We’re two weeks away from the Grammys and, while you probably won’t see Cedric Watson on TV, he could walk away with the Best Cajun/Zydeco Album award. A skilled multi-instrumentalist — he plays both accordion and fiddle — Watson is part of the recent Cajun/Zydeco youth movement that includes his old band the Pine Leaf Boys, Feufollet, Lost Bayou Ramblers, and many others. On his self-titled solo debut, Cedric creates music with strong Creole roots, playing a variety of old-school zydeco styles, original material and Creole traditionals.

Cedric Watson: Cedric Zydeco mp3

Buy Cedric Watson by Cedric Watson

I was a huge fan of The Price is Right when I was a kid — to the point that I would put on my own version in my grandmother’s basement and make her play pricing games. (Plinko! Cliffhangers!) Things haven’t been the same since Bob Barker passed his microphone to Drew Carey, but I’ve noticed one positive change: accordions occasionally appearing as prizes. The screenshot above comes from a December episode featuring a blue Hohner Corona II. Anyone who watched The Drew Carey Show knows that Drew’s an accordion player; I wonder if some form of regular accordion promotion is written into his contract?

Do you have a question for Blair Kilpatrick, author of Accordion Dreams: A Journey into Cajun and Creole Music? Would you like to win a free, signed copy of her book? Read on!

Blair has kindly offered to answer a handful of questions from our readers about her story, her music, or whatever else sparks your curiosity. Just submit your question here before next Monday (January 26th) and we’ll forward your questions to Blair for her to answer in a future post. Then we’ll choose one lucky, random question-asker and they’ll receive a free, signed copy of her excellent new book.

In the meantime, Bay Area accordion aficionados can catch Blair at one of these upcoming author events:

• January 23: The Booksmith (San Francisco)
• February 8: Clayton Books (Clayton)
• February 10: Book signing/dance party at Ashkenaz (Berkeley)
• February 19: University Press Books (Berkeley)
• February 24: Stacey’s (San Francisco)

In addition to a reading, book signing, and Q&A, these events will also include live Cajun-Creole music.

When journalist Gregory Warner took his accordion to Afghanistan, he hoped the music would help him where his phrasebook failed. The instrument turned out to be a better ambassador than he ever imagined.

His fantastic video, “Afghanistan: An Accordion Journey”, shows how his music helped bridge the gap between foreigner and natives by recalling Afghanistan’s own accordion hero, Ahmad Zahir. (Thirty years after his death, Zahir is still Afghanistan’s most popular and enduring musical icon.) I particularly love the scene where Warner performs Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” for a cheering Afghan crowd. Is there any culture where the accordion doesn’t fit in?

We have some big plans for 2009 — more music, more interviews, more uses for moldy bellows — and we don’t want anyone to be left out. So here are a few ways to stay on top of our steady stream of accordion news and views:

Email

Why visit the site when it can visit you? Sign up below to get our latest news emailed to you daily. No spam or chain mail — just pure, squeezy goodness.

RSS Feed

If you prefer perusing your news from the comfort of an RSS reader — Google Reader, My Yahoo, etc. — just point it to this address and you’re all set:

https://www.letspolka.com/feed/

Twitter

For those who like their updates in bite-size, 140-character chunks, you can follow us on Twitter. Our Twitter stream includes links to our latest posts, plus occasional bonus links that we don’t have time to post on our site.

http://twitter.com/letspolka

And, finally, for any completists out there, you can also become our friend on MySpace or a fan on Facebook. (If you’re a band or solo artist and you post your gigs on MySpace, you should definitely add us. Our MySpace friends list is the first place we look when adding events to our calendar.)

With any luck, later this year you’ll be able to receive Let’s Polka news by telegram, carrier pigeon, and telepathy.

For any merengue típico fans: here’s a fun video of La India Canela talking about the accordion during recording sessions in the Dominican Republic. Unlike big-band merengue, merengue típico centers on the accordion and relentless improvisation. And despite being a rare female accordionist (and bandleader), she has won the Dominican’s highest prize in the arts (the Casandra) twice and is nationally famous for her music. Born Lidia Maria Hernandez Lopez, she was nicknamed “La India Canela” (“Cinnamon Indian”) by a radio host who said it described her look and musical flavor.

If you want to hear more, be sure to check out her recent release on the Smithsonian Folkways label.

The Cordovox Magic of Valentino, uploaded by letslookupandsmile

What’s not to love about this album cover? The purple cuffs, the pinky ring, the thumbs… and, of course, Valentino’s magical Cordovox. I tried to find a clip from the album, but all I could find was this review of Valentino’s “Live in Las Vegas” CD. I’m pretty sure it’s the same guy, but if anyone has more information about this master of the Cordovox, leave us a comment.

I love hearing stories of how people fell in love with the accordion, so I’m really looking forward to Blair Kilpatrick’s new book, Accordion Dreams: A Journey into Cajun and Creole Music. Kilpatrick was a happily settled psychologist, wife, and mother when a trip to New Orleans sparked a passion for Cajun music and the accordion. Today, she lives in the San Francisco Bay Area — the largest Cajun/zydeco scene outside of Louisiana — and plays accordion in her own Cajun-Creole band, Sauce Piquante.

The book details Kilpatrick’s pursuit of her unlikely obsession with Cajun culture and the accordion, from the Chicago’s Cajun dance scene to a folk music camp in West Virginia and trips to Louisiana and even France. But it’s really about embracing new experiences and how you can chase your dreams at any age.

“… I moved the bellows just a little, my finger depressing a single white button, one of the low notes on the treble side. I bent my ear close. There—I heard it! A throaty whisper that promised to turn into the real thing once I really let go. I could already picture it, and I could practically feel it: bellows pumping, air rushing, all four reeds vibrating in the thrilling growl and wail of a Cajun accordion in full voice. The accordion of my dreams.”

If you live in the Bay Area, there’ll be a release/dance party for the book on February 10th at Ashkenaz in Berkeley. The event will include a reading, book signing, and a performance by Sauce Piquante.

If you’ve ever thought “they just don’t feature enough throat-singing accordionists on Let’s Polka,” today’s your lucky day. Oidupaa Vladimir Oiun is a famous throat singer from Tuva (a southern Russian republic) who sings in the kargyraa style, a deep undertone technique. Oh, and he sings while accompanying himself on the accordion. Oiduppa’s singing is more emotional and less traditional than typical kargyraa but, then again, Oiduppa was a non-traditional guy, spending more than half of his life in jail. This song, written by Oiduppa and dedicated to the Tuvan people, comes from the album, Divine Music From a Jail.

Oidupaa Vladimir Oiun: How the Shadow is Clear mp3

(Special thanks to the guys in our local accordion/funk band, Sex With No Hands, for introducing us to Oidupaa.)