Friday Funnies

Note that she is playing a diatonic accordion with buttons on both sides. The right hand buttons have notes in one or two keys, and the left hand buttons have the corresponding chords. If it is bisonoric a different note is produced when the bellows are pushed or pulled.

Wish we could hear this one-woman band!

Amazing Race Goes Accordion Crazy

If you thought it was exciting to see an accordion on the Amazing Race, Season 14, Episode 1, you were ecstatic in Episode 4 this past Sunday. There were no fewer than three accordions! First of all we see this fellow playing what appears to be a chromatic button accordion. This is where all the teams have to stack huge piles of wood, in Siberia!



Just a few minutes later in the program... hours later in real life... the weather has cooled off, and the musicians have a fire. Our same accordionist is still at it. But now he has a smaller red accordion, rather than a black one!



Most amazing of all is the Russian dancer. He is playing a 2 or 3 row diatonic accordion (I can't quite see which with the fuzzy picture). But I'm here to tell you that playing and dancing simultaneously is quite a feat of coordination!







Accordions are very popular internationally, so it should really be no surprise to see them so often. There was also an accordion at a German town in Episode 2, but I haven't taken time to pull that picture out yet.