Our accordion event calendar is always full of great concerts, festivals, and hootenannys, but this weekend is especially jam-packed. Here are a few noteworthy events you might want to check out:
Leavenworth International Accordion Festival (Leavenworth, WA) The 15th annual Leavenworth Accordion Festival includes workshops, jam sessions, a film/video series, a parade, and four nights of concerts and dances. Performers include Lynn Marie, Janet Todd, and S-Bahn.
Petaluma Accordion Festival (Petaluma, CA) Bay Area accordion fans know all about Cotati, but nearby neighbor Petaluma has its own two-day accordion celebration, too. We’ll be there on Saturday, so if you see a guy with a red Let’s Polka shirt, come say hi! (There’s also a great accordion triple-header on Friday night in Petaluma with Vagabond Opera, the Mad Maggies, and Amber Lee.)
Make Music New York: Mass Accordions (Brooklyn, NY) Tired of playing alone? Join a mass gathering of accordion players at the Old Stone Church The Bell House in Brooklyn and play music with the Famous Accordion Orchestra and Main Squeeze Accordion Orchestra. (Update: Moved indoors to The Bell House due to potential rain on Sunday.)
For polka fans, there’s also the International Polka Fest (Carleton, MN) and the Syracuse Polish Festival (Syracuse, NY). Check our calendar for more great accordion events in your neighborhood.
The Grammys Bite Polka Humorist Barry Mitchell (“Accordion Guy” on ABC’s World News Now) takes to the streets with this bouncy rant against the Grammys.
Is Polka Out of Step? Nice editorial from the LA Times: “The Grammy snobs might think that polka’s three-quarter time is up. But this is a genre that’s been around for more than a century longer than rock ‘n’ roll… it will proudly waltz on.”
Defending the Polka Great interview with Mark Halata of Houston polka band Texavia about Texas Czech polka, its origins and influences, and its place in the 21st century.
Polka Grammy Outrage Entertainment Weekly interviews 18-time polka Grammy winner Jimmy Sturr, who explains why the Grammys have made a terrible mistake.
In conjunto music, the 12-string bajo sexto is the accordion’s best friend: a constant companion who handles the bass and backbeat, allowing the accordion player to focus on right-hand melody (and often ignore the left-hand bass buttons entirely). As conjunto music’s premier bajo sexto player, Max Baca of Los Texmaniacs has become the guy every accordionist wants to play with.
Baca started playing bass in his father’s band at the age of eight and formed his own band when he was just twelve. He eventually went on to play with Flaco Jiménez and then the Texas Tornados, the popular cross-over group that included Jiménez, Doug Sahm, Freddy Fender, and Augie Meyers. Baca loved the Tornados’ rock-and-roll sound, but was drawn to the traditional conjunto music of his roots as well. In 1997 he created Los Texmaniacs and went to work fusing blues and rock-and-roll influences with the traditional conjunto pairing of button accordion and bajo sexto.
In recognition of the way Los Texmaniacs has pushed the envelope with conjunto, Smithsonian Folkways is releasing Los Texmaniacs’ Borders y Bailes this month as part of their ongoing Tradiciones/Traditions series showcasing music from Latin American traditions. Los Texmaniacs will also perform at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall in Washington next week.
The track below (“Redova”) is a bouncy instrumental duet between Baca’s bajo sexto and David Farias’ accordion. The redova rose to popularity in Europe in the mid-1800s and was imported to Mexico shortly thereafter; its sprightly one-two-three step resembles a fast waltz. You can still hear it amongst the polkas, schottisches, cumbias, and huapangos at a typical conjunto dance.
A few months ago we noted that ever since accordion player (and Cleveland native) Drew Carey took over as host of The Price is Right, accordions have been popping up on the show regularly as prizes. Now, we hear from Petosa Accordions in Seattle that Tuesday’s episode will feature one of their accordions as a prize on a game called “Tempations.” It’s awesome to see Drew — who’s the owner of a top-of-the-line Petosa AM-1100 himself — promoting our favorite instrument on national TV. Keep squeezin’, Drew!
In the spring of 1995, I was an eager college freshman doing what all young men dream of when they leave home: learning to play the accordion. I didn’t have a teacher or any lesson books, but I did have Those Darn Accordions’ album Squeeze This on cassette.
On the cover was Clyde Forsman, his octogenarian back covered with tattoos, smiling broadly and showing off his biceps while lifting an accordion. When people kidded me about playing the accordion, I showed them that album and made them listen to Clyde’s rendition of Jimi Hendrix’s “Fire” — a stunning version that rendered all other covers futile. Clyde Forsman helped me prove that the accordion could be cool.
