• If you haven't done so already, please add a location to your profile. This helps when people are trying to assist you, suggest resources, etc. Thanks (Click the "X" to the top right of this message to disable it)

Self taught accordionist in Brazil

  • Thread starter Thread starter maugein96
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Leonildo Marcheselli played a Ernesto Biagi 4 rows CBA without basses. 
On the website www.lisciobolognese.it/filuzzi 
There is information and photos of Ernesto Biagi and Attilio Biagi, creators or developers of the mini CBA senza bassi. 

I would be interested to have an inside look of those mini CBAs. YT videos, pics,...
 
Maugein, Tom, Stephen, and Jerry,
Thanks for the informative and interesting posts and the great clips!
All great  :)
I previously had no idea that so many virtuosos played mainly treble only, indeed that were factory manufactured instruments constructed without any bases at all!
The variety is amazing! :)
 
The organetto bolognese or mini CBA without basses was developed for artists looking for a more portable accordion. 
Leonildo first played standardsize heavyweight accordions. But when you have to play for hours in standup performances... 

With an extra 24 basses, one could create a mini CBA that can play in every music key, and still be under 2,5 kilograms. 
You only have to add 12 ground basses in circa of fifhts  like the Stradella layout. 
Then you add one row with 12 chords with minor thirds. 
This avoids complex bass machinery, thus reducing weight. 
Something similar has been done with the Viennese Schrammelharmonika. Only the bass of the Schrammelharmonika is less practical, because bisonoric (only 12 bass buttons) 

What I have in mind, is a mini lightweight box for playing in all music keys. And it's lighter than a standardsize diatonic melodeon.
 
Stephen,

The link to the liscio site in your post doesn't work on my UK laptop, but I was aware of the site. 

What I didn't know was who decided to invent the organetto bolognese, and the small CBAs and PAs derived from it. I wasn't able to find that out from the website. 

I forgot to mention that most of the more modern players started off on full sized CBAs, and many of them continued to play both. 

From what I've read the Filuzzi genre was created to speed up the tempo of the older traditional dances. The entire repertoire is made up of waltzes, polkas, and mazurkas, although there are variations in each of those. 

By the 60s, players like Carlo Venturi from Bologna had incorporated other European accordion music into Filuzzi and took it up a grade (or two). There are certain similarities to French musette, both in the music, and the CBA instruments used. 

My attraction to the accordion music of the Emilia Romagna area is that it is almost entirely instrumental in nature. I don't think Filuzzi is as popular as it once was. The fact that it has never featured vocalists may have been a contributory factor, but I've never been able to study it seriously. 

Thanks for the additional info about the Biagi family.
 
My excuses, my indix fingering technique on the phone is a mess. 
An 8 fingering technique on the laptop works better.

I didnt copy the link, but hoped the members would find the website with the Google search engine.

The info and pics of Ettore Biagi and Attilio Biagi:
http://www.lisciobolognese.it/FiluzziiMusicistiQuartetto.html

quote: Ettore Biagi si mette in proprio, come costruttore di organetti, nel 1906 ed incomincia gradualmente ad innovare tecnologicamente lo strumento.


E con Attilio Biagi (1897-1978) che lorganetto diventa unitonato, cromatico con quattro file di pulsanti.


Looks like Attilio Biagi changed the organetto Bolognese from bisonoric to unisonoric, but probably Ettore already in 1906 made the breakthrough.

You can see in the 1920 photo, Ettore on the left, already with the 4 rows (chromatic unisonoric ?) organetto without basses.

The bass part was played by the chitarra bolognese, a harp-guitar or Kontragitarre.

A 12 pages pdf about the life and career of Leonildo Marcheselli, nicknamed Il Papà della Flluzzi, founding father of the Filuzzi style) :
http://badigit.comune.bologna.it/books/sol/795968_INV_STARO_MARCHESELLI.pdf

I havent checked out this website, but it could be interesting to check out, I see a lot of info and mp3 music files.
http://www.gruppoemiliano.it/archivio.htm

Perhaps they have more technical documents about the construction of the organetto bolognese in the Bologna libraries, there is an archive of Marcheselli and Filuzzi docs:
http://www.bibliotechebologna.it/articoli/71164/offset/0/id/88029

