Sam Pirt plays 'Out on the Ocean' and 'Spirit of the Dance' on a Black Diamond 96-bass Accordion

Our first audio recording by Sam Pirt is now on YouTube . . .

Latest Black Diamond Accordions news

For the benefit of those who are not Facebook aficionados (and we can sympathise with that position!), here are a few bits and bobs of news we've posted on our Facebok Page over the past week.

Sam Pirt of The Hut People has just recorded some fantastic tracks for us on a Black Diamond 96-bass Accordion.

We'll be posting a video on YouTube (and here) soon, so the world will know that our instruments sound as good as they look!

Meanwhile, here's Sam in action with fellow Hut Person (ex Beautiful South) Gary Hammond.



Since Greg met him at last week's Accordion International Festival, we've both been unable to stop watching videos of the incomparable young accordion virtuoso Martynas Levickis.

Here's his mesmerising solo interpretation of Winter from Vivaldi's Four Seasons:



All our photos from Accordions International can now be viewed as a slideshow on our website  (scroll down that page for more slideshows of our instruments and some photos of beautiful Mersea Island, where we live).

And finally, since our own Black Diamond Accordions t-shirts are currently but a mere twinkle in our eyes, if you're looking for a little extra Christmas present for The Accordionist In Your Life (or indeed yourself), take a look at the many amusing accordion-themed t-shirts available on Zazzle .

Vintage Accordions by Rob Howard

Still waiting (patiently . . . ish) for Greg's full report from Accordions International last weekend. Meanwhile, here's news of a fascinating new book by Rob Howard - who was also at Hemsby, and from whom Greg purchased a copy for the growing library of accordion reference books at home.

VINTAGE ACCORDIONS is an illustrated history of the accordion, in all its various forms, from the early years of the nineteenth century right up to the present day.

Most of the 300 colour pictures are of instruments from the magnificent collections of Ken Hopkins (Northern Ireland) and Caroline Hunt  (Scotland).

The book is divided into chronological sections: Vintage accordions - origins; The accordion spreads globally; The age of the concertina; 19th century literary figures and the accordion; The piano accordion reaches Britain; Castelfidardo - epicentre of the Accordion World!; Uniform keyboard; Coming up to date; and Vintage Accordion LPs, EPs and 78s on CD.

It's available from the author direct for £10 (+ £2 p&p) by cheque or Paypal:

Rob Howard
42 Avondale Road
Edgeley
Stockport
SK3 9NY

0161 4808858
robaccord5 [at] hotmail.com

Accordions International Festival 2011 - I

First pics from the Accordions International Festival in Hemsby, Norfolk. Greg will be posting a full report here next week. Meanwhile, we're posting 'live' news on the Black Diamond Accordions Facebook Page  and on Twitter (@BDAccordions) through this weekend, and I'll pop some more pics up here as well.



Harry Hussey playing the BDA Double Cassotto



Our beautiful BDA stand!



Barry Ranson, fellow Mersea Islander!



Harry Hussey and Barry Ranson



Peter Ayres of Norvic Concordia



Peter Ayres and Bert Santilly

"I have an accordion and I know how to use it!"

Another one we've shared on Facebook  but not here.

There's nothing like the fun an accordion will give you . . .

We've already shared this gem on Facebook but thought it was high time it appeared here too.

The World Accordion to Phil

Great news!  Phil Cunningham's fascinating four-part series 'The World Accordion to Phil'  has been nominated in the Media category of the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards 2011 .

If you've been following this blog, you'll know that it was 'The World Accordion to Phil' which inspired my trip to China earlier this year .

First shown on BBC2 in March this year, the series followed the journey of Scots accordionist Phil Cunningham when he embarked on a global adventure taking in Europe, Russia, China, Brazil and Argentina to discover how the humble squeezebox has conquered the world. In the series he uncovers the instrument’s exotic roots in China, visits an Italian town devoted to making the instrument and is delighted to encounter an orchestra made up almost entirely of accordions. Great music performances prove why ‘The Stomach Steinway’ has been embraced the world over. The series was a revelation of the instrument’s sheer global ubiquity and ancient history.

Here's a clip from the series, in which Dr Feng Hai-Yun of the Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing plays an ancient relative of the accordion, the Sheng:




You can watch Phil talking about the programme here.

Voting in the Trad Music Awards is open to the public - just sign in here to place your votes .

All the best
Greg