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"The Squeeze" 23rd October 1998 |
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 EDITORS NOTE |
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It's sad to see the loss of Frankie Yankovic. I believe, that like all other instruments, the accordion needs its people to aspire to. Fresh new faces are starting to appear, and in all corners of the world new accordionists are coming out to play. It will only take one or two of them to make it onto the world stage for the accordion to be led into a comeback. I believe this is not far away! Remember to check out the Coupe Mondiale daily reports from our USA representative, Kevin Friedrich, which you can find at the CIA internet site. Wayne Knights Webmaster |
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Contributed by Faithe Deffner, President of the American Accordionists' Association Frankie Yankovic passed away on October 14th in Florida at the age of 83. Yankovic had been in failing health for the past year and died of natural causes at his home in New Port Richey on Florida's central Gulf Coast. His funeral was held on Monday October 19th, in Cleveland. Yankovic was well known as America's Polka King. He had his own inimitable style and thousands of fans who adored him. For years he filled ballrooms and concert halls coast to coast, wherever he and his group appeared. Usually he featured a second accordionist within the group and thus launched careers of several well known players, among them "Tops" Cardoni and Jimmy Miskulin. Frankie wrote several tunes which sold into the millions. His "Polka Dot Bikini", "Just Because" and "Blue Skirt Waltz" were instant hits which many will remember. He won a Grammy in 1986, becoming the first polka musician to be so honoured and was elected to the Polka Hall of Fame. So distinct was his playing style that accordionists called his the special tuning of his instrument, "Yankovic style" and it became a much sought after sound for Slovenian polka music. |
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A tribute to the life-long career of Anthony Galla-Rini received a standing ovation following a classical concert in Castelfidardo during the 23rd International Accordion competition which took place from November 7th to 11th. Galla-Rini, a legendary figure and pioneer of the accordion in the USA, received an artistic trophy made by local sculptor Renzo Romagnoli, and was acclaimed by the capacity audience that filled the Auditorium San Francesco. |
Contributed
by Loretta Bompezzo|
Contributed by Li Cong The Chinese accordion examinations have just had their 10th anniversary and are an important activity in the Chinese accordion world. The examination register shows that over 2,800 accordionists participated in the examination in the Shanghai district, which is an increase of 500 compared to the previous year. There are 10 examination levels with pieces set by the Examination Board and Chief Examiners appointed by each area's accordion association. All successful candidates receive certificates and students achieving high levels have the opportunity of attending advanced music schools. |
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Contributed by Birgit Schmidt The Handharmonika-Club Nufringen e. V. will hold a concert to celebrate Adolf Götz's 60th birthday on November 15th, at the Schwabenlandhalle Nufringen. Adolf is a popular accordionist and composer in Germany. The concert program will feature works by Adolf Götz including "Schwabenstreiche Sieben" and "Inspirationen zu einer schwäbischen Volksweise" (inspirations of a Swabian folk song), as well as Slavonska Rhapsodija (Slavonic Rhapsody), Italian folk songs and lullabies. The finale will include music for two accordion orchestras based on Swabian folk songs. Musical directors for the event will be Günther Stoll and Adolf Götz. For further information email: Ernst.Schmidt@autinform.de |
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On November 7th and 8th an accordion festival and ball will be held in La Fere, Picardie, organised by the Lafèrois Accordion Club directed by Yann Philippe. Guest performers include Louis Corchia, Jacky Noguez, Jean Corti, Françoise Beaulant, Yann Philippe and "The Movie Girls". For further information phone: + 33 3 23 56 27 46 |
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On October 11th Kristina, Stephanie and Olivia Panzic performed a 30 minute program to over 100 senior citizens in Red Beach, Whangaparaoa. The event was organised by the local Lions Clubs to celebrate their Worldwide Anniversary on October 8th. This was 4 year old Olivia's first public appearance, playing "Hot Cross Buns" and she received rapturous applause! Kristina (10 years) performed a varied program which included "Black & White Rag" and "Granada" and Stephanie (7 years) played "Barbara Polka". Together, Kristina and Stephanie delighted the audience with "Emperor's Waltz" and "Wooden Heart" duets. |
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Contributed by Christine Adams The "Accordion Invasion" event was held in California in conjunction with an annual soapbox derby on September 20th. Included was a successful Guinness Book Record attempt with over 500 accordionists playing "Lady of Spain". Accordionists from Europe, South Africa, New Zealand and USA joined a parade before performing. Over 20,000 people attended the event, which raised funds for contemporary youth programs. |
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Contributed by Lothar Wollmann The Fiji Accordion Club Oktoberfest 1998 is now underway. The festival opened on October 16th and is part of an annual, traditional German festival, where Germans and German Clubs throughout the world join the festivities by staging Oktoberfests worldwide. The band "Jaegermeister Kapelle" has provided entertainment throughout the festival in conjunction with accordionist and vocalist "Heidi". Other activities have included beer drinking, dance and singing contests as well as many performances. The Oktoberfest will finish on October 25th. |
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Their October 23rd concert in the Ballymun Town Centre will be attended by His Excellency, Peter Van Vliet and his wife Suzanne. Following this tour, they will be returning to perform concerts in Amsterdam, Holland. For further information email: J.P.Guiran@wxs.nl |
Holland
based jazz band "Orkest Polytour" are currently performing concerts
in Dublin until October 25th sponsored by the Dutch Embassy in Ireland.
