The Ybarra Boyz | Courtesy photo
McAllen, TX — Brother duo Abraham and Rogelio Ybarra, both born and raised in Mcallen, Texas, are known as The Ybarra Boyz and have garnered thousands of views for their TikTok videos sharing a passion for Tejano and Conjunto music.
The Ybarra Boyz are 9 and 11 years old and their passion for music started at a very young age. Abraham Ybarra is in the fourth grade and attends elementary school at McAllen ISD. He has always had a love for music, especially Conjunto and Tejano music. His first interest was playing the drums following his musician father, also a drummer, then he slowly started to find interest in playing the guitar/bajo sexto. At the age of 6, Abraham practiced at home in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic with his father. In 2022, he started attending and taking lessons/classes at Melhart Music Center in McAllen with Maximo Mendiala.
Rogelio Ybarra III, known as Roy, is in the sixth grade and attends middle school with McAllen ISD. Roy is part of his school band and plays the cornet. He started to show an interest in music after his brother started to play more. Roy began playing the accordion at the age of 9, during COVID. He learned by watching videos on YouTube and with help from his uncle Juan P. Ramos, accordionist for Grupo Tremendo. In May 2022, Roy also started attending lessons/classes at Melhart Music Center in McAllen with Maximo Mendiala. Throughout Roy’s music journey, he has had great mentors/musicians that have helped him learn the accordion.
The boys’ grandmother, Rosario Ramirez, and friend Erasmo Garza began posting videos of the boys on social media. Ramirez was very proud to see her grandsons play. She posted her first video of the boys in early January and the video reached over 30,000 views in just a few days. The Ybarra Boyz parents made a TikTok for the duo and started to post more, which skyrocketed with over 550K views and now more than 12K followers within a few days.
The Ybarra Boyz have not performed anywhere on stage just yet, however, they have performed at family parties and gatherings.
Roy would have loved to have met the late Esteban “Steve” Jordan because he wants to know what inspired him to play music and how he played the accordion in such a unique way from other musicians. Another person Roy would want to meet is Jaime DeAnda because he plays the accordion by dancing and having fun at the same time.
Abraham would have loved to have met Johnny Cash because he had a unique way and rhythm of playing the guitar.
The love these boys have for the music is absolutely incredible and are the new generation keeping La Onda alive.
The Ybarra Boys would like to thank these individuals for being great mentors for the boys.
- Rogelio Ybarra Jr. the boys’ father (bajo/Drummer)
- Jerry Alvarez (songwriter/producer)- Bajo Player
- Maximo Mendiala (Max)- (Teacher/Musician) from Melhart Music Center:
- Juan P. Ramos (Accordionist from Grupo Tremendo)
- Isaac Cavazos (Accordionist from Grupo Zenderro)
Follow the Ybarra Boyz on their musical journey on TikTok (@TheYbarraBoyz).
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