A touch of Accordion history & development of styles

[Ffingers]

I've just spent an hour and a half watching this:




Very much USofA oriented, but interesting nonetheless.

 

[Tom]

Thanks Ff! I haven't seen this one, amazing! I almost ditched it because it starts with the same old same old "misunderstood, had its day....etc." But... Voodoo rituals with accordion???? Oh, yeah, gotta love Louisiana!

 

[JerryPH]

I had purchased the DVD from the lady who made it just before it was fully released. Of all the DVDs that I own, this one I found the most repetitive in terms of content and style. Feels like a weak remake of Behind the Bellows. Same recipe with different people and less “magic sauce”. Now I see it for free on YouTube… lol

My review of it is here

 

[Valski]

It is indeed nice to see something with a positive spin on the accordion however it never seems to escape the accordion as a novelty instrument theme. This is sad because it could have been much more informative and interesting. I watched this from beginning to end and felt that a lot of information was missing.

 

[Johnny]

I’m grateful for these accordion documentaries, and their creators who make their works available to the public. Shortcoming and all, the footage alone is fascinating and valuable, especially considering how much of accordion history is elided (at least in the US).

Making accordion docs likely isn’t a very profitable endeavor & I imagine these filmmakers are motivated by love of the accordion.

Has anyone on this forum made an accordion documentary? If so, please share! ? Seems like lots of folks here with the wisdom, experience, connections, and technical know-how to do it..

 

[cat]

It seems that AR attempts to take more of a 'forward' and optimistic view of the accordion scene, compared with the more historical and developmental aspects in Behind the Bellows.

One thing for me - I'd forgotten the tune at the introduction of diatonic boxes at 31:50" in Behind the Bellows, and relearned it this morning (thanks!). Anyone know the name of the tune?

 

[JerryPH]

Making accordion docs likely isn’t a very profitable endeavor & I imagine these filmmakers are motivated by love of the accordion.

Has anyone on this forum made an accordion documentary? If so, please share! ? Seems like lots of folks here with the wisdom, experience, connections, and technical know-how to do it..

Trust me, there was never any lost money.

The first one, "Behind the Bellows" says that they took 7 years to accumulate footage, I could see that as being a labor of love. With today's technology it would be much easier to make a documentary, but it would take a serious chunk of cash to make a good one.

Without the pandemic or need to do my day job, I could make that documentary if I was free to travel (and with my level of skill in videography, I actually thought about this many times in the past. In my head I have chapters, topics, people and places already... lol). I have friends and family in various parts of the world that would make the project a bit easier than for most.

All one would really need was money, TONS of planning, and trips to 6 countries (China, Germany, Italy, Canada, Russia and the USA) and one would have enough material to make the best documentary ever... but it would NEVER be complete. I figure a year is more than long enough to go at a relaxed pace to reach out to the people I would want in the video, gather up the footage. After that time to edit and produce and release. Max 2 years is what I would need to make the video that I envision in my head. It would likely be the equivalent of a 2-4 DVD set or more (A DVD per country?).

I know of a man that is doing the same right now, but finding the true origins of Brazilian jiu-jitsu. His story is INCREDIBLY difficult, because just to find people that know critical moments in a historic event is near impossible due to simple lack of physical documentation and he has been working on it for several years now.

So... any rich eccentric multi-millionaires here that would be willing to sponsor me to make that video?

 

[Tom]

Trust me, there was never any lost money.

The first one, "Behind the Bellows" says that they took 7 years to accumulate footage, I could see that as being a labor of love. With today's technology it would be much easier to make a documentary, but it would take a serious chunk of cash to make a good one.

Without the pandemic or need to do my day job, I could make that documentary if I was free to travel (and with my level of skill in videography, I actually thought about this many times in the past. In my head I have chapters, topics, people and places already... lol). I have friends and family in various parts of the world that would make the project a bit easier than for most.

