International Accordion Awareness Month

Subject: International Accordion Awareness Month
From: CarolC
Date: 06 Jun 06 - 10:15 AM

I know you're all as excited about this as me. And now, in honor of the day (6/6/66), I bring you this...


http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5444754

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1335255

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1404985

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=3317018

Subject: RE: International Accordion Awareness Month
From: CarolC
Date: 06 Jun 06 - 10:18 AM

Oops.

*6/6/06*

Subject: RE: International Accordion Awareness Month
From: catspaw49
Date: 06 Jun 06 - 10:41 AM

Proof that accordions ARE instruments of Satan!

Spaw

Subject: RE: International Accordion Awareness Month
From: MMario
Date: 06 Jun 06 - 10:43 AM

soul food and accordian music. Not the most intuitive of pairings, but not incompatible.

Subject: RE: International Accordion Awareness Month
From: Skipjack K8
Date: 06 Jun 06 - 01:45 PM

I don't know, Carol! You come to evangelise these savages, and they just boil you alive and eat you.........

I will renew my missionary zeal forthwith, as I am operating my aerophone with that wonderful acolyte Sam Pirt in this very parish this very sixy evening, in that sextet of pubs, the Six Bells (Anyone remember Bell Accordions?)

Subject: RE: International Accordion Awareness Month
From: Scoville
Date: 06 Jun 06 - 01:59 PM

Oh, no--soul food and accordions TOTALLY go together! Lots of both here in the South. Just ask Louisiana.

One of my dear friends plays both banjo and accordion. Poor girl is the butt of every musician joke ever invented.

National Accordion Association

Cajun Music Hall of Fame

Norteno & Tex-Mex accordion at Elderly Music

Subject: RE: International Accordion Awareness Month
From: Scoville
Date: 06 Jun 06 - 02:02 PM

Iowa: Dwight Lamb (fiddle & piano accordion)

Subject: RE: International Accordion Awareness Month
From: beardedbruce
Date: 06 Jun 06 - 02:11 PM

threads:

International Accordion Awareness Month
BS: Islamic terrorists arrested in Ontario

Subject: RE: International Accordion Awareness Month
From: GUEST,Jim
Date: 06 Jun 06 - 02:17 PM

Spaw said,"Proof that accordions ARE instruments of Satan!"

This reminded me of the Far Side cartoon with the caption: Welcome to Heaven, Here's your harp. Welcome to Hell, Here's your accordion.

Remebering Sally Anne Forester, who used to be a member of Bill Monroe's band, I've seen the comment,"Let's put the accordion back in Bluegrass where it belongs.

Subject: RE: International Accordion Awareness Month
From: GUEST,Jim
Date: 06 Jun 06 - 02:21 PM

Scoville said,"One of my dear friends plays both banjo and accordion. Poor girl is the butt of every musician joke ever invented."
I'm one of those people who has 2 accordions and 4 banjos. I know how she feels.

Subject: RE: International Accordion Awareness Month
From: Azizi
Date: 06 Jun 06 - 03:25 PM

"soul food and accordian music"

Yes! And when you speak of Louisiana music, don't forget Zydeco!

****

And how about this for poetic justice? As a result of a posting in my website about secular slave songs and the banjo, I recently 'met' a professional Black banjo player. He lives in the Washington, D.C area and I'm not sure what kind of music he plays.

This banjoist {if that's the correct term} informed me that there were other Black banjo musicians in the United States. I have encouraged him-and his fellow banjo players- to visit Mudcat.

I have sent him the link to this thread. I'm hoping he {and other Black banjo players} not only visits here, but posts here.

And I wouldn't be surprised if they knew someone who plays the accordian!

The more the merrier.

Subject: RE: International Accordion Awareness Month
From: Scoville
Date: 06 Jun 06 - 03:36 PM

Buckwheat Zydeco

Leroy Thomas

Zydeco Boneshakers, featureing "Queen" Ann Goodly

And, of course, Clifton Chenier


And, just for you, Azizi:
The Black Banjo Gathering.

Article about the Black Banjo List Serve.

Black banjo at Amazon.com.

Subject: RE: International Accordion Awareness Month
From: Peace
Date: 06 Jun 06 - 03:39 PM

ACCORDION, n.

An instrument in harmony with the sentiments of an assassin. (A Bierce)

Subject: RE: International Accordion Awareness Month
From: Peace
Date: 06 Jun 06 - 03:40 PM

What's the difference between an accordion and a trampoline?




You take your shoes off before you jump up and down on a trampoline.


Hope the month is a happy one, Carol.

Subject: RE: International Accordion Awareness Month
From: beardedbruce
Date: 06 Jun 06 - 03:40 PM

Now the thread lists...