Some time ago, I already posted this pdf with sheet music and info on Marcheselli. The photo of his mini CBA by Ettore Biagi is on page 3:
https://www.novalis.it/materiali/MARCHESELLI_prefazione_e_spartiti.pdf


About the Schrammelharmonika. I recommend to anyone seriously interested in accordion history this free pdf thesis by Andreas Teufel:
http://schrammelharmonika.nonfoodfactory.org/Andreas_Teufel/

26 megabytes, a very important document about the development of the accordion in Vienna.
It has a picture of the first page of the 1849 patent by Christian Steinkellner for a most probably chromatic unisonoric B-system, perhaps made for Franz Walter in 1850 (?). We are not sure.

http://www.wienervolksliedwerk.at/VMAW/VMAW/Instrumente/schrammelharmonika.htm

Inside pictures of the construction of the Viennese Schrammelharmonika:
http://www.bandonion.info/de/solo,345.htm
(the 7th photo shows the red and black lines, with explanation in German of the economical construction. One air hole is used in a multifunctional and economic way, air supply with optimization for chords)

There is a weak spot, the 12 bass is bisonoric, so less practical.
My proposal would be to double the number of buttons to 24, and at the same time keep the economic ideas of the bass construction.
You can see the valves, the bass reed blocks. 
There is only a minimal bass setup, no rotating metal rods, no pins mechanism, ...

A 49 buttons (4 octaves !) standardsize Schrammelharmonika with 12 bass buttons (melody = 2 voices tremolo) is only 3,5 kg !
In the past mini Schrammelharmonikas with 37 notes (3 octaves) have been made.

Here is a scheme of the clever Schrammelharmonika 12 bass buttons layout:
http://schrammelharmonika.nonfoodfactory.org/geschichte.html

The economic principle is to use only 2 notes to make a chord: minor thirds.
Eg the notes e+g , if you combine this with a C bass button, youve got C major.
By a clever way of combining buttons (explained by A. Teufel and others), and the principles of overtones, you can play in all keys with a minimal bass setup.
 
Hi Stephen,

Many thanks! A tremendous amount of information there, and it was interesting to see that before the organetto became popular, the majority of accordionists in the area were playing PA. 

A few years ago I posted a link to an Italian documentary, which concentrated on the music of the mountains around Bologna rather than in the city itself. Unfortunately the link no longer works, although I would have to say that only a very few forum members showed any interest in either the documentary, or the music it contained. 

I haven't really looked into the accordion music from other Italian regions, and it was a friend of mine who introduced me to the music of the CBA accordionists in Emilia Romagna many years ago. I kept seeing the word "Filuzzi" and never knew what it was. Obviously I eventually found out, and I was amazed that relatively few people in Italy had heard of it. 

I suppose the same could be said about the various regional music styles and genres from elsewhere around the world. People are just content to listen and enjoy them, and the notion that anybody several thousand kilometres away would show any interest is of little or no consideration at all. 

In the days before the internet I was in the Scottish town of Callander, and two accomplished accordionists were playing in the street. They were dressed in Scottish highland outfits, complete with kilts, but they were playing a medley of French musette waltzes. A tourist from New Zealand approached them and said he knew there were historical connections between Scotland and France, but never realised the music was so similar!  

A minute or two later they began to play traditional Scottish tunes, and the tourist walked off, saying he preferred the first medley! No doubt he went home and told people that there were two kinds of Scottish accordion music.

The internet is jam packed with information. If I only had another three lifetimes I might be able to take in about 5% of what's on there relative to the accordion.
 
Thanks to the internet and online videos, we can have an idea of this music style and the instruments.

Here is a recent YT video with Marco Marcheselli playing solo with his organetto bolognese


PA player in duo with mini CBA player Rugero Passarini


The Stocco accordion company is still active. Here the stand at the Cremona 2018 Accordion show/exhibition (but no mini CBA at the exhibition...) :


YT Video with Marco Marcheselli, showing the Leonildo Marcheselli mini CBA by Ettore Biagi (on the table, around 500):



[font=Roboto, Arial, sans-serif]dal 23 settembre 2016 nei prestigiosi armadi dellAlma Mater[/font]

[font=Roboto, Arial, sans-serif]You have probably already seen this YT video with Leonildo playing:[/font]
[font=Roboto, Arial, sans-serif][/font]

The mini CBAs played by Leonildo are even smaller than the later ones by Ruggero P or Budriesi.
His son Marco also plays very compact small CBAs.

