Black Diamond Accordions Blog

Accordions for Islay Children Appeal V: 'Twitter brings new boxes to Islay kids'

2012-02-26T00:24:00.001Z

Here's the most exciting chapter in the Accordions for Islay Children Appeal story so far.

The five accordions raised by the Twitter appeal arrived in Islay last week, and we're delighted to have received these photos of the island children playing them - which brought a tear to the eye (sentimental old things that we are)!

And then, this morning, a copy of The Oban Times arrived in the post, sent to us by Christine MacIntyre - instigator of the Twitter Appeal - with the following article on page 8:

Twitter brings new boxes to Islay kids

Islay children have Twitter thank for five new accordions winging their way to the island on the back on an internet appeal.
The boxes come in time for Feis Ile’s 65 kids to get their hands on them at a practice session last Wednesday.
With no money to buy instruments, Feisan nan Gaidheal Development Officer Christine Macintyre posted this Tweet on January 19: ‘Urgent: does anyone have any old accordions, smallish, they don’t want. Kids in Islay desperately need six. DM me with info. Thanks’ Christine said the tweet was more in hope than expectation, but within hours the baton had been picked up by her Twitter followers.
‘Armin, who does the Islay blog, re-tweeted it and later on so did Mike Russell, MSP. People just tweeted it round their contacts and it grew and grew.’
It wasn’t long before the accordion offers started to come in and within a week five instruments had been donated. Three were from within Argyll and one was from Glasgow, but it was the origin of the fifth that really raised eyebrows. Black Diamond Accordions are based on Mersea – the easternmost island in the United Kingdom, lying just off the coast of Essex.
Co-owner of the firm, Juliet Doyle, explained how Christine’s appeal had captured her attention: ‘I was just looking on Twitter at anything to do with accordions. When I came across Christine’s message I retweeted it. Then I suddenly thought we had this warehouse of unloved accordions.’
Soon a new Black Diamond box was sent on a long journey by road and sea to join the others converging on Islay.
Juliet confirmed that she and her partner Greg Dunn hope to visit Feis Ile later in the spring.
A delighted Christine said the sixth accordion could be on its way, as she has been in touch with another music company.
And the number could be doubled if Feisan nan Gaidheal can find the money to take advantage of an excellent discount offered on six second-hand accordions by another company, this time in Thurso.

* * *

Congratulations to Christine for a great job well done. We're hoping we might be able to meet up with her when we go to Scotland for the National Fiddle And Accordion Festival in Falkirk next week. And then we'll be taking a serious look at our diaries to see when we can fit in a visit to Islay!

Frome Folk Festival, 18-19 February 2012

2012-02-25T23:51:00.001Z

Our second trade stand was at Frome Folk Festival. Very different from Cheltenham. We were outside. It was damp and windy. But we met lots of very nice people!

http://www.pristonmorris.org.uk/

http://www.pilgrims-way.net/bandbios.html

http://www.ragmorris.com/

http://www.belshazzarsfeast.co.uk/home.htm

Cheltenham Folk Festival, 10-12 February 2012

2012-02-25T23:22:00.002Z

Our first trade stand of the year was at Cheltenham Folk Festival.

http://www.turtle-doves.com/

http://www.timsviolins.co.uk/ and http://www.bowshop.co.uk/

http://www.thelittlefeetcompany.co.uk/

http://www.actionability.co.uk/PG/

http://www.lithophones.com/

http://www.treehousejewellery.co.uk/

http://www.ragmorris.com/

http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/?cat=60

Accordions for Islay Children Appeal: IV Fèisean nan gàidheal

2012-02-02T10:07:00.002Z

Time for a bit about the work of Fèisean nan Gàidheal - the organisation Christine works for, which ‘supports the development of community-based Gaelic arts tuition festivals throughout Scotland.’

This includes tuition in traditional music, which is what led to the appeal for accordions for Islay children - when the loaned instruments they had been playing were suddenly no longer available to them.

The Fèis movement came about when a group of parents and other individuals on the Isle of Barra became concerned that local traditions were dying out and that island children were not being taught traditional music in the context of formal education. To address this issue, the first Fèis Bharraigh was held on the island in 1981.

Inspired by the success of this first Fèis, many other communities throughout Scotland established similar events, each one community-led and tailored to local needs. Volunteers still form the core of most local Fèisean.

The skills taught at Fèisean are a highly valued aspect of the informal education of young people, as demonstrated by the level of volunteer commitment and parental support in local areas. Most importantly, the Fèis experience is valued by the young participants themselves. At national level, the Fèisean are seen by many as one of the most successful arts initiatives in Scotland.

