**Special thanks to Juan Soliz for making this readily available to us.
Enrique Vela
El Rey del Chotis
Enríque Vela, one of the pioneer accordionist of South Texas was born at Rancho Palomas in Sarita, Texas, on May 28, 1922 to Refúgio and Silvéria Fuentes de Vela. Rancho Palomas was part of the Kennedy ranch where Refugio worked.
In 1929 the family moved to Rancho Gallina Blanca, which was owned by Chester Christopher, and was located west of the Naval Air Station in Kingsville. While there Enrique would make guitars out of cigar boxes and attach strings for the chords.
In 1937, he started playing the real guitar and teamed up with Fortunato Mendiola, an accordionist, to form a duo. Their first professional engagement was at a wedding at Rancho Sta. Julia, which was by Agua Dulce. Vela later teamed up with Ambrósio Vasquez, another accordionist.
In 1940 Enrique learned to play the accordion, and he and Tomas Garza teamed up as a duo from 1940-1946. They would play at dances in Kingsville, Sarita, Riviera, and Bishop. In Kingsville they played at Salon Solis, in Riviera at Salon Ruiz, and at Loyola Beach at the Ranch belonging to Simón Perez. They would play from 8:00 P.M. until 4 or 5 A.M. The rate for an all-nighter was $1.25.
In 1941 Enrique married Margarita Hinojosa. They had four sons and two daughters.
At the end of 1946, Vela formed a duo with Marcos Garcia of Alice. In 1947 they moved to San Antonio and worked there until 1952 playing at clubs, weddings, dance halls, and other family gatherings. While there in 1948, they recorded their first record with Discos De Los Santos. Some of the most popular polkas were, “Viva La Curva”, “Eres Alta y Delgada”, “Tierra Blanca”, and “Una Mujer de Este Barrio”. Together they recorded with Ideal Records of Alice, Imperial Records of San Antonio, Torero Records of Corpus Christi, and Siesta Records of San Antonio.
In 1952, Vela moved back to Kingsville and the duo broke up. That didn’t stop him from performing though, as he started a conjunto. The group was called Enrique Vela y Su Conjunto.
In the mid 60’s Enrique’s sons started performing with him, as they all knew how to play an instrument. They toured the northern state of Michigan and even recorded there. They recorded for Pretty Good Fine Discos of Detroit. The songs were “Pretty Good Fine Polka”, and “Huerta de Oro”. Another label they recorded for was Del Rey, and the song they recorded was “Corrido de Detroit”. They would also perform in the surrounding smaller cities such as Pontiac, , St. John, and Lansing. One of the salones was owned by a former resident of Bishop, Pablo Garza, and it was located at Luna Pier, on the Michigan and Ohio border. Vela also toured in California and Florida.
When asked why he was given the title of “El Rey del Chotis” he said, “When I get requests I play what the people want, and in certain places they would request alot of Chotises. Some conjuntos would not play them as much and I would, so the people started calling me El Rey del Chotis.” One particular place that he recalled that loved to dance to chotises was at La Posta Ramireña, located between Alice and George West.
Enrique still has his conjunto with his sons, which are Juan- bajo sexto, Ruben- drums, Martin- bass, and Enrique on accordion. He has no plans to retire as long as he feels good and can still play. He would like for the younger musicians to continue playing conjunto music and not let the redova, vals, polka, chotis, and the mazurka fade away and be just a memory from the past.
This article appeared in “El Mesteño”, Volume II February 1999, Issue 17, page 18, and is copyright.
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Enrique was inducted into the Conjunto Music Hall of Fame in San Benito a few years back, as well at the Tejano Roots Hall of Fame in Alice.
Little known fact is that the Bernal Brothers of the famed Conjunto Bernal, started out as roadies with Enrique. Eventually they learned to play and went out on their own.
R.I.P Enrique Vela
