Ever wonder how a concertina is made? Wonder no more after watching this old newsreel (circa 1961) chronicling the work of craftsmen at the Wheatstone concertina factory in Islington, London.

See how workers fit valves, prepare bellows, and file reeds for tuning; all while following in the footsteps of Sir Charles Wheatstone, who invented the English concertina in 1844. The narrator notes that the concertina is the “only musical instrument ever invented by an Englishman; but then, music is the food of love, and Englishmen are reputedly bad lovers.” Ouch.

If you’re interested in concertina history or instruction, be sure to visit concertina.com. They have a great library of articles ranging from fingering charts to discussions of serial numbers in early Wheatstone ledgers. There are also some lively discussion forums at concertina.net.

Mexican singer/songwriter Julieta Venegas rose to fame with her unique brand of accordion rock, fueled by an expansive sound and powerful lyrics typically heard only in veteran artists. Lately, she’s been reinventing herself with a brighter pop sound that has widened her audience even more. She just received four Latin Grammy nominations, including Album of the Year for Limon y Sal and Record of the Year for “Me Voy”. This clever video for “Me Voy” also earned a Grammy nod:

(Thanks Ian!)

Today Weird Al released his 12th studio ALbum, Straight Outta Lynwood, featuring parodies of Chamillionaire, Green Day, Usher, R. Kelly and (best of all) Taylor Hicks! The DualDisc also includes six animated videos, a behind-the-scenes featurette on the making of the album and even karaoke mixes with optional on-screen lyrics. (And, for those who were wondering, there is a 27 on the cover).

My review: 5 stars, baby! Okay, I am biased. Weird Al is one of my favorite musicians ever. I am continually impressed with his breadth of experience spanning multiple genres. Some of my personal favorite songs are “White and Nerdy” (watch the video on Al’s Myspace), “Polkarama!” (any song that starts with “The Chicken Dance” and ends with “Gold Digger” is a favorite in my book) and “Do I Creep You Out” (I love Taylor Hicks but even he might agree that song was asking for it).

I also love the additional videos. Some of my favorite animators worked on them, including John Kricfalusi, Bill Plympton and Robot Chicken. The behind-the-scenes featurette is also really fun. In it, you’ll see Al playing his accordion (a red Hohner 72 bass with 5 treble switches) as well as a toy piano, vibraslap, bass harmonica and a watermelon! That guy has mad skillz.

If you like Weird Al, I think you will be pleasantly surprised with this album. Click here to buy the CD.

Let’s jump into the time machine and set a course for the 1940s, when pop accordion/guitar/organ trio The Three Suns were topping the charts with “Twilight Time” and their cover of “Peg o’ My Heart.” Now a favorite of lounge music aficionados, the group had a very successful run through the mid-1960s, spawning imitators and even appearing in the feature film, Two Gals and a Guy.

Check out this video of the group’s original lineup (Artie Dunn on organ/vocals, Al Nevins on guitar, and his brother Morty Nevins on accordion) performing “Beyond the Blue Horizon.” For more on The Three Suns, don’t miss Michael Toth’s exhaustive history of the group.

[Found via Weirdo Video]

Sometimes a different twist on an old tune can make it sound totally new again. That’s how I feel about the often-maligned “Lady of Spain” after finding this conjunto-style version played on accordion and bajo sexto. Now I just have to get Anna to learn it on her new button accordion…

We’re back from Cotati and we had a fantastic time! I’m ready to crash right now, but over the next couple days I’ll post a bunch of photos and write up some highlights, including the amazing story of how Anna won the grand prize at the festival raffle — a shiny new Hohner Corona II diatonic accordion. Really!

In the meantime, check out a set of festival photos from Flickr user mudpieblues, as well as this short video I took during Dick Contino’s performance on Sunday:

With his 12th album due out next month, let’s take a stroll down memory lane and watch Weird Al Yankovic’s first television appearance from way back on April 21, 1981. Armed with only his accordion, his trademark curly hair, and a ridiculously loud pair of pants, he performed his Queen parody “Another One Rides the Bus” on The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder. Longtime collaborator Jon “Bermuda” Schwartz pitched in by playing Al’s accordion case as a drum.

[Found via Videobomb]

Anna and I just got back from a fun-filled day at Camp AccordionLand. (Thanks again to Henri Ducharme for organizing it!) I’ll post a full report and photos soon but, in the meantime, I want to share this video of Lou Jacklich playing “Granada” at the camp. Listening to Lou play and talk about his lengthy show business career was one of the day’s highlights; he also led an “accordion dissection” workshop that drew a crowd.

When he was a young accordion prodigy, Joel Guzman earned the nickname “El Pequeno Gigante” (“The Little Giant”). Years later, Joel is famous for combining traditional Mexican music with blues, rock, country, salsa, and other genres to create a unique style all his own. In 2004, he teamed with fellow Tejano accordion legends David Lee Garza and Sunny Sauceda to record Polkas, Gritos, y Acordeones, which won the Grammy for Best Tejano Album. Currently, he plays with his band Aztex and his wife, Cuban-born singer Sarah Fox.

After watching this incredible video of Joel jamming at a workshop in Texas, I can’t wait to see him and Aztex at the Cotati Accordion Festival later this month: