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http://www.accordions.com/news.aspx?d=23-Jul-2010&s=2403
http://www.accordions.com/news.aspx?d=23-Jul-2010&s=2403
23-Jul-2010
John Higham’s Memories of Ikaalinen, Cheshire – UKby Rob Howard |
 English accordionist John Higham, who has a Finnish wife Eila and is regular visitor to Finland, tells about his recent trip to the Ikaalinen Festival:On the way from Helsinki to Ikaalinen I met some friends from Ikaalinen at a restaurant in Tampere. When we went in I heard a group of guests on a long table speaking French. I asked the owner to turn off the music, got out my accordion, went across the room to them, and played Piaf’s ‘No Regrets’. They all sang along with me, and then asked if I came from Paris. I said ‘No, I come from Manchester’ which surprised them. I told them I was on the way to Ikaalinen. One of them said:’ So are we, are you playing in the competition?’ A very rare compliment! There is always something going on at the festival. One day outside my hotel a man was playing his accordion. There was a group of young women having there morning coffee, or perhaps something stronger! I asked him to play ‘Yesterday’, and sang my parody to them, which amused them very much. On another occasion I came across a young woman playing her accordion, sitting on a bench in the park. She was surrounded by a group of her friends, and in front of her was a collecting bucket. I was told that she was trying to earn some money for her wedding, as she was getting married in a month. I asked if I played would they put something in the bucket for her. I played and sang ‘Lucky Jim’, and then said that in Finnish it would be something like this, and while someone held up the translation I sang it in Finnish. They were very surprised, and someone said that that would be the first time that an English man had stood up, played his accordion and sung a song in Finnish at the festival! There were always very many places to go in Ikaalinen, and always something different to see and hear. |