The world accordion to Phil. (BBC 2 Scot)

Subject: Folklore: The world according to Phil. (BBC 2 Scot
From: Eric the Viking
Date: 09 Mar 11 - 04:07 PM

Just on BBC2 (Scotland), available on BBC i Player. The history and development of the accordion with Phil Cinningham.
Well worth a watch,continued next Wednesday.

Subject: RE: Folklore: The world according to Phil. (BBC 2 Scot
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 10 Mar 11 - 03:45 AM

Is he any relation to Phil Cunningham ?

Dave H

Subject: RE: Folklore: The world according to Phil. (BBC 2 Scot
From: GUEST,eric the viking
Date: 10 Mar 11 - 04:46 AM

Almost certainly, and I am now related to John of hull9 as my keyboard has developed an uncontrolled mind of it's own and almost refutes everything I attempt to type in, going on to create it's own mindless machinations as undecipherable text !!! My cursor has a mind of it's own suddenly placing it'self in the middle of pretyped text as well so that much gobbledegook gets written. I think it has reached end stage failiure.

Not only is Phil, wrongly named but the series is called "The world accordion to Phil", and not as stated.

Anyway, Bloody good programme.

Subject: RE: Folklore: The world according to Phil. (BBC 2 Scot
From: fat B****rd
Date: 10 Mar 11 - 04:49 AM

Fascinating stuff!! Even to a non folk person such as I.

Subject: RE: Folklore: The world according to Phil. (BBC 2 Scot
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 10 Mar 11 - 09:36 AM

Phil is not only a good musician and composer, he is top class presenter and broadcaster.

Dave H

Subject: RE: Folklore: The world according to Phil. (BBC 2 Scot
From: Eric the Viking
Date: 16 Mar 11 - 01:50 PM

Part 2 tonight has Sharron Shannon amongst others. Should be good.

Subject: RE: Folklore: The world according to Phil. (BBC 2 Scot
From: Skipjack K8
Date: 17 Mar 11 - 06:51 AM

Eric, my dear old friend, thanks for the heads-up on this. As ye know, I don't get the chance to call in here much, but Bill sent me a link to the prog and I watched Part 1 last night, absolutely stonking stuff for accordionerds, required watching even. Sadly, I don't think our mates over the pond can get BBC iPlayer.

Hope life is tolerable for you, we must meet up and make some noise this coming summer.

All the best
Greg

Subject: RE: Folklore: The world according to Phil. (BBC 2 Scot
From: Skipjack K8
Date: 17 Mar 11 - 06:57 AM

'Yer 'tis

Subject: RE: Folklore: The world according to Phil. (BBC 2 Scot
From: SteveMansfield
Date: 17 Mar 11 - 07:53 AM

Also on YouTube here.

Excellent stuff, looking forward to the rest of the series.

Subject: RE: The world accordion to Phil. (BBC 2 Scot)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 17 Mar 11 - 12:29 PM

Fixed thread title per request from Skipjack, and "accordion" to the 4:46 AM message from Erik.

Subject: RE: The world accordion to Phil. (BBC 2 Scot)
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Mar 11 - 12:43 PM

And once Phil's over, turn to BBC Alba - the music from 9pm to midnight last Saturday was AWESOME!

Subject: RE: The world accordion to Phil. (BBC 2 Scot)
From: G-Force
Date: 18 Mar 11 - 12:58 PM

I despair of the BBC these days. I pay my license fee, which they use to make lovely programs which they then don't show in England.

Fortunately we've now got freesat so we will be able to watch the later episodes, but we had no way of knowing about this series until we saw mention of it on internet forums after the first episode had been shown.

We've watched the first episode now on i-player, but we don't like doing that because our computer is a poor little old thing which keeps freezing up.

Or maybe we English gets great programs which the Scots don't get, like another re-run of 'Flog It'.

Subject: RE: The world accordion to Phil. (BBC 2 Scot)
From: Skipjack K8
Date: 23 Mar 11 - 01:59 PM

Episode 3 is on BBC2 Scotland tonight at 8pm. Here's the blurb:-

Accordionist Phil Cunningham travels to an infamous backstreet club in Paris, visits a gypsy suburb of Bucharest, plays in a Prague polka bar and is deeply moved by one of Moscow's finest musicians as he tells the story of 'the piano of the poor'.

Because of its portability, affordability and loudness, the accordion became the instrument of choice for many poor communities. Despite such humble origins the music they produced was often spectacularly successful.

Features performances from Mahala Rai Banda, Les Primitifs Du Futur, Marcel Azzola and Viatcheslav Semionov.



It has been box heaven so far, fine programme, well presented

Subject: RE: The world accordion to Phil. (BBC 2 Scot)
From: GUEST,eric the viking
Date: 23 Mar 11 - 06:48 PM

Greg. you must have known I was wondering how you were and thinking about you last week. It has been years since we had some good times. Drop me a pm please. I hope life is good for you.(Not that I log in often)

Tonight's programme showed just how much music brings out raw emotion.Watch Phil in Russia.The series so far has been excellent. (Dave, I have double checked and used extra pressure on the keys to avoid Hull9ness. )

Subject: RE: The world accordion to Phil. (BBC 2 Scot)
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Mar 11 - 01:09 PM

The very fact that the money can be found to send Phil and a film crew round the world making such a film should be cause for great rejoicing in the Age of X Factor and Celebrity Big Brother.

Well done to whoever had the courage to commission it. Highly entertaining, well researched and produced.

Subject: RE: The world accordion to Phil. (BBC 2 Scot)
From: Eric the Viking
Date: 24 Mar 11 - 01:48 PM

Yes, it is a welcome change to the dross that usually fills the corner of the room.(Not that the TV is on that often in our house) Scotland has some decent programmes from both BBC and STV.

