Seminal Irish punk band The Pogues are currently on a mini-tour of the East Coast, having just finished a series of shows in Boston. Unfortunately, an injury suffered by lead singer Shane MacGowan during Sunday’s show forced them to cancel tonight’s Roseland Ballroom show at the last minute. Given the fact that Shane has played gigs from a wheelchair, though, gives one hope that they’ll still make the tour’s final show: St. Patrick’s Day (Saturday) in New York City. (Update: Despite Shane being under “constant medical supervision and analgesic control,” he and the band will continue on with the tour.)

To get you ready for your own St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, here’s some excellent live Pogues footage from 1985 — nearly 20 minutes worth. (From the “Golden Age of YouTube”, before the 10-minute limit on videos.)

Accordions certainly aren’t the only instruments blocking the exits at our house. In fact, the first instrument I bought Anna (shortly after we first met) wasn’t an accordion at all, but a musical saw. There’s something oddly beguiling about the saw; maybe it’s the otherworldly sound, the amazing flexiblity, or the fact that (in a pinch) you could use it to fix an uneven table. Regardless, it can sound fantastic when accompanied by an accordion.

For proof, check out Minneapolis-based duo Dreamland Faces, which consists of Karen Majewicz on accordion and Andy McCormick on musical saw. Together, they play an enchanting mix of original tangos and waltzes, as well as jazz and folk classics from yesteryear. Majewicz has studied with Tejano accordion legend Eva Ybarra and Russian virtuoso Stas Venglevski, and even worked on accordions at Hohner’s repair center in Virginia. (She currently offers lessons and repairs in Minneapolis.)

In addition to their self-titled CD, Dreamland Faces has provided original music for theatre shows and accompanied silent films. I haven’t found many clips of their work online, but here’s a quirky music video for one of their songs:

Dreamland Faces: Zawszie Bedzie Czegos Ci Brak (Quicktime video)

Thanks to everyone who entered Let’s Polka’s 1st Birthday Contest last week; your recommendations will be keeping us busy for a while! And congratulations to our prize winners: Karla, Jesse, and Bruce. I’ll be following up and sending out Let’s Polka stickers to everyone who commented later this week.

Thanks again for helping celebrate Let’s Polka’s first year!

A few years ago, I inherited a fantastic collection of classic accordion sheet music. The arrangers’ names read like a “Who’s Who” of accordion masters: Deiro, Frosini, Magnante, Nunzio. However, most of the pieces were (and still are) far beyond my reach, so I was left wondering how “La Mariposita” and “Carnival of Venice” should really sound.

Now I know — thanks to Zevy Zions and his excellent new album of accordion solos, Olive Blossoms. Zions is a student of the great performer and teacher Charles Nunzio who, in turn, was a student of the legendary Pietro Frosini. Most of the songs on Olive Blossoms were either written or arranged by Frosini or Nunzio and it’s clear that Zions has gone to great lengths to do them justice.

From the start, Zions’ playing is impeccable, even on the most challenging material. But he’s no robot either; whether it’s the bouncy “Jolly Caballero” or the dreamy “Florette”, Zions handles the dynamics and nuances of each piece with care. The album’s centerpiece is his “Klezmer Suite” arrangement, which builds from a wandering, improvisational Doina to a rollicking Freilach.

Variety is key to any album of solos (regardless of instrument), and Zions does a fine job showing the accordion’s versatility across styles and genres. The album’s 18 tracks range from waltzes to tarantellas, polkas to tangos, with a unique accordion arrangement of a Mozart minuet for good measure.

There are no MIDI tricks here — just pure, beautifully executed renditions of accordion classics. Whether you’re new to these songs, or an experienced player seeking inspiration, Olive Blossoms would be an excellent addition to your accordion listening library.

Buy Olive Blossoms by Zevy Zions

Zevy Zions: Coquette Polka (MP3 download)

Accordion-Crazy, uploaded by zydepunks

This photo made me think of our own house — especially the pile of accordions in our living room. I think we have four accordions there right now, plus another in a closet, which yields an accordion-to-person ratio of 2.5 to 1 in our household. What about you — how many accordions do you have hanging around your house?

