Ramón Ayala (born August 13, 1928) is an American accordion player from Hidalgo, Texas, who currently resides in the

Rio Grande Valley The Lower Rio Grande Valley ( es, Valle del Río Grande), commonly known as the Rio Grande Valley or locally as the Valley or RGV, is a region spanning the border of Texas and Mexico located in a floodplain of the Rio Grande near its mouth. Th ...

. He is the son of Pedro Ayala. His progressive style and technique has earned him the 2009 Accordion Player of the Year Award from the South Texas Conjunto Association. In 2009 he celebrated his 45th career anniversary. As of 2019, Ayala was still performing at the age of 91.

Career

Ramón Ayala started playing the accordion in 1951. He learned to play the drums in 1954. In 1955, he picked up the

bajo sexto Bajo sexto (Spanish: "sixth bass") is a Mexican string instrument from the guitar family with 12 strings in six double courses. A closely related instrument is the bajo quinto (Spanish: "fifth bass") which has 10 strings in five double courses ...

after his father Pedro Ayala, El Monarca del Acordeón, showed him his first two chords. By 1956, Ramón Ayala and his brother Pedro Ayala Jr., who played the accordion, joined their father in Pedro Ayala y Su Conjunto. Since 1956, Ramón Ayala has gone on to record for over a dozen studios releasing 88 recordings in album, single, cassette and CD formats. Ramón Ayala has recorded with

Freddy Fender Freddy Fender (born Baldemar Garza Huerta; June 4, 1937 – October 14, 2006) was an American Tejano, country and rock and roll musician, known for his work as a solo artist and in the groups Los Super Seven and the Texas Tornados. He was best ...

, Paulino Bernal and

Esteban Jordan Esteban "Steve" Jordan (February 23, 1939 – August 13, 2010) was a jazz, rock, blues, conjunto and Tejano musician from the United States. He was also known as "El Parche", "The Jimi Hendrix of the accordion", and "the accordion wizard". A ...

, among others. To date, he has released 105 recordings.

References

External links

The Arhoolie Foundation 1

The Arhoolie Foundation 2

The Arhoolie Foundation 3
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ayala, Ramón 1928 births Living people Latin Grammy Award winners People from Hidalgo County, Texas Bajo sexto and bajo quinto players American male songwriters Songwriters from Texas Latin music songwriters 20th-century accordionists 20th-century American musicians 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century accordionists 21st-century American musicians 21st-century American male musicians