Wayne Knights, Editor

SPRING SOCIAL AND WORKSHOP - OREGON, USA

Contributed by Tom Collins

The Northwest Accordion Society are holding their Spring Social on Sunday 27th April from 2.00pm to 5.00pm at Forest Grove Senior Center, 2037 Douglas Street, Forest Grove, Oregon.

This year it will be hosted by the Portland Accordion Ensemble. Prior to the social activities there will be an Accordion Workshop with Eileen Hagen from 10.00am to 12.00pm at the same site.

DIMETRIK IN CONCERT - AUSTRIA

Contributed by Herbert Scheibenreif

On the 4th of April, 23 year old Austrian accordionist Wolfgang Dimetrik gave a solo recital in Trofaiach, Styria, Austria. His program included works by A. Nordheim, O. Schmidt, A. Soler, S. Gubai-dulina, W.A. Mozart and J.S. Bach. Throughout these pieces he showed not only his technical abilities but also his mastership in creating colourful sounds with his instruments.

He started to play the accordion at the age of seven years. His first teacher was Mag. Moder at the Johann Josef Fuchs-Conservatory in Graz. After having finished his studies at the "Musik-hochschule" with M. Ellegaard, J. Crabb and G. Draugsvoll, he is now in Würzburg (Germany) for post-graduate studies with Stefan Hussong, with the aim of becoming a concert accordionist in the future.

ACCORDION ORGANISATION GATHERINGS - USA

Contributed by Tom Collins

On every second Monday each month the Northwest Accordion Society holds a social. They are held between 7.00pm and 10.00pm at the European Connektion, 717 South West 148th Street, Burien, Washington. Until June future dates are: April 14, May 12, June 9.

Contributed by Geoff Levear

On the third Saturday of each month the Rose City Accordion Club meets at the Gresham Senior Center, 50 North East Elliott Avenue, Gresham, Oregon, 1.00pm to 5.00pm. Until July future dates are: April 19, May 17, June 21, July 19.

Each month, the accordion club has a guest artist who starts the afternoon's performances. This is followed by the members performing a wide range of music and styles.

There will be a special programme on the 19th July, when Maestro Anthony Galla-Rini will perform.

For further information on either of these, see Future Events.

THE FIRST SICHUAN ACCORDION FESTIVAL

Contributed by Wu Shou Zhi

On Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th April, the First Sichuan Accordion Festival will be held in Chengdu, Sichuan. The Festival is sponsored by Sichuan Accordion Association and is the first accordion festival to be held in the Sichuan province. About 1,500 accordion teachers and their students will participate in the festival. Mr Grant "Yogi" Martin, a jazz accordionist from New Zealand, has been invited to perform a concert at Chengdu, and is also performing in Kunmin city next week.

The main plans of the festival are as follows:

On Saturday, three concerts will be held in Chengdu Big Theatre, at 10.00am, 1.00pm and 3.00pm. The first and the second concerts will be held by Sichuan's accordionists and accordion students, and the third concert will be by Grant "Yogi" Martin.

On Sunday, all of the directors of the Sichuan Accordion Association will hold a preliminary session in an auditorium in Sichuan Conservatory of Music from 9.00am. to 11.30am. At 2.30pm Grant "Yogi" Martin will be invited to give a lecture on the accordion in the Lecture Hall in Sichuan Conservatory.

KIMBERLEY OLDE TIME ACCORDION COMPETITIONS - CANADA

Contributed by Tom Collins

The Kimberley Olde Time Accordion Competitions will be held from 7th to 12th July in Kimberley, British Columbia. The featured entertainer will again be Myron Floren, accordion legend from the Lawrence Welk Show. For reservations or further information, write to: PO Box 473, Kimberley, BC, Canada. Phone/Fax: +1 250-4274547

THOSE DARN ACCORDIONS - USA

Contributed by Michelle Andersen

Those Darn Accordions are making a rare San Francisco concert appearance on the 12th April at the Fort Mason Center (Marina and Laguna Sts). The group includes six accordionists, plus drums and bass guitar.

The group enjoy playing whacked-out versions of classic rock 'n' roll, like The Who's "Baba O'Riley", Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven", including two showstoppers sung by Clyde Forsman - Rod Stewart's "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy" and Jimi Hendrix's "Fire".

THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL FOLK FESTIVAL - CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA

Contributed by Barry Cooper

"The Nash" as it is commonly known, is basically four days and nights of total immersion and indulgence in international, mostly acoustic music, international dance, workshops (in almost anything, even for kids), sessions of all kinds, food from the four corners of this planet (some arguably from other planets!!), lots of chatting with friends and a serious attempt at increasing the annual profits for Guinness breweries!!! I was there performing and promoting my band "Sacred Cow".

Squeezeables abounded at this year's festival, there seem to be more each year, and were seen playing many styles, from Irish, to Cajun to Scottish, Klezmer, Finnish of course, many other national styles and even as a part of jug bands and hard to specify ensembles!!! Probably the most heartening thing for me wasn't the number of boxes present, but rather the definite improvement in the standard of playing. It seems the instrument is being taken ever more seriously. Even the 'star' act of the festival, a band from Melbourne called "My Friend the Chocolate Cake", used an accordion at times.

At one stage, another Australian accordionist, Dave de Santi, called a gathering of all accordionists and called all squeeze players to the A.P.E. (Australian Pneumatic Ensemble)!! This consisted of some 58 accordionists (and not all of them were able to make it, either).

A highlight of this squeeze extravaganza were tunes from visiting accordion hero Pekka Pentikainen from Finland. He plays masterfully on 2 row button box or a 5 row chromatic accordion, with equal virtuosity and clarity. He also gave a great workshop on Finnish accordion playing.

PIOTR RANGO IN CONCERT - ZURICH, SWITZERLAND

Contributed by Martin Frey

From the 13th to 15th April, Piotr Rango will perform at the Aula Kantonsschule Wetzikon, in Wetzikon, Zurich, Switzerland each night at 5.00pm.

This is a great opportunity to experience the amazing expressive power of the concert accordionist with this young polish artist. Piotr studied in Bresslau and Warsaw and is presently living in Germany.

In his concert, the internationally renowned soloist (who has given concerts in Poland, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Italy) will present the audience with his huge repertoire and demonstrate the range of artistic possibilities that the concert accordion possesses.

He plays works from J.S.Bach, A.Vivaldi, Johann Strauss, Busoni, Hugges, Derbenko, Precz, Piazolla, Solotarjow, Albeniz, Liszt, Astier.

This will be a concert of the superlatives in an acoustically brilliant concert hall. Admission is Fr.15-. For further information see Future Events.

CHILD ART COMPETITION - CHINA

Contributed by Wu Shou Zhi

From the 28th to 30th April, a "Child Art Competition" will be held in Qiqihaer city ( the second biggest city of the Heilongjiang province). This competition (sponsored by Qiqihaer TV Station) is divided into three groups: "Playing Musical Instruments", "Singing" and "Dancing". About 300 children aged between 5 and 16 years old will participate including about 80 accordion students. Qiqihaer TV Station will televise the final of the competition.

RAINBOW'S END CONCERT - AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND

Contributed by Wayne Knights

On the 6th of April, 10 accordion orchestras from the North Shore, West Auckland, Hibiscus Coast, Pakuranga and Hamilton converged onto Rainbows End for a day of concerts, fun and frills.

Rainbow's End is one of New Zealand's "must do" tourist attractions. The fun park includes mini golf, dodgem cars, thrillseeker rides such as a rollercoaster and "motion master", and a special section with rides just for children.

There were 3 concerts throughout the day, and in return for performing, members of all orchestras were allowed on all the rides for free. There were approximately 400 people in all attending and a great day in the sun was had by all. This has now become a favourite annual event for accordionists from around the Auckland area. At the end of the day there was a traditional "Get everyone as wet as you can" on the "bumper boats", with three time New Zealand accordion champion, Stephanie Poole getting the wettest.

2ND RUSSIAN NATIONAL ACCORDION COMPETITION "FRIEND IS BAYAN"

Contributed by Vladimir Besfamilnov and Tatiana Lanchtchikova

The 2nd National Accordion Competition and Festival "Friend is Bayan" was held in Kurgan, Ural, from 26th to 29th March. Students from Russian Musical Colleges took part in this event, which was dedicated to Ludmila Zjikina (Russian folk singer and wife of Russian bayanist and composer Victor Gridin). There were three compulsory pieces, composed by Evgueni Derbenko, N. Maljigin and A. Mordukhovich on the themes of Ludmila Zjikina's songs.

The competition programme included the following:
27th March - concert by the Zauralskoe Bayan Trio (Victor Brjizgalin, Vladimir Karpov and Alexander Ivanov). They played works by Handel, Arro, Rossini, Derbenko, Ivanov and others.

28th March - Concert by Professor Nikolai Maljigin - performer, composer and teacher at the Cheliabinsk Institute of Arts. He played his own works.

29th March - Final concert by winners of the competition: Oleg Maishev (student of Vladimir Karpov), Aaina Krasilova and Igor Ivanov (both students of Victor Brizgalin).

Also performing in the final concert of this competition were Rinat Nabiev, Ruslan Yamansarin, Vladimir Davidov, Alexei Konukhov and other students of Russian Musical Colleges who played works by various composers.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Subject: The Squeeze

Wayne,
I started reading your excellent on line magazine after reading about it in the Accordion News, here in the UK, published by the sadly missed Malcolm Gee. I must say how much I enjoy reading "The Squeeze" even though most of the articles are not local. One thing I do feel you could possibly benefit from is to have a readers 'letters page'. One of the areas I always enjoy reading in a paper based magazine is the letters page. In your last editorial you say that you welcome e-mail from on line accordionists. How about sharing them with the rest of us. Anyhow, thanks for a great service. It's good to know there is someone out there pulling accordionists world-wide together !

David Kemp
Birmingham, England

Thanks for the nice comments.

Firstly, I know we don't have much news come in from the UK, which is very disappointing. We are going to contact the NAO (National Accordion Organisation) in the UK and ask them to send us news. I have in the past, but have heard nothing from them.

Your idea of having a letters page was extremely well received. We will put this at the bottom of the news each week, along with my editors note and will have a link to it from the top of the page. Thanks again. Your input is much appreciated!

Subject: Your Site

Its great !
I will pass it on to some others here who have been looking for this.
Keep up the good work

Geoff
Address unknown

Thanks! I hope you and your friends find the site of benefit!

Wayne.