Planet Squeezebox Fun And Variety By Joan Young on Dec 08, 2007 - Updated Oct 15, 2011

This is not your average accordion music!

A friend gave me this album because she knows that I play accordion modestly well (having recently come out of the closet now that not every accordion joke is also breathed with malicious intent).

And what a delightful surprise! This is a collection from artists around the world, playing on every kind of accordion you can imagine (and you can hear the differences). Even I did not know there were so many kinds. And these are tunes that will rip your socks off, set your toes to tapping and your heart soaring.

You will hear music from Africa, Scotland, South America, Mexico, and of course Germany. The accompanying booklet has a page of information about each artist and the song they play, and it also tells which kind of accordion was played.

It's fast paced with a good variety. But, well, it's still accordion, if you can't stand it, you just can't...

Artist: Piece - Style

Guy Klucevsek: The Grass Is Blue - Deconstructed Polka

Francois Regis-Gizavo: Mikea - Malagasy Social Protest

Lynn August: Love at First Sight - Blues Shuffle

Phil Cunningham: The Four Stroke Reel/ Martin O'Connor's Flying Clog - High Octane Scottish Reel

Maria Kalaniemi: Growing Dusky Polska - Passionate Polka

Attwenger: h.e. zaum - Bavarian Punk

Lisandro Meza: Cumbia de los Locos - Slinky Cumbia

Abdel Aziz Ed Mubarak: Afrah Ed-Helwa - Sudanese Melisma

La Zagazougou: Varietoscope - Ten percussionists, two accordions

Eva Ybarra: A Mi San Antonio - Tex Mex Huapango

Hassam Ramzy: Yahliw - Egyptian belly dance

Zydeco Force: B-Flat - Creole Funk

Mpete Teme: Nna Leona - South African accordion

Renato Borghetti: Hospitaleria Vacaria - Brazilian gaucha music

Gil Goldstein: Detour Ahead - new treatment of an old standard

Lars Hollmer: Endlich ein Zamba - strange Samba