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far back as I can remember there was music playing in our home.
When I was a kid it was Tejano/Conjunto, Rock & Roll, R&B,
Jazz, Blues, Country, Cuban Boleros, Musica International, Salsa
y Merengue…you name it. Mi padre era musico. He had his own
group, Carlos Landin
y Los Rondels, out of Laredo Texas. Tejano/Conjunto
music left a big impact on me, as my father, 2002 TTMA Hall of Fame
inductee, made a living making this music. I remember listening
to Los Chachos, Conjunto Bernal, Tony De La Rosa, Esteban Jordan,
Ruben Vela, and many of the other accordion greats.Thus the accordion
always appealed to me on a personal, musical, and a historical level.
I really related to them as they were my people playing our music. |
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| In the mid-80’s when I was old enough, I started going to local dances practically every weekend. I’d watch the top Tejano/Conjunto groups come into town and I started focusing on the accordion. I saw a lot of great accordionist back then, but it was until the late 80’s that I saw an accordionist that would change the way I’d see the accordion from that day forth. That accordionist was Joel Guzman. On top of the fact that he knew the accordion like the back of his hand, he played it with heart. Every note he played meant something, he never played a song the same way twice. He played what he was feeling at the moment. I loved that. It was like when you see footage of Stevie Ray Vaughn on Austin City Limits. I mean, you don’t have to like the blues or even like the guitar, but when Stevie played, you’d stop and listen, cause he played with heart….that the vibe Joel Guzman put off when I’d watch him play. People young and old who like or don’t like the accordion stop and listen when he plays…it’s magnetic. I sure did and watching him motivated me to buy my first accordion. In the late 90’s I started collecting button accordions. I own 1, 2 and 3 row button boxes, currently numbering 30. Accordions from the early 1900’s to my newest, a 2003 Beltrami that I debuted at the 2003 Tejano/Conjunto Festival. In 2000, while searching for a Tex-Mex accordion for sale, I met another gentleman that made a very positive impact on my life, that’s Gilbert Reyes, of the world renowned Reyes Accordions. It’s through his Open Forum that I began to meet people with the same love for the accordion and Conjunto music, la musica de mi gente. In August of 2001, while on the Reyes Accordions Open Forum, I met Glenn Alessi of Fidenza, Italy. I decided to e-mail Glenn because of a posting regarding his admiration of accordionist Joel Guzman. Naturally I wondered how someone in Italy knew of my friend Joel Guzman’s music. We began corresponding daily and eventually helped Joel Guzman garner an endorsement deal with Dino Baffetti Accordions of Castelfidardo, Italy. When Joel’s first Baffetti arrived and I heard and saw it in person, I knew this accordion maker had a big future in Tex-Mex accordions. A month later I received a Beltrami accordion that I showed at the 2002 Tejano/Conjunto Festival. Within 2 months I’d seen, heard, and played these two accordions that changed my life. They opened my eyes and made me understand the many beauties of fine Italian craftsmanship. My friendship with Glenn Alessi became stronger as he echoed my feeling and helped me to start a relationship with the makers of these fine accordions, Genuino Baffetti and Claudio Beltrami. I told Glenn that I wanted to help show the Tejano/Conjunto/Norteno accordionist what I knew to be true, that both of these accordions were forces to be reckoned with. Thus began Karlitos Way Accordions. I want to help today and tomorrows accordion player by giving them a choice. Karlitos Way Accordions specializes in Tex-Mex Accordions, because that’s what I know, that’s what my people play, and that’s where my history lies. I want to help to break the paradigm that many accordionist have long had that to play our music you’d need one of the two current popular accordion brands. I welcome any accordionist, student, novice, or professional to come hear and see the difference….to understand what I’m already fortunate to know, that Baffetti and Beltrami Tex-Mex Accordions are the accordions of today and tomorrows generation. Karlos
Landin
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