Bronco 956 is my persona. My name is Jose Urbina Rios. I would put on my cowboy hat and boots and go to the pulga in Alamo to dance, and the people would tell me, ‘You are Bronco’.
In the five or so months since videos of him dancing at the Alamo Flea Market began acquiring hundreds of thousands of views, the man known as Bronco 956 has become nearly ubiquitous on social media platforms for users throughout the Rio Grande Valley.
His face, flashy style and unique dance moves have helped propel the local celebrity to such popularity, that he has signed a contract with a local talent agency, Mucho Talent LLC.
His name is Jose Urbina Rios, a native of the Mexican town of Rio Bravo who is dancing his way to the hearts of pulga shoppers and bar hoppers throughout South Texas.
“Bronco 956 is my persona,” Rios said. “My name is Jose Urbina Rios. I would put on my cowboy hat and boots and go to the pulga in Alamo to dance, and the people would tell me, ‘You are Bronco’.”
Rios is referring to Jose Guadalupe Esparza, lead vocalist for the popular Grammy award-winning Mexican band, Grupo Bronco.
“The people would call me Bronco, and I decided to add the 956 because I didn’t want any problems with the real Bronco, Jose Guadalupe Esparza,” he said. “I’m just an imitator.”
Rios is known to frequent the Alamo Flea Market on Sunday mornings. He said that he regularly visited the popular shopping area to buy food and listen to the live bands that perform around noon.
“I would go in the mornings, and then right at noon is when the dancing would start,” he recalled. “I would normally go very casual, but one day I took my cowboy boots and hat. That day, someone took a video of me dancing and they uploaded it to TikTok and Facebook, and that’s how Bronco 956 started.”
The video in question showed Rios at the Alamo Flea Market with the caption, ‘Hasta Lupe el de Bronco baila en la pulga de Alamo.’ The video in question was uploaded to TikTok in September, and has since garnered nearly a half-million views.
The individual who uploaded the video later approached Rios and told him that the video had gone viral.
“He said, ‘Would you let me take some more (videos)?’ I said, sure. I have no problem with it,” Rios said. “I just come to dance. So, he started recording and then more people started bringing their cameras. They’d surround me and take pictures. Even now, thank God I’m famous. I didn’t expect that.”
Rios was born into a family with 13 brothers and sisters. At the age of 14, he immigrated to the United States to begin working with his older brother in construction, building houses out of bricks, stone or concrete blocks in Houston, Dallas, and even as far away as New York.
With each paycheck, he’d send the money home to his mother — only keeping enough to buy himself food.
“I started in construction when I was 14 years old,” he recalled. “My brother told me when I got to Houston, ‘Do you want to go to school or do you want to work?’ I said, ‘No, I want to work so I can help my mom.’”
“Orale! Echale ganas,” his brother replied.
Even in his youth, he was drawing comparisons to the Grupo Bronco singer.
“Even in Houston, people would call me ‘Bronco.’ I didn’t believe it, and I didn’t realize I looked that much like him so much that people even now call me that,” he recalled. “I didn’t realize that I looked like him, but I guess it’s because I’m moreno (dark skinned) like Lupe, tall and strong, I’d say. Who knows? I guess only God knows what He’s doing.”
Since moving to the Valley some 20 years ago, Rios continued to work in construction until his recent rise in popularity.
“Right now, it’s all about dancing and being on stage,” Rios said. “That’s my job now.”
While he said that he is grateful for his newfound popularity, the 52-year-old man said that he has not been immune to name-calling and racists. He said people have called him “negro” because of his dark skin.
“Negro pero bonito,” he replied. “I’m not ashamed of my skin color. God made different races and colors. I’m one of the negrito sabrosos.”
Despite that, Rios said that he hopes to be a positive influence in the community and spread love with his dancing.
“I just want to live in peace. I want to live as ‘Bronco,’” he said. “I feel very happy. People, when I pass by, will call out to me, ‘Bronco!’ and I’ll respond ‘Uahh!’”
“Bronco956 is still galloping. Uahh!”
Staff writers Valerie Gonzalez and Xavier Alvarez contributed to this story.
