Contributed by Frédéric Deschamps

A new French Musette magazine "Bal Musette" (in conjunction with Acordéon Magazine) is now available which will cover information from Emile Vacher's first ball to the present day. The magazine will include articles such as interviews with stars, confidences from accordionists of all ages, photos, souvenir pages and the history of dances.

For further information contact: Acordéon Magazine, 132 rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis, 75010, Paris, France.

Contributed by Dennis Gurwell

The Swamp Gators performed at a successful benefit dance for Jo Jo Reed on August 23rd in Gardena to over 200 people. Jo Jo Reed is a Zydeco accordionist from Louisiana. He plays accordion, bass and drums. He was badly injured earlier this year coming home from a gig when a drunk driver going in the opposite direction, crossed over the centre line and hit Jo Jo's car head on. He has had to undergo a series of facial reconstruction surgeries. He is now up and around and is scheduled to play at the Louisiana Zydeco Festival on September 5th and 6th, but has been left with large medical bills.

The benefit dance was one of several held this week on the West Coast of the USA. On August 22nd, Geno Delafose and Balfa Toujours performed a concert in Seattle, Washington, and donated their pay to the cause. In the San Francisco Bay area on the same night, Zydeco accordionist Kenny Menard and his band donated their services at another benefit dance.

Contributed by Tom Cunliffe

The Guildford Accordion Club, London have organised two popular concerts at Ripley Village Hall, Ripley, Surrey. The first will be held on September 18th with two mystery musicians. The second concert will be held on October 16th, featuring Oleg Sharov, Senior Professor of Accordion at the St Petersburg Conservatory of Music.

The club meets regularly on the third Friday of every month. For further information phone John Cuminskey: + 44 181 546 1767

Contributed by Toru Katou

On August 30th, the annual AAA (Zen Kansai Accordionists Association) Beer Party will be held at Asahi Beer Kerah Kitahama (3-minute-walk from Kitahama Station), Osaka. Accordionists are welcome to perform at this event and there will be singing with accordion accompaniment.

For further information phone Mr Horibe: + 81 06-386-5554

Contributed by David Batty

The Leyland Accordion Club held their July meeting on the 8th with guest accordionist Johnny Coleclough. At first, members thought there was an equipment fault, when Johnny fired up his MIDI to test it at 190 beats per minute! He then proceeded to perform a popular football medley, which included one tune for each country in the cup. This consisted of Scotland the Brave, Can-Can, William Tell Overture, Zena-Zena, Hava Nagila, Carnival of Venice, Tulips from Amsterdam, Caravan, Sabre Dance, Here We Go and Dambusters. Johnny is currently the President of the Stockport Accordion Club and began his career in 1954 in Manchester.

Other performers included David Batty, Frank Scholes and George Hicks who has recently returned from France, where he performed successful concerts to crowds of thousands of people.

Contributed by Jean-Louis Noton

From August 13th to 16th, Max Bonnay (France) performed 4 shows on the digital accordion in the Orcharo Hall, Tokyo accompanied by the Paris Opera show "Picasso et la Danse" (Picasso and the Dance). Japanese TV channel T.B.S organised this artistic event and commissioned Kader Belarbi (principal dancer with the Paris Opera) to deliver the ballet "Les Saltimbanques" (inspired by the Picasso painting "la famille des saltimbanques"). The music was by Shostakovitch and Stravinsky with arrangements and interpretation by Max Bonnay.

Contributed by Jean-Claude Pouly

On September 6th, the Picoballo Quartet will perform at the "Atelier Hinterruti", Horgen, Zurich. Quartet members Albin Brun (accordion, saxophone, didgeridoo, vocals), Pascal Bruggisser (accordion, piano, vocals), Roberto Frei (bass) and Andy Aegerter (drums) perform a wide variety of music from Jazz to Balkan Folklore, from Rock & Funk to Cajun, from Tangos to Musette Waltzes and from Brazil to Caribbean melodies.

For further information phone: +41 1 725 88 54

Contributed by Maggie Martin

Weekly workshops led by accordionist Nada Lewis are currently being held on Monday evenings in Berkeley, California. The workshops cover international folk music from Bulgaria, Serbia, Macedonia, the former Soviet Union, Scandinavia, Klezmer, Greek, old Italian, French, Romanian tunes and Rom (gypsy) music.

Nada Lewis is a well known musician throughout the San Francisco Bay area, who specialises in eclectic world music. Course participants have enjoyed the opportunity of playing with a variety of other instrumentalists including violinists, clarinettists, flute players, percussionists and guitarists.

Participants can attend on a casual or regular basis. For further information phone: + 1 510 243-1122

Contributed by the Intermusik Newspaper

The new accordion magazine "Accordo" will begin publication in September in Belgium. The journal will continue to be published every two months. Editors are accordion teacher Ludo Marien, accordionist Mike Smeulders and journalist Joeri de Jongh, who has specialised in accordion news.

Contributed by the Intermusik Newspaper

Over 150 musicians attended the July Harmonika Festival in Ogenbargen (Ostfriesland region). This was the 10th International Meeting organised by Willy Rocker, and is growing in popularity. This years festival had the motto "Music is Life" and many accordionists performed solos and in groups.

