Just before midnight on Saturday, South Fourth Avenue is quiet. The snowbirds and locals who pack the city's most legendary Mexican restaurants have long since left the heart of South Tucson.
The piercing shriek of an accordion breaks the silence. From nearly a block away the bass holds the beat. 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4; the drums are right on cue. A smooth guitar and rapid violin top off the sound.
Antonio's, 2231 S. Fourth Ave., is very much alive, and should have a sign that reads "locals only." The last standing bar in the city of South Tucson is also the nation's home to Waila music.
The music and the people pour out of the small bar on the corner of Fourth Avenue and 33rd Street where Gertie and the Tohono O'odham (T.O.) Boys are playing at full blast. The only noises over the music are the yelps and whistles of those standing around the circle of dancers. It started with two or three, but now about 15 people dance the "chicken scratch" packed tightly together in the tiny bar.
Gertie Lopez heads the five-member band of Tohono O'od-ham. Lopez - standing just over 5 feet tall - and the T.O. Boys play on cracked and fading tile facing the bar. Their stage is an area vacated by a pool table shoved to the side and covered with a tarp.
"I've been playing here for 18 years now," Lopez says of Antonio's. A shiny silver necklace with a small silver accordion hangs from her neck. "I've been playing accordion and Waila music for over 30 years."
Lopez is related to every member of her band by blood or through marriage. Her cousin, Solamus "Chando" Thomas plays a 10-string guitar for the band.
"I taught myself how to play when I was six years old," Thomas says, his large, somewhat intimidating frame softened by wire glasses and an infectious laugh. "When I started, I played heavy metal music but was drawn to Waila when I got older."
At the end of each song, dancers depart to their respective tables around the bar, fanning faces with their hands, in search of a cold drink. A bottle of Budweiser at $2.50 a pop will do just fine.
The other band members also take long sips of beer and the band strikes up again. The accordion is first, playing loud and fast. Then the bass comes in heavily, accompanied by the crashing drums. To the untrained ear, it sounds like a mix of polka and mariachi.
One person starts gliding back and forth. But Waila is social music, and its dance, known as "chicken scratch," is a social dance. Soon, most seats are empty and the dance floor is full, everyone moving counterclockwise between the bar and band.
"This music dates back to the 1700s" says Lopez. "European missionaries taught Native Americans to play instruments like violins for church.
"Native Americans in the Southwest combining their new talents with traditional tribal music and Mexican influences make Waila," she says. "As technologies got better, violins were replaced by guitars and accordions." Waila gets its name from the Mexican word "baila," meaning dance.
Jeff Fouts, owner of Antonio's, says his place becomes a "native bar" on the weekends, but encourages people from all over Tucson to come and experience the unique music.
"The music is great," he says. "We're the only bar in Tucson, maybe in the world, that regularly features live Waila music."
Gertie and the T.O Boys play live at Antonio's every Friday through Sunday night.
There is no cover and the drinks are cheap. Fouts welcomes anyone, local or not, to put on dancing shoes and dance the chicken scratch.
