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International
Press Conference for 2005 CIA
Coupe Mondiale, Castelo Branco - Portugal
Contributed by Kevin
Friedrich
The
City of Castelo Branco in Portugal is about to open its door to the
world, when the finest accordionists including delegates, international
jury, contestants and distinguished visitors from around the world
will convene for the Confédération Internationale des
Accordéonistes (CIA) 58th Coupe Mondiale World Accordion Championships
and 114th General Assembly of Delegates.
At a recent Press Conference in Castelo Branco, members of the Press
met with the President of the Local Council, Mr. Joquin Morão,
the 2005 CIA Honorary Vice President and Artistic Councillor Mr. Paulo
Ferreira, 2005 Coupe Mondiale Organizer, Mr. Carlos Semedo, and
CIA President Kevin
Friedrich as they discussed the exciting plans for the Coupe Mondiale,
which will be hosted by CIA member - Conservatorio Regional de Castelo
Branco.
 Since
its inception in 1938, the CIA
Coupe Mondiale has established itself as one of the most important
accordion events. The CIA is excited to be in Portugal for the very
first time as they celebrate the 70th Anniversary of the CIA.
The excellent cooperation and gracious hospitality of the Conservatorio,
city officials and business leaders will ensure that the Coupe Mondiale
week full of concerts, competitions, General Assembly meetings as
well as other important educational and social activities, will be
a truly inspiring and memorable event.
The 2005 Coupe Mondiale offers six categories including Coupe Mondiale,
Junior Coupe Mondiale, International Competition for Piano Accordion,
Virtuoso Entertainment, Junior Entertainment, and International Competition
for Chamber Music. The Test Piece for the 2005 Coupe Mondiale 'O Medo
Do Ritmo', by the renowned Portuguese composer Carlos Marecos, was
commissioned for the event, and is already being circulated around
the world.
For complete
Coupe Mondiale festival information, on-line entry forms, schedule,
free Test Piece download and travel information on Castelo Branco,
please visit www.coupemondiale.org
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644 Accordionists Smash Guinness World Record, Kimberley
- Canada
Contributed
by Rob
Howard
 644
Accordionists set a new world record, verified by the Guinness Book
of Records, at the Kimberley International Old Time Accordion Championships.
The 644 accordionists included Bernadette
Conlon, right, (Australia), Gary Blair (Scotland), Igor Zavadsky
(Ukraine), Janet Todd (USA) and Serge Duchesne (Canada) played together
to a sell out audience in the Kimberley Civic Centre for 29 minutes
and 30 seconds to topple the previous world record held by the Stedeker
Dansers. The old record consisted of 566 musicians playing the accordion
for 22 minutes, during the International Folklore Festival in Diepenheim,
The Netherlands, on June 1st 2000.
In an interview with Anders Johnson, Jeany Irvin said: "I think
a lot of the people who came last year, came this year and brought
friends with them, and brought more accordions with them, so we did
not have the problem of running out of accordions. Last year we had
enough people, and not enough accordions".
For more
details and pictures from this exciting event, please visit www.kiotac.ca
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Sultans
of Squeeze Release New CD, Shropshire - UK
Contributed by Rob
Howard
 John
Kirkpatrick (3-row BCC# diatonic button accordion, treble &
bass Anglo concertinas, and 1 and 2 row melodeons, plus vocals)
and Chris Parkinson (piano accordion, bass accordion, two-row melodeon,
vocals) are highly experienced solo performers who have recently
joined forces as The Sultans of Squeeze. Their repertoire is very
broad, including folk, musette, swing, blues, tango, rock and Zydeco,
using various combinations of accordions and concertinas, with some
vocals.
The duo's first CD, 'The Sultans of Squeeze', includes such varied
pieces as 'Under Paris Skies', 'Squeeze Box' (a hit record for The
Who in 1975), JP Sousa's 'Liberty Bell', 'African Waltz' (a swing
band hit for Johnny Dankworth in 1957), 'El Choclo', and Clifton
Chenier's Zydeco song 'I'm A Hog For You Baby'.
For further
information email mail@johnkirkpatrick.co.uk
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 Mario
Bruneau Musette Evenings, Montreal - Canada
Contributed by Rob
Howard
Accordionist Mario Bruneau, together with the singer Hélène
Cardinal, presents musette dance entertainment evenings at the vineyard
Les Blancs Coteaux, Quebec City, on July 16th and 30th, and on August
13th, from 8pm to midnight.
