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It's amazing how the internet has already begun to bring people around the world together - including accordionists! Just last week I had the pleasure of taking American accordionist Lynn Drake and her husband Norman Browne to see my good friend Lionel Reekie perform at his regular restaurant gig. There were about 12 accordionists there in all, and we were well entertained by Lionel and Maurice Jones, with much dancing and partying. It wouldn't have been possible to meet these wonderful people without the internet!
Wayne Knights
Contributed by Ray Bodell
The NAO (National Accordion Organisation) National Championships will be held from May 1st to 3rd at the SPA Complex, Scarborough, England. Entries have doubled this year with
contestants from all over the UK and a large group from Northern Ireland.
The adjudication panel consists of many prominent accordionists including
Dr Christopher Wiltshire and Dr Andrew Padmore, who will be judging a
wide variety of solo (from 7 & under to Virtuoso), duet, group, orchestra, Scottish traditional, polka and musette classes.
1992 Coupe Mondiale winner Frederic Deschamps will hold a masterclass on
Sunday. There will also be a wide variety of trade displays as well as
two evenings of entertainment by Gina Branelli and Gary Blair and his band.
Contributed by Kevin Friedrich
95 year old Anthony Galla-Rini will be honoured at the ATG Festival in
Chicago, from July 17th to 19th. Accordionists are currently being
recruited to participate in what is hoped to be "the biggest festival
orchestra ever", directed by Galla-Rini. (The record is 104 players at
a recent festival in Kansas).
This will be an incredible opportunity to participate in honouring
Galla-Rini and pay tribute to his life long contribution to the accordion world.
For further information regarding music and details see ATG.
Contributed by Christine Adams
Popular accordionist from Madagascar, Regis Gizavo is currently on a
tour of North America until May 9th. He will be performing in Texas, Iowa,
New York, Illinois, Minneapolis, Indiana, Missouri, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania,
including a performance at the Houston International Festival.
Gizavo's music has been described as "exceptional, dynamic, fluid,
complex and inventive".
Contributed by Wu Jie
21 year old Yang Hong (a performer with the Tibet Song & Dance Troupe)
held an accordion and piano concert in the Renmin Music Hall, Lhasa, on
May 1st. She performed Tibetan folk music to an audience of 7,000.
Contributed by Vladimir Ushakov.
The last month has been a busy time for accordion events in Russia. An accordion orchestra festival and competition was held at the end of March. The final concert which was held at the Theatre Complex "Karnaval" and included guest performers the St Petersburg Musette Ensemble who performed to an enthusiastic audience.
Following this, the Andreev International Competition for folk instrument players was held with accordion participants from Russia and abroad.
The Spring session of the International Accordion School (managed by Professor Nikolay Kravtsov) was held in the State Culture Academy building. Teachers included Professor Viacheslav Semionov and Professor Vladimir Besfamilnov. The following day, the International Festival Competition "Baltica Harmonica" was held with over 250 accordionists from Russia and abroad taking part.
The Festival began with a concert by accordionists including Professor Oleg Sharov, who performed "Seven Words" by Sophie Gubaidulina for bayan and orchestra.
In addition to these international events, there were many concerts by accordionists and orchestras, including an anniversary concert dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the St Petersburg Academy of Culture. Academy graduates performed, including "Ivushka" and the "St Petersburg Musette Ensemble".
Contributed by Neil Wayne
Tony Hall will be performing a melodeon concert on May 2nd at 3pm at the
Queen's Head, Belper, Derbyshire. Tony is a "great lost treasure" of the folk scene,
and is rarely heard outside his native Norfolk.
The next day, Tony will lead an open tune-session at 1pm. His CD "Mr Universe"
will be available at both events.
For further information email: neil_wayne@freedmus.demon.co.uk
Contributed by Ingi Karlsson
Reykjavik´s Accordion club and the General Agency in Iceland held a
"Festival of the Accordion" in "Danshusid Glaesibaer", Reykjavik on
April 18th. The show began at 8.30pm with a children's concert followed
by the traditional festival concert which was performed to a full house.
The evening was completed with a popular accordion ball.
This year's festival has seen a new star emerge who has a great future.
Teenager Mattias Kormaksson (tutored by Karl Jonatansson) effortlessly
played Flight of the Bumblebee to an enthusiastic audience.
Contributed by Heather Masefield
On April 22nd, accordion teachers Harley Jones and Heather Masefield attended a dinner in
Hamilton in honour of Betty Dunbar. Betty had been an Examiner for the
Accordion Examination Board of New Zealand for 25 years and was being
honoured by the Waikato Branch of the Institute of Registered Music
Teachers of New Zealand. The evening (in the style of 'This is Your
Life') was full of good humour and fun, with hilarious anecdotes
recounted by many fellow musicians.
Harley Jones performed 'Those were the Days My Friend' on the accordion
and Heather Masefield read messages from the Accordion Examination Board of
New Zealand and presented Betty with Life Membership of the New Zealand Accordion
Association.
Contributed by Milan Tomic and Tania Lukic-Marx
The International Accordion Festival and Summer School will be held in
Kragujevac, Yugoslavia from July 4th to 14th. Tutors include Grot Andres (Norway),
S. Hussong (Germany), Friedrich Lips (Russia), and Radomir Tomic (Yugoslavia).
There will be concerts by guest accordionists as follows:
For further information see Future Events
Contributed by Frédéric Deschamps
Traditional A.P.H. summer courses will be held (managed by Frédéric
Deschamps) from July 27th to August 1st and from August 3rd to 8th in
Saint Etienne. To take part you must be an accordionist, know how to
swim, like paella and rosé wine, and have a sense of humour.
The course will cover subjects such as musicality (expression, style,
transcription and original works), technique (bellows control and
resolution of technical problems) and preparation for national and
international competitions.
