Contributed by Wu Jie

From July 24th to 26th, the annual Sichuan Accordion Examination sponsored by the Sichuan Accordion Association will be held at the Sichuan Conservatory of Music.

Over 1,000 accordionists have entered this examination including 78 year old Mr Tan Yuanqiang who is believed to be the oldest accordionist in Chengdu. He will perform two Chinese pieces.

Contributed by the Intermusik newspaper

From September 12th to October 16th, a festival will be held in Krefeld to celebrate the development of the bandoneon (developed by Heinrich Band in 1848). The festival will include concerts, films and lectures. When the bandoneon arrived in Argentina it became a popular instrument for the tango. Bands from Argentina and Uruguay will perform at this birthday festival.

Contributed by Billie Hockett

On November 8th, "Dremmwel" (a quartet from Brittany) will perform at the Museum of Our National Heritage, Lexington, Massachusetts as part of the sixth annual "L'Air du Temps Festival" in Boston from November 6th to 15th.

"Dremmwel" perform traditional dance music from Brittany on a variety of instruments including accordion, celtic harp, violin, guitar, binnou koz, french bagpipes, flute and bombard. They have performed at many festivals in Britain, Austria, France, Belgium, and Scotland and this will be their first tour of America.

For further information email: bhockett@music-for-robin.org

Contributed by Jason O'Rouke

The "Mrs Crotty Memorial Festival" will be held from August 14th to 16th in Kilrush, Clare, Ireland. The program includes concertina classes for all levels by Yvonne Griffin, Lourda Griffin, Tim Collins and Mary McNamara as well as a lecture by Michael Tubridy, a concertina maintenance workshop with Jeff Woof, a memorial concert and a street céilí with the Kilfenora Céilí Band. There will also be informal sessions throughout the weekend.

For further information phone Rebecca Brew: + 353 65-52470

Contributed by Vladimir Ushakov

On 10th July an annual traditional French ball was held in the St. Petersburg Gardens, Russia. Over 1000 people attended the event which was organised by the Institute de France and Alians France and was sponsored by over ten organisations. The ball included a large concert program and carnival with many competitions, lotto and wine tasting.

Among the many performers were the Saint Petersburg Musette Ensemble, who opened the ball with traditional French musette style tunes, arranged by members of the ensemble. The audience sang and danced while they played.

The ensemble consists of Vladimir Ushakov (piano accordion), Sergey Likhachiev (button accordion), Vladimir Kurganov (bass guitar), Vladimir Bogomolov (guitar) and Victor Shafranov (percussion). They have released two CDs: "Boulevards of Paris" and "La Plaza de Granada"

For information on CD's email: v-ushakov@infopro.spb.su

Contributed by Alexandra Koppel of the Intermusik Newspaper

Chris Jagger and his band "Atcha Acoustic" recently released their new CD "From Lhasa to Lewisham" on a tour through Germany. Jagger, (guitar) together with Charlie Hart (accordion, fiddle) and Ben Waters (piano) performed pieces based on Rhythm 'n' Blues and Cajun/Zydeco. Most of the songs they performed were written by Chris Jagger.

Contributed by Frederic Deschamps

A summer accordion course will be held from July 27th to August 1st in St Etienne, Rhone Alpes. The course, which is managed by Frederic Deschamps will cover musicality, technique and preparation for national and international competitions.

For further information email: deschfre@club-internet.fr

Contributed by Christine Adams

On July 14th, New Zealand accordionist Tracey Collins performed at a French night to celebrate Bastille Day at the "Grain and Grape" Restaurant in Auckland. Tracey performed 3 hours of French music including "Under Paris Skies", the French National Anthem and medleys to an audience of over 100 people who enjoyed dancing and singing with the music.

The following day, Tracey performed for the Hibiscus Coast Parkinson's Society in Orewa, playing polkas, light classical pieces and French medleys. She agreed to perform for them again at a fund raising event next month.

On July 19th, Tracey came second on the very popular New Zealand entertainment television program "New Zealand Young Entertainers" performing "Cubanola".

Contributed by Toru Katou

The "10th Accordion Contest" will be held in Tokyo during September. On the 6th, solo classes will be held at 10am at "Akabane Kaikan Kodo", Kita-ward, Tokyo and on the 15th, ensemble classes will begin at 10am at the "Koto-ku Sogo Kumin Center", Koto-ward.

For further information email: isa@rr.iij4u.or.jp

Contributed by Holda Paoletti-Kampl

The 8th National Accordion Festival will be held at the Sala Mazzini, Lanciano from October 23rd to 25th for classical and variety accordionists. The event is organised by Il Gruppo Tradizioni Popolari and the Comune di Lanciano (President Nicola Gragarella). The Judging President will be Vladimir Zubitsky.

For further information phone Cesare Chiacchiaretta: +39 872 716227

Contributed by Holda Paoletti-Kampl

Italian accordionist, Gianni Coscia introduced a new jazz accordion method (adaptable to the piano) by Renzo Ruggieri as, "This work by Mr Ruggieri (written with competence and passion) is an event for the accordion world".

