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For Fernanda Fuentes, music starts with a memory that harkens back to a conversation she had with her grandfather about the accordion, a conversation she recalled with as much warmth as the sun that blanketed her smile on the Thursday morning she shared her story.
To Fernanda, she equated learning to play the accordion with showing her grandfather she loves him. Softly, she spoke of the happiness he expressed as he heard her play his favorite instrument.
“Every time it was his birthday he would hire a man to play the accordion because he loved it so much and it was because of that, that I decided to learn and play the accordion so I could play something for him and make him happy,” Fernanda said.
Now, even after he died, the music serves as a means of keeping him alive to her via the music, and each new song she plays is an opportunity to visit him again.
The 15-year-old musician from Roma High School is one of four fellow accordionists from the Rio Grande Valley who are gearing up to compete in the biggest accordion contest in Texas: The Big Squeeze.
After two years of competing online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Texas Folklife’s annual Big Squeeze Youth Accordion contest is returning to the Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin to host its championship round, gathering individuals like Fernanda, each with their own story to tell, to perform for a shot at glory.
The final round of the 16th annual contest is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. Saturday and will be free and open to the public.
Fernanda began her journey as an accordionist by learning to play “Arboles de la Barranca” after her grandfather’s love for music inspired her to pursue learning the accordion.
Although she learned to play the instrument as a hobby she began competing as an accordionist when she entered middle school and saw her future conjunto team perform.
“There was this girl named Perla who played in Los Cardenales. I saw her play and it was beautiful so I decided I wanted to play like her,” said Fernanda
Fernanda is competing for the second time in the Big Squeeze; only this time she will be participating in the final round in the 16 and under category.
Marin Hinojosa, a senior at Palmview High School, is another finalist from the Valley who, like Fernanda, said his greatest inspiration to play the accordion is his grandfather.
“It really became my passion when I started seeing my grandpa playing it,” Hinojosa said. “It became my heart.”
His grandfather, Abelardo Solis, passed down his white Hohner International accordion to Marin when he first showed interest at the age of 14.
On the Hohner, Marin learned to play his first songs, “Las Mañanitas” and “Tampico Hermoso,” on the same accordion his grandfather first learned to play at the age of 18, when he received it as a gift from his sister.
Marin was also a percussionist in middle school but his love for the accordion never faded. In high school, he decided to dedicate more time to learning the accordion by joining his school’s conjunto band, La Tradición, where he began competing in the Big Squeeze contest.
“I found purpose, I found meaning,” said Hinojosa, adding that playing the accordion helped him destress.
His parents gifted him a $6,000 white Gabbanelli accordion with gold lettering on the grill as his regalo de sorpresa (surprise gift) during his 15th birthday.
“They run about four to five thousand dollars, they’re pretty expensive but they are worth a whole lifetime,” Marin said.
Now 18-years-old, Marin prepares for his fourth year participating in the Big Squeeze, where he will be competing for the first time in the final round in the 17-21 conjunto category against fellow Valley musician Galilea Paz.
Galilea, a 17-year-old accordionist from Roma High School, will be performing for the second time at the final round of the Big Squeeze.
She, like her fellow musicians, began her journey as an accordionist with the help and motivation of her grandfather.
“My grandpa taught me a little bit and he is the one who inspired me to start playing the accordion,” Galilea said, adding that the coordination of the musician and their instrument is what sparked her interest in music. “The movement of the hands and the sound it made — he just looked like he enjoyed every part of it so it made me want to feel like that and play it for myself.”
When entering high school she joined a mariachi group where she would perform at pep rallies. During pep rallies she decided to join the conjunto band, Los Cardenales, after hearing them perform.
“The conjunto played there (pep rally). I heard the accordion and how it sounded in the group and it inspired me to reach out to the instructor of conjunto and say I wanted to join to play the accordion,”Galilea said.
After joining the conjunto band she performed her first accordion song “El Tejanito” at a pep rally. She recalled people getting up and dancing to the rhythm of the music.
“I felt great that the people loved it. I felt alive,” Galilea said.
She explained that seeing people dance and enjoy the music she plays gives her a sense of joy.
For Alejandro Solis, 15, who will also be competing in the 16 and under category for the first time as a finalist, learning the accordion was also a family affair.
Before joining the conjunto band in middle school, Alejandro’s uncle attempted to teach him how to play the chromatic scale on the accordion.
“I didn’t get it,” he said jokingly.
However, after seeing the conjunto band perform at his school he fell in love with the movement of the instrument as each song was played.
The movement was smooth and itself felt like a choreographed aspect of the performance.
“I first heard them in middle school and I really liked how they played,” Alejandro said, adding that he was captivated by the band’s performance. “I always liked the way they sounded and that you could tell they really liked it, so I wanted to be like them.”
Now as he approaches the finals for the first time he has chosen to play two songs, “Picame Tarantula” and “ La Pelirroja.”
