Twenty years ago, Jim Boggio and Clifton Buck-Kauffman had a crazy idea. What if they put on a music festival in the small Northern California town of Cotati? And what if it was centered around the accordion — which Boggio played — and incorporated a mix of musical styles like jazz, polka, Cajun, gypsy, etc. Would people be interested? Could they pull it off?
The answer is yes. Twenty times yes, in fact. This weekend, as they have for twenty years, accordion lovers from across the country and beyond will descend upon Cotati, CA, for the annual Cotati Accordion Festival. There will be two full days of accordion music, a tent dedicated to nonstop polka dancing, booths for accordion clubs and vendors, and, of course, the traditional Lady-of-Spain play-along accompanied by the release of white doves. Thousands attend every year and the non-profit festival raises important funds for local youth organizations.
Performers at this year’s festival include:
- Dick Contino
- Flaco Jimenez
- Los Texmaniacs
- Polkacide
- The Alex Meixner Band
- Culann’s Hounds
- Tara Linda
- … and many more!
Anna and I have been attending for more than ten years and we’ll be there again this year. If you see us wandering around, be sure to say hi!
2 Comments:
Accordion Noir will be seeing you there at the Creaking Planks’ set!
by Rowan Lipkovits on August 20th, 2010
Wow… too bad it’s so far away. Sounds like a blast!
by sharkbytes on August 31st, 2010