The work is based on Ruggieri's analysis of national and international texts and methods, and is aimed at musicians with little knowledge of Afro-American music. Topics include a brief chronology of jazz and jazz accordion, basics of traditional theory, rhythm, training of the musical ear, development of solo techniques, patterns and complex one-handed and two-handed chords for free and standard bass.

The work is complemented by exercises and original compositions based on the melodies of famous standard accordion pieces.

Contributed by Raquel Ruiz

On July 14th Angel Luis Castaño gave a solo concert at the San Juan de los Caballeros Auditorium, Segovia. He performed pieces by Astor Piazzolla on bandoneon and accordion with the "Ensemble Ciudad de Segovia" arranged and directed by Flores Chaviano (Cuba) to an audience of over 400.

Angel Luis Castaño will perform a number of concerts this year in Spain, premiering new pieces in Alicante, Javea, Pamplona, Zaragoza, Granada, Asturias, Barcelona, Sevilla, Valencia and Vitoria.

For further information email: acasta5@almez.pntic.mec.es

Contributed by Henk Kuik

The first Dutch Accordion and Harmonica Museum "De Muse" opened last month with a collection of over 100 bellows instruments. The museum shows the development of these instruments from the Chinese Sheng to modern day instruments including bandoneons, concertinas, melodeons, accordions and some automatic instruments such as the Tanzbar and Hohner Organa.

The 19th century building is situated in Malden (near Nijmegen) in the southeast of Holland and also includes an accordion shop and a Music-café where musicians can meet and play.

For further information email: kuik@daxis.nl

Contributed by Christine Adams

On July 20th, a 13 hour broadcast to commemorate Colombia's 188th Independence Day was held on Radio WKCR 89.9 FM in New York which included exclusive interviews, public participation and 2 hours of Colombian accordion music.

Contributed by David Batty

The Leyland Accordion club June meeting opened with Chick Stephens performing a variety of popular pieces including "After All These Years", "Old Flames" and "Bunch of Thyme". Following this Frank Scholes (who performs regularly for the Amounderness Ladies Morris Dancing Team), Tom Bennett, Ian Carter, Andrew Figg, Robert Hood, Ken Hartley and resident accordionist and keyboard duo Jay and Jeff Ward performed to an enthusiastic audience.

Contributed by Holda Paoletti-Kampl

Massimiliano Pitocco will tour Italy from July 24th to September 12th performing concerts with various artists including the "Garua Tango Ensemble" and dancers, "Four for Tango", "Garua Tango Ensemble", "Opera Maria de Buenos Aires" (orchestra and solos) and pianist Rosario Mastroserio.

For further information see Future Events

Contributed by Christine Adams

Russian concert bayanist Vladimir Sidorov is currently living in Canada and during the last six months has performed in restaurants, at special events and functions, and in the metro. Last year Sidorov performed in Hungary, Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. His repertoire includes a mixture of classical pieces by composers such as Scarlatti, Rachmaninoff, Paganini and Liszt, contemporary music by Zubitsky and Piazzolla and Russian works.

For further information regarding concerts in Canada email: sidor@globalserve.net

Contributed by Wu Jie

Accordionist Zhu Chunling, will present an accordion lecture at the Chongqing Art College Music Hall on July 25th. Over 2,000 students are expected to attend the lecture which will cover the topic "Chinese Light Music".

President of Chongqing Art College, Yue Wei, said, "This lecture is helpful to young music students, and we plan to provide more lectures like this one in the future."

Contributed by Andrea Rautenberg

The Tango Andorinha Sextett from Dresden, performed at the "Gare de la Lune" on July 18th. The accordion band has encouraged tango dancing in Dresden. Every Tuesday a beginners course is held at the "Gare de la Lune", and afterwards the beginners dance together with more experienced dancers.

Tango fans also enjoyed a concert by the sextett on July 23rd, at the "Podewil", Berlin. They will also be performing on July 30th at the "Praterinsel", Munich.

For further information phone: + 49 351-4162856

Contributed by Sylvia Miskoe

In early July, the Stirling University, Stirling held a successful course for accordionists wishing to play for Scottish country and ceilidh dancing.

From August 9th to 15th the University will hold an accordion course with Ian Lowthian, which will cover harmonies, creating special effects and analysing tunes.

For further information email Marjorie Stirling: m.f.stirling@stir.ac.uk

Subject: Accordion Sold

Please remove my ad from the list or add SOLD to beginning of the text (this free service really works!). Thank you all a lot!

Walter Derlukiewicz

Hi Walter,

Thanks for listing your accordion with us, I'm glad the service has worked for you! We will put the "SOLD" sign on it, which will appear in both akkordeon.com and accordions.com next Monday, and have the new accordion you wish to sell there at the same time.

Yours musically,