The Olympics of the accordion are coming to Victoria.
The Coupe Mondiale, arguably the world’s most prestigious accordion competition, is happening here from Aug. 17 to Aug. 25. It will draw more than 100 competitors from as far as China, Europe and South America. About $50,000 in prizes is on offer.
It’s only the second time the annual event has been held in Canada — the first was in Toronto in 1964.
The international contest is a serious business, says Marion Jacobson, an American musicologist who wrote Squeeze This! The Cultural History of the Accordion in America (2012).
“When you step into the world of Coupe Mondiale, you are in another reality. This is a world where Lawrence Welk and accordion jokes never existed,” Jacobson said recently from her home in West Orange, N.J., near New York City.
Sponsored by the Confederation Internationale des Accordionistes, the Coupe Mondiale is this year hosted by the Victoria-based B.C. Accordion Society. The society’s director — and the man who finessed the winning bid for the competition — is Aleksandar Milojevic.
Milojevic is a native Serbian who, as a young man, competed in the Coupe Mondiale. He moved to Victoria four years ago with his wife, Jelena Milojevic. She is a top international accordionist, having won another international competition — the Trophée Mondial de L’Accordéon — a decade ago.
Milojevic, who’s organizing the competition, inked the contract for the Coupe Mondiale in 2011 while serving as an adjudicator for the Coupe Mondiale in Shanghai. Holland was originally supposed to be the 2013 host, but dropped out, citing financial problems. Both Victoria and Sao Paulo (the accordion is especially popular in Brazil) competed for the 2013 festival. However, months of Milojevic’s “constant convincing” persuaded the confederation that the City of Gardens was the ideal location. It helped that Milojevic and his wife, a teacher and concert musician who has performed at New York’s Carnegie Hall, are well known in international accordion circles.
The Coupe Mondiale, taking place at Alix Goolden Hall in the Victoria Conservatory of Music, operates on a $200,000 budget. Regional and provincial grants cover $130,000 of this, with tickets and sponsorships making up the remainder. The competitions are open to the public, with admission by donation. There’s also a series of ticketed concerts showcasing top international accordion talent (see accompanying story for a full list of events).
Competitors are 32 years old and younger. There’s a competition for accordion orchestras of nine players or more. There’s a competition for musicians playing digital (electronic) accordions and another for best new original work in a “classical” mode. Some competitors will display their skill in contrasting styles — for instance, a fast work by Paganini or Scarlatti demanding technical virtuosity and a lyrical work such as Vocalise by Rachmaninoff.
The pressure is intense. Jelena Milojevic remembers well competing in the Trophée Mondial de L’Accordéon, in Italy in 2003. Prior to the event, she was living in her native Croatia, where she practised 10 hours daily for an entire year, sometimes in 40 C heat.
“I used to drink gallons of water every day and play and sweat,” she said with a smile.
Milojevic, then 21, was judged best in the competition’s senior category. “When I heard I won, I couldn’t stand. I was shaking with excitement. I couldn’t speak.”
When it comes to the accordion, Victoria is the place to be. There is the upcoming Coupe Mondiale, the international accordion competition. But that’s just part of the story.
In fact, our accordion roots run deep.
The largest accordion store in B.C. is Tempo Trend Music. In the Pacific Northwest, it is the undisputed hub of all things accordion. Repository to 600 instruments — some of them rare antiques — Tempo Trend has specialized in the accordion (lessons, repairs, sales) since 1967. And before that, the store’s 82-year-old founder, Karl Hergt, ran the Canadian Accordion Institute here for six years.
Tempo Trend customers get the message, quite literally, upon entering. A sign on the wall reads: “Enjoy life — play an accordion instead of the stock market.” On another wall is a yellowed news clipping that shows Hergt and his son Martin photographed with accordionist Myron Floren from The Lawrence Welk Show.
When I visited, a young woman was at the counter purchasing an accordion. Karl Hergt says in terms of popularity, the accordion has its ups and downs. Now things are on the upswing.
“For the last 10 years, every year is getting better,” he said.
Hergt immigrated to Canada in 1955 after escaping Erfurt, a city in Eastern Germany occupied by the Soviet Union after the Second World War. He liked playing the accordion as a youngster but couldn’t afford one, so he borrowed a friend’s. An accordion was expensive, he said — worth a pig or 100 pounds of flour in trade.
A watch and clock-maker by trader, Hergt moved to Victoria only to find there were already too many jewelry shops in town. So he decided to embrace his true love — repairing accordions (a trade that requires similar tools to watch repair).
Aleksandar Milojevic and his wife Jelena — an internationally known accordionist who teaches at the store — said they moved to Victoria from Vancouver four years ago because the accordion scene here was much more active. Although Vancouver has such events as the annual Accordion Noir Festival, Milojevic says there’s no cohesive scene in that city.
“In Vancouver, we have to teach people what the accordion is — nothing is organized,” he said.
In Victoria, Milojevic is director of the B.C. Accordion Society. There’s also the Victoria Accordion Club. And Camosun College students who study with Jelena Milojevic (via the Victoria Conservatory of Music) can now receive a diploma in accordion performance. In Canada, only the University of Toronto offers a comparable diploma.
As well, our city is host to yearly accordion parades.
Last summer, more than 100 accordionists marched downtown, playing a medley that included You Are My Sunshine and The Happy Wanderer.
In conjunction with the Coupe Mondiale, another parade will be held today. Starting at 11 a.m., the accordion parade will go from Bastion Square to Government Street and then Wharf Street.
Hundreds of accordionists are expected to take part. And organizers say if you play the accordion, you, too, are welcome.
It used to be cool. Then it wasn’t. And now … it’s getting a little hipper. Once upon a time, the accordion ruled. The height of its popularity in North America is likely 1955, when America imported more than 250,000 accordions from Italy, said Marion Jacobson, author of Squeeze This! The Cultural History of the Accordion in America.
Back in the day, if you were a kid taking music lessons, you were likely playing the accordion. That started to change in the late 1950s with the arrival of rock ‘n’ roll and Elvis Presley. By the time the Beatles swept the world in the ’60s, the guitar reigned as North America’s instrument of choice.
The accordion, meanwhile, was associated with polka-dispensing squeezebox players on The Lawrence Welk Show, such as the ever-beaming Myron Floren. Older folk watched Lawrence Welk, who liked to trip the light fantastic with the Champagne Ladies as bubbles wafted overhead.
“One could argue Welk played the squarest music this side of Euclid,” Jacobson said. “It’s fascinating [that his show] made such a huge dent in the popularity of the instrument and condemned it to squareness.”
Martin Hergt is co-owner of Victoria’s Tempo Trend, the largest accordion store in B.C. (home to 600-plus accordions, including one 1850s model). At one time, the store had “hundreds” of accordion students — now it has about 40. Hergt notices a revival of interest, adding: “It died down and now it’s coming back.”
He attributes the accordion’s rise partly to the 2001 French film Amélie, a romantic comedy stuffed with accordion music. These days, Hergt says, the squeezebox is considered cult-cool among young women with tattoos and piercings, some of whom have signed up for lessons at his store.
The accordion had somewhat of a rough ride from the get-go — especially in North America. The man sometimes credited with its invention in the early 1800s, Cyrillus Damian of Vienna, was well aware the instrument lacked the gravitas associated with the better-established piano and violin. With a shrewd eye to niche marketing, Damian (who patented the name “accordion”) declared it “could play music suitable for picnics and parties.”
The accordion, not widely distributed until the late 1800s, caught on with the working and middle classes. Part of the instrument’s attraction was in its gadgety bellows-and-buttons construction, which appealed the 19th-century fascination with mechanical gizmos, Jacobson said.
Because it was a relatively late invention (the first pianos came out in the 1700s), the accordion lacked the classical pedigree of the violin and piano. No great concerti were written for the accordion; there were no dashing accordionist virtuosos à la Chopin or Paganini.
Says Jacobson: “It never attained the respect of the elite.” In 1877, a New York Times editorial said: “The so-called musical instrument variously known as the accordion or concertina [is the] favourite instrument of the idle and depraved.”
Pre-Beatles, the accordion has its share of pop heroes, however. Guido Deiro, popular in the 1920s, was a big enough star to marry movie legend Mae West. And later, Dick Contino, a favourite with the bobby-soxers, appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show 48 times.
