Musical Fortunes (Thursday in Berkeley, CA) Berkeley’s Jewish Music Festival kicks off with an original work composed by one of our local favorites, composer/accordionist Dan Cantrell. His “Musical Fortunes” explores themes based on traditional Jewish and Romani (Gypsy) music and features the Kitka Women’s Vocal Ensemble, Michael Alpert, and Rumen Shopov.
As America settles into another season of Ryan Secrest and Simon Cowell catfights (aka American Idol), Europe gears up for its annual continent-wide song competition, Eurovision. Each country votes on a song to represent them at the Eurovision finals, then viewers across Europe vote on a winner from that pool of entries. This year’s entries have their work cut out for them — it’ll be hard to top last year’s winners, Finnish heavy-metal rockers Lordi.
This year, there’s controversy brewing around Israel’s chosen Eurovision entry: a song called “Push the Button” by the band Teapacks. Eurovision organizers have threatened to ban the entry due to its “inappropriate” political message. The song warns of the dangers of nuclear war and seems to be a thinly-veiled jab at the nuclear ambitions or Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. One verse goes: “There are some crazy leaders they hide and try to fool us / With demonic, technologic willingness to harm / They’re going to push the button.”
Musically, the catchy song jumps back and forth between folk, hard rock, and even hip-hop, with the lead singer singing in English, French, and Hebrew. In the video, there’s even a (somewhat lazy) accordion player smoking a pipe:
Accordions are still all too rare in jazz, but Will Holshouser is doing his part to change that. A master accordionist, composer, and improviser, Holshouser’s unique sound crosses a wide range of genres, from chamber-jazz to folk to avant-garde and experimental.
It’s no surprise given his eclectic list of collaborators; in addition to his own band, the Will Holshouser Trio, he has played with David Krakauer & Klezmer Madness, Matt Munisteri & Brock Mumford, Musette Explosion, and numerous others. In a recent interview, Holshouser talked about the relationship between jazz and folk in his music, with emphasis on his involvement in klezmer:
“Playing klezmer has certainly changed the way I play the accordion. Among other things, I’ve learned to spit out runs of notes, to play peppery, dry, percussive chords, and to use ornamentation to tease out harmonic color. Many of these musical nuts and bolts are interesting and quirky, but what’s really fascinating is how they create such compelling effects — how they punch through our daily existence and help us to have these musical and emotional experiences that are so fulfilling.”
Most of Will’s original work is with the Will Holshouser Trio, which includes skilled improvisers Ron Horton on trumpet and David Phillips on bass. Their latest CD, Singing to a Bee, was recorded live in Faro, Portugal, during the Jazz No Inverno Festival in December 2004. To show you their versatility, here’s a track from that album that teeters between zydeco and jazz:
Wondering how you can get your kids interested polka? Or where you can learn to polka in New York City? Take your polka problems to Ask Zosia, home of the “polka world’s lighthearted advice columnist.” (Ask Zosia is for entertainment purposes only; don’t blame us if she gives you bad directions to the Bayway Polish Home.)
He may not have the name recognition of Myron Floren or Dick Contino, but few accordionists (past or present) could match the talents of Johnny Pecon. Pecon joined fellow Cleveland native Frankie Yankovic’s band in 1947; Yankovic played melodies on his piano accordion while Pecon harmonized on his chromatic. Pecon even introduced Yankovic to the song that would become his biggest hit: “Just Because”.
After a couple years of recording and touring with Yankovic, Pecon left and began a successful partnership with another excellent Cleveland accordionist, Lou Trebar. To this day, the Pecon-Trebar Orchestra is considered one of the greatest Cleveland-style polka bands of all-time.
Canada’s answer to Jason Webley, Geoff Berner is another mad genius songwriter on the solo accordion circuit. Biting and hilarious, dark and depressing — often all at the same time — Berner’s been delving deeper into klezmer with each successive album. He’s also the author of the international bestseller, How to Be an Accordion Player.
With his latest album, The Wedding Dance of the Widow Bride, Berner continues his mission to “drag klezmer music into
the bars kicking and screaming.” His raunchy, edgy take on klezmer may be blasphemous to some, but Berner insists that he’s simply getting in touch with the music’s emotional roots:
“In many ways [klezmer] was the punk rock of its time and place. These were the knockaround, hard-drinking, traveling people that you didn’t want your daughters to meet. These were not the classically trained musicians, and they were not always technical masters. They had something else to offer — they had guts in their playing.”
The album brings together the past and present, combining punk attitude with traditional Jewish wedding music. Aside from one Leonard Cohen cover, the songs are all original and inspired by traditional wedding song forms; for instance, “Weep Bride Weep” updates the traditional “Song to Make the Bride Weep” and “Song to Reconcile” is a dance to bring the in-laws together. It’s definitely an album worth slipping to the DJ at the next wedding you attend.
Smythe’s 9th Anniversary Accordion Party (Saturday in Oakland, CA) Smythe’s Accordion Center, one of the Bay Area’s finest accordion shops, celebrates its 9th anniversary in style. Performers include The Lemon Lime Lights, Vermillion Lies, and Charity Chan.
AAMS Festival (Friday-Sunday in Valley Forge, PA) The American Accordion Musicological Society (say that three times fast) is having its 20th annual Festival and Symposium with a full lineup of concerts and workshops, including performances by Tony Lovello, Vitaliy Pirog, and Lidia Kaminska.
Sturrfest 2007 (Friday in West Palm Beach, FL) 16-time Grammy winner Jimmy Sturr brings his polka party to West Palm Beach for a show that includes Boots Randolph, Michael Rose and The Calhoun Twins.
As usual, this is a just a small sample of the accordion events listed on our calendar this week. If you have an accordion event to promote, let us know!
A light chuckle from this morning’s funnies, courtesy of 9 Chickweed Lane. Though I think accordions are something all our visitors can agree on. (Thanks David!)
Posted February 24th, 2007 in Humor · Comments off
If you’ve been watching prime-time TV on NBC lately, you’ve seen their barrage of commercials for a new show called The Black Donnellys. The show follows four Irish-American brothers living in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen and depicts their transformation from boys to mobsters. Now a show about rowdy Irish-American guys has to have some accordion in it, right?
As it turns out… it does! The pilot episode, airing next Monday at 10pm (after Heroes), features a tune by eclectic Bay Area band The Mad Maggies. Keep your ears open about seven minutes into the show as “Sleepy Maggie”, a Mad Maggiefied version of a traditional reel, plays over a slow-motion fight scene. You can hear more on their excellent new album, Magdalena’s Revenge. And don’t forget to set your Tivo!
Ice sculptures are the hallmark of any good winter festival and the annual Festival du Voyageur in Winnipeg, Canada, is no exception. Each year, the festival hosts an “International Snow Sculpting Symposium” where artists from around the world express themselves through snow. This shot depicts a larger-than-life accordion player sitting in the back of a canoe. Must be hard to move those bellows when they’re made of ice…
He may not have the name recognition of Myron Floren or Dick Contino, but few accordionists (past or present) could match the talents of 
