A Quick Guide To Accordion music

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While you can all probably guess that the accordion is not the most popular instrument in the world, back in the 1920's & 30's it was more popular than the guitar. I'm not sure what changed things but it fell out of favour. A rough guess would be that when it's played badly it sounds quite frankly bloody awful! Given that everyone and his uncle had one, and accordion orchestras were thick on the ground, it doesn't surprise me that people got sick of the sound of it!.

If you ever hear the accordion played and it sets your nerves jangling, and makes you want to kill someone, then I guess it's not being played right, so tell them to shut up (that includes me!). If on the other hand you want to check out some of the best accordion players around look for;-

ZYDECO. Clifton Chenier is THE King of Zydeco, an incredibly gifted and talented musician. Blues & zydeco? Buy it straight away! C.J. Chenier. Son of Clifton and now wearing his fathers crown. Slightly more modern in his approach with highly produced albums.

CAJUN. Nathan Abshire was God in this game, but be careful when checking out his music, as some of his bands were less than sub-standard. Go for anything he did with the Balfa Brothers! Zachary Richard or Wayne Toupes are a couple of his more modern contemporaries, definitely worth a listen.

SCOTTISH.Mr Jimmy Shand (God bless him) was your man. Even though as a child I had to suffer hours of torture dressed in a kilt, and dancing my little socks off, I, and the rest of Scotland still reserve a special place in our hearts for him! Another person to keep your eyes (ears) open for is a very fine player called Phil Cunningham.

IRISH. Jackie Daly is a man I've heard, but heard very little of, but what I have heard is stunning. I keep meaning to find out more about this man but keep getting distracted by other music. Sharon Shannon is another supremely competent player but (I hate to admit this) I prefer her Irish/reggae crossover stuff to her Trad!

TEX-MEX. Flaco Jiminez is, or was top dog, I don't know how much has changed in the Tex-Mex world, but if anyone has stolen this man's title I would be amazed, and if they have, they would seriously have to deserve it!.

That's more or less all I can tell you about who's who on the accordion in very few words,obviously the accordion does exist in other cultures but I don't know too much about them, at least not to pass comment upon. The fact that they all play totally different types of accordion doesn't really matter and that's another story anyway.