The group includes accordionist Jean Pierre Guiran. Their music style
introduces swing to the French chanson and they will play pieces from
their CD "le Roi des Jongleurs" including "J'ai rendez-vous avec vous",
"Le Bal de la Marine", "Le Danseur de Charleston" and "La Chansonnette".
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Contributed by Dr Herbert Scheibenreif Alfred Schnittke ranks with famous Russian composers of contemporary music such as Sofia Gubaidulina and Edisson Denissow. Unfortunately he passed away last summer so an "Alfred Schnittke Memorial Concert" was organised recently in the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow. Performers included Yurij Baschmjet, who played "Seven Words" (Haydn) with the chamber orchestra "Soloists of Moscow" and Friedrich Lips who played "Seven last words"(Gubaidulina). The finale included a performance of Schnittke's "Solo with chamber orchestra". |
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Accordion duos, accordion with other instruments and virtuoso accordion entertainers will compete in four different age categories in this large and prestigious accordion festival. As in past years, the most successful participants will receive attractive prize money. In addition well-known international accordion soloists and orchestras will perform an interesting and attractive program. Application forms for the 36th International Accordion Competition Klingenthal 1999 can be requested from: Büro Internationaler Akkordeonwettbewerb, PF 100005, Schloßstr. 3A, 082348 Klingenthal, Germany. Phone: + 49 37467/23210 Fax: + 49 37467/22275 or email: TouristInformationKlingenthal@t-online.de |
The
Saxon city of Klingenthal (Germany) will host the 36th International
Accordion Competition Klingenthal, from May 7th to 13th, 1999. |
The Nottingham Evening Post included an article recently about "Arthur and the Songsters". 80 year old accordionist Arthur Oldfield has entertained for over 65 years and has some interesting tales to tell about his younger days. As a soldier he was stranded on the beach at Dunkirk as bullets rained down from enemy aircraft. Arthur was faced with a tricky decision - Should he leave his prized accordion behind or attempt to take it with him? Arthur survived the ordeal but his accordion wasn't so lucky! After returning to safety, he bought another accordion to entertain the troops at air bases and army barracks all over the country. He has performed with Bebe Daniels, Ben Lyon, Reginald Dixon, George 'I'm proper poorly' Williams, Neville King and the legendary Gracie Fields in 1941. |
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After a lengthy break, The International Trio (Julie & Juha Silfverberg, and Kevin Friedrich) received a standing ovation from a capacity audience at a recent concert at the Johnson County Community College in Kansas City. As part of the weekly "Ruel Joyce Recital Series", sponsored by the College, this was the third time the Trio has been invited to be guest artists there. The Trio performed a wide variety of music exclusively by memory. Next week they will appear as guests of the Milwaukee Accordion Club, at their feature concert on October 26th. For more information on this concert, phone Club Secretary Shirley Barry: + 1 414 543-7714 |
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Contributed by Loretta Bompezzo The "Venice Chamber Orchestra" won the prestigious Astor Piazzolla prize in Castelfidardo. The prize giving ceremony was held during a gala concert attended by several dignitaries. The orchestra received an artistic trophy made by sculptor Franco Campanari and a prize of 4 million Italian lira. Second and third prizes went to the Ukrainian ensemble "Melodya" and to the "Moscow Accordion Quartet" respectively. Special prizes sponsored by companies such as Pigini Accordions and Accordions Worldwide were also awarded. Several artists of international renown such as Antonio Biolcati, Carlos Franzetti (Argentina), Allison Brewster (USA), Aldemaro Romero (Venezuela) and Aires Tango (Italy-Argentina) performed during the evening. |
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Contributed by Reuters News Service The estranged wife of a San Bernardino County official (California) was arrested for disrupting a public meeting. County Supervisor John Michaels was flabbergasted when his ex-wife began playing an accordion and singing. She was apparently complaining because she couldn't get Michaels to sign divorce papers. The woman, who had to be physically dragged from the room, was booked on suspicion of disrupting a public meeting and resisting arrest, and then released. |
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A jazz concert featuring Luciano Biondini, Luca Bulgarelli, Dario di Giammartino, Emanuele Rastelli, Renzo Ruggieri and Paolo di Sabatino was held during this year's "Città di Castelfidardo" international competition. These accomplished jazz musicians are still very young and owe much of their popularity to the Castelfidardo stage. Rastelli begun his accordion studies at a very young age and won the Castelfidardo prize in 1996. Biondini has also competed successfully in several international competitions, and is now a very sought-after jazz musician. Ruggieri played with Sabatino (piano), Bulgarelli (double bass) and Giammartino (drums). In 1991 Ruggieri attended a seminar at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena held by Ennio Morricone, a famous composer of movie soundtracks. |
