Items matching melodeon

Jazz and Avant Garde

• Kimmo Pohjonen from Finland plays 5-row chromatic, melodeon, harmonica, and sometimes gogo marimba. He has played in folk and rock groups, but his primary focus today is his solo 5-row accordion project, featuring original and extreme compositions for accordion, live effects, a powerful and animated stage performance, orchestrated lights and quadrophonic sound. It is different from anything else you might have seen before! A Kimmo Pohjonen page at Rootsworld.

Folk Music in General

• Blowzabella from England plays music from all over Europe. In 2003 they've reformed for a 25th anniversary tour, with Andy Cutting on melodeon.
• Accordion and melodeon player Ben Farmer from Lancaster in the Northwest of England plays in a number of bands: ceilidh music with "The Front Parlour Ceili Band"; music from central France, Brittany, Sweden and the Balkans with "Chouchenn"; and klezmer and European grooves with "Tabuka".
• The New Scorpion Band from England, with Tim Laycock on amongst others duet concertinas and melodeon, is a professional acoustic folk band, performing traditional music from Britain and Ireland.
• Liam Robinson and Thomas Fairbairn is an English duo (melodeon and fiddle respectively) whose repertoire includes traditional material from Europe and North America, as well as swing jazz and many self penned pieces.
• Paul Scourfield is an English melodeon player, who plays mainly traditional English music (or music in that style, anyway). He plays solo and in a duo with fiddle, guitar and hurdy gurdy player Jon Loomes; Previously he also played in a duo with guitarist Michael Davidson. Paul Sourfield's myspace page.

Cajun and Zydeco

• Grand Mamou from Ipswich, England, with Pete Rout on Cajun accordion, melodeon, drums and percussion, plays Cajun and ceilidh music.

Japan

• Maki Takiya's melodeon page. () Even if you can't read more than 'Hohner Erica', 'Castagniari Tommy', the pictures are worth viewing!

African Music

• Tarika is Madagascar's most successful musical export. Donné plays melodeon, amongst others.

German Music

• JAMS from the North of Germany, with Jo Meyer on melodeon and mandola, sing (or sang?) in Low German, and play European folk, traditional and new compositions, mixing new and traditional styles. Their latest project/band is Mrs. Meyer's Love Affairs (to prevent any misunderstanding -- Jo is Mr. Meyer)

Dutch and Belgian Music

• Dubius () was a group from Nijmegen, with Roel Seidell on vocals, melodeon, tin whistles and percussion, who played songs in Dutch with influences from the West-European traditional music. They disbanded in 2006.
• 't Kliekse is one of the oldes Flemish folk groups: they were founded in 1968. They play Flemish folk tunes and songs from the 10th century till today. Wilfrid Moonen plays amongst others melodeon and accordion, as well as foot bass.
• Dance group Pieremachochel from Utrecht is accompanied by amongst others piano accordion, melodeon and concertina.

English Music

• Simon Care is a button box player who learned his trade with the Moulton Morris Men. Amongst others he plays or played with e2k, the band that rose from the ashes of Edward II, after its Jamaican members left for Africa for spiritual reasons. In 2002 or 2003 he released Simon Care: The "Box" Set, an anthology of 30 years of melodeon playing.
• English band and all out spectacle The Chipolatas [flash site] with Tristan Glover on melodeon
• Andy Cutting is an excellent melodeon player, who plays mainly traditional music from England and from Central France: in a duo with Chris Wood, in Kate Rusby's band, in Blowzabella, and in 1651. Previously, he also was a member of Fernhill and of Tanteeka. He has written many decent tunes as well, like "The History Man".
• English melodeon player Tim van Eyken, winner of the 1999 BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award. After an earlier solo CD, he recently released a CD in a duo with English concertina player Robert Harbron (q.v.), which whom he also played in quartet Dr. Faustus. Since he has joined Waterson:Carthy, and in 2006 he founded his own band, with whom he recorded "Stiffs Lovers Holymen Thieves".
• Robert Harbron is a brilliant young English (in both senses) concertina player. He recorded a CD in a duo with melodeon player Tim van Eyken, which whom he also played in quartet Dr. Faustus. Nowadays he plays in trio the English Acoustic Collective, and in a duo with Emma Reid.
• Mary Humphreys and Anahata from Cambridge play and sing traditional Enlish songs and tunes. Mary sings and plays banjo and English concertina; Anahata plays anglo concertina, melodeon, cello and pipes. Both also play in English Ceilidh bands English Rebellion and Fendragon
• Eliza Carthy and the Kings of Calicutt with Saul Rose on melodeon. Saul Rose also plays with Waterson:Carthy and on Eliza Carthy's Red Rice double CD: on the "Rice" CD. On the "Red" CD, Martin Green plays the piano accordion - and Eliza plays one-row accordion on the opening track.
• John Kirkpatrick is a highly acclaimed diatonic accordion player, singer, composer (his "Jump at the Sun" is so well-known you might find it as "trad., composer unknown"), song-writer, etcetera. He plays various diatonic instruments: one and two-row melodeon, British chormatic (3-row B/C/C# with Stradella basses) and Anglos. He has played amongst others with the Albion Country Band, Brass Monkey and Trans-Europe Diatonique, as well as numerous ceilidh bands, and he can be heard on over 200 different commercial recordings. And according to the Rough Guide to World Music, he is an ace morris dancer as well! He plays among others in the John Kirkpatrick band and he has played with Steeleye Span. A John Kirkpatrick biography.
• English folk rock band Little Johnny England with Gareth Turner on melodeon
• Musical Traditions is an online folk magazine (co-)edited by Rod Stradling, with amongst others articles about melodeon players Stan Seaman and the Wyper Brothers
• The Oyster Band, with John Jones on lead vocals, accordion, melodeon and piano, and Ian Telfer on violin, viola and concertina.
• John Spiers and Jon Boden are a young and vibrant English duo who play melodeon and fiddle respectively. They sing and play traditional English songs and tunes. The site contains written music for their tune sets (and the lyrics of the songs). In 2003 they won the BBC Radio 2 Horizon award for best newcomers to the folk scene, followed by the Best Duo Award in 2004. Summer 2004 they formed Bellowhead, [Flash site] an 11-piece big band, which rightly won the BBC Radio 2 folk award for Best Live Act 2005: they are magnificent!
• English Ceilidh band Stocai, with Dave Jolly on melodeon and Sheena Masson (sometimes) on concertina, plays original compositions as well as traditional French, Irish, Quebecois, Scandinavian, and English tunes.
• Tiger Moth with Rod Stradling on melodeon played eclectic electrified folk music [this is a different Rod Stradling from the Stradivarious one]
• Anglo and one-row melodeon player Andy Turner from Didcot, England, sings and plays traditional English music with conviction.
• On Neil Wayne's Free Reed label: the 'Tale of Ale' and 'Still Swanning... the Old Swan Band', both containing a fair bit of concertina and melodeon

English Ceilidh and Barn Dance Bands

• Albireo is a new ceilidh band in the Stockport (UK) area with Howard Jones: on melodeon, concertina, hammered dulcimer, and vocals. They play a mixture of English, Scottish, Irish and American tunes.
• Bellows, Scratchitt and Pluckitt is a ceildih band from Nottingham, England, with Nick Murphy on melodeon.
• The Bursledon Village Band based neare Southampton, England, with Dave Ingledew on melodeon and Graham Pretty on Anglo concertina is first and foremost a band for dancing to.
• The Famous Potatoes are a barn dance band from Leigh-on-Sea, south-east Essex, England, Richard Baxter on melodeon, lead vocals, saxophone and mouth organ and "Prof" Paul McDowell on accordion, piano and vocals. In 23 years they have done over 850 barn dances and over 450 other events.
• Herbal Remedy are a lively accordion bass and drums band for barn dances and English country dance from the Worcestershire / Warwickshire area, with Fiona Hawkins on piano accordion and melodeon.
• Kick Shins is an English Ceilidh band from Berkshire, UK, playing mostly English country music, but music from France, Ireland, Germany as well. The line up includes melodeon and accordion
• Moves Afoot are a barn dance band from Brighton, Sussex, with Mike Mussell on melodeon.
• Rising Sun Band from the North West of England plays Northern English dance music. Paul Walker plays concertina and melodeon (and Brian Peters plays guitar).
• Simon Ritchie is a traditional English melodeon player from Thaxted, Essex. Apart from playing and recording solo, he also plays or played in "Old Hat", and in the Posh band. He also plays for Thaxted Morris Men and for local country dances.
• Liam Robinson is an Lincolnshire based melodeon and English concertina player. He currently plays with his own dance band (The Liam Robinson Dance Band) and with English Compass. He is also the director of the Mini Morris Company who provide workshops, performances, etcetera for schools, festivals and the like.
• The Round Band is a student band from Cambridge, UK, with Anthony Bearon on trombone, melodeon and piano. They play traditional dance music from England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and America.
• Stradivarious from Lichfield / Derby, England, with amongst others Rod Stradling on accordion and piano and Howard Mitchell on double bass and melodeon plays for folk dances, country dances, workshops, etc. [This is a different Rod Stradling from the Tiger Moth / Musical Tradition one]. The website contains some concertina articles: Neil Wayne's "History of the Wheatstone Concertina", John Kirkpatrick's "Anglo Concertina Chords" and Jim Cottingham's "Free Reed Acoustics" articles.
• Whapweasel, is an English dance band, based around Hexham in Northumberland, UK, with Robin Jowett on melodeon. They play mostly original dance tunes with some traditional material.

