American pop music to the contrary, the accordion is a very popular instrument in many cultures. The above was recorded at a Slovenian gathering near Cleveland, Ohio, on January 23. Frank Moravcik and his band are playing Waltz of Love, written in 1965 by Stan Blout. Waltz of Love was voted 2009 "Greatest All-Time Hit Song" at the XXII Polkas International Award Show in Cleveland, Ohio.
This is a thin connection with accordion! The background music strongly features one, but I think the accordion will not be the main point of interest. Enjoy!
This comes from a 1950-1960s local children's television show called Lunch with Casey, aired in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The PBS Los Angeles Holiday Celebration special aired tonight. This program features the best hour of acts from the previous year's event. The production of the L.A. County Arts Commission actually lasts for six hours! I have to say that this is the most interesting holiday program I've seen yet this year.
The range and quality of the acts was spectacular. If you like traditional children's choirs there was one. If you wanted Gospel, it was there. On the other extreme was a ballet dancer who used two fabric banners suspended from the stage rigging as props for a dance routine, or a new interpretation of a portion of the Nutcracker that combined ballet and break dancing.
But the very first act was the Zydekats, led by Lisa Haley, who perform traditional and contemporary Americana/Cajun/Zydeco arrangements. Lisa sings and plays violin, but an accordion is strongly featured in the backup band. This picture was taken off my TV screen, but if you follow the link below you can see a short video about them at PBS.
The accordionist is playing a 72-bass piano accordion.