Numbers will be limited to 14 per course. For further information and
reservations phone: + 33 1.53.79.04.34
Submitted by The Classical Free-Reed, Inc.
The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York has
approved the establishment of a Center for the Study of Free-Reed Instruments, with
Allan Atlas as Director. The Center will devote itself to fostering scholarly research on
all aspects of all free-reed instruments. For further information email: aatlas@email.gc.cuny.edu
Contributed by Yuri Serna Daza
The annual Festival Vallenato will be celebrated in Valledupar, Colombia
with more than 400 groups competing in a variety of categories from
junior to professional. For over a hundred years popular "Musica
Vallenata" has been performed in Colombia on the accordion. More than
15 million CDs of vallenato music are sold each year in Colombia and Latin
America and Vallenato music concerts are regularly played to audiences of more
than 70,000 people.
For further information email: yuserna@fayol.univalle.edu.co
Contributed by Patricia Bonvin
Accordion duo Corinne Amoos and Patricia Bonvin have been called the Swiss Spice Girls of Accordions because of their "look" in concert. On April 4th at Crans-Montana civic promotion for Youth, they played a varied repertoire including South American music, lambada, samba,
musette and Swiss Folk music.
Their goal is to modernise the accordion to make it more attractive, so that the
next generation will think it's fun!
Contributed by Bob Barnes
On May 3rd the "Heart of the Beast Puppet Theatre May Day Parade" will
be held in South Minneapolis, from 1pm to 3pm, followed by a festival in
Powderhorn Park from 3pm until dark. An accordion marching band will
take part in the parade performing songs such as "You are my sunshine",
"The Hokey Pokey" and "The chicken dance". At the end of the parade they
will perform simple square-dance moves to the crowd, which has gone
"wild" in past years.
At the festival there will be dancing to live bands, including "The
Deadly Nightshade Family Singers", an accordion-led band featuring Bob
Barnes. Over 10,000 people are expected to attend the event.
If you are interested in joining the accordion team email:
barnes@winternet.com
Contributed by Christoph Klee
An "Oldie concert" will be held by the Griesheim Accordion Orchestra at
the Hegelsberghalle Griesheim, Sterngasse, Germany on June 13th at 8pm.
The concert will include dancing and music from the 50's and 60's.
For further information see Future Events
Contributed by Bob Tedrow
The Alabama Concertina Support Group meets the second Saturday of each
month at Homewood Musical, Birmingham, Alabama from 12 noon to 2pm. The
group has evidence and photographs of button accordion players in
Alabama as early as the late 1800's.
Their April meeting included accordionists on four different styles of button accordions and concertinas playing cajun, zydeco, celtic and tejano music. They also had a lachenal anglo concertina disassembled on display as well as the new Gabbanelli three row button accordion.
For further information email: hmi@scott.net
Contributed by Etienne Ozorak
Accordionist Etienne Ozorak joined with Elizabeth Ozorak (piano) and Fred Mamula (violin) to form the group Music Makars, which features Scottish dance music. The trio have played for Scottish country dance events and conducted music workshops across the United States.
They have planned a special Scottish country dance party to celebrate their new CD which was released on March 12th specifically for the Scottish Country Dance market. The CD includes Etienne playing two different accordions, piano, violin, cello, celtic harp, guitar and four percussion instruments which give great variety of sounds. The event will take place on June 6th at the Hotel Conneaut, Pennsylvania, USA with all ten musicians involved in the CD, playing.
For further information email: etozorak@toolcity.net
Contributed by Eriks Humeyumptewa
The Latvian Folkband "Jûrmalnieki" performed recently at the annual
Winter-Fest hosted by the Colorado Folk Arts Council, playing Latvian
folk music, Cajun, Irish, Scottish and Swedish folk tunes and dance
music to an enthusiastic audience.
Jûrmanlieki (which includes Eriks Humeyumptewa on accordion and vocals)
will perform on May 2nd in San Francisco at the American Latvian
Association's Grande Ball (which coincides with their annual conference).
They also perform at folk festivals and Latvian events in the Denver
area. For further information email: humeyump@mscd.edu.
Contributed by Wu Jie
On May 1st a two hour accordion party was held in Jingyan Lake Park,
Guanghan, sponsored by the Guanghan Accordion Training School (a branch
of the Sichuan Accordion School). Solo, duet and orchestra performances were
given by 200 accordion students to over 20,000 people.
As this was the first accordion party in Guanghan, the Guanghan TV
Station broadcast the event live.
Contributed by Kevin Friedrich
On Friday, May 1st at 9pm, accordionists and enthusiasts gathered for
an evening of fun at 'Hickeys Pub', Maspeth, New York. Accordionists
playing all types of accordions are invited, and the evening will feature surprise
artists. For further information phone: + 1 718 326-7297
Contributed by Mario Bruneau
A new movie "Eye of the Behold", has a scene with accordionist Mario Bruneau (Canada)
performing an improvised blues piece in A minor. The scene opens at the door of a nightclub
in New York, where a fight breaks out. Mario plays a Texan accordionist member of a street trio,
with a guitarist and tenor sax player. The scene lasts for about 3 minutes and they continue playing throughout the fight until one guy gets hit by a taxicab. At that point, they look surprised and after 30 seconds, they continue to play their blues. The film is due for release in early 1999.
Subject: Old accordion recordings for sale online!
Dear Mr. Knights,
Seems to be a problem in the CDs section - only one item has a price - in the rest, Track 1 seems to have moved over into the price column. Otherwise, good stuff, I'm truly tempted.
Yours,
Sorry about this error Moray, thanks for alerting me to it. I have corrected it, by putting all the prices on the order form.
Yours musically,
Wayne Knights |