This is an opportunity to hear musette and Edith Piaf classics,
drink fine wines, and enjoy a French atmosphere.
The venue
is 1046, Bruce, Route 202, Dunham, Quebec.
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Chango
Spasiuk Wins BBC Award, London - UK
Contributed by Rob
Howard
 Argentinean
accordionist Chango Spasiuk recently won a BBC World Music Award.
An Argentinean of Ukrainian extraction, Spasiuk is an exponent of
the folk music style of North Eastern Argentina called Chamamé.
Spasiuk and his band, including Juan Nunez on bandoneon and violinist
Victor Renaudeau, plus percussion, a double bass and two acoustic
guitarists, are leaders in their field.
Chamamé
is a music that has evolved, with influences of the native Argentinean
Guarani and successive waves of new migrants, from African slaves
to Russians, Ukranians, Poles, Italians and Basques. Chango Spasiuk,
in attempting to distinguish the rural-based Chamamé from
the urban originated Tango, says: " Chamamé is music
from the country, a place where the earth is red, the temperature
is always high and there are jungles and big rivers".
Along
with fellow Argentinean accordionist Raúl Barboza, Chango
Spasiuk is Chamamé's leading contemporary exponent, but he
is by no means stuck in tradition; his Chamamé is richly
spiced with rock, jazz and avant-garde references. Born into a musical
family in 1968, Spasiuk began playing accordion at the age of 11,
and has released six albums in Argentina, three of which have been
compiled for international release on 'The Charm of Chamamé'
(2003). His latest CD is 'Tarefero de mis Pagos' (2004).
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Accordion Orchestra's 70th Anniversary Concert,
Cologne - Germany
Contributed
by Rob
Howard
Cologne
Accordion Orchestra's first 70 years were celebrated in fine style
with a sell-out concert, before an audience of 2,000 people. The Willy
Ketzer Trio's swing music got the evening off to a lively start, followed
by the Blaeck Foeoess band.
The Cologne Accordion Orchestra, with fifty members, was conducted
by Matthias Hennecke, who also played a little 48-bass accordion on
an arrangement of 'Orpheus of the Underworld'. The concert finished
with the audience out of their seats as all the musicians came on
stage for a grand finale.
The whole
event was a fitting tribute to the CAO's founder conductor, Heinz
Gengler, who is still with the orchestra. All concerned are now
already looking forward to the presentations and surprises in the
anniversary concerts on the December 3rd and 4th in the University
of Cologne.
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AAA
Announces $10,000 Winner in 2005 Festival, Michigan - USA
Contributed
by Kevin
Friedrich
 Dearborn,
Michigan was the venue for the American
Accordionists'
Association annual Competition and Festival, which sponsored one
of the biggest prize pools for any accordion competition, with an
impressive $10,000.00 First Prize, $3,000.00 Second Prize and $2,000.00
Third Prize.
Home town accordionist Julien Labro (originally from France) took
the top honors with Alexander
Poeluev (Russia) close behind and French accordionist Phil Bouvier
(France) taking 3rd Place. The top three contestants were separated
by less than one point!
The distinguished Jury for the competition included: Louis Coppola,
Dick Contino, Jeff Lisenby, Michal Shapiro and Dave Westerskov. After
hearing 19 contestants over the course of almost 10 hours, many of
them already international champions, the jury was extremely impressed
with the superior standard of the contestants and stated that it was
almost impossible to choose three prize winners, when the playing
level was so high.
The competition was made possible, under the auspices of the American
Accordionists' Association through the generous donation of the prize
money by Mr. Steve Stolaruk, who offered the competition funds to
host the competition in the memory of his wife, the late Vivian Vivio
Stolaruk. Mr. Stolaruk was so impressed with the standard of the competition,
that in addition to the top three prizes totalling $15,000.00 he gave
each of the other 16 contestants $250.00 each in appreciation of their
efforts.
Pictured left, Alexander
Poeluev - Russia, Phil Bouvier - France, Julien Labro - USA/France,
Steve Stolaruk and competition organizer Faithe
Deffner with a portrait of the late Vivian Stolaruk. At the conclusion
of the final contestants program, when recognized for his magnificent
financial support of the competition, the 300 strong audience who
had been listening all day long to the various programs, gave Mr.
