Un Instrumento Mágico

Every so often, we manage to go to a concert. For such a small town, we get some big norteño acts, such as Conjunto Primavera. This last weekend we went to Grupo Liberacion, which is a classic Mexican band. To be honest, there were so many acts coming up, I wasn’t sure this was the one I would choose. But I didn’t get a chance because my husband bought tickets with our neighbors, and we went as a group. This was a positive. The concert or baile, to be exact, was in a small venue, the Epiq Nightclub, and I was quite surprised at how many people they could pack in there and still have room for a dance floor.

Grupo Liberacion is really a rock band, but they have done a little bit of everything regional that a Monterrey band would produce; that is, they have a repertoire that includes cumbia and banda. During the 80s, they hit the keyboards pretty hard, but they never failed to have catchy songs. At this event there were about ten band members, including a saxophonist, as well as a keyboardist who doubled as an accordion player. Because they are really a rock band, they had a rock guitarist and bass player. They were very impressive, their performance topnotch. I was particularly impressed by their singing. These men are true performers with incredible voices.

Like all bailes, this one had three bands (some even have four); they start at about 9 PM and go until 2 AM. Yes, that’s a lot for a person not in her twenties, such as myself, but, strangely, there are always people much older than I am dancing until 2. Mexicans are superior that way. They definitely have their cultural strong points, and the ability to dance all night is one of them.

The first and second bands were fairly standard conjunto acts, Conjunto Rienda and La C Norteña. Both were good, the second especially so, and I found myself taken with the acordeonista of La C Norteña. More on that in a minute. First, a definition of terms is in order: conjunto is the term for a norteño band that includes an accordion, a saxophone, and a bajo sexto. Of course, there are drums and a base, but the three instruments I just noted are what make conjunto special. I’ve loved conjunto for a long time; some of my favorite bands, such as Los Rieleros, are classics of the genre.

But I have to admit that lately I’ve become increasingly frustrated with the sound of the saxophone because unless a band really mixes it well, the brassy sound doesn’t complement the accordion at all. AT ALL. I can’t emphasize that enough. In bands like Conjunto Primavera, the saxophone sound predominates many songs, and their sound is so iconic that I accept this reality. In concert, the accordionist and saxophonist being the same person, the songs either had saxophone or accordion, not both together, which is better in my opinion.

Now getting back to the acordeonista that I was quite attracted to (his sound, not him obviously, though I imagine accordion players are chick magnets), I would be just getting into his accordion parts when the sax player would jump right in and obliterate the sound. The saxophone is a dominant instrument, and the players thereof need to be put in the back with their mics turned down to highlight the truly important instrument, which is the ACCORDION.

Sax players need to stay in their lanes, in other words. The sax simply doesn’t have the magic of the accordion. The magic of the accordion is what I live for. It is what I need. It is what I try to achieve. It is why I come home from work and play my instrument every day. The thought of playing it gets me through the day, in fact. Forget about errands — I shouldn’t admit this, but I let myself run out of soap and deodorant for more than a week recently because I always forget to stop at the store when I have my Gabbanelli waiting at home. Did you know shampoo works great as a body wash? It’s true. And scraping the last of the deodorant tube is just good economy… If you don’t quite get it yet, I’m focused and driven to have the accordion in my life, and when I hear the sounds of magic from a good accordionist, I don’t want it suddenly smothered by the primadonna saxophone.

There is a genre I’ve been listening to lately that has replaced the saxophone with a sousaphone. Now THAT is a complementary instrument to the accordion. Sousaphone players provide a pleasant background rhythm that still allows the most important instrument to roll out its magic. Sousaphone players know to stay in their lanes. As far as I can tell, this genre is called norteño-banda, which makes sense, as banda will have a sousaphone or similar tuba-style instrument. I would like to find a friend who plays the tuba or sousaphone; then I could have a rhythm section. For what, I don’t know because the likelihood of my ever performing is about zero. However, I’m still trying to work out some songs about birds because they make the best norteño and banda songs, even if I don’t know precisely why.

I admit I know nothing about the first two bands that played on Friday night, but when I went looking for a video of La C Norteña, it was obvious the first I played had been filmed here in Roswell. A local band, then? The ice cream shop featured is Yoly’s, one of my favorite places. I mean no offense to a local saxophone player. Maybe I do, to be honest. He needs to step back a little when playing live. We all know the accordion is superior and needs to be heard.