was found dead a few blocks near his home in Weslaco due to heroin overdose. We are almost thirty years removed from when he passed away, but he still has a large number of family, friends and fans that fondly remember his musical talents, his charisma and his personality.

"Broken Promise", a local independent feature length film by Eddie Howell, has a character that is based and named after Simon Reyes. This film about a struggling South Texas musician showcases well known musicians Carlos Guzman, Augustin Ramirez, and Sunny Ozuna in their line up of stars. The actor who portrayed "Simon Reyes" in the film was Michael Silva, son of Balde Silva from the 1970's Rio Grande Valley band Toby Beau. Also, the soundtrack of the film features the Simon Reyes classic "Mistake Number Three".

The opening screening of this film in October of 2010 lead the City of Weslaco to show their enthusiasm for Simon Reyes. On October 3rd, 2010, the City of Weslaco declared that day "Simon Reyes Day" and awarded his family the key to the city and a plaque that reads, "Simon Reyes. Rio Grande Valley Rock and Roll Legend."

Since that day, Rudy has made it an annual tradition to celebrate that life and career of his brother every October. He has family, friends, and musicians over at his place as they pay tribute to Simon Reyes. Rudy is always welcoming new people to join him for this special tradition.

"Dynamic, complex, talented, and a one of a kind person," Rudy says about his older brother. "His life was so interesting."

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This is a listing that Rudy provided me with of the songs that Simon Reyes recorded. 

1. Broken Hearted Fool (Simon Reyes) 

2. I'm A Hog For You Baby (Simon Reyes) 

3. Make Believe (Simon Reyes) 

4. Happy Song (Simon Reyes) 

5. My Baby Hurts Me (Simon Reyes) 

6. Mistake Number Three (Simon Reyes) 

7. People Laugh (Simon Reyes) 

8. Caminito, Caminito (Simon Reyes) 

9. Walking in the Rain (Simon Reyes) 

10. I'm Gonna Love You Anyway (Simon Reyes) 

11. Mama, Mama (Spanish) (Simon Reyes)  

12. Mama, Mama (English) (Simon Reyes) 

13. What Now My Love (cover) 

14. Amor De La Calle (Simon Reyes) 

15. The Pregnant Cow (Simon Reyes) 

16. El Coyote (cover) 

17. La Barca (cover) 

18. Tejano Enamorado (cover) 

19. La Bola Negra (cover) 

20. Just By Touching Your Hand (Simon Reyes)

Here are the two songs that Simon Reyes is most associated with. Enjoy the music!