International Accordion Awareness Month
BS: 1,000 British Soldiers desert

Subject: RE: International Accordion Awareness Month
From: Azizi
Date: 06 Jun 06 - 04:01 PM

Thanks, Scoville.

I appreciate you posting those links-for me and for others who may be interested.

I'm trying to remain open to new sounds and new experiences.

Here's some information about the accordian that I learned from goggling:

"The accordion certainly gets around. In the almost two centuries since its invention, in one form or another, it has found its way to the far corners of the globe. Be it called "acordeon" or "bayan" or "trekspill" or "fisarmonica," the accordion seems to find a place in almost anyone's music.

The first accordion was built by the German Friedrich Buschmann in 1822, who called it a Ziehharmonika (zieh meaning "pull"). Seven years later, in Vienna, Austria, Cyrill Damian began to mass-produce the instrument, and he dubbed it "accordion."

So how did this instrument come to be a central element in the Cajun music of Louisiana and the conjunto/Norteña music of Texas? The easy answer: Credit the German immigrants of the 19th century, who populated both of these areas in significant numbers. But like most matters of artistic inventiveness, the lines of influence are not always clearly defined. What we do know is when the accordion wound up on the Texas border in the hands of Narciso Martínez, and in Louisiana with Amédé Ardoin, the result was some of the best and influential sounds ever to emerge from the squeezebox.

...Anyone with a passion for Norteña or Cajun musicor for any traditional musicwill make the case that the development of the style cannot be credited to any one individual. By its very nature, traditional music styles develop generation to generation, with younger musicians deriving inspiration from those who came before. To label a given musician as "pivotal," requires that we do so within a very limited timeframe. The "pivot" keeps changing. Noteworthy Norteña and Cajun accordionists include the likes of Valerio Longoria, El Conjunto Bernal, Flaco Jiménez, Joe Falcon, Nathan Abshire and Iry Lejeune. Each made unique contributions, as do a number of contemporary Norteña and Cajun artists. That said, let's tip our hats to two highly influential players:

Narciso Martinez has been called the "father" of the modern conjunto for promoting the accordion and the bajo sexto and for his creativity as an accordionist. He had a rapid, highly ornamented styleusing a two-row accordion and emphasizing the treble end, while leaving the bass parts to his bajo sexto player, Santiago Almeida. His approach was unique in the 1930s, and his influence would be felt on other musicians in South Texas throughout the '30s, '40s and into the '50s. Born in Matamoros in 1911, across the river from the city of Brownsville, Texas, Martínez made his first recordings in1936 and was musically active for over 60 years. Known as El Hurrican del Valle (Hurricane of the Valley), he was a recipient of the National Heritage Award for his contributions to one of America's important ethnic traditions.

Amédé Ardoin was black, creole, French-speaking accordion player who had an enormous impact on Cajun music, and he is often credited with creating the modern Cajun style. Ardoin's innovative, syncopated style made him a favorite at both black and white dances. He grew up in the area around Eunice and Mamou. As a teenager, he played dances, carrying his accordion in a flour sack. In 1921 he teamed up with the great fiddler Dennis McGee, and the two recorded extensively in the early '30s. Many older Cajun musicians mention Amédé Ardoin as having a major influence on their music.
Marc Savoy points to Ardoin's great strength of hands and wrists as a contributing factor in his ability to play the button accordion. He had speed and dexterity. But more important, was Ardoin's "vision." Says Savoy: "The notes he decided to use, and the way he decided to use them, the spaces between themit put you on the edge of your chair. Simple in the way Frost's The Road Not Taken is simple."

http://www.honkytonks.org/showpages/accordion.htm

Subject: RE: International Accordion Awareness Month
From: Scoville
Date: 06 Jun 06 - 04:14 PM

The legendary Hackberry Ramblers, since 1933.


Some young bands:
Lost Bayou Ramblers

Pine Leaf Boys

Subject: RE: International Accordion Awareness Month
From: Scoville
Date: 06 Jun 06 - 04:22 PM

Floyd's Record Shop, source of swamp music & humor.

Subject: RE: International Accordion Awareness Month
From: Scoville
Date: 06 Jun 06 - 04:53 PM

LynnMarie, modern rock-infused polka.

Subject: RE: International Accordion Awareness Month
From: CarolC
Date: 06 Jun 06 - 05:15 PM

Accordion IS soul food, musically speaking.

Subject: RE: International Accordion Awareness Month
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 06 Jun 06 - 07:07 PM

"Here's some information about the accordian that I learned from goggling"

The instrument has been known to arouse many things in many people....

But then my grandfather told me (before I achieved double digit age) that he had heard of "Hones John", but never "Robin' John" till I came along...

