Self taught accordionist in Brazil

[maugein96]

This young lady was a guitarist, like myself, and taught herself to play accordion, like myself.

She appears to be still in need of lessons, as demonstrated here, like myself.
 


Dont know whats holding me back at all. Is it maybe because my eyes are green?

 

[Tom]

Hmmmmm, again you joke? Just grab that cordeen and play!

 

[maugein96]

Hmmmmm, again you joke?  Just grab that cordeen and play!

Hi Tom,

Yes indeed. She bears a striking resemblance to one of my granddaughters, although she's very much taller. 

As always I had to look into why somebody with a surname like Socek was Brazilian. As always, I realised that there are a lot of European families in South America, and hers were probably originally from Serbia, or that general area. 

Her mother persuaded her to take up the accordion for whatever reason and her ambition is or was to be known for her playing outside of Brazil. Apparently she became a "facebook" accordionist, and rose to domestic fame by that means.

A South American member posted a clip of her playing a year or two back, and I had never heard of her (or most other Brazilian accordionists) until then. 

One thing I can say is she's head and shoulders above the competition. 

 

[Dingo40]

Here’s Bia actually completing a number!

 

[maugein96]

Here’s Bia actually completing a number!

Didnt know she was guilty of not finishing tunes. What I like about her playing is she is never quite perfect in the execution, and that for me reminds me it is a human that is playing and not a machine.

This is the stuff I was interested in playing. Learned this tune on mandolin years ago, but its a bit more difficult on the box. 

Takes a bit of doing to sit with a straight face with that logo on the front of your accordion. Rumour has it that the instrument once belonged to Dick Contino. 

Couldnt care who it belonged to. That name just wouldnt do in most of the English speaking world.



Apologies if youve seen it before. I already posted the clip some time ago. 

The player is a repairer and tuner and uses the You Tube clips as a plug for selling the boxes. Most of them are ancient Italian and Brazilian made boxes in immaculate condition.

 

[Paul vdV]

Inspiring in many ways!

 

[losthobos]

Liked it as much second time round... Thanks for repost

 

[Tom]

Yeah, she's super talented, and very well known, although not my favorite "sanfoneira."

At first I thought you were talking about her Piatanesi accordion, before I noticed you had shifted gears to tha Baldoni. Piatanesi are very popular in Brazil, and as you know, I love mine!

 

[Thomas N]

Here’s Bia actually completing a number!

I enjoyed this a lot! What I found absolutely fascinating is that I dont believe she hit a single black key during that entire song. From what I could tell 100% of that song was performed by using only the white keys on the treble side.  No sharps or flats at all.

 

[maugein96]

It seems all or nothing in Brazil. Pretty easy or notoriously difficult. 

Here is probably my favourite South American accordionist, and he isnt from Brazil.

Raul Barboza from Buenos Aires spent a fair bit of time in Paris and got involved with the musette scene there, mainly with Francis Varis, a French PA player. 

However, I much prefer it when he plays Argentinian [font=arial, sans-serif]Chamamé music, as in this clip. [/font]

[font=arial, sans-serif]If you dont like the music you might enjoy the pics of the landscapes and wildlife. [/font]

[font=arial, sans-serif][/font]

This is him live with Chango Spasiuk. Throw the left shoulder strap away and play. The right strap across the forearm was popular in France at one time.



And here is Indifference as youve probably never heard it before.

 

[Dingo40]

Thanks, Maugein!
Interesting, as always, and great clips!

 

[Tom]

Nuff said.

 

[Dingo40]

Nuff said.

OMG!
Could be expensive, if she fell!
Would insurance companies cover this?

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It seems all or nothing in Brazil. Pretty easy or notoriously difficult. 

Here is probably my favourite South American accordionist, and he isn't from Brazil.

Raul Barboza from Buenos Aires...

Is it my imagination or is he playing his notes on the bellows out draw only ( where possible)?
Why do they do that? :huh:
Anyway, it’s all good!

 

[maugein96]

Hi Dingo,

When you see him in the second clip youll notice he plays in both directions, but he does favour playing on the draw. His entire technique is very far removed from the textbooks, but he taught accordion when he lived in Argentina, and from what Ive seen, most of his pupils do precisely the same, no left bellows strap, the lot.

