The Accordion

         The accordion (from Greek a + cordion, meaning without chord) is a box shaped instrument of the bellows driving free-reed aerophone family, sometimes colloquially referred to as a squeezebox. The instrument is played by compressing or expanding the bellows while pressing buttons or keys, causing valves, called pellets, to open. This allows air to flow across strips of brass or steel, called reeds, that vibrate and produce the sound inside the body. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist.

         The accordion's basic form is believed to have been invented in Berlin in 1822 by Christian Friedrich Ludwig Buschmann. Once the instrument traveled out of Germany, a British news paper called The Times (from which The New York Times is derived) said that the instrument would become very popular. And it was. By the 1840's the instrument had become very popular in Europe, especially  in France and England. Around a hundred years later, the instrument was popularized in Brazil and Colombia.

         The accordion is popular in music genres such as pop (who would'a guessed?), polka, classical, rock, and traditional music. It is often associated with busking and advertising. Most modern day Americans also associate the harmonica with one "Weird al Yankovic", under the genre of ''parodic music''.

Here are two (yes two) stupendous videos:    Antonio Vivaldi (bookings: info@nmgeneration.com) and
"Weird Al" Yankovic - Another One Rides the Bus
And here are some photos: