Happy Birthday Beto Villa! Beto Villa was born in Falfurrias, Texas, on October 26, 1915. Betos father, Alberto, Sr., was both a tailor and a musician and strongly encouraged his son to learn to read music. In 1932, while in high school, Beto formed a band called The Sonny Boys, which performed at local festivals and school dances. Four years later, he got his first full-time gig in Freer, Texas, at a dance hall known as the Barn. For the next several years he played in primarily Anglo dance halls, where he learned to imitate popular American swing bands. Although Villa appeared to be well on his way to establishing a musical career, in 1940 he opened a meat market with his father-in-law. After serving in the United States Navy during World War II (he played in a band for enlisted personnel), he returned to Falfurrias and opened up the Pan American and La Plaza dance halls. While still working in his meat shop, Villa occasionally performed music on the weekends. He soon realized that he could earn more money performing in one weekend than he could working all week as a butcher. So he turned his attention increasingly toward becoming a full-time musician. By 1946 Villa had developed the idea of merging Mexican-American music and more mainstream popular music by combining the urbanized orquesta with a ranchero style, thereby giving it an arrancherado orquesta sound. In that same year, he approached his friend, Armando Marroquín, founder of the new record company Discos Ideal to ask Marroquín to help make a record that would capture the sound of this new musical style Villa had created. The partnership led to Villas recording of his first singles on a 78 rpm acetate disc, which included a polka entitled Las Delicias and a waltz called ¿Porqué te Ríes? With broader exposure through these new recordings, Beto Villa y su Orquesta quickly became popular in dance halls throughout South Texas. In 1948 the band scored its first hit, Rosita. Other hits soon followed, such as Las Gaviotas, La Picona, Tamaulipas, and this polka where Villa teams up with conjunto accordionist Narciso Martinez, and demonstrates his musical versatility and determination to blend together a variety of styles. Here’s: Monterrey: youtube/watch?v=tSwiSr-9qrM By 1950 Villas band had grown to include as many as twelve members at a time, capable of handling a broad range of instrumental combinations, as well as more complex musical arrangements. In trying to make his orquesta more sophisticated than rival bands, he went so far as to fire members who did not learn to read music. For a period of twelve years, Beto Villa y su Orquesta toured throughout the United States, recorded more than a hundred singles on 78 rpm, and produced over a dozen LPs for Disco Ideal. Villa also recorded ranchera singles with Lydia Mendoza and the duo Carmen y Laura. In 1960 Villa stopped touring because of health problems. In 1983, three years before his death, Villa was inducted into the TMA Hall of Fame. He died in Corpus Christi on November 1, 1986. In 2000 he was an inaugural inductee into the Tejano R.O.O.T.S. Hall of Fame. During his career, he created a new musical style for Mexican Americans, the orquesta Tejana, which helped them express both their ranchero (country) and jaitón (cosmopolitan) identities. Beto Villa, saxophonist and father of the orquesta Tejana, was also a Pioneer of Texas Music. Pioneers of Texas Music can be heard twice daily, Monday through Saturday on Sun Radio. Please visit sunradio for specific times. Pioneers of Texas Music is made possible in part by Scholz Garten, the oldest business in Texas, since 1866. And history is still being made at Scholz Garten where you can enjoy delicious, authentic German food as well as excellent American food while sampling any of 52 different ICE COLD DRAFT BEERS and listening to LIVE MUSIC in their spacious Bier Garten. For a calendar of LIVE MUSIC and their MENU, visit scholzgarten.net. Pioneers of Texas Music is also brought to you by SOUTH AUSTIN BREWING COMPANY. Pioneers of Texas Music is also brought to you in part by Hut’s. Located at 807 West 6th Street. Now serving Buffalo and Grassfed Longhorn Burgers. An Austin Tradition Since 1939. Menu at hutsfrankandangies. Thanks to Denver O’Neal and Chris Rollins for assisting in the recording and editing of Pioneers of Texas Music. If you or someone you know might be interested in sponsoring Pioneers of Texas Music, please contact Daryl O’Neal at [email protected]. Pioneers of Texas Music is written, spoken and produced by David Arnsberger from an idea by Larry Monroe. Some of the reference material for this edition of Pioneers of Texas Music comes from the TSHA Handbook.
Posted on: Sun, 26 Oct 2014 11:40:00 +0000
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