A whole host of Italian, and several French players, play on the draw only, and shunt the bass side firmly back in, with or without the air button. The Filuzzi genre from Bologna originated out of a little organetto that had no bass buttons. Its obviously not as popular as it once was, and these days most players use full sized accordions. There are a handful of pros who play the style, but rather than try and explain what they do, this female player, Barbara Lucchi, epitomises the bellows technique.



Her father, Dino, employs the same technique here, although he does use the bellows in the conventional manner when he plays the bass side. Bass playing seems to be at the discretion of the player, and somebody must teach them how to perform that shunto bolognese. Ive tried and its difficult to nail every time. You need to have at least one treble button/key down, otherwise the compression in my boxes wont let me return the bass side the way they do it. Some of them use the air button to assist with the bellows return.



This clip of Dino should demonstrate to anybody with an interest in French accordion, that both the music and the accordions used to play it, had their origins in the north of Italy. Check out the 4 row CBA box with small French buttons, mushroom basses etc. No, it isnt a French accordion, and has the reeds pinned rather than waxed. They still build them like that in Italy today. The French touch in the early 20th century was to remove the bellows straps, and that was about it.

The no bass phenomenon seems to be particularly common in the north of Italy in general. This guy is from Genoa.



The tune takes a month or two to get down, the facial expressions somewhat longer. Walter Giannarelli often plays duets with Walter Losi, and never a bass button is depressed in anger between them.

There have been several debates on the forum as to the sensa bassi preference of Italian players, and I was told that in situations where there is a backing band, orchestra, or maybe even two dogs fighting in the street, then there is no point in playing the bass side on the accordion. The Italians are probably the most prolific exponents I have seen.

I think most of us find playing on the draw a bit easier than counting before returning the bellows, as the teachers would have us do. The purists must cringe at some of the stunts that regional players get up to, but thats just the way it is.

Barboza just moves the bellows any way he needs to, both when playing Argentinian and French type music, for which he has won awards from the French government. He has lived in France for over 30 years but is still regarded as the international ambassador of chamame accordion music in his home country.

Think Ill go to one of his concerts and shout out Excuse me sir, but my teacher says you must not do that! If I were him my reply would be OK, just come up here and show me how its meant to be done!.

 

[Dingo40]

Hi Dingo,
...There have been several debates on the forum as to the "sensa bassi" preference of Italian players, and I was told that in situations where there is a backing band, orchestra, or maybe even two dogs fighting in the street, then there is no point in playing the bass side on the accordion. The Italians
I think most of us find playing on the draw a bit easier than counting before returning the bellows, as the teachers would have us do. The purists must cringe at some of the stunts that regional players get up to, but that's just the way it is...

Maugein,
Well, as usual, your post was instructive and entertaining, as are the clips that illustrate it: all good, thanks!
It seems everywhere in life, if there’s more than one way of doing something, someone will always pick the other way of doing it!
It also explains why, on so many of my old vinyl accordion records, there is no accordion bass in evidence. I used to wonder about this, but this explains it.

 

[maugein96]

Maugein,
Well, as usual, your post was instructive and entertaining, as are the clips that illustrate it: all good, thanks!
It seems everywhere in life, if there’s more than one way of doing something, someone will always pick the other way of doing it!
It also explains why, on so many of my old vinyl accordion records, there is no accordion bass in evidence. I used to wonder about this, but this explains it.

Here in the UK one or two Scottish players were famous for economy of bellows movement, but playing the basses is almost mandatory, even if nobody can hear them. 

A lot of French players won't buy Cavagnolo accordions, as the bass side on all 5 voices is usually a lot louder than the loudest treble combination, even if it's three voice musette. Probably a throwback to when you couldn't play an accordion unless there were dancers, but I just don't know. 

There is an ambidextrous Norwegian guy, Øivind Farmen, who has the outside two rows on the bass side stepped so that he can get his thumb onto the bass buttons on those rows. His party piece is playing left and right hand melodies simultaneously on both sides with his converter box. 

One of the things that attracted me to the accordion was what appeared to be its relative simplicity. I soon learned I'd got that one wrong, but if I had been Italian I might have been OK. 

