Narciso Martinez

Accordionist Narciso Martínez, nicknamed "El Huracán del Valle," was born in 1911 in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico, but lived most of his life near San Benito, Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley.

In 1935, Martínez teamed up with bajo sexto player Santiago Almeida and recorded some of the most famous Conjunto songs in the history of Conjunto music, the polka “La Chicharronera” and the schottische “El Tronoconal,” both released on the Bluebird (3) label. This first conjunto inspired many others and made Martīnez the Father of Conjunto, an entirely new style of accordion-driven Tejano music.

Narciso Martínez led the evolution of Conjunto music until his death at the age of 80 in 1992. In 1983 he received the National Heritage Award from the National Endowment of the Humanities in Washington, D.C.