Once the accordions Christine's acquired via her Twitter appeal have arrived safely on Islay, we hope to bring you photographs of the island children playing them. It is so inspiring to be involved, albeit in such a very small way, in encouraging young people to explore and develop traditional music-making skills.

Accordions for Islay Children Appeal: III - a short history lesson that has nothing to do with accordions!

2012-02-01T22:58:00.001Z

As the two posts below have told, simply by putting out an appeal on Twitter, Christine was able to find 5 of the 6 accordions the children of Islay need in less than a week!

This really does illustrate very clearly the tremendous power of the social networking media. We couldn't be more delighted that, through Twitter, we found out about such a 'close-to-our-hearts' initiative, and were able to do something to help.

The prospect of having such an excellent excuse for visiting Islay as soon as possible is one we find incredibly exciting!

And there is another, non-musical (and even non-whisky-related!), reason to celebrate this small new link between the islands of Islay and Mersea. It has its roots in the early history of the Celtic church.

Just a short sail across the Blackwater estuary from Mersea Island lies St Peter's Chapel, Bradwell-on-Sea - arguably the oldest church in England. It stands on the spot where St Cedd landed by boat in 654 on a mission to bring the Christian message to what is now Essex.

And it's through St Cedd that we have a direct link back to Islay.

In 563, St Patrick, having established many monasteries in Ireland, sent his priest Columba to the west coast of Scotland, to found a monastery. Columba's journey took him through Islay, and thence to Iona.

Later, one of St Columba’s monks from Iona, Aidan, was sent, at the invitation of King Oswald of Northumbria, to set up a similar monastery at Lindisfarne on the north-east coast of the mainland.

It was in the monastery school at Lindisfarne that Cedd and his brothers Caelin, Cynebil and Chad learnt to read and write in Latin and become missionaries. The four brothers were all ordained as priests and two of them, Cedd and Chad, later became bishops.

Cedd's first mission was to Mercia, at the request of that region's king. Following his success in converting the Mercian people to Christianity, he was ordered to take the Gospel south to the East Saxons. So in 653 Cedd sailed down the east coast of England from Lindisfarne and landed at Bradwell, where he found the ruins of an old deserted Roman fort of Othona. There he built a small wooden chapel, which was soon replaced, using stone and bricks from the existing ruins, by a tall church some 50 ft long.

Isolated in a flat landscape, overlooking sea and marshland, far from human habitation even now, how immeasurably bleak Bradwell must have seemed to the seventh-century bishop from Northumbria when he arrived after his arduous journey by sea in an open boat.

(If you click on the pic above, you'll see the chapel dead centre on the horizon.)

You can see some of the Roman tiles incorporated into the walls (above). And (I think) a portion of the Roman fort in woods nearby (below).

Cedd's mission to the East Saxons was considered so successful that the same year he was recalled to Lindisfarne, made Bishop of the East Saxons, and established a further monastery, in Lastingham, where he caught the plague and died in 664.

In its heyday, St Peter's would have functioned not only as a church and a religious community but also as a hospital, library, school and farm, as well as a base for further missions. From there Cedd established other Christian centres at Mersea, Tilbury, Prittlewell and Upminster. The church continued as a place of worship for over 600 years, but eventually - perhaps owing to the remoteness of its location - passed out of use and was employed instead as a grain store, a shelter for cattle and even a hideout for smugglers and their spoils. (In the picture at the top of this post you can see where large holes were once knocked into the side walls when it was put to agricultural use.)

In 1920 the building was rediscovered. Excavations began, and it was soon realised that this was an ancient sacred place. St Peter's Chapel was restored as a place of worship in 1920.

I didn't get any shots of the interior on my last visit (it's dark inside and I didn't want to disturb other visitors by using flash) but you can see some here.

The simple modern altar (which can be see bottom left here) was consecrated in 1985 jointly by the Anglican Bishop of Chelmsford and the Catholic Bishop of Brentwood. Its supporting pillar contains three stones - one given by each of the three other places central to St Cedd's ministry: Lindisfarne, Iona and Lastingham.

For more info, the official St Peter's website is here. There's also an aerial view here; details of archaeological finds on the site here; and panoramas of the location and the chapel's interior here.

Here's Mersea Island, on the horizon, as seen from the Bradwell shore.

So there you have it.

WE find all this stuff interesting - hope some others out there do to!

The next blog post on this accordions blog will contain at least one reference to accordions.

Probably.

Accordions for Islay Children Appeal: II

2012-02-01T21:31:00.000Z

Following our initial contact, we exchanged many emails and tweets with Christine. We sent one of our 72-bass accordions to her in Glasgow:

columbastrail Columba's Trail
#accordion look at this bad boy! THANK YOU. #BlackDiamondAccordions from #islay children http://t.co/sjwwqSH3
31 Jan

BDAccordions Black Diamond
columbastrail Glad it arrived OK! 31 Jan

columbastrail Columba's Trail
BDAccordions Its a beauty. Thanks. Will get Neil Sinclair to get it going he is an ace player in Argyll,played with Jimmy Shand as a lad 31 Jan

BDAccordions Black Diamond
@columbastrail Yes, it will need some "playing in" - its travelled a long way: China to Mersea, Mersea to Glasgow! 31 Jan

@columbastrail Columba's Trail
@BDAccordions Then from Glasgow to Hebridean island of Islay total 608 miles + mileage from China . WoW! 31 Jan

BDAccordions Black Diamond
@columbastrail 10,956 miles China to Mersea, I'm reliably informed! 31 Jan

columbastrail Columba's Trail
@BDAccordions Wow! Over 11,500 miles that's some distance we might factor that into a song! 31 Jan

Armin Grewe took up the story on the Islay Blog :

31/Jan/2012
Accordions for Islay Children Appeal Update

After yesterday's reminder to vote for Islay High School at FilmG it's time to revisit another recent entry for an update, the Accordions for Islay Children Appeal. While I've tried to keep you updated in the comments of the post I thought it would be nice to revisit in more details what has happened since. To start with a tweet from Christine:

Thank you tweeps for your fantastic response to #accordions for #islay kids #tradmusic project. Big thanks from the kids

A total of 5 accordions have now been found, which should be enough for now. Two of them have already arrived, here's a (badly photoshopped collage of their pictures #1 and #2):

Unfortunately I don't know much about the red accordion on the left apart from that it comes from Brian. I do know quite a lot more about the black one on the right however:

It has travelled all the way from Mersea Island (it really has travelled much further than that, but that's another story for another day), the most easterly inhabited island in the UK, off the coast of Essex, England. It comes courtesy of Juliet and Greg of Black Diamond Accordions, who live and work on the island, hopefully forging a connection between Mersea Island and the Isle of Islay. They also run the Black Diamond Accordions Blog, where you'll find a lot about (no surprise there) accordions and in particular accordion music. They are of course also on Twitter, under @BDAccordions, where they heard about the appeal and decided to join in. Juliet and Greg (and Juliet’s daughter, Iona) hope to travel to Islay later this year to see and hear their and other accordions in action, for the music as well as for their lifelong love of the Hebrides.

I hope there will be a video of the Islay children playing the accordions to share at some point, until then here are two videos from Juliet and Greg, showing a few impressions of Mersea Island together with some nice accordion music: Sam Pirt plays Tivoli and Sam Pirt plays a traditional Swedish tune, "Der Stod en Jungfru".

The remaining three accordions are expected from Mid-Argyll for the end of this week. I'm also told that BBC Alba is thinking about a programme about the accordions and how social media helped with getting them organised. I'll try to update you as the story of the accordions for the Islay children continues…

We'll keep you updated on the progress of the donated accordions as they make their way from mainland Scotland over to Islay.

Hopefully, we'll have some photos - or maybe even videos - of the Islay children playing their new instruments soon.

And of course we are now wistfully poring over maps of western Scotland, CalMac ferry timetables, and our already madly overcrowded diaries, working out exactly how and when we are going to make the journey to Islay ourselves.

More news soon . . .

Accordions for Islay Children Appeal: I

2012-02-01T20:26:00.000Z

Just over a week ago, we noticed the following tweet on Twitter:

Island of Islay children asking twitters to help them find 6 #accordions for a #tradmusic project. Can the #Twitter community help!

And then, a few days later, we saw - also on Twitter - a link to the following post by Armin Grewe on the Islay Blog, with the background to the appeal:

Diluain, 23/Jan/2012

Accordions for Islay Children Appeal

Islay is very musical island, examples include the Islay Pipe Band, The Islay Sessions and while it seems to have changed to a whisky festival for some people the original Islay Festival - Fèis Ìle or to give it its full title The Islay Festival of Music & Malt is mainly about music. This is also where this appeal is linked to, to help keeping a musical tradition on Islay alive:

I'm not sure how long we've been following each other on Twitter, but last year I briefly met Christine (or @columbastrail on Twitter) in Kennacraig. She works for fèisean nan gàidheal , which ‘supports the development of community-based Gaelic arts tuition festivals throughout Scotland.’ This includes music tuition, leading to the tweet which caught my eye on Thursday last week:

Island of Islay children asking twitters to help them find 6 #accordions for a #tradmusic project. Can the #Twitter community help!

Some background for this request: Fèis Ìle was providing accordion lessons to a group of Islay children. They were using accordions borrowed from a Dunoon group but they now need the accordions back leaving the Islay children with no accordions. Christine turned to Twitter to ask for help and has already had some success:

Twitter has yielded 3 #accordions for #Islay #tradmusic kids. A big thank you. Still need 3 more, come on tweeps fantastic work

In other words, 50% of the target has been reached, but I'm sure 100% is possible if we keep spreading the word. It's already spreading from Twitter: newsnetscotland is reporting Twitter helping Islay children with accordion plea and ForArgyll writes Any spare accordions to help musical children on Islay?

If you have a spare accordion (or two, or three) you can either donate or loan, you can get in touch with Christine via Twitter (@columbastrail) or if you're not on Twitter you can email her at christine@feisean.org. Even if you can't help directly please help by spreading the word. I'm confident by the end of the week Christine can report success with six accordions having been found for the children on Islay.

The words 'children with no accordions' and 'help', together with 'island' and 'Islay' proved a completely irresistible combination, and so we immediately wrote to Christine:

Hi Christine - we've seen your Twitter appeal for 'unloved' accordions for your excellent children's trad music project. We have lots of accordions that are currently unloved, simply because they have never been played! They are brand new. (As are we, in fact!)

The Islay blog mentions that you'd be interested in accordions on loan as well as gifted. If you'd like to borrow one of our 72-bass instruments on long-term loan, you'd be very welcome.

It would feel rather nice to be able to send one all the way from Mersea (Britain's most easterly inhabited island) to a west-coast Scottish isle. Do drop me a line if this idea would be helpful to you.

Best wishes

Juliet

Christine replied:

A 72 would be perfect.

Just Googled where you are and this would make a fantastic news story of one island community coming to the aid of another.

I was wondering how to thank all the wonderful folks that have helped and I'm thinking perhaps the Islay children will write an appropriate accordion tune dedicated to all their donators, I may even write a wee ditty to go with it.

Regards Christine

We'll post the next instalment of the story here very soon.

Meanwhile, here are some of Armin's photos of the beautiful island of Islay:

The Twelve Accordion Days of Christmas. Day 12

2011-12-25T00:08:00.000Z

And a very Merry Christmas to everyone from Black Diamond Accordions!

The Twelve Accordion Days of Christmas. Day 11

2011-12-24T07:14:00.000Z

The Twelve Accordion Days of Christmas. Day 10

2011-12-23T10:05:00.000Z

Recorded last night at the Coast Inn Christmas Session, West Mersea. Barry Ranson and Greg Dunn on accordions (Greg on Black Diamond 72-bass)

The Twelve Accordion Days of Christmas. Day 9

2011-12-22T07:39:00.001Z

You can't see Loreena McKennitt playing accordion on this track, but if you listen carefully you can hear her. Too beautiful not to include.

The Twelve Accordion Days of Christmas. Day 8, Part 2

2011-12-21T11:02:00.000Z

A gentle antidote to today's earlier track - here's Rebecca Parker of Leyland Accordion Club

The Twelve Accordion Days of Christmas. Day 8, Part 1

2011-12-21T06:20:00.000Z

Back to accordions today, with another two-parter and a couple of tracks which could barely be more contrasting. First off, the least festive rendition of Jingle Bells you're likely to encounter this Christmas!

The Twelve Accordion Days of Christmas. Day 7, Part 2

2011-12-20T08:45:00.000Z

Second Melodeon track - something of a contrast to the first!

(NB the title is wrong, it's actually "Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming").

The melodeon player is Julian Sutton. And watch out for Kathryn Tickell on Northumbrian pipes.

Enjoy.

The Twelve Accordion Days of Christmas. Day 7, Part 1

2011-12-20T05:41:00.000Z

Melodeon Day today. Here's the first one.

The Twelve Accordion Days of Christmas. Day 6

2011-12-19T09:07:00.001Z

This was just too good not to include, so we've changed our own rules and made Day 6 "Bandoneon Day".

The Twelve Accordion Days of Christmas. Day 5

2011-12-18T08:22:00.000Z

(Skip the first minute of introduction if you don't understand Lithuanian!)

The Twelve Accordion Days of Christmas. Day 4

2011-12-17T09:40:00.000Z

The Twelve Accordion Days of Christmas. Day 3, Part 2

2011-12-16T13:51:00.000Z

Two Accordion days for the price of one today - couldn't let Ludwig van Beehoven's birthday go unmarked!

The Twelve Accordion Days of Christmas. Day 3

2011-12-16T12:02:00.001Z

The Twelve Accordion Days of Christmas. Day 2

2011-12-15T06:58:00.002Z

JSB - Baroque squeezer

2011-12-14T15:31:00.000Z

If The Greatest Composer Who Ever Lived* was a devotee of the Baroque Squeezebox, then that's good enough for us. We are perpetuating a noble (if little known) tradition. (Click on the pic and it should animate. You might need to save it first.)

*discuss

The Twelve Accordion Days of Christmas. Day 1

2011-12-14T10:50:00.000Z

We've chosen twelve festive tunes celebrating accordions in every guise to form a squeezy count-down to Christmas. Here's the first one.

Swedish mystery solved!

2011-12-13T09:04:00.000Z

We have now solved the name of the mystery Swedish tune Sam Pirt recorded here for Black Diamond Accordions. The only thing that Sam could remember about learning the tune was that it was on a course in the early 90s, which he attended with a young Tim Van Eyken .

Juliet tweeted Tim Van Eyken to ask him if he recalled the tune, and he graciously replied that it was called "Der Stod en Jungfru", which my trusty Google Translation Tool converted to "There stood a maiden". Bingo! Tim has recorded this song too, and even sang the first verse in Swedish!

I then handed the whole thing over to my Scandinavian consultant Bente, and she came up with this. The song was written in 1885 by John Enninger, and Bente very kindly translated this biography :

John Enninger of Höor, Sweden (1844-1908)

John Enninger can be counted amongst the forerunners when it comes to the folk music of Skåne. 20 years before Nils Andersson started his collection and compilation work, Enninger had already started laying the foundation for the large collection he left behind upon his death and which ended up comprising about 2000 tunes. He started his collection work under the best of auspices. In the 1860s and 1870s there were still excellent musicians, ballad singers and ........., and the old songs and tunes still lived on with these musicians. Enninger himself came from a family of musicians, his father and brothers were distinguished fiddle and clarinet players, and his mother like the older female members of his family were good singers. Already as a child he helped play for weddings and dances, and through the close contact with other musicians that originated from this his lifelong interest in this type of music was kindled and later strengthened when he himself went on to learn to play the fiddle.

John Enninger, whose real name was Jöns Persson, was born in Kvärlöv, Annelöv parish, on 3rd January 1844. His father, Pehr Olsson, born in Annelöv in 1811, was a competent fiddler in his own right and on top of this was capable of reading notes. His mother, Hanna Jönsdotter, born in Norrvindinge in 1817, was musically inclined and sang a lot. Two brothers, Lars Persson, born 1854, and Olof Persson, who like Jöns both later took the name Enninger for their family name, were also musically inclined and started helping their father play for weddings and dances at an early age. Those two both became organists: Lars Enninger in Stoby - on top of this he was musical director with the infantry regiment of Norra Skåne and a distinguished clarinettist - and Olof Enninger in Röddinge and Ramsåsa.

Enninger received his first musical tuition from his father. When he was 11, he was sent to a notorious fiddler in Barsebäck, the soldier Per Munkberg, who was renowned and widely known as an excellent fiddler. After his stay with Munkberg, Enninger took lessons from first the organist Bengt Vilhelm Hallberg in Landskrona and then he became a student at the Conservatory of Music in Stockholm from 1868-1874. From 1870-72 he was music master of the theatre Mindre teatern. In 1883 he was appointed cantor and organist in Höor and Munkarp, a position he held until his death in 1908. During the 1800s and later he often gave concerts, often classical and often assisted by Wilhelm Heintze, organist to the cathedral in Lund, but usually with a selection of folk tunes or ballads mixed in, all arranged by himself. Several suites for fiddle and piano - all of them with roots in the folk music - have been arranged by Enninger, and a range of tunes have been published in various magazines.

Enninger's prowess as an interpreter of folk tunes was, according to testimonies by his contemporaries, masterly. "When Enninger played", writes one of those who had heard him, "God's angels in heaven smiled. The sick forgot their pains, and ancient people got up and danced. Enninger's music was a wonder. He didn't just use his technical musical skills, which were impressive, he also added his deep musical insight."

The collection that Enninger left behind contains, apart from the multitude of tunes he himself recorded and collected, a large number of handwritten tunes from various parts of Skåne. A selection of 181 tunes - polskas, waltzes, quadrilles and other dances of various kinds together with ballads and hymns - are presented here. The notes accompanying the tunes which are signed with a 'J.E.' are from Enninger's hand.

(Source: Swedish tunes - Skåne)

If you're interested in the life of Enninger, we recommend you read the book 'John Enninger: spelman, kongl. kammarmusikus, klockare' by Elisabeth Wentz-Janacek (2003) from which the following quote is extracted: 'Jöns Persson from Qvärlöf died Saturday 14th November 1908 and was buried in the Hörs cemetery.'

In his first will and testament dated 11th December 1905, Enninger left detailed instructions as to where he wanted to be buried, what stone to erect etc.

In Höor a street has been named after him.

So thanks, Tim, for solving the mystery. It is a great tune, clearly the most popular of the four that Sam recorded for us.

We can't change the opening sequence of the video itself now, but we have added the name to the title of the youtube track.

Greg

Sam Pirt plays Reel á Phylias on a Black Diamond 96-bass Piano Accordion

2011-12-04T09:33:00.000Z

The fourth of Sam's recordings for us.

Does anyone know the name of this tune?

2011-12-03T10:59:00.000Z

The third Sam Pirt track, "Swedish Tune" has gone down very well indeed. Some high praise has been posted on the Mudcat Cafe forum , including this from Jeri:

"I don't know the name of the tune, but your Black Diamond accordion sounds magnificent! I take it for granted that Sam's a genius, but he had a lovely instrument to work with.

The video is a master work: beautiful, beautiful. The tune, whatever it is..., I could write a song about the tune and the way that it, combined with the video, makes me feel. It is the land's sigh after a long, tiring day. It's a warm place to sleep, it's home, it's comfort and peace and a little bit of euphoria, and I'm gonna get my fiddle out and LEARN IT TOMORROW!

Got two piano accordions here, and neither one is in operating condition, and NOW I have accordion lust . . . thank you for the exquisite video!"

If you know the name of this tune, please let us know, as we'd love to credit it properly.

Sam Pirt plays a Swedish Tune on a Black Diamond 96-bass Piano Accordion

2011-12-02T10:44:00.000Z

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

2011-11-30T20:23:00.000Z

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

2011-11-26T16:04:00.001Z

Latest Black Diamond Accordions news

2011-11-20T15:02:00.001Z

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

2011-11-18T12:57:00.000Z

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

2011-11-12T11:17:00.000Z

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!"

2011-11-10T10:03:00.001Z

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

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

2011-11-08T16:11:00.000Z

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

The World Accordion to Phil

2011-11-04T14:19:00.001Z

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

Black Diamond Accordions at the Mersea Session's 2nd birthday celebrations

2011-10-21T20:02:00.000+01:00

Our thanks to the lovely Chrissie Westgate for these photos of Black Diamond Accordions at the Coast Inn, West Mersea , where the acoustic music session celebrated its second birthday on Thursday 20th October.

More of Chrissie's photos from the birthday party can be seen on the session's own blog.

BDA's No. 1 Lady Customer

2011-10-20T11:58:00.001+01:00

When Greg brought back the first-ever Black Diamond Accordion (a 72-Bass) from China in June this year, he had barely removed it from its carrying case before it was quickly snapped up by Cynthia Miller of The Lantern Band - one of the busiest and best-known ceilidh bands in Essex.

Greg met up with Cynthia earlier this week at the Tuesday Session at the United Brethren pub in Chelmsford, and took these pics of her and the 72-Bass BDA in action.

Catalogue nearing completion

2011-10-19T23:32:00.002+01:00

The final photoshoots have taken place - hooray for the prolonged summer weather! - and the catalogue is in the final stages of design. We hope to have finished copies printed by early November. Here's the cover design, and a sneak preview of some of our lovely models - Debbie, Leafy, Iona, Sam and Barry - in action. Huge thanks to all for their patience, good humour and general wonderfulness in giving up their time and talents for the BDA cause.

Black Diamond Accordions take the stage

2011-10-17T12:53:00.001+01:00

Another busy week preparing for the launch of Black Diamond Accordions: more catalogue photoshoots on location in West Mersea (sneak preview here very soon); and another public appearance for our 72 bass accordion, this time at a fundraising shanty evening in aid of Friends of West Mersea Parish Church , featuring Keith Lovell and four members of the Mersea Session - John, Bill, Barry and Greg, performing as 'The Coast Inn Players'.

(In fact, not BDA's first gig for FWMPC - Greg played the 96 bass at a short outdoor ceremony last month, pictured here with Fred Borges from Saltdog on fiddle.)

Sam Pirt, master squeezer!

2011-10-13T16:57:00.001+01:00

On our trip northwards to Lindisfarne, we called in on my old mate Sam Pirt, who lives the wrong side of two railway tracks in Gilberdyke, East Yorkshire.

I first encountered Sam at the Wooton Fiddle Club ceilidh in about 1997, when I was a deckie learner accordionist, and tentatively launched into 'Lucy Farr's', only to be played out of the session by this amazing 17 year old squeezebox maestro. His style was quite simply astonishing, I'd never heard the accordion played like it, and it ignited my admiration for Sam as a player and a teacher that remains undimmed.

Our musical lives occasionally overlapped, I took Sam's place in Bill Sables' Shenanigans ceilidh band when he was off starting up 422, then I started the Foolish Virgins with Eric the Viking and Carol Dawson, with Bill as caller in residence. Pressure of work and playing gigs all over the north of England got to me, so I resigned and formed the Black Diamond Ceilidh Band (which just played locally and more occasionally in the Hull area), Bill took over the Virgins, and replaced me with ......Sam!

I think it was in 2001 that I attended one of Sam's accordion courses in Goole (and put on half a stone that weekend, enjoying his mum Gill's cooking), which gave me another leap in my playing style. I can faithfully recommend Sam as an inspired teacher as well as an all-round good guy. He has worked tirelessly for his mum's Kenyan charity, Sengwer Aid, having visited seven times, helping with various projects and teaching accordion to youngsters there.

Sam's musical collaborations have grown widely, whilst still a mainstay in 422, he now has a combo called The Hut People, with former Beautiful South percussionist Gary Hammond, and several other incarnations, visible at his website.

Right, back to the story. We called on Sam to arm him with a 96 bass Black Diamond Accordion, which he wants to get the feel of prior to recording some studio tracks that we will use on the website, so potential customers get an idea of the sound of these instruments.

So, we're looking forward to hearing Sam's workout with a BDA, and we'll get it online as soon as practicable.

Meanwhile, to give you a taster of his playing style, here's Sam playing in The Hut People:

Why can't England be more like Northumbria?

2011-10-12T10:14:00.002+01:00

When you're an Englishman (or a woman, but I don't know what that's like) and your passions are traditional boats and traditional music, there is no finer place to combine the two, within the borders of the country, than Northumberland. And that's where we headed for our holidays, a four day break away from the febrile Indian Summer parching south-east England.

We stayed at an outstanding B&B, the fantastic Fenham Farm, which is run by a delightful couple called Wattie and Gill, and enjoys magnificent views of Lindisfarne, without all the hassle of getting seawater up to your car windowsills on the causeway (which us Merseaites know a thing or two about).

It was hosing it down on the Saturday, so we drove up to Edinburgh and had a look at the Royal Yacht Britannia at Ocean Terminal, then enjoyed some Deuchars in the Cafe Royal.

Sunday was a bit brighter, so we headed down to the Tap & Spile in Morpeth for their Sunday afternoon session. We were warmly greeted by Keith Besford, an oustanding session fiddler, who kept his wonderfully named band under his Homburg. I'm sorry I can't remember the names of all the terrific musicians there, but the assembled company also included smallpiper Maureen Davison and uber-fiddler Bennett Hogg. Juliet made the aquaintance of Jean and Craig, visiting from Connecticut after a three-year absence, who were delighted to be remembered at the session (Craig is a mean 5-string banjo player, sadly unarmed on this trip), and their friend Sharon from Warkworth. The craic was 90 (I never have understood that phrase) and the tunes were fast, furious and mostly Northumbrian (except Morpeth Rant - so passé!).

All too soon, we had to up and leave, as we wanted to see a boat in Blyth, some dozen miles distant, on behalf of a friend down south. The irony of the banter in the Tap and Spile ("there isn't a boat in Blyth that isn't rotten, lad") was brought home when it turned out that the owner of the boat had been on a bus, sitting next to Keith Besford, chief Blyth maritime detractor, the previous day!! Small world. Especially considering the boat owner himself would normally have been playing at the session!

BDA FAQs

2011-10-11T22:54:00.000+01:00

There are many excellent websites that offer in-depth explanations of all things accordion - just typing ‘accordion FAQ’ into any search engine will produce a plethora of fascinating web pages.

But here are a few Greg's come up with for our [still under construction] website:

What is a piano accordion? A musical instrument of the aerophone family of free reed instruments, where sound is generated by the movement of air across steel reeds, producing vibrations or sound waves.
When was the accordion invented? The cows will be home and in meat pies before this argument is settled! The first free reed instrument was the sheng, a Chinese instrument not dissimilar to pan pipes. The free reed was developed in the nineteenth century in Germany and Italy, and the world centre-of-excellence was established in Castelfidardo (near Ancona on Italy’s Adriatic coast). The most astonishing feature of the modern piano accordion is the Stradella bass system, an extremely complex series of rods and levers in the bass end of the accordion that could lay claim to be the world’s first computer.
How does a piano accordion differ from a melodeon? Think of the accordion as a vertical piano, and the melodeon as a mouth organ/harmonica. Basically, the accordion plays the same note (when pressed) whether the bellows are squeezed or pulled, and the melodeon is diatonic (two toned) which produces a different note on the draw than the push of the bellows. The piano accordion is a far more versatile instrument (well, I would say that, wouldn’t I?!) because it can play in any key, whilst the melodeon is restricted to two or three keys
How long have the Chinese been making accordions? In our factory, the oldest-established in China, since 1952. The accordion is the most popular instrument in China, and expensive imports from Germany and Italy were soon copied for cheaper domestic production. The BDA factory employs craftsmen and women that have perfected their craft for longer than probably any other factory in the world.
What’s so great about Black Diamond Accordions, then? Good question. I have played many modern and older Chinese accordions, and they differ markedly. The older ones had extremely dated designs, looked ghastly but played well. The ones that sounded bad were frankly let down by their players. The modern ones look a lot better, but many have cheaper, mass-produced reeds and take a lot of air to produce sound and subsequently don’t have fast playing action. Many modern Chinese accordions have bogus Italian-sounding names (anything ending in ‘i’ will do!) but have few reeds, don’t weigh much and don’t deliver a pleasing player experience. Let’s face it, if money was no object, we would all have a brand new Castelfidardo squeezebox every year. But as the old song goes, it’s too tight to mention, so what’s the next best thing? Finest Italian hand-made reeds , put into a quality frame by a time-served craftsman in China, covered in a modern shell that pleases the western consumer eye. In other words, the best of both worlds, the sound and look of the west, but at the cost of the east.
How come they’re so cheap? They’re not, relatively speaking. The same factory produces accordions for the domestic Chinese market at roughly half the price, which use domestic mass-produced reeds. These are top-end accordions, played by professional classical musicians in China who are every bit as demanding as their western counterparts. Our instruments are affordable because of the disparity in labour rates for craftsmen in Europe versus China.
What do they sound like? We'll soon be posting recordings on the website of the top Chinese accordion orchestra that plays exclusively Black Diamond Accordions, and they stand their ground against the world’s finest players and manufacturers. Beauty is in the ear of the beholder, but we think they’re outstanding.

The World Accordion to Greg

2011-10-06T21:13:00.005+01:00

Did everyone see the excellent BBC Scotland programme 'The World Accordion to Phil'? Well, if ye didn't, you missed a rare treat, and box heaven to us accordionistas.

In the first programme, Phil Cunningham (who is a marvellous TV operator, pleeeze, pleeeze, pleeeze, BBC, give him more work) visited China, where the free reed instrument was invented during the second millennium BC in the form of the Sheng.

The programme focused on sheng players to start with, but then revealed the little-known fact that the piano accordion is the most popular instrument in China, played by literally millions, it is reckoned. Accordion bands abound, classical music accordion orchestras, even X Factor contestants, not to mention the girl accordion band in the skimpy black numbers.

One orchestra caught my eye, and my ear. They sounded fantastic, and were all playing a particular brand of squeeze box I have never seen. I had a good old Google, and discovered that the factory is in a Chinese city I know well from previous visits to agricultural trade fairs and, what's more, I have a good friend who is a translator living there. She also turned out to be - you guessed - an accordion player!

A quick phone call later, she agreed to visit the factory and, long story short, I was out of Heathrow within a month on a 46-hour round trip to Beijing.

There's a dozen funny stories about that trip, and one scary one when a delayed planeload of vodka-deprived Russian nationals were threatening to riot at Moscow Airport, but they'll keep. Suffice to say that I cut a deal with the Chinese factory to manufacture a range of piano and button accordions, using finest-quality Italian reeds, to our own design under the Black Diamond brand.

Feverish activity soon followed, importing samples of different models to decide on the range we would offer, and masses of research into piano accordions generally. Apparently many of the Italian accordion manufacturers now have the bodies of their accordions made in China, but with the all-important finishing done in Castelfidardo.

Black Diamond Accordions have the sound, the all-important handmade reeds, manufactured and exported from Italy to China. Which is sort of the same. Only about a quarter of the price to the consumer.

And that is the story so far.

Black Diamond Accordions catalogue photoshoot

2011-10-05T23:30:00.000+01:00

For our first photoshoot, Iona (10) - no stranger to the camera, she - played the Black Diamond Button Box on the beach at West Mersea in the golden sunshine of an October evening.

Shooting the catalogue

2011-10-05T23:27:00.000+01:00

First catalogue photoshoot - on an absolutely glorious evening on absolutely glorious Mersea Island earlier this week:

Lots more to follow soon.

Welcome to the Black Diamond Accordions blog

2011-09-15T16:02:00.006+01:00

Thank you for visiting the blog of Black Diamond Accordions - an exciting new venture based on Mersea Island (Britain's most easterly inhabited island, as we islanders never tire of reiterating).

In preparation for the official launch of Black Diamond Accordions in November 2011, we are busy building our website and e-shop, putting together our catalogue, ticking off hundreds of 'to do' tasks on dozens of lists, and generally giving ourselves even more hectic and busy lives than usual. Which is saying something. But it's all great fun and we are bursting with enthusiasm and anticipation.

We'll be posting more news and updates, as well as the story behind the founding of Black Diamond Accordions, as our Grand Launch Day approaches. Meanwhile, please visit and 'like' our Facebook Page to help spread the word!