Contributed by the Intermusik Newspaper

The "Carrefour Mondial de l'Accordéon" (World Accordion Crossroads) will take place in Montmagny, Québec, from September 4th to 7th. The program includes GlobeTrotter International Concerts, with artists like Raoul Barbosa (Argentina, accordion), Alain Chatry (France), David Cousineau (France), Dominique Gauvrit (France), Krassen Gospodinov (Bulgaria), Sacha Luminsky (Canada), Pino di Modugno (Italy), Niall Valleley (Ireland, concertina) and Stas Venglevski (Russia, bayan).

Diatonic accordion presentations will be given by Gaston Nolet (France), Markku Lepisto (Finland), Serge Desaunay (France), Didier Pauvert (France) and Brian Peters (UK).

The program includes outdoor concerts, a children's corner, stands, an accordion museum, exhibitions and repairs by Romolo Bitocchi.

Contributed by Jeroen Nijhof

In August, two Folkworks Summer Schools took place for adults and youths in Durham, England, consisting of a week of folk music workshops for both instruments and bands.

Tutors for the adult group were Karen Tweed (accordion), Andy Cutting (melodeon) and Rob Harbron (concertina). Youth group tutors were Sandy Brechin (accordion), Saul Rose (melodeon) and Simon Thoumire (concertina).

Concerts were given by Simon Thoumire (winner of the BBC Young Tradition Award) Saul Rose, Andy Cutting and Chris Wood, Sandy Brechin, Alistair Anderson (concertina) and the 200 participants of both summer schools.

Contributed by Paul Rogers

"Those Darn Accordions" are heading down to Los Angeles to play at the Jerry Lewis Telethon on September 7th (Labor Day)! They will play two tunes from "No Strings Attached" sometime between 4 and 8am. They are honoured to be working with one of the all time greats, Mr Jerry Lewis and hope their contribution helps.

The Guardian Newspaper (UK) included an article recently about a band called Lo'Jo who are cited as a new French Discovery. The group which includes accordion, violins and vocals perform a cool, clever blend of French balladry, Arabic influences and Afro-Caribbean dance. They will be performing at Womad Festival this month.

The Herald Sun, Australia included an article recently about the legendary Tasmanian accordionist, Martin Duffy who can often be seen busking in Melbourne Streets. In 1995, he was arrested for playing nude at an outdoor concert! These days, his appearance is diplomatically unconventional.

Duffy is cutting a CD single of his signature tune, called Footy which he sings to the melody of Skippy. Duffy wrote the lyrics himself, and worked especially long and hard on the chorus which goes: "Footy, footy, footy, footy!"

The Independent Newspaper (UK) recently included an article about comedian John Moloney, who plays seven musical instruments including the accordion. When Moloney first started out on the stand-up circuit, he was called "The Angry Young Accordionist" and he claims to be a past World Accordion Champion in Irish traditional music.

He currently has an Irish traditional music band called "Liverdance" which plays weekly. He believes that music "takes the pressure off" his work commitments.

Contributed by Sam Gentry

"It is with deepest regrets that I announce the death of a friend of the accordion. Ed Kloppe was a wonderful man. He played the mechanical corn cob, which is a ring of Hohner harmonicas, so he could play in any key. It always caused some double takes and started conversations. I have only recently heard of his passing on April 23rd, 1998 and wanted to let his friends know."

Contributed by Domenic "the Accordion Beatles guy" Amatucci

The Toronto Transit Commission held its annual Buskers' Auditions at the Canadian National Exhibition's Community Corner Stage from August 21st to 23rd. Over 225 acts are expected to try out for the 75 licenses that are available including many accordion acts. Results will be available two weeks after the auditions.

Contributed by Izuru Shinmyo

A summer concert was held on July 24th in Hachiouji, Tokyo, which included a performance by accordionist Tosie Ishikawa who performed Sous le ciel de Paris and pieces by Astor Piazzolla with the violin and piano to an enthusiastic audience of over 70 people.

Contributed by Sylvia Miskoe

The SRSNH (Strathspey and Reel Society of New Hampshire) held their August meeting on the 23rd in New Hampshire. Strathspey is the name of a style of tune from Scotland, and the name of a dance step. Over 40 club members who are dedicated to playing Scottish music on accordions, violins, harps, pipes, banjos and guitars attended.

The club, which is for all ages and levels, would like to see more accordionists. They meet on the last Sunday of the month at the Music Theatre, Concord.

For further information email: SMiskoe@aol.com

At a music Convention held in Toronto on August 16th and 17th, music merchants, distributors of Weltmeister accordions from Saxony, Germany had a display. Paula McDonnell (Sales Director) said she was very pleased with the results of the display.

Contributed by Julian Siegel

Jewish Music band "Tzimmes" (Vancouver, British Columbia) which includes accordionist Julian Siegel (Mexico) have just released their third CD "Klezmyriad". In all of their albums the accordion is a crucial element in the orchestration of their original pieces and adaptations. Tzimmes is committed to presenting Jewish Music in its multiple facets. Their songs range in style from European Klezmer to Mid-Eastern Sephardi to North American Folk, with vocals in several languages including Hebrew, Yiddish, Ladino, and English. Their basic orchestration consists of acoustic accordion and midi-accordion, guitar, bass, and Arabic and Latin percussion.

Julian Siegel was a recognised accordionist in Mexico by the age of 17, winning two national competitions. The group have performed concerts in Canada, U.S.A., Mexico and England.

The Sunday Times (UK) recently include an article on the release of a classical CD which is a compilation of 28 pieces written by Howard Skempton between 1969 and 1993. The CD includes accordion solos played by the composer himself.

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Texas Accordion Association

Hi Norman,

Thanks for the great comments!

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