Morris

• The Albemarle Morris Men is a Morris side from Charlottesville, Virginia. One of their members, Marc Lamb, plays a Serenellini D/G Melodeon and a Lachenal 'Edeophone' McCann Duet Concertina. The fingering chart for the McCann and the Crane concertinas that he used to have on his own web site have found their way to Noel Cragg's (see the link in the Keyboard and Button Layouts section)
• Hammersmith Morris has various accordion and melodeon players, including Ian Dedic and Jon Brenner
• Rich Holmes, who plays melodeon and concertina. He set up a list of morris-related pages, that has morphed into a Morris teams directory wiki.

Scandinavian

• Helsingin Kaksrivisnaiset, the Helsinki Melodeon Ladies, was recorded in 1995 by Maria Kalaniemi, Maija Karhinen, Sirkka Kosonen, Riitta Kossi (then Riitta Potinoja) and Pia Rask - all on 2-row button accordion and vocals. It is out of print, but CDRoots can make CDRs of Helsingin Kaksrivisnaiset on demand.
• Kimmo Pohjonen from Finland plays 5-row chromatic, melodeon, harmonica, and sometimes gogo marimba. He has played in folk and rock groups, but his primary focus today is his solo 5-row accordion project, featuring original and extreme compositions for accordion, live effects, a powerful and animated stage performance, orchestrated lights and quadrophonic sound. It is different from anything else you might have seen before! A Kimmo Pohjonen page at Rootsworld.

General Celtic

• The Flying Chaucers with Christopher Evans on melodeon and whistles describe themselves as "the leading exponents of Euro - Celtic music" Rapalje from Groningen, the Netherlands, with Macael on (amongst others) melodeon and Dieb on (amongst others) accordion, play Irish, Scottish and Dutch folk music.
• Toreth is a duo from Wales, consisting of Guto Dafis on melodeon and Gareth Westacott on fiddle. They play and sing traditional Welsh music. Away from Toreth, Guto Dafis also is a story teller.

Irish Music

• According to a Gaeilge (Irish Gaelic)-English dictionary, the Gaelic for 'melodeon' is `bosca ceoil [buska kyole]': music box.
• Connemara melodeon player Sonai Choilm Learai ()
• Johnny Connolly and Johnny Og Connolly. are an Irish (one-row) melodeon player from Connamara and his son, who plays the two-row button accordion. An interview with Johnny Connolly.
• Cuig is (or was?) an Irish band from the North East of England, with Deirdre Ruane on accordeon, melodeon, whistles and occasional fiddle. A review of Cuig: Prospect
• Dusty Feet Ceili Band from Paris, with Jean-Paul Moreau on melodeon, plays Irish music for set dancing and step dancing.
• Friends of Fiddler's Green from Toronto, Canada, with Alistair Brown on melodeon and Anglo concertina and Sing Out! columnist Ian Robb on English concertina, boast six versatile musicians, five fine singers, two brilliant joke tellers, two widely-sung songwriters, and the occasional Fiery Dragon.
• Irish melodeons, an article at RamblingHouse (formerly irishmusicweb.ie)
• Ronan Nolan's Irish Melodeon page. The site also contains bibliographies of amongst other box players Joe Burke and Sharon Shannon and concertina players Mrs Crotty and Gerdie Cummane.
• Dan Possumato from Anchorage, Alaska, has released a CD with Irish Traditional Music on the melodeon and button accordion. He also plays in trio Fánaí.
• Time to Time is a 4-piece band from Paris, with Jean-Paul Moreau on accordion and melodeon. They play Irish traditional music from Clare and East-Galway.
• Eltjo Toorn Played accordion, melodeon, tin whistles and mandolin in the Dutch traditional Irish band Shannon. On his Celtic Music home page he has some information on Dutch folk magazines/ societies. An overview of traditional Celtic music and dance in the Netherlands

