KHOU CultureMap Moment
The accordion gets hip: Squeezebox heroes to draw kings and queens
What unites a wide variety of Texas music — from Tejano tunes to Czech polka bands and zydeco? One instrument: the accordion.
That's what CultureMap reporter Tyler Rudick found out when he ventured to Miller Outdoor Theatre for this week's KHOU CultureMap Moment. The grand outdoor venue in Hermann Park is the site of the 24th annual Accordion Kings and Queens Festival Saturday night at 6:30 p.m., where some of the state's best squeezebox players will perform.
"R&B is definitely in zydeco, jazz and of course blues," says Keyun Dickson of Keyun and the Zydeco Masters. "And, now, today's zydeco has a lot of hip-hop in it."
"It shows off genres of music that are very Texas, very Mexico, very Louisiana, all of this region. And it shows the thread that runs through them, which is the accordion," says Miller Outdoor Theater spokesperson Cissy Segall Davis.
See and hear for yourself in this KHOU CultureMap Moment: