I usually associate bulky, five-row chromatic accordions with stern Eastern European men who play Rachmaninoff for fun. Not pony-tailed 19-year-old Japanese girls in short skirts. But this video of Koharu, accordionist for the all-female street band Minority Orchestra, has changed my perception. I tried running her website through Google’s translator, but then it made even less sense. Fortunately, her playing needs no translation.
We’ve mentioned jazz accordion here before, but never jazz ukulele, and certainly never the two together. However, this clip of swingin’ Japanese ukulele duo TTCafe (with guests) covers it all. A fairly straightforward rendition of the Stevie Wonder classic “Sir Duke” morphs into a spirited give-and-take between Kunitaka Watanabe on accordion and Takashi Nakamura on ukulele.
Is it just me, or is YouTube the best thing ever? I mean, where else would I have found this video of the Jabara Sisters, a female Japanese accordion duo performing a traditional Romanian tune in what looks like someone’s grandmother’s living room? If enjoy this clip, check out another one of them doing a klezmer tune with one sister playing the pianica (melodica).
Further proof of the accordion’s universal reach — I stumbled upon this clip of Goto Izumi, accordionist and vocalist for Japanese band Nekomushi, from a recent solo show in Hiroshima. I have no idea what she’s singing (or what those baby dolls are doing there), but the message would probably be lost in translation anyway.
