Our Europe Office Manager Holda Paoletti-Kampl has now returned from the successful Frankfurt Music Fair (Germany), which featured over 1440 exhibitors from 44 countries (see item below). The second Viennese Accordion Festival in Austria is now into its third week. We have another report this week from Dr Herbert Scheibenreif which includes information on an event highlight - an evening dedicated to the music of Astor Piazzolla.

Wayne Knights Webmaster

• Successful Texas Accordion Convention - USA
• International Music Fair in Frankfurt - Germany
• 33rd International Gaudeamus Interpreters Competition - Netherlands
• Concertinas at Mexborough - England
• "El Acordeón Del Diablo" Film Based in Colombia
• Concerts and Masterclass - Russia
• 2001 New England Music Competition and Festival - USA
• Another Great Week at Vienna Festival - Austria
• Accordion Workshop For Composers - Italy
• Wine and Food Festival Entertainment - New Zealand
• Scottish Accordionist Tours Norway
• March Performances in Japan
• Charity Barn Dance - England
• Forro Season Starts in April - Brazil
• Man Gets 99 Years for Killing Accordionist - USA
• Mystery Accordionist Found!
• Noton & Soave in Concert - England
• New East European News
• JKlaus Paier Trio Concerts - Austria
• Accordionist Tours Reunion Island
• Farmen & Sundeqvist Tour England
• New Sites
• Antique Accordion Information

Contributed by Norman Seaton
Photos courtesy of Gus Stangeland

The annual Texas Accordion Association Convention held in Plano, Texas from March 8th to 11th was a great success. This year's theme "Breaking the Mold" aimed to inspire us to look beyond our traditional ways of making accordion music and challenging us to experiment with different types of music and playing styles!

Each evening's concert opened with a teenage accordion performance including Jenny McLaughlin (15 years, USA) and Lin Xu (18 years, China). Both received standing ovations.

The International Accordion Orchestra conducted by Gary Daverne (in a sombrero) played a popular program which included "The Syncopated Clock" (Anderson), Glen Miller Medley (arranged by Daverne) and "The Lord of the Dance" (Hardiman).

Renzo Ruggieri, Francesca Pigini, Mirko Patarini & Holda Paoletti-Kampl

Mirella Nociforo (ICE), Claudio Lamberini (ACISA) & Holda Paoletti-Kampl

Contributed by Benjamino Bugiolacchi, Italcinte

The first Frankfurt Music Fair of the new millennium featured 1446 exhibitors from 44 countries who showcased the most recent innovations in the musical field, spreading across an area of 160,000 square metres. As usual, the accordion played an important role, with more than 45 producers keen to demonstrate that the accordion is still a relevant instrument whose future will be bright as it adjusts to fit into current musical developments.

Marco Galeazzi, Donatella Milella & Peter Shearer

Jean-Marc Fabiano

Many concerts and demonstrations which took place at the fair's "Galleria" (and in individual stands) have proven once again that the instrument is still popular, although a unitary approach will be necessary in order to promote its unique fascination throughout schools and the mass-media.

Finnish bayan player Veli Kujala reached the finals of the 33rd International Gaudeamus Interpreters Competition held in Rotterdam from February 25th to March 3rd. The event was organized in the framework of the 2nd Rotterdam Music Biennial and over 70 musicians from thirty countries attended into the competition. Veli Kujala's program included works by Vesa Valkama, Jouni Kaipainen, Mauricio Kagel, György Ligeti, Ton de Leeuw, Henk Badings, Arne Nordheim, Toshio Hosokawa and Aram Hatsaturjan. The final round of the competition was recorded by the VPRO-radio for later broadcast on the Dutch Radio 4 station.

Concertinas at Mexborough (led by Carolyn Wade and Jenny Cox) will be held on March 25th at the Royal Electric Theatre. Participants will also be given the opportunity to visit the Mexborough Concertina Band Clubhouse. This event is usually held in April, but this year it was decided to hold the event in March to avoid clashes with Easter and other events taking place in Mexborough during April. For further details email: Peter.Cox@bris.ac.uk

Contributed by Martin Hagemann

A new film "El Acordeón Del Diablo", directed by Stefan Schwietert (Neapel Film Productions) includes accordionists Francisco "Pacho" Rada, Alfredo Gutierrez, Manuel Rada Oviedo, Rafael Valencia, Israel Romero and José "Morre" Romero. A CD soundtrack of the film is available with tracks including "Duelo de Acordeón", "Amor Viejo" and "La Muerte del Perro Negro".

