By Roberta Walden, Uvalde Palooza Music Festival committee

Picture : Conjunto Mi Rey | Conjunto Mi Rey  band members will play at 2 p.m. March 19 during the Uvalde Palooza Music Festival.  (l-r) Herman Sarabia, bass guitar and lead vocals; Erick Esquivel, accordion and vocals; Joe Ybarra, bajo quinto and vocals; and Herbie Maldonado, drums. 

“I’m going to play it for the rest of my life,” said Del Rio based Conjunto Mi Rey leader Joe Ybarra of the conjunto music he loves.

He says he played in traditional Tejano bands all his life “with horns, keyboards, nine band members: orchestra- like,” but, then, “about ten years ago” he learned to play the ten-string bajo quinto and, along with it, conjunto Tejano. Now it is all he wants to play. 

“All music requires reading the audience to measure how the audience is responding, Ybarra said, “but conjunto Tejano is, to me, more physical and passionate, and it is critical to project that energy to the audience. I love it.”

Ybarra continued, “In addition to the bajo quinto, the accordion is an essential component of this genre, and it is not an easy instrument to learn.” He said that most accordion players learn from family members at a very young age and that playing an accordion is a skill one seems to be born with.

“This music is so much fun,” Ybarra said. “It is a real pay-off when we go play somewhere like the Fiesta in San Antonio and crowds of people on their way somewhere else stop to listen to us.”

Uvaldeans will soon have the chance to share in the fun of Ybarra’s band.

Conjunto Mi Rey is one of the seven eclectic Texas bands booked to play outdoors at the Rotary Amphitheater during the free outdoor portion of the Uvalde Palooza Music Festival. The festival is scheduled for Saturday, March 19. Conjunto Mi Rey takes the stage at 2 p.m. 

Musicians scheduled to play during the free outdoor portion of the  music festival on the 19th are Texas country artists, Morgan Ashley, at 10 a.m., Kay O’Neill, at 11 a.m., and Kathy Bauer with Michael Broussard at noon; the  young rock and roll band, Syphon, at 1 p.m.; Tejano conjunto artists  Conjunto Mi Rey at 2 p.m.; Latina artist, Analiz Mireya y La Kadenzia, at 3 p.m.; and the Tejano band Ambience Caliente at 5 p.m. 

At 4 p.m., there will be a Selena look-alike contest hosted by Radio Station KUVA. The contest will feature a cash prize for first, second, and third place winners.

At 8 p.m., the music festival moves indoors to the Ssgt. Willie De Leon Civic Center when the doors open for a ticketed dance featuring Ricardo Castillon y La Diferenzia.

The Uvalde Palooza music festival is presented by the Rotary Club of Uvalde with event co-sponsors, the City of Uvalde, DKM Enterprises, Galo Eye Care Center, the Uvalde Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, and Uvalde Memorial Hospital. 

Advance tickets for the  indoor Civic Center dance that evening, featuring Ricardo Castillon y la Diferenzia can be purchased at Eventbrite.com as well as at the Uvalde Convention and Visitors Bureau and Galo Eye Care Center.

For further information about the outdoor music festival, you may text or call vendor chair, Veronica Conoley, at 830-279-8504