Boy with Accordion
uploaded by BrannEver have one of those days? The kind where everything drags, just getting out of bed is a chore, and when you pick up your accordion, it feels like a ton of bricks. Well, imagine how this poor kid feels. First, Mom makes him wear a tie and a pair of knickers. Then he has to stand out in the sun and pose for a photo with an accordion that’s nearly as big as he is. The grimace on his face says it all: “Hurry up and take the picture… I can’t hold this much longer…”

Passing the baton to a younger generation has been difficult for polka, but Cajun music is having no such problem. Spinner writes about the current youth movement in Cajun/Creole music, noting the proliferation of young bands and musicians in the Lafayette (Louisiana) area. Some, like accordionist Kristi Guillory of Bonsoir, Catin, were drawn together through summertime Cajun French immersion programs held in Nova Scotia (home of their ancestors). Others, like accordionist Wilson Savoy of the Pine Leaf Boys, had to move away to realize the importance of their Cajun heritage.

The result is a new golden age of Cajun music, led by a tightly knit group of young musicians who gather regularly to jam, watch each other’s shows, and keep the traditions alive. Here’s a clip from one of those bands, the all-female Bonsoir, Catin:

Bonsoir, Catin: Le vieux Dodge à Bill Landry (MP3 download)

Today’s New York Times has a great article (“A Rural Dance Tradition in Twilight”) on the slow decline of polka in Nebraska. The piece explores polka’s place in Midwestern culture — “a music with little commercial viability but a strong social function” — and looks at the fans and musicians keeping the tradition alive. While the dwindling farming population plays a role in polka’s wane, some enthusiasts, like 68-year-old Darlene Kliment, blame themselves for not doing more to encourage the younger generation:

“It’s our generation’s fault… When we were growing up, our parents would take us to the dances. We’d fall asleep on the side of the stage, or in the booths. But then when our generation grew up, we got baby sitters.”

Of course, Nebraska isn’t alone; the same story is playing out in communities across the Midwest and East Coast. As the older, polka-loving generation fades, who will take their place on the dance floor?

Be sure to check out the excellent audio slideshow that accompanies the article. It includes photos from a polka dance at the Starlite Ballroom in Wahoo, as well as brief interviews with local Nebraska polka fans and musicians.

Over on the Reyes Accordions forum, I found some excellent photos taken by Peter Unbehauen during a recent trip to the Hohner accordion factory in Trossingen, Germany. (Some readers may remember his photo tour of the Hohner factory from last year.) Among his latest photos are shots of the building and assembly of Hohner Corona accordions. It’s fascinating to see that the process is still done almost completely by hand — from molding the celluloid to assembling the reed blocks to the final tuning.

Peter has also scanned the entire Hohner spare parts catalog. While you can only get instruments from a dealer, you can order nearly any spare/replacement part imaginable directly from the Hohner factory in Germany. So next time you need a pair of accordion bellow nail pliers, you know where to go.

• “Zydeco Joe” Mouton Dies at Age 64
  Popular zydeco accordionist “Zydeco Joe” Mouton passed away on Saturday, due to complications from pneumonia. He didn’t pick up the accordion until he was 45, but earned a reputation for energetic, old school zydeco and his ability to improvise lyrics in Creole French.
• NPR Music: The New Pornographers: Acoustic ‘Showstopper’
  Further proof the accordion is the instrument of choice for rock bands doing acoustic sets: the New Pornographers’ Kathryn Calder uses one in this in-studio performance for KEXP. (Photos here.)
• Liberty Bellows: Accordion Inventory Videos
  I usually discourage people from buying accordions online because it’s so hard to know what you’re getting. Liberty Bellows in Philadelphia has a novel approach to this problem, though: they’re posting videos of used accordions they have for sale, giving a brief demonstration of each.

I didn’t watch the American Music Awards last night because I know they’ll never top the 1998 show, which featured a one-of-a-kind, all-star accordion performance by Those Darn Accordions, Dick Contino, Weird Al, and Drew Carey. The accordion supergroup performed a medley of American Music Award winners of the past 25 years, from “Billie Jean” to “Achy Breaky Heart.”

Update: Thanks to Dick Clark’s copyright police, it looks like the clip is no longer available. Trust us, it was great!

I’ve never played a bayan (Russian chromatic accordion), but I’m consistently blown away by the bayan virtuosos I’ve seen and heard. A Metafilter post on Igor Stravinsky’s Petrushka led me to this excellent clip of Finnish accordionist (and 1989 Coupe Mondiale winner) Mika Väyrynen performing a selection from the ballet. It really shows how, in the right hands, one accordion can sound like an entire orchestra.

We’re hoping to have some Let’s Polka shirts available in time for the holidays but, in the meantime, here are a few shirts for the accordionist looking to spruce up their wardrobe:

• Zydeco Accordion Shirt
  The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage festival sells an entire line of rainbow-hued, accordion-print clothing that includes this shirt, as well as sundresses and even accordion boxers.
• “Accordion Hero” T-Shirt
  Inspired by the video game spoof, show the world that you’re ready for a squeezebox duel anytime, anywhere.
• Accordion Ghosts T-Shirt
  Quirky t-shirt depicting an accordion with ghosts bursting out of the bellows. Vaguely reminds me of the ghosts from Pac-Man.

Of course, the problem with these clever shirts is that no one can see them if you’re wearing an accordion, too. I guess the perfect shirt for an accordionist would be one with the design printed on the back.

That Accordion Hero video game spoof has been making the rounds again this week, even popping up on Wired News yesterday. And while it still isn’t real (sadly), there’s a clever guy who has actually created his own functional Accordion Hero video game. He basically took a small toy accordion and rigged it up as a controller for a freeware Guitar Hero clone for the PC. As an accordionist and Guitar Hero addict, I’d LOVE to play this. Especially if the playlist includes some Guy Klucevsek or Chango Spasiuk.

[Found via Global Nerdy]