The film (which was made in Germany) tells the story of a great old man of Caribbean music, Pacho Rada, a singer and composer who first held an accordion at the age of four and was never to let go of it again. This man travelled around Colombia throughout his life, moving from village to village and from party to party, singing and playing for a few centavos. He is now 93 and lives in a corrugated iron shack on the outskirts of Santa Marta in Colombia, whilst his songs climb up the hit parades. For further details email: martin@zerofilm.de

Contributed by Olga Kopylova

Accordionist Sergei Voitenko will take part in an Open Competition in Izhevsk from March 29th to April 1st as Jury Chairman of the accordion section. Sergei will also give a concert at the event performing new works by Rosenblatt and Voitenko as well as works by Shostakovich, Scarlatti, Rackmaninov, Makkonen, Novikov, Derbenko and Piazzolla.

Prior to this event Sergei will give a concert and masterclass in Cheboksary on March 23rd. For further information email: servoit@hippo.ru

Contributed by Roger Latulippe

The 2001 New England Music Competition and Festival will be held from April 6th to 8th at the Marriott Hotel, Newton, Massachusetts, organised by the Accordion Teachers Association of Massachusetts

The event will include competitions for soloists, duos, ensembles and bands, an Awards Banquet, Battle of the Bands, Non Competitive events and over US$3,000.00 in prizes. For further details email:
Rosita-lee@juno.com

Contributed by Dr Herbert Scheibenreif Manager of Friedrich Lips Productions

Another great week of accordion concerts were heard at the second Viennese Accordion Festival! On March 6th, Elina Leskelä and Trio Fratres (Toni Hämäläinen, Heikki Jokiaho, Raimo Vertainen) presented a Finnish Evening. Both are prize winners of international competitions. Elina performed pieces by Bach, Scarlatti, Lundquist, Strauss, Semionov and Jokkinen. Trio Fratres performed original pieces by Tiensuu, Nuorvala, Rechberger and Makkonen as well as transcriptions of pieces by Kraftwerk in a modern style, unique for an accordion trio.

On March 10th Riccardo Tesi (diatonic harmonica) played with the group "Banditaliana" which included Maurizio Geri (guitar & vocals), Claudio Carboni (saxophone) and Ettore Bonafe (percussion vibraphone). They played elements from tradition and jazz as well as ethnic music from various countries.

The highlight of the week was an evening dedicated to the music of Astor Piazzolla on March 11th (which was also Piazzolla's birthday). The "Tango Vivo Quartett" (Barbara Faast-Kallinger, Conni Radschiner, Alois Wilfinger and Hannes Kaar) joined with "Alfredo Marcucci & Cuarteto Tango al Sur" (Alfredo Marcucci, Daniela Rapan, Juan Masondo and Dirk van Esbroeck) to perform an unforgettable concert with dance performances.

Contributed by Holda Paoletti-Kampl

The workshop "How to approach Contemporary Accordion Writing" for composers was held by Claudio Jacomucci at the Conservatory of Cesena (Italy) recently. Many composers, students and interested musicians attended, listening to various compositions performed by Claudio including "Vagabonde Blu" (Salvatore Sciarrino) and works by Donatoni, Berio and Kurtag).

Many attending were interested in the potential of the accordion andsurprised by its interesting literature. This project will produce anumber of compositions by students of the Cesena Conservatory and will beaddressed to many other Conservatories as an educational project topromote exchanges between composers and non-conventional instrument performers.

Accordionist Tracey Collins entertained over 20,000 people at the recent Devonport Wine and Food Festival held in Devonport, Auckland. Tracey played a variety of easy listening music, French, Italian and Latino pieces.

On March 17th, Tracey will perform with her band Tattie Jock at "The Claddaugh" in Newmarket, Auckland. For further details phone: +64 9 4735417

Contributed by Toru Katou

Many accordionists will perform concerts in Japan this month including the band Exile (which features accordionist Norimichi Nagasaka) who will play at "Field", Shijo-Karasuma, Kyoto on March 17th. The group will also play at "Nega-Poji", Marutamachi-Karasuma, Kyoto on March 30th and "Mitze", Yasaka, Neyagawa on the 31st. For further details email: horizon@music.office.ne.jp

On March 17th, Eizo Miyatani will perform at a concert entitled "Mixed Sounds of Japan and the West" at the Kashiwabara Municipal Culture Hall, Kashiwabara, Osaka Prefecture. German accordionist Stefan Hussong will perform at Overed Hall, Toyama Prefecture on March 17th and 18th, and on the 19th Tetsuya Kuwayama will play with Tatsuzo Akasaka (clarinet) in a concert entitled "Tribute to the Love Generation", in Odaiba, Tokyo. For details of these concerts see Future Events.

