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Squeezing
For Accordion Appreciation Month - USA
 Just
about everyone knows what an accordion is, what it looks like and
how it sounds, but how many people really appreciate the accordion?
Some well-placed, polka-loving members of the accordion community
in the USA have issued a decree that June be designated Accordion
Appreciation Month to get more people to appreciate the accordion.
This is fine with Mike Allen of Tahlequah, Oklahoma, who took up the
accordion a couple of years ago. While Allen also plays guitar, pennywhistle,
harp, bagpipes and countless other musical instruments, the accordion,
however, kind of mixes several of those instruments up into one, in
his opinion.
"Celtic music is full of accordion," said Allen. "So
I thought, Well, I've got to get one of those!" Allen straps
on his accordion and squeezes out a tune by Talking Heads, "Same
As It Ever Was."
Story by Eddie Glenn, cnhi News Service
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Zhiqing Wang CD and Book Released - China
Contributed
by Lian
Jones of Accordion
House
 Zhiqing
Wang, the piano accordionist of the Tianjin Symphony Orchestra has
just released her, "Accordion Duet Popular Music Album"
along with a CD titled, "Accordion Duet Popular Music".
The release has stirred a lot of interest in China as Wang has grown
quite popular following several concert tours throughout China and
overseas with the Tianjian Art Group. Wang's particularly interesting
performances include a solo titled "Sabre Dance" performed
during the tours and also duets with well known singer Guan Mu Cun
and teacher Mr Meng Xian Hong.
For more information on the CD, email lianj@accordions.com
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Victor
Prieto Continues Busy Schedule - USA
Contributed
by Kevin
Friedrich
 International
accordionist and accordion teacher Victor Prieto continues his busy
schedule this month. Victor started his musical career at the age
of nine, encouraged by his mother who urged her son to concentrate
his studies on accordion.
Victor has since come a long way, having earned his classical music
diploma at the Conservatorio Profesional de Musica de Orense.
His concerts in June include:
- Victor Prieto Trio at Detour, 21st June 21st from 9:30pm to 12:30am,
349 E 13th Street, New York, NY. At this event listen to Victor accompanied
by Carlo De Rosa on bass and Elliot H. Kavee on Drums.
- Victor Prieto Trio at Cafe 111, 27th June from 10 pm to 12 am, 111
Court St.
For further information e-mail victorprieto2001@yahoo.com
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Miguel
Harth-Bedoya and Auckland Philharmonia - New Zealand
 "Very
natural, very easy going, very direct and a very warm person,"
is how Miguel Harth-Bedoya describes his friend, the Argentinian composer
Osvaldo Golijov, who just happens to be one of the hottest new voices
in the music world today.
And Auckland will hear that singular voice when Harth-Bedoya conducts
the Auckland Philharmonia tomorrow in two of the composer's works,
"Last Round" for string orchestra and "Three Songs"
for soprano and orchestra. Harth-Bedoya is proud he has taken Last
Round to Oregon, Los Angeles and Boston and it is programmed for his
other "home orchestra" in Fort Worth next February.
He stresses the piece's South American connection is a tribute to
the great tango master, Astor Piazzolla, "recreating the action
of an accordion. It compresses and expands inwards and outwards, caught
in between the two orchestras on stage" with accordion sounds
featured.. The Auckland Philharmonia, conducted by Miguel Harth-Bedoya,
with Natalia Lomeiko will perform June 11 at the Auckland Town Hall
at 8pm.
Story by William Dart of the New Zealand Herald.
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Cotati
Accordion Festival - USA
 The
Cotati Accordion Festival, organized by Clifton Buck-Kauffman and
Jim Boggio was formed because of the two men's love of and respect
for the accordion and the town Cotati, California. Jim Boggio recorded
an accordion album, Accordion to the Blues at the Cotati-based recording
company, Prairie Sun Studios which happens to be partly owned by Clifton
Buck-Kauffman.
When Buck-Kauffman heard Boggio's accordion album, he was dazzled.
The multicultural diversity of accordion music triggered his imagination
and not long after the recording session, the two men were soon asking
each other, "What do you think of the idea of having a Cotati
Accordion Festival?"
