Dans un concert tenu au Wembley Stadium le samedi 7 juillet, des millions de telespectateurs partout dans le monde on vu Madonna chanter pour une audience de 70,000 personnes avec l’objectif sensibiliser pour les problémes de l’environnement atravers le ‘Live Earth' à Londres.
Son ensemble a inclus 'L'isla Bonita’ joué par Eugène Hutz et Sergey Ryabatsev, du New York Gipsy Punk Band Gogol Bordello. Á l’accompagnement, sur un Roland FR-3 V-Accordion, était Marcus Brown, l'accompagnateur habituel au claviers de Madonna qui a fait ses remarques: "Utiliser le V-Accordion à ‘Live Earth’ avec Gogol Bordello et Madonna sur scene était très important pour moi autant qu’aide a exposez ce beau et un peu oublié instrument, simplement unique, à une audience moderne sur un niveau mondial. C'était un honneur pour moi jouer un instrument incroyable à une telle diverse audience globale et j’espoir inspirer ceux qui voie une reconnaissance dans cet instrument qui est bien vivant en 2007. Longue vie pour l'accordéon."
La qualification pour la compétition française a été tenue dans La Selle sur le Bied 21ème juillet 2007. Les candidats qualifiés pour le CMA Trophee Mondiale 2007 qui va être tenu à Samara, Russie pendant le moi de novembre. L'événement de la qualification a été organisé par le Président de la CMA français Frederic Deschamps.
La compétition classique a été tenue dans l'église de La Selle sur le Bied et la classe de Variété dans ‘la Salle des Fêtes'. Un grand nombre de public a supporté l'événement.
Dans la catégorie Classique Senior, Julien "Speedy" Gonzales et Dimitri Bouclier ont excellés quatre entrées - les deux sont des Champions CMA précédents dans d’ autres catégories. Dans la catégorie Classique Junior, Rémi Mounes et Gaëlle Vinckier ont donné des performances qualificantes louables.
Dans la catégorie Junior Variété, Benoît Nortier a excellé avec Charlène Fleury, Pierre Laval, Kévin Legrand, Gaëlle Vinckier, Madeline Alanic, Rric Allard Jacquin, Baud Lydie, Julie Blocher, Anne Sophie Bonnot et Jérémy Déhier qui se sont qualifiés aussi.
Dans la Catégorie Sénior Variété, Benoît Chabod, Felicien Brut, et Cyril Blanchard ont excellé avec Nicolas Koch, Tannick Lopes, Isabelle Soleil, Stéphane Belleville et Benjamin Durafour qui se sont qualifiés aussi.
Des excellentes performances ont aussi eu lieu par les internationals Grayson Masefield (Nouvelle Zélande), Wang Li (Chine) et Sabrina Prichard (Suède).
Contribué par Horst Fausel, Hohner Accordion Product Manager
Le 19 juillet, l’accordéoniste russe Alexander Shirunov a rendu une visite à l'usine Hohner à Trossingen. Il a été très impressionné regardant la fabrication d'accordéons Hohner. Quand il a tester le Morino accordéon converteur et le modéle piano Fun Flash avec leur moderne design, il a décidé immédiatement d'utiliser sur scène ces 2 instruments pendant ses prochaines performances. Une visite au musée Hohner et le Conservatoire Hohner a complété sa visite à Trossingen.
Pendant les célébrations anniversaires le 8 et 9 septembre à Trossingen, les visiteurs auront la possibilité de voir et écouter Alexander plusieurs fois.
Elio Pietro Viola, 91ans, est décedé le 17 juillet au Hamilton Hôpital Général, Ontario. Il a été accordéoniste depuis l'âge de 14ans et son accordéon et son enseignement ont touché beaucoup de monde. Sa veuve Agnes, avec qui il a été marié presque 64 ans, a dit qu’elle ne pouvait pas faire le calcul du nombre de gens qui lui avaient dit qui ont appris à jouer l'accordéon avec son mari.
Après des leçons avec le Professeur Tito Allega, Viola est devenu joueur et professeur, jouant en innombrables baptêmes, mariages, et enterrements. Son fils, Charles Viola qui habite à Toronto dit que son père plaisantait pendant que les gens passaient dans la rue, disant qu’il avait joué à leurs mariages. Charles a dit que son père aimait utiliser la musique pour réunir les gens ensemble.
Viola a joué aussi avec beaucoup de bandes à Hamilton pendants des années et a ouvert quatres magasins de musique et studios à différents temps. "Il m'a appris comment jouer l'accordéon", a dit Agnes. (Elle dirige maintenant l'Agnes Viola School of Music.) Il a appris le braille afin qu'il puisse enseigner l'accordéon pour les étudiants aveugles, et habituellement il avait une liste d'attente en étudiants.