If you look at guitar tuition videos relative to the left hand, most teachers recognise that hardly any two people will have the same morphology. People with big hands can often just about get by without much use of the little finger, whereas some of us with small hands and short fingers struggle, and need to use our little fingers a lot. Consequently, the choice of left hand fingering is left up to the player. As long as the correct notes are played/sounded then there is no big deal.

Classical playing is something I've only ever experienced on trumpet, where there isn't much scope for deviation, but even so I seem to remember being shown some "alternative" valve combinations that weren't in the textbooks. 

As you say, if there is an alternative way then some people will fly in the face of convention, and either be praised or more likely criticised for it. The accordion seems to have more scope for doing things wrong than any other musical instrument I know of. Before I became a member on here I had absolutely no idea how popular the accordion was in classical music. I have enough trouble playing tunes with three chords never mind the classics. Here in the UK the accordion wasn't even recognised as a "proper" musical instrument until about 1984, and that's why I stuck with the paper and comb for so long. After I realised the accordion was in fact a musical instrument I made the switch, as I kept getting into trouble with my teacher for bringing combs with teeth missing, and that knocked the tuning out!

I was never meant to be a musician, so I'm currently working on an alternative way to become a millionaire, as everything I've read in all the best books just hasn't worked for me.

 

[Tom]

I agree with Dingo, its always entertaining. What you didnt demonstrate, however, was the true no bass (as you say Filuzzi) accordion.

Heres current performer Massimo Budriesi playing a Stocco branded no bass with his band on the evergreen Non Cè Pace Tra Gli Ulivi. Not sure if this a chromatic or diatonic, but my guess is chromatic. ????

 

[Deleted member 48]

Lovely performances by Bia and Massimo! 
I think the Stocco is a chromatic unisonoric. 

He won't need a guitar to get both chicks and hens. 
Great man, I like this liscio music.

 

[JerryPH]

Is it my imagination or is he playing his notes on the bellows out draw only ( where possible)?
Why do they do that? :huh:

That is just a bad habit.  I did that once with my teacher when I was around 11 years old... a sharp rap on the left hand forearm that left a nice red welt for a couple of days and a stiff accompanying explanation and I never did *THAT* again... lol

 

[maugein96]

I agree with Dingo, its always entertaining.   What you didnt demonstrate, however, was the true no bass (as you say Filuzzi) accordion.  

Heres current performer Massimo Budriesi playing a Stocco branded no bass with his band on the evergreen Non Cè Pace Tra Gli Ulivi.  Not sure if this a chromatic or diatonic, but my guess is chromatic.  ????

Tom,

The guy who invented Filuzzi was Leonildo Marcheselli. Here is a clip of his son playing the organetto bolognese. 

The organetto bolognese is a four row chromatic, the same as the little CBAs derived from it. 



Well, most of the time unless a PA guy wants a go:-



Andrea Scala is possibly the only player of a PA derived from the organetto bolognese. 



Massimo Budriesis grandfather, Ruggero Passarini, also played those little CBAs without bass buttons. 

Up the road in Modena they also had their own type of accordion, as played here by Barimar, an Italian showman, real name Mario Barigazzi. Check the bass side (the one he isnt playing). Thats modenese bass. He gives the whole thing away during that same performance when he switches to a box with stradella bass. People thought he could play either, but its my guess he couldnt. I sent him a spare treble button to replace the missing one, but it seems he had no use for that particular button either. A great player nonetheless. 



EDIT: Here is a better clip of the organetto bolognese:_

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGiW7tNs4S4

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As a bonus, here are the two best known CBA accordionists from the Emilia Romagna region in a duet.

Gigi Stok on the left is from Parma, and you might just be able to see his 7 row modenese bass. He was famous for his bass runs on that system. Carlo Venturi has the red Excelsior, a style of CBA still popular in Bologna. Both are now deceased and Venturi was only 43 when he passed away. A very popular guy and icon of the CBA in Emilia Romagna. He taught scores of youngsters how to play with and without using the basses, and is believed to be the inventor of that bellows shunt as previously discussed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAMC3UaFLQk