Friday 4 November 2011

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

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