The original ones by Ettore Biagi and Attilio Biagi looked to be the most compact mini CBAs. Very fine luthery !
 
Stephen,

Hadnt seen that one of Leonildo playing, and thanks again.

I dont think the small senza bassi are still being made, as I doubt whether there will be many young players keen to learn Filuzzi these days. 

Stocco accordions are very popular in CBA format in Emilia Romagna. Others were Ropa, who had a small factory in Bologna, and ByMarco who appear to be still on the go in Stradella. 

There arent many Ropa accordions around, and here is one being played by Tiziano Ghinazzi. For a long time I couldnt work out why they used French CBAs in Emilia Romagna, then it dawned on me that the accordion was taken to France by Italians and not the other way round. Elsewhere in Italy the Internazionale is the usual CBA with big treble buttons, and push in bass buttons with front mounted couplers. 



These guys are a bit of a novelty act, and I dont know what part the felt hat plays. He sure gets some great sounds out of that little PA, and it wouldnt matter how many bass buttons it had, as they are just for decoration. I think they are from Modena, but Im not sure. The accordionist usually plays a full sized Ropa PA.

 
Thank you John for all your input on Filuzzi and Liscio music. 
You are right the small senza bassi is only on special demand only. 
After all it is only a small accordion without bass side.

This type of mini CBA can be used in lots of musical genres by buskers. By adults or children, I can see great potential for this little instrument.
 
Thanks John and Stephen. For the record, byMarco of Stradella is definitely an ongoing concern, and I inquired of them also when I bought my latest accordion. They are well known for their long running accordion variety show, Fisarmonicando which I have mentioned before. I enjoy the humor on the show, not necessarily all of the music, but its a good showcase of contemporary talent of a certain style which you may or may no appreciate. Here is the latest installment:

 
Dingo40 said:
There’s a lot here to take in!
Thanks, everyone! :)
Click to expand...

Dingo,

For most of us growing up in the UK in the 50s and 60s, the accordion had a rather staid image, as you have hinted in a previous post. 
In the days when the accordion was still popular (Thursdays and Sundays, I think ;) ), a few UK artistes used Italian sounding stage names, and there was even a music publisher who did the same. The inference from that was, in order to be a successful accordion entertainer in the UK, you had to pretend to be a foreign national, as they were perceived to be better players than mere locals. Indeed, there was so much "kidology" associated with the accordion, that it seemed to accelerate its demise rather than improve its image, which was presumably the intention of the kidders.  

Anyway, the internet has opened many doors to the world, and the truth is that there are so many interesting styles worldwide that I now have trouble identifying them all, let alone play them. A good few years ago common sense told me that I would never be much of an accordionist in this lifetime, but I still love to trawl the internet looking for the unusual. Some of it is more unusual than others, and the accordion music of Brazil, and most other "exotic" destinations, is generally not high on the listening priorities of many. 

I'll be lucky if I've played the accordion for 2 full years out of the last 10, and my main instrument has always been guitar. 

We're currently attempting a house move, and when we finally get there I hope to get back into playing. The reason I say "attempting" is houses in this part of Scotland can often take upwards of a year to sell, and we're only 6 weeks in. We're in an isolated area close to the English border, and there are little job prospects in the area for younger people. It might be a toss up whether a buyer or the undertaker calls first, but we're ever hopeful.  :D
 
maugein96 said:
Dingo40 said:
There’s a lot here to take in!
Thanks, everyone! :)
Click to expand...
Let’s 
Dingo,

For most of us growing up in the UK in the 50s and 60s, the accordion had a rather staid image, as you have hinted in a previous post...

Anyway, the internet has opened many doors to the world, and the truth is that there are so many interesting styles worldwide...

We're currently attempting a house move...
Click to expand...
Maugein,
Most of what’s in these forums is news and fascinating to me :) 
I was taken by the accordion as a small child in the 1940’s, when it was a popular band instrument. In fact, this popularity lasted well into the 1950’s, when it was a mainstay of the local dance bands, until electronic organ/keyboard and electric guitars took over: basically R&R! :) 
I’ve been attempting to become proficient for decades, but unlikely to ever leave my day job) though now long since retired):P 
Still, I’m enjoying myself! :) 
When you say you’re intending to move, is it “to the country “, “the city” or to “another country “?
 
