h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hello Sitonmy
On the surface I suppose one wouldn’t thing there is much connection between playing a violin and playing an accordion, but there must be. Not only are they the two essential instruments for several musical styles, but on a more human note, my Dad, like you, moved from violin to accordion.

He was forced to learn the violin as a child, his parents seeing it as a symbol of moving up the ladder from the inner city. But when he started work, the first thing he bought with his savings was an accordion, which he taught himself to play. His playing popular melodies on the accordion at Christmas time is one of my childhood memories and it remains a favourite instrument of mine, though I’ve no idea how to play.

This morning on the way to work I heard some accordion music – this was in fact the catalyst for me writing to you again so soon. One was several tracks from a good, new CD by Jony Iliev, a Bulgarian with gypsy origins, I learnt. Then there was a report on Georges Simenon, who was born 100 years ago today. As background music to clips from interviews and biographical notes about him, some fitting accordion music was played, including (I think) some from the film ‘Amelie”, which you might know.

What sort of music do you play? Musette or Lydie Auvray things? Argentinian Tango à la Piazzola? Or just the ‘’and now for something totally different’ style? Not long ago I watched a documentary film about Francisco Moscote (twice actually within a month, I so enjoyed it). He was an accordion player in Columbia. In Columbia, they play fast and apparently even modify brand-new accordions to higher the tone range to suit. Moscote supposedly once met the devil and defeated him in a challenge about who could play the best, fastest music on an accordion! Have you had a similar experience?

In the Simenon report, they said he wrote under 18 different pseudonyms. I’m sure he would have therefore enjoyed Internet messageboards! I haven’t got that many, but then I’ve never had 10,000 women either, unlike Simenon, or so it is rumoured. In an interview clip played this morning, Simenon cleverly didn’t actually deny this but said the figure came not from him but from Fellini, and that Fellini had made arithmetical errors when calculating it!