All one would really need was money, TONS of planning, and trips to 6 countries (China, Germany, Italy, Canada, Russia and the USA) and one would have enough material to make the best documentary ever... but it would NEVER be complete. I figure a year is more than long enough to go at a relaxed pace to reach out to the people I would want in the video, gather up the footage. After that time to edit and produce and release. Max 2 years is what I would need to make the video that I envision in my head. It would likely be the equivalent of a 2-4 DVD set or more (A DVD per country?).

I know of a man that is doing the same right now, but finding the true origins of Brazilian jiu-jitsu. His story is INCREDIBLY difficult, because just to find people that know critical moments in a historic event is near impossible due to simple lack of physical documentation and he has been working on it for several years now.

So... any rich eccentric multi-millionaires here that would be willing to sponsor me to make that video?

Well, Jerry, I can't say I can finance your trip but I would definetly suggest adding Brazil to your countries (you could skip the US if you had to ?). You could go with your friend and play some forró while he researches too......

 

[JerryPH]

There is accordion potential in every country... heck, name me a country where if one went and did some research for accordions, that you would not find something good? CA and USA are musts in this kind of product becuase as far as marketing goes, it would carry the most relevance for the largest group of people interested in this kind of product, not to mention its also closest to home for me.

So now I guess we'd be up to 1 more DVD... lol

Heck at this point, we'd be better off just making a whole series on NETFLIX!

 

[Valski]

You could call it Accordion Crimes ?

 

[JerryPH]

You could call it Accordion Crimes ?

Great idea, but we'd not be able to do that... this is the name of a book authored by Annie Proulx!

 

[Johnny]

So... any rich eccentric multi-millionaires here that would be willing to sponsor me to make that video?

I can only check the 'eccentric' box ? - but happy to pitch in if there was crowdfunding!

 

[Valski]

Great idea, but we'd not be able to do that... this is the name of a book authored by Annie Proulx!

I own a copy of the book, but the name is an inspiration.

 

[Monty [IIIII]]

This is a good film as far as it goes, but those of us who follow this forum recognize it is but a small sliver of the possibilities concerning accordions, squeezeboxes etc. The big question a film maker has to ask is what audience is there beyond accordion aficionados. As devoted as I am to the subject, I found myself skipping through bits. I have trouble imagining a general audience for this type of film that would help to recoup the investment.

Annie Proulx (mentioned above) did a brilliant job providing a well researched history of squeezeboxes while telling interesting stories in her novel Accordion Crimes. If any movie about accordions had a chance of popular success, I think that would be it. Yet, while I found it to be my favorite of her books, it got far less acclaim than her other novels and stories, some of which were made into popular movies (Shipping News & Brokeback Mountain).

But if someone wants to put up the money for a documentary about the role of accordion (including squeezeboxes in general) in traditional cultures around the world, I would certainly be in the audience and buy the DVD. Finding another million or so oddballs like me, now there's the rub.

 

[Monty [IIIII]]

Note to Jerry P.H.: Billionaires don't fund documentaries about accordions or other trivialities.
They do important things with their money such as building yachts too big to get out to sea and rockets for other billionaires and geriatric celebrities to have joyride in spce.

 

[Waldo]

Maybe Ken Burns and PBS. We Americans have already paid for it! $285 million tax payer dollars, if I remember correctly (2021).

 

[AccordionUprising]

Phil Cunningham (from Silly Wizard) made a documentary series about the accordion:

The World Accordion to Phil 1/4 East to West


The World Accordion to Phil 2/4 The Celtic Coast


The World Accordion to Phil e03 Europe


The World Accordion to Phil 4/4 The Americas

 

[AccordionUprising]

And I'd never seen this one where Cunninghm talked with Mark Knofler of the rock band Dire Straits. Their conversation about growing up in Scotland, and being in folk and rock scenes are wonderful.

Phil Cunningham meets Mark Knopfler
Part 1:
Part 2:
Part 3:

 

[Waldo]

Yes, I like Phil's stuff. Quite entertaining. I like the Sheng, too.

 

[Ffingers]

Thank you, AccordionUprising, for those references.