Il a cessé de jouer professionnellement il y a approximativement 10 ans. Agnes dit qu'il était perfectionniste et a cessé de jouer parce qu'il ne voulait pás faires d’ erreur. Mais il a encore joué son accordéon bien-aimé pour la famille, les amis et voisins.
Francesco Gesualdi at 60th ‘Fiesolana’ Festival - Italy
Contributed by Alessio Gerundini
Accordionist Francesco Gesualdi appeared in concert in the famous Roman Theater at the long running ‘Fiesolana’ Festival on July 7th.
Other musicians in this concert included the pianist Pier Narciso Masi, the violinist Cristiano Rossi, and an orchestra directed by Pero Bellugi. Gesualdi performed ‘Breath’, a new composition by the Italian composer Mauro Cardi for accordion and live electronics. This work was inspired by a play written in 1958 by Samuel Beckett.
An Accordion Birthday Cake for the Best Teacher, Ohrid - Macedonia
Contributed by Anica Karakutovska
After a successful ending of the school year filled with lots of concerts and competitions home and abroad, on July 22nd Professor Zorica Karakutovska used the opportunity to celebrate her birthday and recently received award.
This year, the Association of Music and Ballet teachers from the Republic of Macedonia for the third time awarded prizes for best teachers in the field of music education. The prize ceremony was at the closing concert at the 6th International competition for young musicians ‘Ohrid Pearls’ – 2007. Professor of Accordion Zorica Karakutovska was proclaimed for best pedagogue in school year 2005/2006. That is her third award for best teacher in the field of music education and additional reason for a great birthday celebration.
The party was enriched with amazing accordion cake, a gift that Professor Karakutovska shared with family, friends and her students.
Jon Hammond Remembers Jimi Hendrix, Frankfurt – Germany
The Jon Hammond Band made 'Accordion History' at Frankfurt Musikmesse demonstrating his Excelsior accordion through 2 full stacks of Marshall Amps like Jimi Hendrix! With Erik Hargrove, drummer of James Brown Soul Generals, Kevin Mauder - tenor sax, Tyrone Starks – trombone, playing Jon's Soul Rock compositions ‘Get Back In The Groove’ and theme song ‘Late Rent’. This was Jon's 21st consecutive year playing at the Musikmesse instrument trade show.
The UK Roland V-Accordion Competition takes place on September 30th at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Roland must receive entries by September 5th. The prize for the UK final is £1,000 worth of Roland Equipment and the European final prize is Euros 5,000. Winners of this and the other national contests go forward to the International finals, which will take place in Italy in early November.
Competitors need to film themselves playing a short program of 5 minutes and send it in to Roland UK. Any make of accordion may be used for the video but competitors must play a Roland V-Accordion in the finals, which can be borrowed from Roland two weeks prior to the final if one is not owned already. The competition is open to soloists or ensembles of up to 4 people. The rules and regulations are all now available from Roland UK.
The 4th Majella Etnofestival takes place in San Valentino, Abruzzo, on July 27th and 28th. This festival focuses on regional song and dance, and involves all kinds of musicians including accordionists.
Boston-based Irish accordionist performs at Cape Cod Irish Village, 512 Main Street, W. Yarmouth, Massachusetts, on July 29th and 30th, and on August 5th, 6th, 22nd, 23rd and 30th. In 1955 Fintan Stanley was the first to win an All Ireland title using the Continental chromatic button accordion, and has since pursued a career as a versatile entertainer.
The Andanças International Festival takes place from July 30th to August 5th, and features several accordionists. Each festival addresses a different theme, and this year ‘Metamorphosis’ has been chosen because the organisers want to see some changes: “We believe we have come very far in our way to put popular dance back in a proper social environment.
Yet we believe we are short of getting where we should be by now, 12 years gone: we would like people to especially engage with Portuguese popular dances, which are still much neglected among Andanças world dances. This also means getting more musicians to play Portuguese dances, so this year we offer several workshops on traditional Portuguese musical instruments. Because people also used to dance to the sound of accapella songs, also we offer workshops on songs from different Portuguese regions”.
‘Metamorphosis’ also addresses human behaviour towards environmental sustainability, implementing eco-initiatives that are aimed at reducing the environmental impact of the Festival. Publicity information states that: “There is a need for a real metamorphosis in behaviour, we must reduce consumption, we must recycle, we must dance our way to sustainability."
The North Shore Accordion Orchestra will perform a ‘Farewell Concert’ on Sunday August 5th, 4pm to 6pm, prior to departing for the Coupe Mondiale held in Washington DC, USA, August 13th to 15th. The venue is the Function Room, Glenfield Leisure Centre, Bentley Avenue, Glenfield. This concert will also feature solo contributions from NSAO members Jessica Chen, Daisy Huang, Stephanie and Olivia Panzic and George Xu, each of whom will represent New Zealand at the Coupe Mondiale. Both the Music Makers and Musicale Groups will play at the concert, and Lionel Reekie will direct the NSAO.
