Someone tell me about Flaco Jimenez, Tejano, etc.; and what does "borradita" mean?

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I've been enjoying the new Freddy Fender/Flaco Jimenez "Dos Amigos." Very nice indeed. I'm kind of ignorant about Tejano music. Any recommendations for Flaco Jimenez records, opinions, would be greatly appreciated. As well as anything beyond the obvious stuff I already probably know about Fender's work.
And there's a song on the Fender/Flaco album called "La Borradita." I'm at work now and can't surf around to find a translation of this word--there seems to be another Tejano song called something like "Borradita Dientes de Ojos," I think (yeah I need to take night Spanish classes). "Borradita"=??

― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Tuesday, 20 September 2005 17:45 (twenty years ago)

Flaco Jimenez- He's the Jimi Hendrix of the accordion!

Record recommendations I have none.

― k/l (Ken L), Tuesday, 20 September 2005 17:49 (twenty years ago)

Actually, I've often heard Estaban Jordan referred to as the Hendrix of the accordion; more echoplex and effects than Flaco.

― Daniel Peterson (polkaholic), Tuesday, 20 September 2005 17:54 (twenty years ago)

he is an intense accordion player. but does he play with his teeth?

― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Tuesday, 20 September 2005 18:17 (twenty years ago)

He's not really the Jimi Hendrix of the accordion, I just made that up.

― k/l (Ken L), Tuesday, 20 September 2005 18:18 (twenty years ago)

Each accordion player has their own "style" of playing. From waltz to extreme accordion expressionism. Flaco is representative of an accordionist that has taken traditional "conjunto" music to a new and more modern level during his career. He comes from a lineage of accordionists in his family begining with his grandfather Don Patricio Jimenez, father Don Santiago Jimenez Sr., brother Santiago Jimenez Jr., and then of course Flaco (means "skinny" in spanish).

www.flacojimenez.com

If you are new to Tejano music, it may be best to start off with the polkas since their is no singing invloved. Now, don't mistake these
polkas with the boring Wisconsin-type polka bands or the German Umpa bands, which by the way were the inspiration for the beginings of Tejano music. I could send you some examples of some polkas that will make you want to whoop-it-up and dance. Check out Flaco's rendition of "Viva Seguin", in my opinion the most popular of all tejano polkas.

Welcome to Tejano Music,

Tito Reyna

― Tito Reyna, Sunday, 2 October 2005 17:39 (twenty years ago)

fifteen years pass...

Has anybody mixed Tejano music with freer improvisation. Or does taht just sound revolting.
Was just wondering if it had been something people had expanded on more recently.
LIke I've been listening to some very early Tejano stuff from I think the 30s and 40s and have wondered if in the wake of things like John Coltrane and the Grateful Dead any artists have stretched out the format in a successful way.

Do want to know what the essential material is considered to be in the more traditional stuff too.
Have been meaning to explore the area fully for decades.

― Stevolende, Wednesday, 18 August 2021 17:12 (four years ago)

Nobody ever answered what "borradita" means. "Borrado" is just somebody with light colored eyes (light brown, green, blue etc.)

I don't think there was ever something such as free improvisation, but there is a Mexican accordion player that is also an experimental musician, Humberto Alvarez

― /asarco (AcnalbasacNoom), Wednesday, 18 August 2021 17:21 (four years ago)

Oh cool.

― curmudgeon, Thursday, 19 August 2021 14:11 (four years ago)

Yeah< and seems like there were some New Music (NYC-based, duh) composer-performers of the 80s who came to regard accordions as "acoustic synthesizers," I read somewhere (prob in The New Music Distribution Services catalogs of that era, and/or Musician magazine).
And speaking of the Coltrane influence, this doesn't go where I thought it would:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWJL-QPiX-A

― dow, Friday, 20 August 2021 23:55 (four years ago)

As far as Flaco goes, aside from Texas Tornados albums (which is mainly where I've heard him), his Arriba El Norte, the 1989 comp on Rounder, is a good gateway, with handy notes and translations of lyrics. It displays his range, w/o getting too trendy.

― dow, Saturday, 21 August 2021 00:05 (four years ago)

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