Quick Links: Maple Leaf Edition

In honor of our neighbors to the north, we present an all-Canadian batch of links:

• Accordion-less Years Difficult for Canada’s New Champ
  By day, Ivan Preanicov is a telecommunications technician in British Columbia. By night, he’s an accordion champ, winner of the 2nd annual Roland V-Accordion Festival National Finals and headed to Italy to represent Canada in international competition.
• Accordion Player a Master of Moods
  Born in Quebec and raised in Edmonton, Marie-Josée Houle sings “French cafe and gypsy jazz” in French and English. She just released her new album, Monsters, earlier this month.
• Montrealer loves playing with Madonna
  Previously a musical director with Cirque Du Soleil, Montreal pianist/accordionist Ric’key Pageot is now — thanks to his accordion — on tour with Madonna.