When you say you’re intending to move, is it “to the country “, “the city” or to “another country “?
____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hi Dingo,

Looks like you could give me quite a few years, as I wasnt born until 1953. 

Although my wife and I were both born in Scotland, we both spent some time living and working in England before we met each other, and both of us regretted the move back north. The lifestyle is different, and its just a matter of preference. 

My wife lived just outside the major English city of Birmingham for quite a while. She still has a load of friends there, and all being well thats where well be going. So, were moving from the sticks to the city. The issue of whether Scotland is a different country from England is a difficult one, and is as complicated as our current Brexit fiasco. Some of us regard England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, as all being member states of the UK, but for others that simply wont do, and they insist that they are all separate countries. 

The vast majority of my ancestors are from Ulster in Ireland, and in a frontier drawing exercise that was finally decided upon in 1921, most of Ulster, including our part, was simply moved to the UK. As my grandfather used to say, Most of us were born in one country and died in another, and we never even had to cross the street. He was born in Strabane in 1898, which was just Ireland at that time, governed from Dublin, but in 1921 it became Northern Ireland, and a new capital city, Belfast was nominated. 

To make matters worse, when people in Strabane were out of work (which was often), the UK dole office there used to send them (us) across the water to get work on the farms in the Republic in County Donegal, and thereby avoid having to pay out dole money.

George Cunningham, a wee man from Strabane, explains it all clearly in this clip:-  



Ironically, the Strabane accent was influenced by Scottish settlers in the area, but quite a few of them moved to Scotland again, especially after 1900. Cunningham is a Scottish name, but my relations were called McGonagle, which definitely isnt.

He was offered a job as a newsreader as they reckoned theyd only need to pay him half the wage. He could say it all at twice the speed. He turned it down as he thought they were pulling a fast one on him!

For the record Im an Irish citizen, but as I am an Irish citizen who was born in the UK Im also a UK citizen. Im not a Scottish citizen, as no such title exists (yet). I could have got George to explain that one to you as well, but unfortunately he died some years ago.

I have inherited the Strabane sense of humour, but it seems that most people arent up to speed on that. As they say in Strabane. Im not talking too fast at all. Its you who isnt listening quick enough!
 
Maugein,
I came from Latvia, on the Baltic Sea.
We were ruled by the Germans, Poles, Swedes, Russians, Germans, Russians, Germans, Bolsheviks, a short burst of self rule,the Germans , Soviets ,and now some more self rule. Although we didn’t become proficient at self rule through lack of practice , we did become pretty good at languages  :), especially at “yes”, “right away” and “ how high?” This was all very handy when we emigrated, while the Russians and Germans were busily occupied fighting each other  :)
Members of my family ended up in Canada, the US, and ( like me) in Australia.
I’m happy to be here: conditions are good , everyone’s descended from some kind of immigrant ( even if they walked here), and you really only need to know one language!
We’re not leaving in case they don’t let us back in! :)
 
Dingo40 said:
Maugein,
I came from Latvia, on the Baltic Sea.
We were ruled by the Germans, Poles, Swedes, Russians, Germans, Russians, Germans, Bolsheviks, a short burst of self rule,the Germans , Soviets ,and now some more self rule. Although we didn’t become proficient at self rule through lack of practice , we did become pretty good at languages  :), especially at “yes”, “right away” and “ how high?” This was all very handy when we emigrated, while the Russians and Germans were busily occupied fighting each other  :)
Members of my family ended up in Canada, the US, and ( like me) in Australia.
I’m happy to be here: conditions are good , everyone’s descended from some kind of immigrant ( even if they walked here), and you really only need to know one language!
We’re not leaving in case they don’t let us back in! :)
Click to expand...

Hi Dingo,

Nothing too exotic in my ancestry. I'm the usual Irish/Scottish mixture of people from my home area, and the ratio in my case is about 75% Irish and 25% Scottish. I therefore consider myself to be primarily Irish, even although I was born in Scotland. My mother was an Irish citizen, and that being the case so am I. My father's family also came to Scotland from Ireland, and my paternal grandfather broke the mould and married a Scottish woman. That's where I get the Scottish bit from. My father's family appear to have English and maybe German connections, but it was a very long time ago and there is nothing documented. 