Stolaruk a moving five minute standing ovation in appreciation of
his efforts.
Below are the top 3 places in the competition. For a full list of
results, please visit www.ameraccord.com
1st - Julien Labro (USA-France) 94.05
('Besame Mucho', 'Migliavacca', 'Russian Dance', 'Autumn Leaves' &
'Pick Pocket')
2nd - Alexander Poeluev (Russia) 93.38
('Oblivion', Medley of Waltzes, 'Bassanova' & 'The Bee')
3rd - Phil Bouvier (France) 93.25
('Tanguango', 'Le Parrain'/'La List de Shindler', 'Tendre Mystere'
& 'Besame Mucho')
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Accordion
Orchestra of Puerto Rico Tours South America
Contributed
by Kevin
Friedrich
The
Accordion Orchestra of Puerto Rico recently returned from a successful
tour of South America, where they were welcomed by Anibal Gomez, President
of the AIDA (Accordiones International de Argentina).
They presented workshops and concerts in Colonia Caroya, Buenos Aires,
Enstancia Bonita, San Andres as well as a sightseeing visit to Iguazu
Falls. Their concert in San Andres was in celebration of the 125th
anniversary of the Red Cross.
For a full diary of the tour to South America, please visit www.accordionusa.com
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Giorgio
Dellarole Concerts -Italy
Contributed by Holda
Paoletti-Kampl
 Accordionist
Giorgio
Dellarole's forthcoming concert dates are as follows:-
July 20th - Castello di Sarre (Aosta) 'Incoerente Duo' (Alessandro
Tampier - Baroque violin and Giorgio Dellarole)
Program: Bach, Vivaldi, Castello...July
26th - Cervinia (Aosta)
Giorgio Dellarole - solo concert
Program: Bach, Scarlatti, Campogrande, Tschaikin
August 2nd - La Thuile (Aosta)
Akkordeon
Ensemble di Aosta
Program: Seiber, Iturralde, Piazzolla
August 3rd - Saint-Pierre (Aosta)
Aosta Accordion Ensemble
Program: Seiber, Iturralde, Piazzolla...
August 4th - Dolonne-Courmayeur (Aosta)
Giorgio Dellarole - solo concert
Program: Bach, Scarlatti, Campogrande, Tschaikin
August 5th - Valtornenche (Aosta)
Trio Corelli (Antonio Sacco (violin), Massimiliano Limonetti (clarinet),Giorgio
Dellarole)
Program: Bach, Vivaldi, Corelli
August 6th - Torgnon (Aosta)
Aosta Accordion Ensemble
Program: Seiber, Iturralde, Piazzolla...
August 13th - Ceres (Torino)
Klezmer Trio (Antonio Sacco (violin), Massimiliano Limonetti (clarinet),
Giorgio Dellarole)
Program: traditional Hebrew music
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Help Required
Johnny
Cassidy, who is registered blind, lives in Chichester, West Sussex,
and is looking for an accordion teacher.
Email john@cassidy2754.wanadoo.co.uk
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Updated contact
details from the Italian accordion and bandoneon concert artiste Eugenia
Marini are on his website.
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MusicForAccordion.com
is publishing a grade 2 arrangement of 'Longing',
a grade 3 arrangement of 'Oh-Leh'
and a grade 3 arrrangement of 'Liberty'.
This music is composed by Yehuda
Oppenheimer. Samples of the music is available on the site. The
music is in eSheet format, able to be emailed to your computer. Purchase
with credit card.
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James
O' Brien - composer,
arranger and performer, releases another 6
new works for accordion available for purchase online. 'Oh No,
John. No!' (traditional), 'Petite Russie' (traditional), 'Rocka My
Soul' (traditional), 'Soldier's Joy' (traditional), 'St. Patrick's
Day' (traditional), 'Streets of Laredo' (traditional). Samples of
this music are available on the site. The music is in eSheet format,
able to be emailed to your computer. Purchase with credit card.
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On
July 23rd, the 'Layman's Music Day' will be celebrated during the
BUGA (Bundesgartenschau) in Munich. The 
Stories
Involving Accordions, Newfoundland - Canada
A
new