Clyde passed away Friday night at his home in San Francisco; he was 94. One of the founding members of Those Darn Accordions, he played with the band from 1989 to 2000 and was easily its most beloved member. He won over crowds with his charm, humor, and the way he would take off his shirt to reveal his fantastic tattoos before launching into “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?” or the aforementioned “Fire.” An amazing entertainer and an incomparable accordion ambassador, he will be sorely missed.
I was hoping for an Accordion Awareness Month filled with only positive stories; unfortunately, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences had other ideas. Yesterday the Academy announced the elimination of the polka category from the Grammy Awards, wiping out one of polka’s few remaining venues for national exposure. Carl Finch, leader and accordionist for two-time Grammy winner Brave Combo, was understandably disappointed:
“It’s devastating… Polka is so misunderstood, you know, the butt of jokes. Having a polka category was the most important step to legitimacy that we could ever hope to achieve. To have that taken away, it’s like it was all for nothing.”
According to the Academy, the polka category was removed “to ensure the awards process remains representative of the current musical landscape.” One official cited the declining number of entries (only 20 in 2006) as a deciding factor. That only five artists had won the award in its 24 years — including 18-time winner Jimmy Sturr — made the category appear even less competitive.
This is definitely tough news for the polka community, especially for those bands who enjoyed media attention at Grammy time. But ultimately, I don’t think there are any polka fans who love the music any less today than they did yesterday, and I doubt this will stop any of the hard-working polka bands who fill dance floors across the country from doing what they love most.
Doing its part for Accordion Awareness Month, NPR’s All Things Considered had a piece today on accordion legend Esteban “Steve” Jordan. Over the course of his lengthy career, Jordan has brought styles and techniques to the button accordion that no one had ever imagined.
“‘What Steve Jordan did was, he electrified the accordion,’ says Sunny Sauceda, a rising star on the squeezebox. ‘He used pedals, he brought in jazz influences to the accordion playing. He brought in the effects that had never been done on the accordion — to this day, nobody does it.’
Then there’s the whole jazz thing, says Joel Guzman, an acclaimed traditional accordionist from Austin, Texas. ‘He’s playing flat-fifths and raised 11ths, rhythmically so deep… So, from a musical standpoint, he’s a genius.’”
Today, Jordan is 70 and, despite fighting cirrhosis of the liver and cancer, he’s hard at work with nine albums worth of unreleased material (where he plays every instrument) that he’s preparing for release through his website later this summer. I’m looking forward to hearing what El Parche has up his billowing sleeves this time.
It’s June 1st and that can only mean one thing… it’s the start of Accordion Awareness Month! Established in 1989 by our pal Tom Torriglia — formerly of Those Darn Accordions, now with retro-Italiano band Bella Ciao — Accordion Awareness Month was created to spread the word about the accordion’s resurgence in popularity and to educate people about the accordion’s true musical potential. Basically, the same mission we’ve adopted at Let’s Polka, except we do it year-round!
This year, we want you — our humble, accordion-loving readers — to help promote the virtues of our favorite instrument. Sit on your porch and play some tunes for your neighbors, attend a show on our accordion event calendar, fill up your coworker’s iPod with Flaco Jimenez songs when he isn’t looking, tell all your friends about Let’s Polka… the possibilities are limitless. Me, I’m going to sit on my balcony every night, directly above a pizzeria, and serenade patrons.
To encourage you, we’re giving away over $100 worth of accordion-related goodies to readers who pledge to promote the accordion this month. To make your pledge, write a comment on this post and tell us how you plan to celebrate Accordion Awareness Month — doesn’t matter if it’s something small (making a YouTube video) or big (writing an accordion concerto). One lucky, randomly-chosen pledger will receive a prize package stuffed with accordion CDs, books, and more. Contents include:
Geoff Berner’s indispensible how-to book, How to Be An Accordion Player
The guys at Accordion Noir hipped us to Die Akkordeonspielerin (The Accordion Player), a 2006 documentary about a promising young Macedonian accordionist. 17-year-old Emilija Obradova practices diligently and longs to be a professional musician, but her family is poor and cannot afford the new accordion she needs to compete in a national competition. This 30-minute film chronicles the lengths Emilija and her family will go to help her achieve her dream. I haven’t been able to track down a full copy (with English subtitles) so, in the meantime, this short clip will have to do:
We’ve always been suckers for accordion and polka-themed clothing, so this t-shirt is right up our alley. Taken from the online comic Silent Kimbly — a treasure trove of visual puns and silly wordplay — it could be the perfect shirt for all those summer polka parties you’ll be attending.
In the spring of 1995, I was an eager college freshman doing what all young men dream of when they leave home: learning to play the accordion. I didn’t have a teacher or any lesson books, but I did have Those Darn Accordions’ album 
I was hoping for an Accordion Awareness Month filled with only positive stories; unfortunately, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences had other ideas. Yesterday the Academy announced the 