You have described the advantage of living in a place like Australia, where everybody just gets on with life regardless of where their families originally came from. 

Life is pretty parochial here, and the only thing that unites us in the "United" Kingdom is the fact that we all hate each other with a vengeance, based on various historical events that would be better left there.

As Paddy once said, "There they go again. They're saying on the radio that the man who murdered all those people was of "Mick's race". They try and blame the Irish for everything!"  (Compare "mixed race" with "Mick's race"). 

As far as Baltic peoples are concerned, we do have a few Lithuanian and Estonians living and working in this area, or at least living in the area. They work when they can get it. I've never met any Latvians, but I would imagine there will be some. The fact that some of them communicate with each other in Russian makes it difficult to ascertain where they're from. The numbers have dwindled recently in anticipation of us leaving the EU.

I've no worries there. I can be an EU citizen or not, depending on whether is suits me. Being of "Mick's race" has its advantages!
 
Maugein,
There is an active “folk music “ scene here, which is largely Irish in origin and flavour, but happily accepts all comers ( even me). Many of the players and singers are quite accomplished. Would you believe the venues of choice tend to be local pubs?
One somewhat distracting custom is having all and sundry suddenly jump into the tune in progress, what with piano, several diatonic accordions, a dozen penny pipers, a eulian piper, two or three accordionists, one or two banjoists, a banjo-mandolinist and about twenty guitarists all going at the same time, it’s generally pretty hard to hear yourself at all :)One of my daughters is married into an Irish family with the surname Byrne (quite a common surname in Australia ), one into  a mixed Welsh- German stock, and a third into a southern Italian family ( Calabria).
I have heard, in recent years, Ireland has been a popular destination for Latvians . We share the Catholic religion and an appreciation of the potato  ?. Both countries have a significant dependence on agriculture and few natural resources.
Of course, here in Australia, our various governments, prefer to leave our coal and uranium in the ground, blow up our thermal power generators and rely on wind and solar generators. When the sun doesn’t shine or the wind blow we rely ( no kidding) on diesel generators discretely hidden around the various suburbs! :)
 
Hi Dingo,

The Irish get everywhere. I never really took to the folk music of either Ireland or Scotland. If you go into the board headed "Tunes and How to Play Them", then "Folk music of the British Isles", and look for a thread named "The Orange and the Green" you'll see a post I put on just over a year ago, attempting to explain why it wasn't for me. With hindsight I probably shouldn't have posted it, and the links to the clips concerned are mercifully now out of date. I got fed up trying to explain to other members why I had no interest in Scottish accordion music, and that thread was the result. The situation relates to a small part of Scotland only, but that small part has one of the biggest population concentrations in the country.   

I have no Irish relations named Byrne. McGonagle, McGrath, Boyle, and Dougherty feature the most, and with the very odd exception they are all from Ulster, which forms the extreme north part of Ireland. 

Where I now live there are only a handful of people with Irish connections. There are two Johnny Walkers in the town, and to distinguish between us they gave me the title of "Irish Johnny Walker". 

I have no connection with the alcoholic beverage of the same name (most of the time). I prefer the Bushmills whiskey from the area where my Walker family lived in Ulster. It's called whisky in Scotland and whiskey in Ireland. At the end of the day it doesn't matter how they spell it, as few could read the writing on the bottle at the end of a session in any case.
 
The squeezebox transcends the (original) music style.
Squeezeboxes passing national borders.

Heres a tune familiar to many, Yesterday (Beatles) on the organetto Bolognese:
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

B
    • Like
    • Well Done!
Playing Chord Buttons Too Long - Mistakes Self-Taught Accordion Players Make.
2 3
Replies
44
Views
1,536
Siegmund
S
SteveBox
    • Very Funny
    • Like
Self Assembly Accordion
Replies
6
Views
634
tcabot
T
kaiju-blue
    • Like
Self-teaching CBA
Replies
18
Views
1,347
JEBrown
JEBrown
L
  • Locked
Progress of self-learning CBA after a month
Replies
10
Views
2,165
Bobo
B
Anyanka
  • Locked
Self assembly, IKEA style?
Replies
8
Views
2,402
Ron Peeters
Ron Peeters
Back
Top