Scottish Music

• Scottish melodeon and Anglo player and folk singer Alistair Brown lived in Canada from 1972 to 2002. There he became a member of Friends of Fiddler's Green, with which he still plays. In 2002 he returned to the UK, to live in Cornwall, where he performs regularly at clubs and festivals.
• Hugh Morrison from Scotland is based in Houston, Texas, since 1998. He plays the Shand Morino (British chromatic) and the single row melodeon. He plays Scottish and ceilidh music; back in Scotland he used to play in the Tain Scottish Dance Band.

French Music

• The Wendigo is an English band who play traditional European dance music, (a lot of it from Central France). Julian Sutton plays the melodeon; he also plays in Kathryn Tickell's band.

Italian Music

• The Bosio Big Band is a 30-strong melodeon band (with some percussion)
• La Ciapa Rusa, () was one of the oldest folk bands from Northern Italy, with Beppe Greppi on melodeon -- they gave their farewell concert in 2003. La Ciapa Rusa: Diario di Bordo, a compilation of live performances.

Keyboard and Button Board Layouts

• A melodeon FAQ by Hobgoblin, with fingering charts for various two to three-row instruments.
• melodeon.net is a site about melodeons (diatonic accordions), founded by John Spiers, and now maintained by Theo Gibb. It has a large collection of layouts for different melodeon types, a section where players can review their instrument for the site, as well as links to melodeon makers, (UK) shops, players, and general links.

Links

• Rich Holmes, who plays melodeon and concertina. He set up a list of morris-related pages, that has morphed into a Morris teams directory wiki.

Workshops: The Netherlands

• Trek er es Uut in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, May 20 - 24, 2009 Courses diatonic accordion, levels varying from 'never played before' thru 'master of diatonic melodeon'.

Workshops: United Kingdom

• Folkworks organises a yearly summerschool in Durham, an Adult summer school and Junior and Youth summer schools. Workshops include others English concertina, piano accordion and diatonic accordion. The next one is August 9 - 14, 2010. Tutors include: for piano accordion: Shona Kipling and Jean-Jacques le Creurer (tbc) for the adult summer school and Mairearad Green for the youth summer school, and for both Saul Rose for melodeon and Simon Thoumire for English concertina. Also, for the youth summer school accordionist Sam Pirt leads the MORE band. Folkworks also organise a 'workout weekend' in Darlington in October. There now also is an Official Folkworks Community site,
• February 27 - March 1, 2009, Issy Emeney will give a melodeon workshop in Staines, Middlesex. The workshop is organised by JSARTS. Some time in October 2009, David Oliver will be running an accordion related workshop, details to follow
• Melodeons and More is an annual melodeon workshop day in Suffolk, organised by the East Anglian Traditional Music Trust. In 2010 it will be held in Mendlesham, on March 27. Tutors are Reess Wesson Mark Söhngen, Alex Goldsmith, Andy Cutting, Dave Townsend, Pete Coe, Katie Howson, Steve Dumpleton, Jean Harris and Ron Ross. The East Anglian Traditional Music Trust also runs melodeon maker courses, run by Emmanuel Pariselle, with the aid of Theo Gibb and Rees Wesson - the next one, for April 2010, is fully subscribed already.

Manufacturers and Brands

• Streb is an English brand of an electronic (reedless) melodeon.