Accordionist Heather Hawthorn will perform at a Barn Dance in aid of Multiple Sclerosis at the Flamsteed Centre in Ilkeston, Derbyshire on March 31st. The evening will include a mixture of called folk dances, old-time and ballroom dancing as well as a "Ploughman's supper". All interested people are welcome to attend and support this event. For further information email: heather@heathermixture.co.uk

Contributed by Teotônio Barbosa de Santana

A Forró party will be held at the Banana´s Bar (Patamares) on March 16th with entertainment by blind accordionist "Wado". The Forró season starts in April with many accordionists playing at shows during this time. For further information email: teotonio@sefaz.ba.gov.br

On March 10th, Reuters New service reported a news item about a Texas man who was sentenced to 99 years in prison for killing a musician who did not know the song he requested! The man became angry with accordionist David Saenz because he could not play "El Guajolote," or "The Turkey," so he shot him in the head with a .38 caliber pistol.

Saenz was a local character who often played the guitar and accordion and sang for his neighbours. Saenz died at the scene with the guitar and accordion at his feet. The killer testified he was not drunk when he shot Saenz, but also claimed he had no memory of the murder. He was sentenced by a jury on Thursday and, under Texas law, will be eligible for parole in 30 years.

The February 16th CD review by Tania Lukic-Marx was on a CD entitled "Accordion Instrumental". At that time we were unable to establish the name of the performer. Australian accordionist John MacDonald read the review and knew that he was the artist on the CD!

A number of John's early recordings have been re released many times by different record companies over the years, and it was by sheer chance that he learnt this album had been put together using tracks recorded years ago. We are pleased to be able to give John credit for this CD and have amended our review accordingly. It is amazing that no credit had been given to John or any of the backing musicians on the album. We can only hope that in other parts of the world, the skills of professional accordionists are better recognised by record companies than has happened in Australia.

If you have a CD that you would like reviewed please email Tania Lukic-Marx at: tlukic@jigsaw.net.au

Contributed by Holda Paoletti-Kampl

Jean-Louis Noton and Peter Soave will perform a concert in Blackpool on March 18th. The duo will present their own compositions as well as music by Astor Piazzolla.

A new version of the East European News is now available. If you would like to contribute an item for the east news please email Sergej Tchirkov at: tchirkov@accordions.com

The Klaus Paier Trio will perform with a string quartet at Ziegelstadl, Hallein on March 21st. The next day the trio will play at the Kulturwirtshaus Bachler in Althofen. The group which includes Klaus Paier (accordion), Stefan Gfrerrer (bass) and Roman Werni (drums) play their own compositions and jazz-standards as well as compositions by Astor Piazzolla. For concert details email: klaus.paier@aon.at

French accordionist Bruno Maurice has just completed a tour of Reunion Island, playing solo concerts St André and St Denis. Bruno also performed with the Saint André Reunion Island Concertina Orchestra conducted by Pierre Varo. These successful concerts included works from Bruno's CD "Appassionata" (Sibelius, Albinoni, Chopin, Rimsky Korsakov, Mozart, Miaskov and Semionov) as well as his own compositions.

Local television and radio stations broadcast the concerts.

Scandinavian accordionists Øivind Farmen and Jörgen Sundeqvist are currently touring England until March 27th. The duo will play a program of works by Frescobaldi, de Falla, Gershwin and Frosini to audiences in Kingston, Harlow, Dorset, Stockport and at the Blackpool Festival. For further details email: farmen@farmen.net

http://www.accordioninfo.com Detailed information on the Salt Lake City based firm, Accordions International, featuring the famed Concerto accordion.

http://www.accordioninfo.com/convention The latest information on the 2001 Las Vegas International Accordion Convention featuring pricing and special guests, all while being serenaded by the sounds of the Concerto Accordion.

http://www.tcn.net/~accordion Information on Canadian accordionist Pasquale Lorello. Includes 6 CDs for sale, with sound file samples of each track.

http://www.gabbanelli.com Updated information on Gabbanelli, Elio Gabbanelli Accordions based in Castelfidardo, Italy

Steve White would like information on a 48 bass Tonella accordion, made in Germany. Email: philippa.turnham@ntlworld.com