Solo > Pauline Oliveros [1]
Breathing in a Box > Toni Smith [2]*
The Beauty of Sorrow > Pauline Oliveros [3]
Mer Blanche > Renaud Garcia-Fons & Jean-Louis Matinier [4]
Kel Adon > Salomon Klezmorim [5]
Victor's Doina > Bratsch & Guests [6]
Charms of the Night Sky > Dave Douglas (with Guy Klucevsek) [7]
Gymnopdie 1 > Teodoro Anzellotti [8]
Loosening up the Queen > Guy Klucevsek [9]
AvlÀgsen Strandvals > Lars Hollmer [10]
Douce Joie > Gus Viseur et Son Orchestre [11]
Mysterieuse > Jo Privat et Son Orchestre [12]
Les Touristes Partis > Marcel Azzola [13]
Der Wind Hat Mir Ein Lied ErzÀhlt > Sasha Andres, Stian Carstensen, Lol
Coxhill, et al. [14]
Ce-Am Ubit in Viata Mea! > Nedim Nalbantoglu & Roberto de Brasov Trio [15]
Doina Oltului > Anonymous [16]
Zitherditta > Anton Karas & His Two Rudis [17]
Bulgarian Choro > V. Kovtun [18]
Kopanitza > Yasko Argirov Band [19]
Endlich ein Zamba > Lars Hollmer [10]
Lullabye of Birdland > Harry Mooten [20]
Mad Cow / Inte Quanta > Accordion Tribe [21]
Cumbia de Colombia > Henry Castro [22]
King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown > Augustus Pablo [23]
The Peanut Vendor > Jerry Murad's Harmonicats [24]
Summer Samba > Milton Delugg [25]
He Didn't Come Back From Battle > Vladimir Visotsky [26]
Raspryagaite, Chloptzi, Konei > Cossack Choir from Kuban [27]
Zobi La Mouche > Les Negresses Vertes [28]
Cri > Lizzy Mercier Descloux [29]
Tiroler Meisje > Olga Lowina [30]
Daddy Cool + Play That Funky Music > De Lolitas [31]
Toccata [Bach] + Marcia Turca [Mozart] > Cesare Vaia [32]
TÃ_rkischer Marsch [Mozart] > Mario Battaini [33]
Dialog Ueber Luft [Vinko Globokar] > Teodoro Anzellotti [34]
Promenade from Pictures at an Exhibition [Mussorgsky] > Friedrich Lips [35]
Moldavian Folk Dance > Alexander Dmitriev [36]
Medley of Reimbursible Power Standards in Something Flat > Toni Smith [37]
Oblivion [Piazolla] > Alfredo Marcucci & Ensemble Piacevole [38]
Another One Rides The Bus > Weird Al Yancovic [39]
The Pope Song > Judy Tenuta [40]
Die Rooirok > Jacques Gerlagh en Zijn Trio with Eddie Christiani [41]
Vogeltjesdans > De Electronicas en Jan Gorissen [42]
Ballade von den SeerÀubern [Brecht] > Ernst Busch [43]
La Comparsa > Harry Mooten [44]
Libertango > Astor Piazolla [45]
Suite Plina > Ti Jaz [46]
Neda > Bratsch & Guests [6]
Clint Eastwood > Gorillaz [47]
Bug > Pearl Jam [48]
Over The Moon > David Thomas & His Pale Orchestra [49]
De Beer > Toni Smith [50]
A Chassid in Amsterdam > Amsterdam Klezmer Band [51]
Ze Zeggen Dat Ik Een Schooier Ben > Bolle Jan [52]
Az Der Rebbe Zingt > Theodore Bikel [53]
Gubite [Macedonian trad.] > Bindlestiff Family Cirkus Band [54]
Caminhante > Crioulo Dos Pampas [55]
Fantasia Ribatejan > Eugenia Lima [56]
Cuando Te Conoci > Steve Jordan [3]
La Valse de Mariage > The Guidry Brothers [57]
Rocky Mountain Yodel > Marcel Azzola et son Orchestre [58]
Feelings > The Happy Accordion [59]
Besame Mucho > V. Kovtun [18]
Odyssey > Dave Douglas with Guy Klucevsek [7]
Perusal > Guy Klucevsek [9]
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My guest tonight is the accordionist, Toni Smith, to produce our 3rd installment in the "Accordion Attacks" series. He is a former accordion-toting punk rocker from Groningen and a former editor at Ravijn, a kind of transient and modest Dutch version of NY's Autonomedia. He currently works at a performing arts archive and plays around in local Amsterdam cafes and restaurants to earn a few extra guilders. [see below]
The red wine during the show's proceedings mixed well with the enthusiasm for the music and led to a long series of ecstatic segues. And as I have said before, the segue is the heroin rush of the radio DJ. Footnote texts written by bp & TS.
[1] "At the Ijsbreker Jan 24, 1999" with Pauline Oliveros & David Gamper on JdK Productions in Amsterdam, one of the more intrepid small labels around. PO also appears on Pogus and she has done more to stretch out the sound of the accordion -- and in the process discover its hidden voice -- than anyone. You get the idea that it is almost an organic breathing being with her squeezing.
[2] This was a live take of Toni Smith doing a long almost yoga-like tandem breathing exercise with the accordion and voice. Again, as PO, he makes us almost believe that the accordion is a sort of living breathing partner. TS is much too modest to adequately represent his talent and depth of interest and enthusiasm. This piece scraped far underneath the usual ebullient and space filling aspect of the accordion. Instead, we have a subtle investigation of the almost imperceptible sounds that are emitted by the accordion. Like an old wheezing man reading a book and the breath can in some way lead us to an understanding of what the man is reading.
[3] "Planet Squeezebox" on Ellipsis Arts CD3470, 1995, 3 CDs & book, World Music. This is the best starter CD for accordion newcomers but is also appropriate for accordion aficianados. The squeezebox or accordion, bandoneon, concertina and all those other squeezable beasties with buttons and bellows, even the melodica played most famously by Augustus Pablo. It profiles the worldwide use of this most versatile of instruments. Sonic and sexy. Moody and ambient. Ostentacious and sophisticated. Annoying and seductive. Tangos, merengues, musette, polkas, jigs, Chinese parade music, punk rock, Tex-Mex, Czech-Mex, Cajun, Zydeco, Jazz, Egyptian beladi, Bulgarian ruchenitsa, Indonesian lagu-ronggeng, Argentine chamame, and classical and contemporary avant-garde music. An interesting detail: whenever a film needs to establish a certain ambience [time period, place, feeling] for say Amsterdam or Paris then the accordion can be heard insinuating itself in the backdrop.3 hours of Planet Squeezebox will introduce you to 40 international traditions in 51 tracks.
[4] "Fuera". RG-F & JL-M form a duo on double bass and accordion operating on the boundaries of folk urbain and improvisation. On this particular track, accordion pulses and bass rumble are exploring some arctic no-man's-land - or sea. [TS]
[5] "The Art of the Trio" on Syncoop. "Salomon Klezmorim draw from Jewish, jazz and Balkan music. The song is a poetic praise of the creator of sun, moon, stars and angels. Authorship of the lyrics has been ascribed to the Essenes, the accompanying accordion and drums are for sure Salomon Klezmorim's. The rhythm reminds me of the Ex in their squatting days. Militant monasticism has its charms." [TS]
[6] "Rien dans les Poches" on Network Medien. Go to Bratsch: "I heard them years ago on a tape Katya left. They sounded like some Balkan gypsies, wildly eclectic and almost as melancholic as my moods. I took it to the cafe where I spent my days, and it became a local hit there. I also wasn't that interested in the people I got drunk with, but I liked them anyway. Bratsch are actually from France, and the music on tape was probably from a CD called 'Sans Domicile Fixe'. The sleeve notes of another Bratsch CD: 'A horror for all the purists, who speak of adulteration without considering an important aspect: folk music only lives while it is being communicated, passed on, disseminated, and thus forced to adapt and change.' The doina is a sort of structured free form whose originsare still under discussion amongst etnomusicologists, but I may be mistaken. Victor's Doina was written by Bratsch accordionist Francois Castiello. And he also plays it very well." [TS]
[7] "Charms of the Night Sky" on Winter & Winter. With Mark Feldman on violin and Greg Cohen on acoustic bass. Accordion and trumpet? Of course.
[8] "Erik Satie" on on Winter & Winter: "In the last analysis Satie seems to combine experiment and inertia'" wrote Roger Shattuck. What instrument could be more fitting for such a venture? Winter & Winter package their CDs attractively. I bought one." [TS]
[9] "Flying Vegetables of the Apocalypse" on XI. GK New accordion combining roots and avant-garde, warping pasts with futures, faint echoes of recognizable melodies... GK grew up in a Slovenian community in western PA and was exposed to a lot of radio accordion hours. He became interested in accordion at age 6 when he saw one on TV. Most of these pieces are made for dancing, modern dancing. "Loosening up the Queen" is based on a traditional Madagascar song and a Yugoslav folk dance form known as the kolo. He somehow reminds me of David Thomas.
[10] "The Siberian Circus" on Re/Source from Sweden. LH is one of the more avant musicians pursuing the furthest and strangest sounds from the squeezebox. The Siberian Circus offers an overview of his recordings in the 80s.
[11] "Compositions 1934-1942" on Freneaux & Associés. Gus Viseur, the genius of the musette, produced perhaps the first known fusion of musette & swing. Also worked with Django Reinhardt. Here is an excellent source for Musette records.
[12] "Succes" on Mondio Music vinyl. Privat is an accordionist of the postwar swing-musette generation or as the automatic translator says OJ privat, one of the florets of the accordion Swing-haversack.
[13] "Marcel Azzola Joue Charles Aznavour et Jean Ferrat" on Barclay vinyl. A world Oscar winner for his accordion playing. But more importantly he has been chosen as an accompanist by some of the greatest stars of French chansons: Boris Vian, Tino Rossi, Yves Montand, Gilbert Bécaud, Mouloudji, Jacques Brel. He has also recorded numerous soundtrack pieces for films like Tati's great "Mon Oncle," "The Judge and the Assassin," "Le Bal," "Les uns et les autres," with composers such as Michel Legrand, Claude Bolling, Vladimir Cosma [composer of one of the great soundtracks to a very impressive film, "Diva."]. Marcel Azzola now performs in duet with Lina Bossatti, and in trio with Patrice Caratini and Marc Fosset.
[14] "Au Bordel" on Winter & Winter. "Recorded live Au Bordel, Paris. Stian Carstensen (of Stian Carstensens Farmers Market) on accordion. Attempt at recreation of a certain ambiance and time. I cannot tell if they succeed at that: I never heard the originals which are covered on this record, and the few times I've been in Paris I didn't even have the money to visit a cafe. The dadaist Dr. Walter Serner, who judging by his stories must have spent a lot of time in the right places at the right time, had the following to say on the subject: "Lovers of music are bad in bed, musicians have no willpower. If music doesn't make you nauseous, you'd better become a civil servant." (Manual for hustlers and those who want to become one, 1927)." [TS]
[15] "L'Odeur du Vent" on Al Sur/Media 7. The odor of the wind...
[16] "Gypsy Music from Rumania" on Philips [Song & Sound the World Around] vinyl. This is a lyric song of the River Olt, which divides the regions Oltenia & Muntenia. You'll remember it.
[17] "Karas Melodies" on Period Records vinyl with Karas on Zither and the mysterious "2 Rudis" on accordeons.
[18] "With Love to You" on MTM. This Bulgarian Choro sounds as funky as V. Kovtun can get - if he's not too busy interpreting the Lambada, May in Blossom, Besame Mucho or Black Eyes, on this same CD.
[19] "Yasko Argirov Band" on Dunya Records. Bulgarian high speed break beat. Slavtcho Lambov on accordion.
[20] "The Genius of Harry Mooten" on Relax Records vinyl. Willem Duys (who's he?) writes in the 1967 sleeve notes of this record: "What's so extra special about Mooten? His left hand, we like to point out. He has hands like spades, fingers like 10-inch snakes and he is probably the only performer who can applaud with one hand - loud and clear. We should have added that crazy sound to this collection". Yes they should have.
[21] "Accordion Tribe" on WDR/Intuition Music & Media. With Bratko Bibic, Lars Hollmer, Maria Kalaniemi, Guy Klucevsek, Otto Lechner - all on accordion. GK notes: "I grew up during a time when every serious accordion studio had accordion ensembles comprised of students: duos, trios, and even whole orchestras, supplemented with bass accordion and tympani. In retrospect some of the transcriptions these ensembles played were pretty bizarre - perhaps none more so than the accordion versions of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra, both of which I heard at a national accordion convention. Still the sound of massed accordions delighted, fascinated, and enthralled me."
[22] "Colombia / Rough Guide to Cumbia, Colomia's Hip-Swinging Dance Rhythm" on Rough Guide, a kind of so-so series of surveys of music from around the world. So-so in the sense that they paint this kind of view of pure folkloric integrity and have this cloyingly multi-culti white man's burden feel to them. And so the work often lacks edge and adventure and sounds like audio tourism.
[23] "King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown" on Pablo Records. The Melodica is a relative of the accordeon. Perhaps the bastard child of the flute and accordeon? AP made some of the most distinctive and hauntingly atmospheric and resonant dub ever. The question is why the melodica is so under utilized!!?? Any other famous melodica players?
[24] "Fiesta!" on CBS vinyl. Latin melodies on mouth organs or harmonicas -- which is what you get when you literally strip down an accordion.
[25] "Accordion My Way - Ole" on RCA vinyl. Wild! Swingin!
[26] "Songs" on Melodia vinyl. "This guy had a smoked-out voice. I thought his cassettes, or maybe even only lyrics, were passed on through an underground network in Breznev-era Russia. Until I found this record (in South Miami Plaza [now sadly closed for 'renovations'] on the Albert Cuyp market, where all the great accordeon players do their shopping). It was put out by Melodia, which not only sounds like Eterna, Jugoton, Elektrekord, but was in fact a quite respectable state-record label. Does that matter? Melodia also released 'Never Mind the Bollocks'. In 1989. They buried Visotsky deep. After he died in 1980 they first erected a monument for him and later a Visotsky State Museum. 'He didn't come back from battle' is not about Afghanistan, is it?" [TS]
[27] "Otrada -- Kumiri proshlyich let" [Gladness - The idols of past times] on Creative Attraction. The song title means 'C'mon, lads, unsaddle your horses!'. And the Cossack Choir was under direction of V. Zacharchenko. "Also one of Stasya's [TS's daughter], favourites, probably because of the whistling and singalong mood. It seemed like there was an overall nostalgia for the good old cold war era in Russia. 50s 60s that is. I've seen a lot of little house on the prairie-like movies from that era on television, red pioneers along the Volga and all. (Only now they interrupt them with beer commercials) That's the setting for this sort of community singing of which there is more then you can bear on this CD. But this one I like. And the beer isn't that bad." [TS]
[28] "Mlah" on Torso vinyl. This is truly one of the great late 80s bands. Still sound original and fresh today. Still around as far as I can tell. They had a knack for gathering all these folk, jazz, gypsy, Arab influences around them and making them sound dubby, dancy and modern.
[29] "Cri" This is a great cross-cultural adventure as she ventures into Africa for a great collaboration. The accordion here is big and generous, robust and bursting with funky effervescence. Lizzy is one of my faves - you have already gathered that mby now. I demand a recount, a total retrospective re-issuing of ALL her work. She is one of the great mysteries of modern music. Why did she not go further than she did? Is/was she as difficult as they now write about the Dutch-country singer, Ilse deLange or metal punker, the flamboyant, Anouk? Or maybe she's always had a contempt for the record business? Or was she just not some A-personality workaholic? Or is she unreliable like Jeff Beck and Sly Stone are reputed to be? Because if the answer is no, then we have a really great lookin' French singer who is a better poet than Patti Smith and funkier than James Chance or Lydia Lunch AND she went to South Africa to record an album with African pop musicians years before Paul Simon went down there with so much fanfare...She even recorded a few duets with Chet Baker not long before he died...
[30] "Zestien Successen van Olga Lowina" on Polydor vinyl. This is pure dynamite - the volatile combination of accordion & YODELING! Rough draft from a profile of OL in my book on yodeling: Olga Helena Lowina van Puttenmusters [1924 - 1994] "I have an iron throat, I don't need a microphone, and I have the stamina to sing for hours." She was indeed one of those sturdy Wagnerian operatic looking belters, in full Tirolean costume who deep into her 60s was still able to amaze people with her vocalizing prowess, an untutored singing voice of crystal. But it wasn't all prowess and volume. The self-effacing reminiscences of OL, uncrowned queen of yodeling, resemble something like bemused pride, as if she'd been handed a gift that she never quite knew how to explain. She often performed in front of audiences of 1000 or more without the aid of a microphone. She once said that "you don't need to cop an attitude just because you were born with a particular talent." She recognized her talent at a very young age in Boekelo {WHERE} when she used to sing along quietly to herself with her brothers' orchestra, the Krontjong Serenaders. "I was always yodeling along with them, and I suddenly discovered I had what it takes to do this kind of singing."
[31] "Hit Parade No. 1" on EMI/Bovema vinyl.
[32] "Italian Disco Boys: Classicfisamix" on Duck Record vinyl. This is weirdly engaging bordering on the aromatic edge of shite but somehow you don't quite get your shoes all dirty.
[33] "Beruhmte Melodien Rythmisch Serviert" on Falcon vinyl. Popular melodies rhythmically served up...
[34] "Push Pull" on WDR/Hat Hut Records Ltd.
[35] "Pictures at an Exhibition" on Russian Disc vinyl.
[36] "Bayan's Perebori Plays Alexander Dmitriev" on Melodia vinyl, 1987.
[37] TS in a rare live radio performance. He can be heard in various Amsterdam bars and cafes during the year on weekends. During the week he prefers to read: "Nowadays it is almost impossible to find somebody who doesn't make it his point of honor to preach his love of music. To cause a scandal we only need to say that we don't think too much of it." (Paul Nougé, 1929). Or if you're lucky and your at someone's birthday party he might show up and play some retuned folk classics.
[38] "Timeless Tango" on Channel Classics.
[39] WAYsounded pretty funny back in the 80s. He was an extension of an age-old tradition of song parodies which took a popular song and applied new satirical lyrics to it.
[40] She is one devastatingly funny comedienne with accordion. I have her on a couple of old WFMU radio show cassettes, thus no further creds...
[41] Melodia/Die Rooirok on Kristal. "Whatever happened to Jacques Gerlagh? He died in a nuthouse in 1957, at the age of 45. He was one of the first swing accordionists in the Netherlands. [IS THAT A WARNING TO ALL THOSE WHO CONTEMPLATE TAKING UP THE SQUEEZEBOX?] This 78 was recorded and released in 1941. The recording sessions were stopped because the repertoire was considered to be 'too English oriented' by the Germans." Last release from these sessions, also the last JG record ever released: 'Bye Bye (Blues)'." [TS]
[42] "Spelen voor U" on MCR vinyl. Almost the original. De Elektronikas never recovered, but their hit made it into innumerable versions. A few years ago the readers of an English newspaper considered 'De vogeltjesdans' (birdiesong) to be the most repulsive song of the 20th century. 'That bad music is played, is sung more often and more passionately than good, is why it has also gradually become more infused with men's dreams and tears. Treat it therefore with respect. Its place, insignificant in the history of art, is immense in the sentimental history of social groups." (Proust) [TS]
[43] Ernst Busch was one of the main interpreters of Brecht/Eisler/Weill songs. "Brecht wrote this ballad of the pirates in 1918 on an unidentified melody. Which he nevertheless called 'L'étendard de la pitié' . Eisler and Dessau made versions of this 'old French soldiers song' or 'old French romance'. Which version this is I don't know. I hear an accordeon though. Those who understand German shouldn't worry about the lyrics: 'die Verherrlichung des Outlaw als Protest gegen die bÃ_rgerliche Gesellschaft bedeutet nicht Identifikation - gerade in der empathischen Uebertreibung klingt Kritik mit.' - says the editor of the Brecht Liederbuch." [TS]
[44] "Accordeon-Cocktail" on Turnette vinyl.
[45] "Libertango" on Polydor.
[46] Belgian I do believe. I know fellow DJ Shyboy at WFMU will let me have it for not knowing more about them. Or maybe he'll enlighten me up the side of the iugnorant part of my head.
[47] "Gorillaz" on Parlophone. Absolutely one of the only interesting or even mildly cool sounding songs (featuring a melodica!) nominated on the recent MTV Video Music Awards. The only thing that came close to reggae, to dub, to anything resembling a cool sound. Don't get me started on this. The awards, which I have never watched for more than 10 minutes in any other year, just seemed to be filled with crass and belligerent folks who thought attitude was just as good as action and thought spending a week on their costumes could adequately replace any ability to verbalize anything resembling an honest thought. Last year there was St. Germain being an anomalously great hit. The year before, arguably, there was that infectious Barbie hit by Aqua, pumped up pure pop progeny of Abba...
[48] This piece is a kind of spoken word fairy tale by the Seattle grungers. I like it because it is unlike most of their work in that it is a small tale, not full of bluster and the accordion is nothing short of rudimentary. From their second CD I think.
[49] "Mirror Man" on Cooking Vinyl. I have played this before. Have tried to get a handle on it. It is a mess, a wonderful mess, maybe an early draft. DT's attempt to rewrite Sam Sheperd and Kerouac via Baudrillard. Existentialism and the search for self, the road as a metaphor and cliche, America as a land divided are all there...With among others: Peter Hammill, Chris Cutler, Daved Hild, Bob Holman, Linda Thompson... From the liner notes: "Eisenhower tried to explain in a patient voice and with small words that an interstate road system has nothing to do with getting somewhere and everything to do with time and space and the hieroglyphics of the mind."
[50] "This sounded really bad," TS insists, claiming it doesn't if he's slightly intoxicated and his audience is piss-drunk. If you are interested in contacting him, click here. Although he is available for performances at Bachelor parties, graduations, picnics and private parties, his main ambition is to play in a hotel lobby. And that's not the Hotel California either!
[51] Crazed attitudinal klezmer with an inebriated beat.
[52] "Vize Verze" on Sexclusief vinyl. BJ is a punning jokester who puts dirty funny lyrics to popular melodies, hence "Dirty Verses." A kind of Benny Hill with accordion? It has the atmosphere of a bunch of guys sitting around a table with multiple beers, inventing these takes on the fly. But like the roman Janus this record has two sides. Side two concentrates on the traditional Jordaan (neighbourhood in Amsterdam) song, whose traditions and mannerisms were, by the way, mainly an invention of the early 20th century Dutch amusement industry. No invention of the latter but now long gone anyway is the tradition of rebellion that characterised this neighbourhood, which probably made it an interesting setting for the Jordaan-exploitation movies to begin with. Much in the way your boys in the hood [I think of the Bowery Boys movies - ALL of them!] are at the same time copying from and rehearsing for the video clips, the type of real Jordanees (sentimental Lumpen) evolved out of. It doesn't make any sense to look for authenticity here (or anywhere else for that matter). So Bolle Jan is the real thing. He was(is?) a singing/accordion-playing barkeeper. The accordion intro to 'Ze zeggen dat ik een schooier ben' (They say I'm a bum) was recently sampled in a song ('Echt Amsterdams', or something like that) by Dutch rapper Def P (really no bum). [bp/TS]
[53] "Sings More Jewish Folk Songs" on Elektra/Unatex Israel vinyl. "The more, the better. Singer/actor Theodore Bikel sings folk songs of some fifteen countries in as many languages. This one, which was the first I discovered, is completely in Yiddish. Besides being some sort of precursor of what now is called world music, he can also be considered an inspiration for the editors of the Autonomedia Calendar. Note the following lines on his LP 'From Bondage to Freedom': 'Among the festivals and holidays I keep, there are but two which are of an exclusively religious nature: all the others also commemorate an event in which a people's spirit triumphed over the oppressor's whip. It is not difficult, therefore, to think of the struggle for freedom as something not remote and alien to one's nature, but as an intimately personal involvement, a household word, as it were.'" [TS]
[54] "Kiss My Brass" by the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus. Is their first CD and attempts quite successfully to capture this wild [live] display of anarcho-creativity. It is a Cirkus with a message, an agenda, and challenges not only your guts but your mind. But it also pursues the old style human oddities and the gruesome [and un-PC] notions of the grimy gritty sideshow. They have now gained non-profit status which is testimony to their value as a group that is engaged in anthropological preservation of the variety arts while at the same time stretching and enriching this dying art form. What I mean to say is that they straddle the wholesome and socially acceptable [children's] entertainment as well as that of gross and base and politically subversive. This is no easy task - one usually negates the other. To pursue the first means survival and paying gigs while to solely pursue the second means artistic integrity while starving and dealing with official police harassment. They have chosen an amicable middle route, which means children will be amazed and adults won't get bored. This disc shows off many of their musical talents and captures a modern version of the old sideshow. Complete with transexual tricyclist/accordionist Baby Dee [vicious appropriate anti-Mayor Giuliani song], Philomena's anarcho stewardship, the BFC Band complete with Ben who romps on trombone and breathes deep and heavy on didjeridu also includes Myla Goldberg on accordion.
[55] "Caminhante" on Polygram vinyl.
[56] "Algarve / Portugal" on Alvorada vinyl. "This is one of the few records of accordion players I got which doesn't have the performer, with an accordion, or without, or at least a model with or without, or at least a model or an accordion on the cover. Eugénia Lima should be heard." [TS]
[58] "Marcel Azzola" on Festival vinyl.
[59] "Gouden Accordeon Klanken" on Sunnyvale Records vinyl.
[57] "American Yodeling: 1911-1946" on Trikont. This is a great CD with wonderful anthropological notes by Christof Wagner who has written an authoritative book on the history of the accordion, the title of which escapes me at this moment. This cut is that drunken bopping cajun/Zydeco stuff which rocks and stomps through all its imperfections AND combines accordion with YODELING! A deadly combo indeed. Also includes Emmitt Miller, the subject of Nick Tosches new book "Where Dead Voices Gather." AY also includes a great yodeling donkey song.
[58] "Marcel Azzola" on Festival vinyl
[59] "Gouden Accordeon Klanken" on Sunnyvale Records vinyl. "What is it and where does it come from? Two sides of misty feelings under tangerine Paris skies. It's magic to have faith in your dreams. Two other of that's amore, ciao,ciao, bambina, arrivederci roma. On the cover, an accordion. In front of it a rose. Over it in blue letters on a yellow background: Gouden Accordion Klanken. 'on' of Accordeon in the title partly covered with two price tags containing a code (680) a logo (a V of which the right leg forms a D) and a price (9.50). Inside cover photograph (big!) shows a couple. He's standing, she's sitting on the armrest of a chair the way a model would sit on it. Did they bring it there? They're at the beach. He's wearing a smoking, she's wearing a long dress. He's bending over to kiss her on the forehead. The weather's grey or it is getting dark. Can't tell the tide either. But water is covering most of the surface. Back cover repeats: Gouden Accordion Klanken. And track titles. Labels record one: The Happy Accordion Feelings Labels record two: Happy Accordion Amore Sunnyvale records is a division of GRT CORP 1286 N. Lawrence Station RD. Sunnyvale. Calif 94086. C 1976 GRT Corporation on all four labels. But order numbers are different.
Guy Klucevsek: "The most amazing thing about being an accordionist for 40 years has been to experience the dramatic shifts in public opinion about the instrument. As I said, I began playing in 1952, when the accordion was the most popular instrument in America. By the late 50's, however, the guitar had replaced the accordion in popularity: kids watching television at that time were more likely to see Elvis Presley playing guitar than Dick Contino playing accordion. During the 60's and 70's the accordion was decidedly and totally out-of-fashion. Not only were fewer people playing it, but the future of the instrument seemed relegated to camp and nostalgia. But by the late '80's, lo and behold, the explosion in world music brought the accordion back into vogue again -- you could now see accordions not only in bands from Texas, Louisiana, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, South Africa and Madagascar--but in pop culture again, with Paul Simon, John Cougar Mellencamp, Los Lobos, Ry Cooder and Tom Waits. Now in the '90's, the accordion shows up frequently in television commercials, the ultimate capitalist compliment. I've continued playing the accordion through all these attitude adjustments…"
TS: "That's when I started playing, beginning of the seventies. Being a modern guy those days, I stopped very soon [after that]. Becoming even more modern, my main claim to fame is introducing the accordion into the punk scene in Groningen (Netherlands) in 1980. I stopped playing after a year, then started again to teach myself some tunes in 1988. In the nineties, I played on the streets, at parties, weddings, in bars, squats, on boats, birthdays, in subway stations, restaurants, theatre, trains. I'm 40 now - which doesn't amaze me - and I don't like to think of myself as an accordionist. There are people in clubs who get paid for dancing there, you can call them dancers. And the others who pay to get in as well. But to dance one shouldn't think too much of it."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bart Plantenga was born in Amsterdam, bred in the U.S. is a DJ, journalist, and novelist. He has been a DJ for 16 years (in Paris, NY, and now Amsterdam). He is the author of many radio, music, culture, esoteric articles as well as a short story collection, Wiggling Wishbone (1995). He is the author of four novels including Confessions of a Beer Mystic and Paris Sex Tête. Bart is currently writing a book about yodeling.
RADIOPHOTOGRAM: VISUAL RADIO II
