If you prefer accordion music that doesn’t play by the rules, check out Paul Sullivan’s excellent biography of Finnish avant-garde/experimental accordionist Kimmo Pohjonen. Playing a 5-row chromatic accordion, Pohjonen uses electronic effects like samples and loops, as well as heavy doses of improvisation, to push his instrument into uncharted territory. In addition to his solo work, he has collaborated with percussionist/sampler Samuli Kosminen, the Kronos Quartet, and former King Crimson members Pat Mastelotto and Trey Gunn.

“Sometimes it can be a bit strange for people that an accordion player is doing the kind of stuff that I am doing. But I’m getting such good feedback… I hear comments like, ‘I have never liked accordion, and this is the first time that I’ve liked some accordion music.’ And that is the best comment that you can get.”

According to his site, Pohjonen’s mission is “to expand the capabilities, sound, performance, scope and experience of the accordion in many different settings to levels never before seen or heard.” Judge for yourself — here’s a video clip of Pohjonen performing solo in 2002:

Kimmo Pohjonen: Keko

• Accordion Floyd: Comfortably Numb
  Polka Floyd doesn’t have a monopoly on Pink Floyd accordion covers; check out Domenic Amatucci’s (of “Accordion Beatles” fame) excellent solo accordion rendition of “Comfortably Numb”.
• YouTube: Pingu Plays Accordion
  In this episode, Pingu the penguin plays the accordion — much to the annoyance of his family and friends. But after some lessons from Grandpa, his playing improves and suddenly he’s the center of attention (in a good way).

• KPBS > Jeffrey Broussard and the Creole Cowboys Perform in Studio
  Listen to an in-studio performance and interview by Jeffrey Broussard and the Creole Cowboys, from KPBS public radio in San Diego. They’re playing at the Gator By The Bay festival in San Diego this weekend.
• MySA.com: Annual Music Festival Returns To Its Roots
  Juan Tejada, curator of this weekend’s Tejano Conjunto Festival in San Antonio, talks about this year’s incredible lineup which showcases “the six distinctive styles in the evolution of conjunto.”

Street Band, uploaded by Fhoys

Love this photo of a street band busking in Madrid with not one, not two, but three accordionists. We definitely need some groups like this roaming the streets here in the US…

Later this month, thousands of accordionists will head to Innsbruck, Austria for the 9th annual World Music Festival. This year’s festival focuses on the accordion and features performances from over 300 accordion orchestras and ensembles from around the world. Unfortunately, the only information I could find was either in German or badly-translated English (“Innsbruck will be overflowed!”), but there will also be a musical revue (written especially for the festival) on the accordion’s role in world music.

What’s on the accordion calendar this week?

• Tejano Conjunto Festival (Thu-Sat in San Antonio, TX)
  One of the biggest and best conjunto festivals of the year takes place this weekend in Rosedale Park. The lineup is a “who’s who” of conjunto accordion legends: Mingo Saldivar, Flaco Jimenez, Joel Guzman, Eva Ybarra, Flavio Longoria… you get the idea. Don’t miss this one.
• Billy McComiskey (Friday in New York, NY)
  Button box virtuoso (and Brooklyn native) Billy McComiskey performs at NYU with banjoist Peter Fitzgerald and keyboardist Matt Mulqueen.
• Gator By The Bay (Sat-Sun in San Diego, CA)
  San Diego’s biggest Zydeco, Blues and Crawfish Festival features entertainment on three stages with huge wooden dance floors and bands like Jeffery Broussard and the Creole Cowboys, Brian Jack and the Zydeco Gamblers, and more.

As usual, if you have an accordion event in your area — polka, zydeco, rock, whatever — and it isn’t on our calendar yet, tell us about it!

There was a great AP article today on accordions at the New Orleans Jazz Fest, calling accordions at the festival “popular, prolific and downright sexy.” Just listen to one female festival-goer’s description of Buckwheat Zydeco:

“He is so sexy… There is just something about a guy and a squeezebox.”

I swear, I did not make that quote up. The article pointed out that accordions weren’t confined to the cajun/zydeco stage, but that “they were showing up this year on the big stages and even in some of the big bands”, noting performances by Calexico and the New Orleans Klezmer Allstars. Sounds like this accordion thing might just be catching on…

Whether your Cinco de Mayo plans involve joining the crowds at a local festival or simply enjoying a Corona at home, you’ll need a suitable soundtrack. Might I suggest something from the catalog of norteño accordion legend, Ramón Ayala?

Known as “El Rey del Acordeon”, Ayala is a superstar on both sides of the border and through his distinctive accordion playing and songwriting, has set the standard for norteño music. In his forty year career, he has led two of norteño’s most successful conjuntos: first, Los Relampagos Del Norte (“Lightning Bolts of the North”) with singer Cornelio Reyna, and his current group, Los Bravos del Norte.

Here’s a classic track off his greatest hits collection, Antologia de un Rey:

Ramon Ayala: Mi Piquito de Oro (MP3 download)

I like to think of The Big Joe Polka Show as polka’s answer to American Bandstand. Just replace the TV studio with a large plywood dance floor in an Elk’s Lodge, the awkward teens with polka dancing seniors, and Dick Clark with the charming “Big Joe” Siedlik and his loud, accordion-patterned vests.

For more than 25 years, Big Joe was a polka radio king, spinning a popular mix of Polish, Czech and German polka records for listeners in the Midwest. After retiring from radio, he moved to television and now showcases live polka bands and dancers on his program which airs nationwide on RFD-TV, “Rural America’s Most Important Network.”

Later this month, Big Joe will film a series of shows at the RFD-TV Theater in Branson, Missouri. It’s a big deal for the bands chosen to perform and they’re coming from all over the country — the Polka Chips from Alaska, Smilin’ Scandinavians from Washington, Phocus from Buffalo, and many more.

One of polka’s biggest promoters, Big Joe likes to say that “polka tots make polka teens, and polka teens make adult human beings.” This clip is proof of that, as Big Joe welcomes (and teases) the younger members of Colorado’s Polka Nuts: