The Accordion in the Americas

The Accordion in the Americas PDF Author: Helena Simonett
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 0252037200
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 347

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Book Description
This collection considers the accordion and its myriad forms, from the concertina, button accordion, and piano accordion familiar in European and North American music to the exotic-sounding South American bandoneon and the sanfoninha. Capturing the instrument's spread and adaptation to many different cultures in North and South America, contributors illuminate how the accordion factored into power struggles over aesthetic values between elites and working-class people who often were members of immigrant and/or marginalized ethnic communities. Specific histories and cultural contexts discussed include the accordion in Brazil, Argentine tango, accordion traditions in Colombia, cross-border accordion culture between Mexico and Texas, Cajun and Creole identity, working-class culture near Lake Superior, the virtuoso Italian-American and Klezmer accordions, Native American dance music, and American avant-garde.

The Accordion in the Americas

The Accordion in the Americas PDF Author: Helena Simonett
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 0252037200
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 347

Get Book

Book Description
This collection considers the accordion and its myriad forms, from the concertina, button accordion, and piano accordion familiar in European and North American music to the exotic-sounding South American bandoneon and the sanfoninha. Capturing the instrument's spread and adaptation to many different cultures in North and South America, contributors illuminate how the accordion factored into power struggles over aesthetic values between elites and working-class people who often were members of immigrant and/or marginalized ethnic communities. Specific histories and cultural contexts discussed include the accordion in Brazil, Argentine tango, accordion traditions in Colombia, cross-border accordion culture between Mexico and Texas, Cajun and Creole identity, working-class culture near Lake Superior, the virtuoso Italian-American and Klezmer accordions, Native American dance music, and American avant-garde.

Squeeze This!

Squeeze This! PDF Author: Marion Jacobson
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 0252093852
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 294

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Book Description
No other instrument has witnessed such a dramatic rise to popularity--and precipitous decline--as the accordion. Squeeze This! is the first history of the piano accordion and the first book-length study of the accordion as a uniquely American musical and cultural phenomenon. Ethnomusicologist and accordion enthusiast Marion Jacobson traces the changing idea of the accordion in the United States and its cultural significance over the course of the twentieth century. From the introduction of elaborately decorated European models imported onto the American vaudeville stage and the instrument's celebration by ethnic musical communities and mainstream audiences alike, to the accordion-infused pop parodies by "Weird Al" Yankovic, Jacobson considers the accordion's contradictory status as both an "outsider" instrument and as a major force in popular music in the twentieth century. Drawing on interviews and archival investigations with instrument builders and retailers, artists and audiences, professionals and amateurs, Squeeze This! explores the piano accordion's role as an instrument of community identity and its varied musical and cultural environments. Jacobson concentrates on six key moments of transition: the Americanization of the piano accordion, originally produced and marketed by sales-savvy Italian immigrants; the transformation of the accordion in the 1920s from an exotic, expensive vaudeville instrument to a mass-marketable product; the emergence of the accordion craze in the 1930s and 1940s, when a highly organized "accordion industrial complex" cultivated a white, middle-class market; the peak of its popularity in the 1950s, exemplified by Lawrence Welk and Dick Contino; the instrument's marginalization in the 1960s and a brief, ill-fated effort to promote the accordion to teen rock 'n' roll musicians; and the revival beginning in the 1980s of the accordion as a "world music instrument" and a key component for cabaret and burlesque revivals and pop groups such as alternative experimenters They Might Be Giants and polka rockers Brave Combo. Loaded with dozens of images of gorgeous instruments and enthusiastic performers and fans, Squeeze This! A Cultural History of the Accordion in America represents the accordion in a wide range of popular and traditional musical styles, revealing the richness and diversity of accordion culture in America.

Made in Louisiana

Made in Louisiana PDF Author: Marc Savoy
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781946160805
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 144

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Book Description
Upon seeing a Louisiana-handmade diatonic accordion for the first time in 1957, a teenage Marc Savoy began a quest that arguably no one has come closer to achieving: to build the perfect Cajun accordion. Told in Marc's own words, Made in Louisiana is the story of the evolution of his Acadian brand accordions--but it is also the story of how an instrument once known as the "German-style" accordion became the iconic image of Louisiana's Cajun culture.

The Accordion Family

The Accordion Family PDF Author: Katherine S. Newman
Publisher: Beacon Press
ISBN: 0807007455
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
Why are adults in their twenties and thirties stuck in their parents’ homes in the world’s wealthiest countries? There’s no question that globalization has drastically changed the cultural landscape across the world. The cost of living is rising, and high unemployment rates have created an untenable economic climate that has severely compromised the path to adulthood for young people in their twenties and thirties. And there’s no end in sight. Families are hunkering down, expanding the reach of their households to envelop economically vulnerable young adults. Acclaimed sociologist Katherine Newman explores the trend toward a rising number of “accordion families” composed of adult children who will be living off their parents’ retirement savings with little means of their own when the older generation is gone. While the trend crosses the developed world, the cultural and political responses to accordion families differ dramatically. In Japan, there is a sense of horror and fear associated with “parasite singles,” whereas in Italy, the “cult of mammismo,” or mamma’s boys, is common and widely accepted, though the government is rallying against it. Meanwhile, in Spain, frustrated parents and millenials angrily blame politicians and big business for the growing number of youth forced to live at home. Newman’s investigation, conducted in six countries, transports the reader into the homes of accordion families and uncovers fascinating links between globalization and the failure-to-launch trend. Drawing from over three hundred interviews, Newman concludes that nations with weak welfare states have the highest frequency of accordion families while the trend is virtually unknown in the Nordic countries. The United States is caught in between. But globalization is reshaping the landscape of adulthood everywhere, and the consequences are far-reaching in our private lives. In this gripping and urgent book, Newman urges Americans not to simply dismiss the boomerang generation but, rather, to strategize how we can help the younger generation make its own place in the world.

Encyclopedia of Contemporary Latin American and Caribbean Cultures

Encyclopedia of Contemporary Latin American and Caribbean Cultures PDF Author: Daniel Balderston
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 041513188X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 687

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Book Description
This new three-volume encyclopedia features over 4,000 entries on more than 40 regions in Latin America and the Caribbean from 1920 to the present day.

The Accordion in the Americas

The Accordion in the Americas PDF Author: Helena Simonett
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 0252094328
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 347

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Book Description
An invention of the Industrial Revolution, the accordion provided the less affluent with an inexpensive, loud, portable, and durable "one-man-orchestra" capable of producing melody, harmony, and bass all at once. Imported from Europe into the Americas, the accordion with its distinctive sound became a part of the aural landscape for millions of people but proved to be divisive: while the accordion formed an integral part of working-class musical expression, bourgeois commentators often derided it as vulgar and tasteless. This rich collection considers the accordion and its myriad forms, from the concertina, button accordion, and piano accordion familiar in European and North American music to the exotic-sounding South American bandoneon and the sanfoninha. Capturing the instrument's spread and adaptation to many different cultures in North and South America, contributors illuminate how the accordion factored into power struggles over aesthetic values between elites and working-class people who often were members of immigrant and/or marginalized ethnic communities. Specific histories and cultural contexts discussed include the accordion in Brazil, Argentine tango, accordion traditions in Colombia and the Dominican Republic, cross-border accordion culture between Mexico and Texas, Cajun and Creole identity, working-class culture near Lake Superior, the virtuoso Italian-American and Klezmer accordions, Native American dance music, and American avant-garde. Contributors are María Susana Azzi, Egberto Bermúdez, Mark DeWitt, Joshua Horowitz, Sydney Hutchinson, Marion Jacobson, James P. Leary, Megwen Loveless, Richard March, Cathy Ragland, Helena Simonett, Jared Snyder, Janet L. Sturman, and Christine F. Zinni.

Accordion Revolution

Accordion Revolution PDF Author: Bruce Triggs
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781999067700
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 432

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Book Description
With an eye for colorful characters and a sharp sense of humor, accordion historian Bruce Triggs uncovers the hidden back-story of the squeezebox in everyone's closet. Accordion Revolution is about more than an instrument: it's a restoration of the squeezebox to its rightful place at the roots of North America's popular music.

Accordions, Fiddles, Two Step & Swing

Accordions, Fiddles, Two Step & Swing PDF Author: Ryan A. Brasseaux
Publisher: University of Southwestern Louisiana, Center for Louisiana Studies
ISBN:
Category : Cajun music
Languages : en
Pages : 560

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Book Description
A sweeping overview of Cajun music from early studies to the present.

Accordion Stories from the Heart

Accordion Stories from the Heart PDF Author: Angelo Paul Ramunni
Publisher: Angelo Paul Ramunni
ISBN: 9780976176619
Category : Accordion
Languages : en
Pages : 170

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Book Description
The book is a compilation of the many personal stories of people who played the accordion over the last 200 years. The author purposely chose the stories that related to the experiences of everyday people as they brought their accordion into the lives of the people they encountered.

Accordion Culture

Accordion Culture PDF Author: Jonathan P. J. Stock
Publisher:
ISBN: 9783861358176
Category : Accordion
Languages : en
Pages : 141

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Book Description