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http://www.accordions.com/news.aspx?d=15-Feb-2013&s=6768
http://www.accordions.com/news.aspx?d=15-Feb-2013&s=6768
15-Feb-2013
Yoshiya Watanabe (1952-2013), Tokyo – Japanby Rob Howard |
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 Yoshiya Watanabe, well known accordion researcher and collector, player and analyst, died from cancer on Sunday February 9th 2013, aged 60. He was one of an international band of collectors of old and antique accordions, and had a large collection of his own. He also had a great knowledge of anything to do with accordions, which he was always willing to share with others.Picture left in 1968. Brought up in Egypt, then Germany where he attended the International School in Hamburg, and later the International Christian University, Tokyo, where he graduated in biology and organic chemistry, Yoshiya Watanabe was fluent in both German and English. He translated the novel ‘Accordion Crimes’ into Japanese. Employed in the chemical industry with the Mitsui company, Yoshiya also lived in Brazil, where he made many contacts with accordionists. Yoshiya began learning the accordion in Hamburg in 1966, and played both button and piano accordion. A skilled and practical man, in 1985 Yoshiya designed and built what may have been the world’s first MIDI synthesizer accordion. This instrument had bellows sensors, and was exhibited at the International Science Expo ’85 in Tsukuba, Japan. Yoshiya Watanabe was also the author of two books about the accordion. Yoshiya Watanabe was very well liked and respected by all who came into contact with him. He is survived by a wife Kyoko, daughter Sakura and son Taira. |