Three Selections From International Accordion Festival

1)Southern Scratch is one of the bands that Mister Anchovy, Tuffy P, Stagg and I saw in San Antonio at the International Accordion Festival. Southern Scratch is aNative American band from the Tohono O' odham Nation in southern Arizona. They play a form of dance music called waila or "chicken scratch" and their repertoire largely consists of waltzes, two-steps, polkas and rancheras. Founded by Ron Joaquin and made up of musicans with strong roots in their southern Arizona heritage. Southern Scratch is essentially a family band and over the years have provided dance music in villages throughout the vast reservation and performed in festivals thoughout the U.S. Members include Ron Joaquin on bass, Chris Lopez on sax, Brandis Joaquin on accordion, Daniel Lopez on guitar, Cody Pablo on drums and Sarah and Amy Joaquin on percussion.

2)Yves Lambert and the Bebert Orchestra a definitive resource for Quebecois folk music: this segment is during a workshp...Yves Lambert on accordion/vocals, Olivier Rondeau on guitar/vocals, Nicolas Pelleria on violin/vocals, Simon Lepage on bass/vocals and Tommy Gauthier on violin/bouzouki.

3) Also a clip from a workshop...Yuri Yunakov Ensemble play Roma Dance music (Gypsy to Americans) celebrate and perform at weddings, baptisms and where lots of dancing is wanted. This workshop tidbit allows us to see each musician restrained and to focus on individual instrumentals...eventually when performing the band goes wild competing and challenging each other with riffs: or "questions and answers". Yuri Yunakov is on sax, Milen Slavov on accordion, Selaidin Mamudoski on clarinet, Rumen Sali Shopov on percussion and Ethan Umer on keyboards/vocals.

You can see what an incredible diverse program and performances we were exposed to in San Antonio...and some terrific food. The best gorditias I've ever had! I am still thinking about them...ahhhh

Yes, you're right, eagle-eyed visitors, there is a special sneak appearance of Tuffy P, Mister Anchovy and Stagg in the middle of this montage. Montage is a generous word I know...I'm am still trying to figure out how to edit on my computer. Actually, this selection happened by accident when I was editing...but I figured go with it for now. Unfortuantely the video loses resolution once it's moved into webstreaming mode but the sound integrity is fairly well preserved.