Rybak to fill Westfest with his vocals and accordion tunes

            Chris Rybak is the accordion player from Hallettsville who has been filling Texas dance hall floors and outdoor concert with fans enjoying his showmanship and fresh enthusiastic musical style.

He plans to bring that enthusiasm to Westfest this year as he will make his first appearance at the Czech festival with a noon – 4 p.m. appearance on Saturday under the West Tent.

With influences on his music varying from Hank Williams, Garth Brooks, Flaco Jimenez, Myron Floren, Floyd Cramer and George Strait, it´s no wonder he is capturing the hearts of thousands of people across Texas.        

Chris has been playing accordion for over 11 years. He plays a variety of music from Czech/German polkas and waltzes, country and gospel, to his style of toe-tapping Cajun and Tex-Mex music.  

His “high energy” style of accordion music attracts the attention of all ages, especially the younger generations (many of whom who have never liked polka before).

In 1993, Chris received the New Dawn Award from the Texas Polka Music Association and hopes to compete for a National Grammy Award in the near future.

He is currently working with GLAD Music´s producer Mike Daily who also plays steel guitar with George Strait´s Ace In The hole Band.

Chris´s CD´S are available at most Wal-Marts across the country as well as on the Internet at www.walmart.com, www.amazon.com, www.gladmusicco.com and various other websites.

Chris now has three CDs available as well as various tapes and videos.  His goal is to bring back the popularity of accordion music and to share it with as wide of an audience as possible.

Chris has been the featured entertainer on a Caribbean cruise, where he became the hit of the ship´s entertainment, and was nicknamed the “Accordion cowboy”. He also set a record for being the first entertainer to perform in all lounges on board the ship Enchanted Isle.

Chris also represented Czech heritage for Texas when he performed at the Capitol in Austin as the Legislature reconvened January 2003, Rybak had the honor of playing and entertaining for the Czech Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla on July 18, 2003 at the University of Houston Alumni Center. The special reception was hosted by West resident Raymond Snokhous, honorary Consul of Texas for the Czech Republic, and his wife Clarice.

He entertained everyone at the reception with his energetic style of accordion music and the Prime Minister and his wife Viktoria also danced to his version of the Chicken Dance. Later in the evening Rybak played various sing-a-longs including several Czech songs as well as Cajun, Tex-Mex, Patriotic and some Texas-style country music. “It was truly an honor to share my style of music with the Prime Minister and that was a great opportunity to play for such a nice function,” he said.

Also Rybak and his wife Edita returned last spring 2003 from their one month trip to Slovakia. He entertained six times while in Europe and shared his music with people all over the country. He also came out with a video “European Vacation with Chris Rybak”. For more info, an updated schedule, and to see photos from the performances mentioned above, as well as many others, check out Chris Rybak´s website at www.chrisrybak.com.

Photo: Chris Rybak is to bring his unique style of entertainment to Westfest as he will kick off Saturday´s music under the West Tent from noon - 4 p.m.

photo: Chris Rybak will return to the stage for this year´s Salsa Festival