This year’s Tejano Music Awards will be held Saturday in San Antonio, but it’ll have a hard time matching the fireworks of this all-star accordion jam from the 1992 show. The video may be fuzzy, but the music is incredible. From left to right, the lineup includes David Lee Garza, David Farias, Pete Ybarra, Mingo Saldivar and Flaco Jimenez, who kicks things off with “Viva Seguin.”

[Found via the Reyes Accordions forums]

Galanti 1948
uploaded by Al Q“Tried the rest? Now try the Best!” I love this vintage (circa 1948) Galanti Accordion ad. With a name like “Super Dominator”, you could take on anything with this accordion. A Pietro Frosini solo? No problem. A vicious street gang? I’m not worried — I’ve got my “Super Dominator”!

Galanti Accordions was founded by Antonio Galanti in the late 19th century in Mondaino, Italy. His sons Domenico, Egidio and Robusto carried on their father’s work, building an accordion factory (“Fratelli Galanti”), and then later bringing the accordions to America (hence the “R. Galanti and Bro., Inc, New York” on the ad). According to this history, as musical tastes changed, the company turned their focus to electronic instruments (organs, even electric guitars) in the late 1950s.

“Cajun Sound, Rock ‘n’ Roll Energy” is an excellent article from Sunday’s New York Times on the resurgence of Cajun music among young musicians and dancers in Louisiana. Up-and-coming Lafayette bands like the Pine Leaf Boys, Lost Bayou Ramblers, and Red Stick Ramblers, have been electrifying the local dance floors with a fresh approach to traditional Cajun music:

“‘I want to document what’s going on here,’ Joel Savoy, 26, said, ‘because it’s exciting to see all these young kids playing this weird traditional music with accordions and fiddles and to have all these young kids eating it up like it’s the coolest thing ever.'”

The article centers on the Savoy family, particularly the role that Marc and Ann Savoy played in passing the music down to their children. Marc is a master button accordion maker and musician, while Ann was nominated for a Grammy last year for her Zozo Sisters project with Linda Ronstadt. Raised around Cajun music legends, it’s no surprise that their children — Wilson plays accordion, Joel plays fiddle — have become leaders of the new Cajun scene.

There’s also a brief discussion of the difference between Cajun and zydeco — a distinction that, admittedly, we don’t often make on our site. If you’re curious, the Rochester Cajun Zydeco Network has a great overview of the origins and differences between the two styles.

Pine Leaf Boys: Zydeco Gris Gris (MP3 download)

Can you believe it’s been a whole year since Let’s Polka first came kicking and squeezing into this world? It seems like just yesterday we were interviewing polka greats, hanging out at Camp AccordionLand and the Cotati Accordion Festival, and being written up in the San Francisco Chronicle. We’ve seen squeezebox zombies, zydeco prodigies, accordion-toting Finnish metal bands, and bizarre Slovenian polka videos. We even managed to anger some Garfield fans along the way.

To celebrate the occasion, we’re engaging in our favorite hobby: giving away free stuff! But first, you have to give us something in return.

Your mission: Write a comment on this post and tell us about an accordion artist (solo or group) that we should hear. It could be a musette accordion player from the 1930s, your cousin’s conjunto band, or a punk/polka combo you found on MySpace. If there’s an accordion involved, we want to know about it!

We’ll send a handful of Let’s Polka stickers (see photo above) to everyone who posts a comment. Three lucky, randomly-chosen commenters will also receive one of these items from our holiday gift guide:

• Geoff Berner’s tongue-in-cheek handbook, How to Be an Accordion Player
• Bob Dolgan’s biography of Frankie Yankovic, America’s Polka King
• Craig DiBiase’s polka documentary, It’s Happiness, on DVD

We’ll hold the drawing for those three prizes next Monday, so you have one week to post your comment. (If you comment after Monday, you can still get stickers but you won’t win one of the three prizes.)

Sound good? Then start posting — and winning — today!