Subject: RE: The world accordion to Phil. (BBC 2 Scot)
From: TopcatBanjo
Date: 24 Mar 11 - 06:32 PM

I've watched the first two so far and it's been brilliant. The accordion isn't my favourite instrument but it's still really enjoyable to learn about its history and to see and hear snippets of traditional music from around Europe. And Phil C always seems like a really personable and amiable chap.

I only found out about the programme at all because of this thread, and could only find it on iPlayer by searching for it by name. It doesn't come up when you search on Music/Folk - now why is that? What other gems am I missing out on? I have checked up on BBC Alba listings quite regularly and a lot of their telly music programmes seem to be listed as "not available". Why not?

Subject: RE: The world accordion to Phil. (BBC 2 Scot)
From: Eric the Viking
Date: 29 Mar 11 - 02:12 PM

More tomorrow night !

Subject: RE: The world accordion to Phil. (BBC 2 Scot)
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 29 Mar 11 - 02:19 PM

The wonderful music for "The Ship" and "The Big Picnic" was his fault I think which I recorded from the Promenade!!

Subject: RE: The world accordion to Phil. (BBC 2 Scot)
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 29 Mar 11 - 02:35 PM

http://www.archive.org/serve/BigPicnic1994-10-01HarlandAndWolffEngineShedGovanGlasgowScotland

Here's The Big Picnic

Subject: RE: The world accordion to Phil. (BBC 2 Scot)
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 30 Mar 11 - 02:55 AM

"The Ship" music hasn't found it's way to tela.sugarmegs.

Subject: RE: The world accordion to Phil. (BBC 2 Scot)
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 30 Mar 11 - 08:21 PM

The account of whomever posted it to YouTube closed due to multiple copyright violations. (Aside from the link being bad as posted here.)

Subject: RE: The world accordion to Phil. (BBC 2 Scot)
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 30 Mar 11 - 08:38 PM

STV is has a YouTube channel with the show here, but it's "not available in my country".

~ Becky in Long Beach

Subject: RE: The world accordion to Phil. (BBC 2 Scot)
From: evansakes
Date: 31 Mar 11 - 03:17 AM

Episode 4 now on the BBC iPlayer. Another great hour's entertainment

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0102rp3/The_World_Accordion_to_Phil_Episode_4/

Sorry if this is only available in the UK...

Subject: RE: The world accordion to Phil. (BBC 2 Scot)
From: fat B****rd
Date: 31 Mar 11 - 06:38 AM

Last and best,IMO, of a great series. Aly has the ability to fit in anywhere and to see Fred's Lounge in Mamou still up and running, as well as Marc Savoy, was a treat.
I loved the Tango section and only fleetingly noticed the female dancers........
More like this please, BEEB (or anybody).

Subject: RE: The world accordion to Phil. (BBC 2 Scot)
From: Effsee
Date: 31 Mar 11 - 11:41 AM

Aly?

Subject: RE: The world accordion to Phil. (BBC 2 Scot)
From: fat B****rd
Date: 31 Mar 11 - 12:01 PM

Whoops a daisy! PHIL for f***'s sake.
Thank you Effsee.

Subject: RE: The world accordion to Phil. (BBC 2 Scot)
From: Les from Hull
Date: 31 Mar 11 - 01:16 PM

'Sorry if this is only available in the UK... '

I'm not. We bloody pay for it. But if the BBC makes this excellent series available to less-favoured nations on DVD and you're a fan of squeezebox music, I would urge you to buy/rent it. It's really very good!

Subject: RE: The world accordion to Phil. (BBC 2 Scot)
From: GUEST,Gavin Atkin
Date: 31 Mar 11 - 01:29 PM

The first and third were good. I can't really recommend the second as it was so confused. The film makers and Phil himself seem to make the best sense on things where they don't arrive with their minds already made up...

On that basis I'm very much looking forward to the third...

Gavin

Subject: RE: The world accordion to Phil. (BBC 2 Scot)
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 31 Mar 11 - 01:46 PM

Did you enjoy The Big Picnic?

Subject: RE: The world accordion to Phil. (BBC 2 Scot)
From: Gavin A
Date: 01 Apr 11 - 07:24 AM

The fourth episode was good too - though I was sorry he didn't have time to tell the world about Chemnitzers.

I'm sorry, but I don't know about The Big Picnic. Now if you were asking about Grand Picnic, I could comment...

Gavin

Subject: RE: The world accordion to Phil. (BBC 2 Scot)
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 01 Apr 11 - 09:48 AM

http://promenadeproductions.com/TheBigPicnic.aspx

That gives a lot of information, and from my link on an earlier post you can hear the music I recorded of the show in Glasgow in 1994.

Subject: RE: The world accordion to Phil. (BBC 2 Scot)
From: Gavin A
Date: 01 Apr 11 - 10:41 AM

It's great stuff. And if Rod Paterson and Bill Dudley were involved, I'm unlikely to have much to complain about, never mind Bill Bryden.

So who are you Bonzo?

Subject: RE: The world accordion to Phil. (BBC 2 Scot)
From: GUEST,Jim Martin
Date: 01 Apr 11 - 11:22 AM

I presume when I'm watching it on Sky I'm paying for it through my Sky subscription!

Subject: RE: The world accordion to Phil. (BBC 2 Scot)
From: GUEST,JMM
Date: 04 Apr 11 - 07:12 PM

Although not particularly a big fan of accordion music, I thoroughly enjoyed this short series, as much for the travelogue aspect as for the excellent music. It got me searching for French accordion tunes, and I stumbled on this YouTube clip of a guy called Dominique Rivière who plays absolutely beautifully and whose facial expressions are an absolute joy to watch. It might just qualify as one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen or heard!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Qt-ohf6jUo