The two made a deal that Boggio would handle the musical end securing
the musicians, planning the program, orchestrating the entire musical
production while Buck-Kauffman would handle the rest: staging; arranging
for the sound equipment, posters, banners and signs, T-shirt sales,
vendor booths, etc. The first Cotati Accordion Festival was presented
as a community service, free to the public and was held in the downtown
plaza under the oaks where the response was overwhelming.
"We were amazed at the reception and response to our idea. It
tickled the fancy of music lovers locally, nationally and internationally!"
recalled Buck-Kauffman. Boggio said, "The thing that struck me
was all those smiling faces. People of all ages dancing, listening,
tapping their feet with smiling faces." The next Cotati Accordion
Festival will be held on 28th to 29th August from 9.30am on both days.
For more information, email info@cotatifest.com
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Ebay
Accordion Scam? - Scotland
Beware
accordion buyers! An accordion owner from Fort William recently alerted
us to a possible accordion sale scam on Ebay. Roderick Johnston recently
placed his Bugari
accordion for sale on the Accordion
Yellow Pages site and became suspicious after he started receiving
responses from people who had seen the same advertisement on www.ebay.com
"I was contacted by email … by someone who saw the identical
advert on ebay and became suspicious," Roderick said. "On
visiting ebay I have found that my advert had been placed onto ebay
word for word, but with a USA contact."
While it seems like a miraculous coincidence that someone in the USA
has the same accordion and identical reasons for sale, we would just
like to warn our readers and members of the accordion community to
be very careful.
For more information, email roderick.johnston@btopenworld.com
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CJ
Chenier in New York - USA
Contributed
by Kevin
Friedrich
 Zydeco
superstar CJ Chenier will perform at the South Street Seaport Music
Festival on 29th June in a free concert at 1.00pm. The popular Pier
17 located at 19 Fulton Street at South Street Seaport in lower Manhattan,
New York is a stunning setting for the popular concert series.
CJ Chenier plays the piano accordion because it allows him more freedom
than the button accordions used by most zydeco bands today. He can
express himself musically in many styles or combinations of styles-ballads,
waltzes, blues, boogie, rock and roll, funk, jazz, it all comes together
as CJ Chenier's fingers race up and down the keyboard as one reviewer
describes "red hot rhythms and soulful grooves."
In addition to his own interpretations of songs from different genres
and his father's songs, CJ Chenier has also written a number of original
songs.
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Rose
City Accordion Club Presents "Blairs" - USA
The Rose
City Accordion Club presents a special Scottish Accordionists
program to be held at the Cultural Expression Arts Center in Portland
on 12th June at 7.00pm.
The show includes a special appearance by Scottish Father and Son
"Gary Blair with Gary Blair!"
These two popular accordionists continue a family tradition with the
accordion and play music from Scotland and many other styles. Gary
is a former UK champion and has some of the fastest fingers around
while his son, Gary Junior is a current champion in his age group.
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"Colour"
by Gonzales Macias Premiere - Mexico
Contributed
by Brenda Anaya
The premier of a new compositon for Accordion was held in Mexico City
on May 7 during the 26th International New Music Forum. It took place
at "Palacio de Bellas Artes".
The piece titled "Color", was written by Mexican composer
Gonzalo Macías for accordion, clarinet, piano and computer.
The accordion part was played by Antonio Barberena. Gonzalo Macías
(1958) is a composer who graduated with Masters from Lille University
in France. He also was a pupil of great composers Gérard Grisey
and Franco Donatoni.
For further information, email byacsa@prodigy.net.mx
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Randolph's
Derrane Wins NEA prize - USA
Boston
Irish accordion master Joe Derrane has won a National Heritage Fellowship
for 2004, one of only 10 such annual awards presented by the National
Endowment for the Arts. The highest award reserved for folk artists
in the United States with each winner receiving $20,000.
"I'm stunned. It comes out of the blue, a total surprise. I thought
someone was yanking my chain when I got the call,'' said Derrane,
73, of Randolph. "It is such an honor. There are 300 in contention
every year, from all walks of the arts.''
In the late 1940s, as a young man playing the very active Irish dance
hall circuit in Roxbury, Derrane recorded 16 tunes. Due to those recordings,
Derrane long had an underground status as a seminal Celtic button-accordionist.
