Pan-African Accordion Music

An African show from the long-standing accordion resource known as Accordion Noir.

I gather that for some the accordion can be an acquired taste, but not at Accordion Noir, a production of Vancouver Co-op Radio. They got started in 2006 and are still going strong, with an impressive archive of shows on hand.

As they put it, "The front-line of the Accordion Revolution around the world, from punk to Piazzolla. Begun in December of 2006 by Rowan Lipkovits and Bruce Triggs, we maintain our position as one of the more unlikely shows on Co-op Radio. Nevertheless, you are welcome to join us in promoting the squeezebox in all its forms in Vancouver and beyond: The Vancouver Squeezebox Circle plots monthly. The Accordion Noir Festival conspires annually. Eventually we shall prevail and the accordion will regain its proper place in the musical palette next to the saxophone, the fiddle and the pedal-steel guitar – not the most common, but a treat for connoisseurs and pleasure-seekers."

I've been listening to a show from 2008, their take on "Pan-African Accordion." It's only an hour and there's some time give over to pledge drive type stuff but it's still worth a listen. I found it here but it's probably also in the archive at their site.

Here's an unrelated video of accordion music from South Africa.