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The Melodeons at Witney event will take place on November 21st and 22nd at the Henry Box School, Witney, Oxon. Workshops will be held by John Kirkpatrick, Simon Knight, Eric Martin, Chris Parkinson and Tim Van Eyken. The two-day music course for melodeon players will cover teaching for a standard G/D melodeon, workshops, a trade fair for buying, selling and repairs, and a concert featuring the course leaders. A basic knowledge of music reading will be helpful but not essential. The course is not suitable for beginners. On Friday evening there will be informal playing sessions at pubs around Witney. For further information email: Peter.Cox@bris.ac.uk |
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Contributed by Christine Adams The Centre for the Study of Free-Reed Instruments (CSFRI) in New York will begin publication of the "Free-Reed Journal" in Fall 1999. Each issue will contain 3 or 4 articles, reviews, announcements and bibliographies. In addition, CSFRI is in the process of establishing a research archive of primary and secondary materials such as music, recordings, books and articles, pertaining to free-reed instruments, with the aim of making its collection accessible to those interested in the subject. The centre invites donations of such materials and will publicly acknowledge them. For further information email: freereed@email.gc.cuny.edu |
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Contributed by Domenic "the Accordion Beatles guy" Amatucci For the second consecutive year, Accordion Beatles has passed the Toronto Transit Commission Musicians Program auditions. This entitles Domenic to perform in subway stations across the city, with over 1 million riders on the system daily. Auditions were held at the Canadian National Exhibition from August 21st to 23rd. This year 76 licenses were awarded to successful acts out of over 200 that were chosen to audition. For further information regarding performances email: domenic@ican.net |
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The bandoneonist was a popular tango player at a recent dance in Santiago. Considered a deep sentiment rather than a dance, Tango gatherings are popular among many people in Chile, for some to remember past times, for others to make new acquaintances. The Tango was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in the late 1880s. Although it was considered to be too vulgar by the standards of the time, the Tango soon became widely popular turning the 1940s into the Golden Age of Tango. |
Contributed
by Reuters News Service|
Among the highlights of the "Citta di Castelfidardo" accordion festival this year were performances by, Dario Flamminia, Alessandra Gattari, Giancarlo di Giovanni, Ladislav Horak, Friedrich Lips, Massimiliano Pitocco and Peter Soave who premiered compositions by Pavel Trojan, Robert Baksa, Edison Denisov and Boris Porena in the "Salone degli Stemmi" of the municipal palace. The evening offered several moments of great interest, such as the combination of accordion and vocals presented by Peter Soave and the baritone Roberto Ripesi, who performed famous arias with impressive elegance, personality and stage presence. |
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Contributed by Lian Huang Mr Li Cong (Accordions Worldwide Chinese Site Manager and Secretary of the CAS) introduced the Accordions Worldwide Chinese site to the Chinese Accordion Society Directors at their October meeting. The Directors were deeply impressed and applauded Li Cong, expressing that they will support the site as it will encourage Chinese accordion development. The "XingMing Evening Newspaper" which is the biggest newspaper in ShangHai, included a 1/4 page article introducing the Accordions Worldwide Chinese site. Mr Li Cong said "The Accordions Worldwide Chinese site makes up for a deficiency in the Chinese accordion world. Now the distance between Chinese accordion to the world is shorter." |
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Contributed by Christine Adams New Plymouth accordionist Mary Ann Downes recently entertained over 40 residents at the Taurima Rest Home, Westown, New Plymouth who successfully contributed with percussion instruments. Mary recently received a grant from the Taranaki Arts Council towards percussion instruments, so audiences can accompany her accordion performances. |
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Contributed by Barbara McOwen The Strathspey & Reel Society of New Hampshire, (SRSNH) held their October Meeting in New Hampshire recently. The event includes workshops and performances by accordionists, violins, pipes and other instruments. The SRSNH is into its 11th year of activity and plans to spread the word about Scottish music and culture to New Hampshire school children in the coming year. They also hope to perform at more civic and charitable functions including a gala concert on November 29th. |
| http://www.bugariarmando.com. One of Italy's major manufacturers has joined Accordions Worldwide. They have a great site that includes photos of their accordion and model specifications. |
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