Doing its part for Accordion Awareness Month, NPR’s All Things Considered had a piece today on accordion legend Esteban “Steve” Jordan. Over the course of his lengthy career, Jordan has brought styles and techniques to the button accordion that no one had ever imagined.
“‘What Steve Jordan did was, he electrified the accordion,’ says Sunny Sauceda, a rising star on the squeezebox. ‘He used pedals, he brought in jazz influences to the accordion playing. He brought in the effects that had never been done on the accordion — to this day, nobody does it.’
Then there’s the whole jazz thing, says Joel Guzman, an acclaimed traditional accordionist from Austin, Texas. ‘He’s playing flat-fifths and raised 11ths, rhythmically so deep… So, from a musical standpoint, he’s a genius.'”
Today, Jordan is 70 and, despite fighting cirrhosis of the liver and cancer, he’s hard at work with nine albums worth of unreleased material (where he plays every instrument) that he’s preparing for release through his website later this summer. I’m looking forward to hearing what El Parche has up his billowing sleeves this time.
It’s June 1st and that can only mean one thing… it’s the start of Accordion Awareness Month! Established in 1989 by our pal Tom Torriglia — formerly of Those Darn Accordions, now with retro-Italiano band Bella Ciao — Accordion Awareness Month was created to spread the word about the accordion’s resurgence in popularity and to educate people about the accordion’s true musical potential. Basically, the same mission we’ve adopted at Let’s Polka, except we do it year-round!
This year, we want you — our humble, accordion-loving readers — to help promote the virtues of our favorite instrument. Sit on your porch and play some tunes for your neighbors, attend a show on our accordion event calendar, fill up your coworker’s iPod with Flaco Jimenez songs when he isn’t looking, tell all your friends about Let’s Polka… the possibilities are limitless. Me, I’m going to sit on my balcony every night, directly above a pizzeria, and serenade patrons.
To encourage you, we’re giving away over $100 worth of accordion-related goodies to readers who pledge to promote the accordion this month. To make your pledge, write a comment on this post and tell us how you plan to celebrate Accordion Awareness Month — doesn’t matter if it’s something small (making a YouTube video) or big (writing an accordion concerto). One lucky, randomly-chosen pledger will receive a prize package stuffed with accordion CDs, books, and more. Contents include:
Geoff Berner’s indispensible how-to book, How to Be An Accordion Player
The guys at Accordion Noir hipped us to Die Akkordeonspielerin (The Accordion Player), a 2006 documentary about a promising young Macedonian accordionist. 17-year-old Emilija Obradova practices diligently and longs to be a professional musician, but her family is poor and cannot afford the new accordion she needs to compete in a national competition. This 30-minute film chronicles the lengths Emilija and her family will go to help her achieve her dream. I haven’t been able to track down a full copy (with English subtitles) so, in the meantime, this short clip will have to do:
We’ve always been suckers for accordion and polka-themed clothing, so this t-shirt is right up our alley. Taken from the online comic Silent Kimbly — a treasure trove of visual puns and silly wordplay — it could be the perfect shirt for all those summer polka parties you’ll be attending.
European cabaret, Balkan belly-dance, neo-Classical opera… it’s all in a day’s work for the Portland, Oregon-based six-piece, Vagabond Opera. Mixing Eastern European folk with creative, theatrical performances, Vagabond Opera is one of the few bands that can put on a thrilling show while still delivering the musical goods. And they’re not kidding around about the “Opera” part, either — the group’s lineup includes classically trained tenor and soprano vocals (singing in over a dozen languages), not to mention accordion, cello, stand-up bass, musical saw, and more. This track comes from their just-released third album, The Zeitgeist Beckons:
Make Music New York is a unique festival of free concerts in public spaces throughout New York City, all on Sunday, June 21st, the first day of summer. Along with hundreds of individual concerts, this year’s MMNY includes a type of gathering called “Mass Appeal” where hundreds of musicians perform pieces written for a single instrument. And, you guessed it, there’ll be special event just for accordionists.
Accordionists of all shapes, sizes, and abilities are encouraged to join the accordion gathering at the Old Stone House in Brooklyn. You can participate in the performance of a new piece by composer Bob Goldberg for the Famous Accordion Orchestra, in which visitors discover an “accordion forest.” Players are also invited to play-along to some old favorites with the NYC’s all-female Main Squeeze Accordion Orchestra conducted by Walter Kuhr. See the listing on our calendar for more details, including RSVP information so they know how many squeezeboxes to expect.
The United States may have won the Cold War, but Russia continues to set the pace when it comes to accordion technology. Just witness the strange and fantastic custom accordions used here by the Timbre Russian Accordion Group. Founded in Moscow in 1982, this quintet plays unique “timbre accordions” designed to sound like symphonic wind instruments — specifically, an oboe, clarinet, French horn, and tuba. (The fifth member plays a more traditional bayan.) One of Russia’s most popular accordion ensembles, the group plays classical, folk and contemporary music from Russia and beyond. I couldn’t find much information about their accordions beyond the description included with the video; if you have more, leave a comment and let us know.
It only took forty years and thirty-three albums for Bob Dylan to realize what we already knew — that the accordion is the perfect instrument. His latest record, Together Through Life, which debuted at the top of the charts last month, features the excellent Tex-Mex accordion stylings of Los Lobos frontman David Hidalgo on nearly every track. I think Dylan’s only regret is that he didn’t realize the accordion’s value earlier in his career:
“I wished I had used it more on some of my past records… I use an accordion player when I play off-road shows. It’s a perfect instrument in a lot of ways. It’s orchestrative and percussive at the same time. Actually accordion players were the first musicians I had seen a lot of growing up.”
Barry Mitchell Known as “Accordion Guy” to viewers of ABC’s World News Now, Mitchell has been contributing song parodies, celebrity interviews, and goofy feature reports to the show since 1992. He also created the show’s theme, “The World News Polka”.
Sound of the Phoenix A short, quirky documentary on the history of the accordion by Hans Ris. Don’t miss the bizarre rap (accompanied by two accordions) at the end.
Today’s featured track comes from Tower of Dudes, a band hailing from the Czech Republic. But there’s nothing traditionally Czech here; the lyrics are English and the music is a combination of high-energy punk and country twang. Toting an eclectic array of instruments — accordion, banjo, mandolin, melodica, glockenspiel — they remind of me of a slightly tamer, but no less interesting, version of Gogol Bordello.
Doing its part for Accordion Awareness Month, NPR’s All Things Considered had a piece today on accordion legend Esteban “Steve” Jordan. Over the course of his lengthy career, Jordan has brought styles and techniques to the button accordion that no one had ever imagined.
