I actually got up the nerve to take my accordion to a music party recently. There were a couple of box players there and we sat around playing Breton tunes, French bourrees, some Dutch tunes, and a bizarre Basque dance that one of the box players taught us. I was pleased to see that everyone else at the party thought the whole squeezebox trio thing was very cool.

The Balkan tunes in 7, 11, 13, etc. work especially well on the accordion, I think because of the way that the instrument can provide bass notes, chords, melody, and a strong rhythmic pulse all at the same time. The tunes in odd time signatures can get a bit, well, odd if they are not grounded in a strong rhythm.

John Peekstok