Mel Bay International Accordion Favorites (Book and CD)
Welcome to the world of international accordion music. This collection contains a sampling of ethnic folk music from Europe and the Americas and forms the foundation of a basic folk accordion repertoire. These songs are from many nations. They are crowd pleasers and they are fun to play. I have played most of these songs in the various bands I have played with over the years. These melodies have stood the test of time, so what are you waiting for? Open the book, get your accordion out and let’s play some music!
One word about these songs: I generally learn a song and then play it by heart-by memory as opposed to playing it by reading from a sheet of music. I believe this allows for more personal expression and interpretation which can be affected by audience response or the way I feel at the time. You’ll notice that on most of the performances on the CD I didn’t play repeats. Because of the limited time available on a disc we found we couldn’t fit all the tunes if we played them as written.
Written by Bruce Bollerud, June 2007.
Contents:
- Introduction
- Vagabond Waltz
- Wir Gehen nach Lindenau
- Kukavica Waltz
- The Band Played On
- Hank’s Swiss Waltz in C
- Redwing
- La Golondrina
- Helena Polka
- Goldie’s Waltz
- Hava Nagila
- Have Pity Waltz
- Francuzka Polka
- Cielito Lindo
- Scratch Your Nose Polka
- The Jolly Woodchopper
- The Repasz Band
- Forest Flower Waltz
- El Rancho Grande
- The Finska Waltz
- La Paloma
- Life in the Finnish Woods
- Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland
- Barbara Polka
- Under the Double Eagle
- Sakkajarven
- The Saturday Night Waltz
- El Choclo
- Turkey in the Straw
- Soldier’s Joy
- Selma’s Waltz
- Devil’s Dream
- Herman’s Swiss Waltz in A
- The Clarinet Polka