But when those tracks were released on CD in the 1993, his career
as an Irish instrumentalist was reborn.
Story by Daniel Gewertz of www.bostonherald.com
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René
Sopa Concert Dates - France
René
Sopa began studying the accordion at the age of 9, and his first teacher
was Lucien Galliano, father of Richard Galliano, one of the world's
most influential accordionist since the death of Astor Piazzolla.
Sopa turned professional at the age of 18 after having studied for
many years and winning several international competitions along the
way. He recently released a CD titled, "Sandunga", a collection
of mellow and cool grooves.
 Rene
Sopa's next concerts are on;
18 June - Festival jazz deJEt in Belgien
26 June - Frammeries jazz in Belgien.
10 July - Jazz concert in Cannes,Frankreich.
11 July - Accordion Festival ST Jeannet / Alps maritime, Frankreich
17 July - Cellar Ragnan in Nizza, Frankreich.
22 July - Festival Joly Jazz in Trelon, Frankreich
23 July - Jazz mit Peymenade - Alps Maritimes, Frankeich
26 August - Jazz Festival - Holland.
For further information, email info@renesopa.com
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AAA
Festival Workshops Announced - USA
Contributed
by Kevin
Friedrich
 The
American Accordionists
Association announces an impressive line up of workshops which
will be offered during their annual festival, this year to be held
in the Boston area from July 11-15, 2004.
Included in these years workshops are:
Working with Young Adults & Seniors" by Sam Falcetti
"Playing for Uncle Sam" by Manny
Bobenrieth
"The Art of Memorization" by Helmi Harrington
"Jazz Theory and Improvisation 101" by Frank Marocco
Sibelius Computer Programs by Robin Hodson
"Accordion Repairs Made Easy" by Joe
Cerrito
"Playing with Feeling" by Joan Grauman
"Club Dates 101" by Eddie Monteiro
"They came! And then what?" by Karen Adam
"A World of Accordions Museum" by Helmi Harrinton
"The Art of the Bellow Shake" by Tony Lovello
Private or Group Master Class at the AAA
2004 Festival with notables:
CARMEN CARROZZA - Performance.
FRANK MAROCCO - Jazz Improvisation and Studio Performance.
EDDIE MONTEIRO - Club Dating, Jazz and Presentation.
CARMELO PINO - Composition and Performance.
For more information, email: AAA1938@aol.com
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Young
Accordionists Concert in Plovdiv - Bulgaria
Seven young accordionists from Macedonia, directed by Prof. Zorica
Karakutovska, performed a two-hour concert in the Balabanova hall
at the Music School in Plovdiv, known to be one of the most beautiful
halls in Plovdiv-Kashta. The audience admired the beautiful interpretations
of Russian accordion classics and French jazz-musettes with 14 year
old Alexander Kolovski also proving quite popular. Those who were
at the concert have talked about Kolovski's performance saying there
was very little doubt that the youngster was one of the stars of the
new Macedonian school. Students at the Music School in Plovdiv are
also soon to tour Macedonia, with plans to perform in Skopie.
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Dian
Thomas at Las
Vegas Convention - USA
Contributed
by Kevin
Friedrich
 The
Las Vegas
International Accordion Convention is pleased to announce that
Dian Thomas will be giving a keynote address on Promoting the Accordion
during the upcoming event in Las Vegas from 13th June to 16th June.
With over 25 years of public relations experience, Dian Thomas has
more than 5,000 television and radio appearances to her credit.
For 8 years she was a regular on NBC's Today Show and spent 6 years
with The Home Show on ABC. Additionally, she has appeared on numerous
national TV shows, including The Tonight Show, Good Morning America,
and The Martin Short Show. She is also an author of 9 books, including
the New York Times bestseller, Roughing It Easy. As a media giant
and a successful entrepreneur, Dian knows the importance of publicity,
especially how to capitalize on free exposure and turn it into financial
gain.
Dian likes the accordion and the Las
Vegas International Accordion Convention said they were, "excited
to have her as a special guest speaker and instructor." Dian
will be conducting a workshop on Promoting the Accordion and another
entitled the Magic of Writing Articles to Promote the Accordion
and You!
For more information, check out www.accordionstars.com
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New
Three Row Button Accordion Method Book - USA