NSAO members Grayson Masefield and Edward Giffney are representing NZ too but are already overseas.
During August the NSAO will be performing at the Kennedy Centre, during the Coupe Mondiale, in Washington, and at the Mount Vernon City Hall Plaza in New York.
The annual accordion course at Dartington Hall takes place from August 11th to 18th, led by Ian Watson. The course will focus on ensemble as well as solo performance. The repertoire will be varied: Bach (suites, inventions and fugues) and folk music from around the UK, drawing on the dance element of both. Participants should be able to read music and have prepared at least one solo piece to work on in masterclasses.
Harmonica Ensemble ‘Guinness Book of Records’ Attempt, Trossingen - Germany
Contributed by Hermi Kaleta
On Sunday September 9th,from 4pm, there will be an attempt to establish a new world record for the largest harmonica ensemble, at the Town Hall in Trossingen. Anyone with a harmonica can join in, whatever their standard, and previous musical training or harmonica-knowledge are not required.
The World Country Music Contest takes place later in 2007, and is open to all singers, musicians and bands. Applicants are invited to submit a video and win up to $200,000 in prizes, with the final contest taking place in Nashville, Tennessee. Registration online by August 1st 2007.
The 2007 Accordion Master Class & Concert Series sponsored by the American Accordionists' Association runs from July 27, 28 & 29. The series of master classes and concerts is led by the incomparable Dr. William Schimmel who promises "a weekend romp of questionable, useless and far-fetched information."
Part of that includes the premiere performance by Lenny Feldmann of "The Darkside of the Moon Suite" he arranged for acoustic accordion, based on the 1973 Album of the same name by rock group Pink Floyd. The 12:30 minute arrangement includes Breathe, Time, Breathe (reprise), The Great Gig in the Sky, Money, Us and Them, Brain Damage, Eclipse, on Friday, July 27, 2007, 7 pm at the Tenri Cultural Center of New York on West 13th Street, New York City. Full details are on the AAA website.
Gary Dahl - accordionist as well as a composer, arranger, recording artist and music educator, releases 3 new works for accordion available for purchase online, ‘Beer Barrel Polka’, ‘Fascination’, 'The Music Of The Night'. Samples of this music are available on the site. The music is in eSheet format, able to be emailed to your computer. Purchase with credit card.
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Dans un concert tenu au Wembley Stadium le samedi 7 juillet, des millions de telespectateurs partout dans le monde on vu Madonna chanter pour une audience de 70,000 personnes avec l’objectif sensibiliser pour les problémes de l’environnement atravers le ‘Live Earth' à Londres.
Le 19 juillet, l’accordéoniste russe 
Elio Pietro Viola, 91ans, est décedé le 17 juillet au Hamilton Hôpital Général, Ontario. Il a été accordéoniste depuis l'âge de 14ans et son accordéon et son enseignement ont touché beaucoup de monde. Sa veuve Agnes, avec qui il a été marié presque 64 ans, a dit qu’elle ne pouvait pas faire le calcul du nombre de gens qui lui avaient dit qui ont appris à jouer l'accordéon avec son mari.
Accordionist Francesco Gesualdi appeared in concert in the famous Roman Theater at the long running ‘Fiesolana’ Festival on July 7th.
After a successful ending of the school year filled with lots of concerts and competitions home and abroad, on July 22nd Professor Zorica Karakutovska used the opportunity to celebrate her birthday and recently received award.
Jon Hammond
The UK 
Majella Etnofestival, Abruzzo - Italy
Fintan Stanley Concerts, Massachusetts – USA
International Festival 2007, Andanças – Portugal
Yet we believe we are short of getting where we should be by now, 12 years gone: we would like people to especially engage with Portuguese popular dances, which are still much neglected among Andanças world dances. This also means getting more musicians to play Portuguese dances, so this year we offer several workshops on traditional Portuguese musical instruments. Because people also used to dance to the sound of accapella songs, also we offer workshops on songs from different Portuguese regions”.
The North Shore Accordion Orchestra will perform a ‘Farewell Concert’ on Sunday August 5th, 4pm to 6pm, prior to departing for the Coupe Mondiale held in Washington DC, USA, August 13th to 15th. The venue is the Function Room, Glenfield Leisure Centre, Bentley Avenue, Glenfield. This concert will also feature solo contributions from NSAO members Jessica Chen, Daisy Huang, Stephanie and Olivia Panzic and George Xu, each of whom will represent New Zealand at the Coupe Mondiale. Both the Music Makers and Musicale Groups will play at the concert, and 
World Country Music Contest, Nashville – USA
The 2007 Accordion Master Class & Concert Series sponsored by the 
