Now, Oscar carries on the legacy with his debut album on ARCO G Records, titled La Contestación de ‘Al Pie de la Tumba,’ the sequel to the heart-wrenching original. A story-song set to waltz tempo, it talks about family bonds that can never be broken.
Oscar, a multi-instrumentalist, also plays diatonic accordion, drums, percussion and electric bass. Growing up in Santa Cruz, Calif., he learned the accordion from his father Encarnación, who toured the West with his norteño group.
But Oscar’s love for the bajo sexto and the homegrown conjunto music of Texas helped convince him to move to San Antonio in 2001. Here, he was able to learn more from his great friend Max Baca, whose bajo sexto licks grace about 80 percent of Tejano studio recordings. Baca performs on some tracks from La Contestación, as does the talented accordionist and drummer Michael Guerra.
Oscar has found himself in demand, too, and he’s played bajo sexto with such legends as five-time Grammy winner Flaco Jiménez, Grammy nominees Mingo Saldívar and La Tropa F, along with Nick Villarreal and Conjunto Volcan.
La Contestación is a labor of love for Oscar, who’s not used to being the front man (though you could never tell that from listening to the CD). “I decided to record some music for my family. It’s a family project. There are songs that my dad and my uncle wrote. All these songs are sentimental; they’re true stories.”
One listen to the South Texas feel of the accordion and bajo sexto, and the sincere lyrics and vocals, will convince fans of conjunto and world music that they’re listening to something special.
Oscar has his own recording studio, where he engineered Flaco’s latest album, In Heaven There Ain’t No Beer.