Retailers and Repairers: United Kingdom

• CGM Musical Services from central Scotland, owned by Charles Marshall, specialises in accordion and melodeon parts: straps, reeds, buttons, bellows tape, bags, etc.
• P J Music from Botesdale, Diss, Norfolk, (i.e. Pete Cunningham) buys and sell accordions, concertinas and melodeons, and accessories amongst others by mail order (world wide). He also repairs and tunes instruments, and he teaches melodeon. Phone: +44(0)1379 890088.
• Sounds Interesting from Leeds sells melodeons and accordions

Sheet music (or MIDI) on the Net

• Paul van Muijen's Trekzak Pagina () features a selection of French, Dutch and other tunes in tablature for C/F melodeon (and MIDI)
• John Spiers and Jon Boden are a young and vibrant English duo who play melodeon and fiddle respectively. They sing and play traditional English songs and tunes. The site contains written music for their tune sets (and the lyrics of the songs). In 2003 they won the BBC Radio 2 Horizon award for best newcomers to the folk scene, followed by the Best Duo Award in 2004. Summer 2004 they formed Bellowhead, [Flash site] an 11-piece big band, which rightly won the BBC Radio 2 folk award for Best Live Act 2005: they are magnificent!

Music Publishers

• The Morris Ring Shop has books with Morris tunes arranged for melodeon/accordeon

Teachers: United Kingdom

• George Garside from Anglesey, North Wales, teaches melodeon, button accordion, piano accordion and continental chromatic. email: georgegarside@talktalk.net

Diatonic Accordions

• A melodeon FAQ by Hobgoblin, with fingering charts for various two to three-row instruments.
• Irish melodeons, an article at RamblingHouse (formerly irishmusicweb.ie)
• Ronan Nolan's Irish Melodeon page. The site also contains bibliographies of amongst other box players Joe Burke and Sharon Shannon and concertina players Mrs Crotty and Gerdie Cummane.
• melodeon.net is a site about melodeons (diatonic accordions), founded by John Spiers, and now maintained by Theo Gibb. It has a large collection of layouts for different melodeon types, a section where players can review their instrument for the site, as well as links to melodeon makers, (UK) shops, players, and general links.
• Melodeon basics by Rod Stradling
• Maki Takiya's melodeon page. () Even if you can't read more than 'Hohner Erica', 'Castagniari Tommy', the pictures are worth viewing!

Movies

• You'll find quite a few movies if you
  in the Internet Movies database. There are a few accordeon or accordion players as well, a few female accordion players, and there is one melodeon player credited. Or you could look for Astor Piazzolla.

Novels

• In chapter 5 of Rev. Richard Cordley's Pioneer Days in Kansas, that deals with the events of 1856-1865, it is said of the Superintendent of Missions, Rev. Louis Bodwell, that When alone in the house he would go to the melodeon and sing some rare and tender songs in a mood which brought tears to those who chanced to hear.
• In James Joyce's [sp?] Ulysses [15] : ... while in the boreens and green lanes the colleens with their swains strolled what times the strains of the organtoned melodeon Britanniametalbound with four acting stops and twelvefold bellows, a sacrifice, greatest bargain ever .... And (from a different now disfunctioning site): In Lionel Marks's antique saleshop window haughty Henry Lionel Leopold dear Henry Flower earnestly Mr Leopold Bloom envisaged battered candlesticks melodeon oozing maggoty blowbags. Bargain: six bob. Might learn to play. Cheap. Let her pass.
• Walter Macken has written the novel 'The Bogman' (1952), in which Cahal Kinsella, the Black Bastard, plays the Melodeon and keeps his neighbors at mercy with his quick and stinging wit.
• Mark Twain: a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Chapter 40: They went clothed in steel and equipped with sword and lance and battle-axe, and if they couldn't persuade a person to try a sewing-machine on the installment plan, or a melodeon, or a barbed-wire fence, or a prohibition journal, or any of the other thousand and one things they canvassed for, they removed him and passed on.
• In his Innocents Abroad, in chapter 2, the melodeon on board of the ship is said to be the best instrument of the kind that could be had in the market, but then in chapter 4: Our music consisted of the well-mixed strains of a melodeon which was a little asthmatic and apt to catch its breath where it ought to come out strong, a clarinet which was a little unreliable on the high keys and rather melancholy on the low ones, and a disreputable accordion that had a leak somewhere and breathed louder than it squawked--a more elegant term does not occur to me just now. And in chapter 10 the flute, the asthmatic melodeon, and the consumptive clarinet cripple `The Star-Spangled Banner'.

Humour

• Build your own melodeon, and "How to get the Blood off Your Melodeon".