Its popularity surged and waned over the years, yet the accordion never truly went away. It has always been a staple of such regional genres as Tex-Mex, Cajun and zyedco, for instance.
Jacobson theorizes the accordion’s post-1960s resurgence was partly a reaction to the synthesizer-laden pop music of the 1980s. An organic-sounding instrument like the accordion with a “free reed vibrating” prompted “instant excitement,” she said.
The accordion featured prominently in Paul Simon’s 1986 Graceland album, itself a reflection of growing interest in so-called world music, which also helped re-popularize the accordion. Acts such as John Mellencamp and Sheryl Crow added it for rootsy authenticity. And Bruce Springsteen’s band featured not one but two accordionists: Danny Federici and Charlie Giordano.
Many hipster acts have embraced the instrument: Arcade Fire, the Decemberists, They Might be Giants, Beirut and the Pogues. Victoria’s David P. Smith, an arty independent musician influenced by Tom Waits and the Holy Modal Rounders, uses the accordion as a lead instrument.
Despite its re-emergence in the pop pantheon, the accordion is still the subject unfair misconceptions, Jacobson says. There’s the notion that the boxy-looking instrument is ugly. Some believe accordions are often out of tune (this stems from the use of old instruments — perhaps attic finds — that were not maintained, Jacobson says). Some folk music societies even banned accordions because they were thought to be too loud.
“That’s a player problem,” said Jacobson, an accordionist herself. “You can play with one switch, you can play softly, you put less air through the bellows.”
The accordion — like many instruments — is the butt of its share of black humour.
Here are Jacobson’s favourite jokes:
What’s the different between a road-kill skunk and a road-kill accordion? Skid marks in front of the skunk.
What do accordion players use for contraception? Their personalities.
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Accordion events
Here is a rundown of free and ticketed events at the Coupe Mondiale.
Aug. 18, 11 a.m. to noon - A free accordion parade runs 11 a.m. to noon. It goes from Bastion Square to Government Street to Wharf Street. Hundreds of accordionists will take part; the public is encouraged to bring accordions and join in.
Daytime competition events, open to the public, take place from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Aug. 19-23 at the Victoria Conservatory of Music. Admission is by donation.
Free concerts take place daily Aug. 19 to Aug. 23 from noon to 1 p.m. at Centennial Square:
Aug. 19 - Jarosh Accordion Ensemble
Aug. 20 - Concertino Ensemble
Aug. 21 - Yasmine Azaiez (violin), Cory Pesaturo (digital accordion)
Aug. 22 - Trio Voronezh
Aug. 23 - Aaron Watson and friends
Aug. 24, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. - A trade show and concert at Centennial Square with a special performance by Russia's Esse Quintet (winners of the 65th Coupe Mondiale in Italy)
Ticketed events take place at Alix Goolden Hall:
Aug. 18, 8 p.m. - A Night of the Orchestras - the top four orchestras from the World Competition of the Accordion Orchestras.
Aug. 19, 8 p.m. - Opening ceremony plus performances by Alexander Sevastian with Emily Carr String Quartet, Ballet Victoria, Jelena Milojevic with clarinetist Francois Houle and Vox Humana Choir.
Aug. 20, 8 p.m. - The World is Here concert with the World Accordion Orchestra, Trio Voronezh (Russia/U.S.), AZCENT Duo (Tunisia/U.S.) and the winning orchestra from the orchestral competition.
Aug. 21, 8 p.m. - Jazz master concert with Renzo Ruggieri (Italy), Ludovic Beier (France) and Cory Pesaturo (U.S.).
Aug. 22, 8 p.m. - Roland Festival National Finals plus a special performance by previous Roland Canada V-Accordion contests winners.
Aug. 23, 7:30 p.m. - A final round of the Coupe Mondiale competition, with five best classical soloists presenting their final programs.
Aug. 24, 7:30 p.m. - Closing concert showcasing the Coupe Mondiale winners plus special guests.
Tickets are $25 and $30. They can be purchased at Tempo Trend (250-384-2111) and Long & McQuade (250-384-3622). A limited number of all-inclusive ticket packages, which cost $115, is available. For information, email [email protected].