Oh, you meant 'Googleing'..... :-)



"Accordion IS soul food, musically speaking. "

It has been used to sell coffee...

Subject: RE: International Accordion Awareness Month
From: CarolC
Date: 06 Jun 06 - 11:14 PM

Holy moly. Check out the performer line-up for the gathering (this past April) for the "Black Banjo Then and Now" organization's website. I would love it if the people you sent the link for this thread to would come and post in this thread, Azizi, but I must say, I think this subject (Black Banjo and related organizations) might be well served by also having its own thread that it doesn't have to share with any other instruments.

http://www.rhisong.com/blackbanjo/performers.html

Subject: RE: International Accordion Awareness Month
From: Azizi
Date: 07 Jun 06 - 01:42 AM

I hope they come to Mudcat too.

Que sera sera.

That said, I wasn't tryin to hijack your thread, Carol.

Also, I'm sure that I don't need to say that just because I'm Black, I don't have to be the one to start a thread on Black banjo performers.

Other Mudcatters and Guests have started threads on Black music and Black musicians before I was here, and have done so since I've been here. And I'm confident that people will continue to do so if I were not here [though God willing, I'll be here for some time}.

Best wishes,

Azizi

Subject: RE: International Accordion Awareness Month
From: CarolC
Date: 07 Jun 06 - 01:55 AM

Sorry, Azizi. I wasn't trying to suggest that you were trying to hijack my thread. I enjoyed your posts, and I think the discussion in this thread is perfect just as it is. And as I said, I welcome posts from the people you sent links to.

just because I'm Black, I don't have to be the one to start a thread on Black banjo performers.

Yes. I agree with this. I addressed you in that part of my post because I wanted to make sure you understood that, although I think the subject is worthy of its own thread, I still am enjoying its presence here in this thread as well.

Subject: RE: International Accordion Awareness Month
From: CarolC
Date: 07 Jun 06 - 01:57 AM

...I should add that the reason I addressed you, in particular, isn't because you are black, but because you brought up the subject of Black Banjo here in this thread.

Subject: RE: International Accordion Awareness Month
From: Azizi
Date: 07 Jun 06 - 02:12 AM

Okay, Carol.

You're right. I'm right. We're all-right with each other
and with the world.

Now, I'mma sit back and read more 'talk' about accordians since 6/6/06 has passed and the world is still here.

Subject: RE: International Accordion Awareness Month
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 07 Jun 06 - 10:01 AM

I like accordion. To me, the sound of the accordion is the sound of happiness and a party. For another side of the accordion, see if you can get hold of Nonesuch's Tango Project recordings from the 1980's.
(I wonder if they made it to CD.)

I have just started a thread called Tune Add: The Merry Nightingale. I created a MIDI of a 17th C. round and I chose the accordion sound for one of the voices. I wanted three distinct lines, so I selected recorder,harp and accordion. Give it a listen when it appears.

Subject: RE: International Accordion Awareness Month
From: mandotim
Date: 07 Jun 06 - 10:52 AM

Why is there a special time for accordion awareness? Pretty hard to miss 'em in most of the sessions I play in...
Tim

Subject: RE: International Accordion Awareness Month
From: Arne
Date: 07 Jun 06 - 11:23 AM

Is there a vaccine available?

Cheers,

Subject: RE: International Accordion Awareness Month
From: CarolC
Date: 07 Jun 06 - 02:44 PM

I checked out your thread, leeneia, but apparently the midi hasn't been added yet. I look forward to hearing it when it is.


Since the month is for "International" accordion awareness, and since most of the references in this thread appear to be North American, here's a thread that discusses accordions found all over the world...

Some accordion with your Pad Thai?


You're a very lucky man, mandotim.

Subject: RE: International Accordion Awareness Month
From: Padre
Date: 07 Jun 06 - 10:37 PM

You mean it takes a month to be aware of the accordion?

Subject: RE: International Accordion Awareness Month
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 07 Jun 06 - 10:42 PM

... only if you're deaf...

Subject: RE: International Accordion Awareness Month
From: Little Hawk
Date: 07 Jun 06 - 10:53 PM

Someone gave Chongo Chimp a used accordion last month. He tried playing it some and was getting half-decent sounds out of it, but some of the keys were sticking and he finally got mad and pitched it out a 3rd storey window onto a cobblestone street below.

Gawd...the thing made a HELL of an awful sound when it hit! Pieces of accordion flew everywhere. I guess it's beyond fixing now.

Chongo didn't want to be stigmatized anyway...you know, the old organ-grinder and monkey thing? He's sensitive about stuff like that.

Subject: RE: International Accordion Awareness Month
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 07 Jun 06 - 11:12 PM

But, wouldn't YOU be the one with the tin cup?