I
was happy to meet Tom Boulos after years of e-mail and phone
correspondence. It feels great to find a soul mate,
a person who shares
the accordion love and a positive attitude to life and friendship. Tom
was very kind to invite me
to his home and we had a great time playing
his many fine accordions and exchanging accordion repair ideas. In
addition to owning some of the finest accordions Tom is a proud oner of
the oldest Nahat oud in existence.
This is a marvelous piece of art. The back consists of dozens of small
wooden pieces, linked together with intricate inlays of pearl and
ivory. It must have taken many years of passionate and patient loving
work to
create such a musical instrument.
A
mission to save a fine accordion
An important goal of my trip was to complete a project I had started
earlier for a friend, Mario Attilo. Mario owns a beautiful Modern
accordion made by Borsini. The instrument has a great sentimental
value. I was pleased to be entrusted with
the restoration of the instrument. After many hours of loving care at
the Accordion Gallery restoration laboratory the accordion was brought
back to life. Unfortunately, it suffered some injuries on its way back
to AZ. (Sometimes FedEx folks are capable of causing a damage despite
the most careful packaging job one could do.)
Having
developed
almost a personal attachment to this beautiful accordion I gave Mario
my word I would make it to Arizona and would take care of a detached
bass
switch in person. The accordion is in excellent condition now and I
believe both Tom and Mario are happy to know each other.
Mario
and Tom |
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Mario is pleased to have
his
accordion back. |
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Ziggies'
Music - A favorite place for accordionists in Phoenix
If you play the accordion and live in the Phoenix area you probably
know
Dionne Hauke, the owner of
Ziggie's
Music.
In case you have not been to Ziggies's I encourage you
to visit the store. You will immediately feel at home greeted
by
Dionne's smile and surrounded by accordions of various
brands and sizes. If you need accordion service Dionne
will be happy to
help. I've been looking for an external pick-up for a button box with a
small grill and not enough
room under the grill for the pickup. I
checked several music stores in NJ and even got in touch with my
friends in Castelfidardo, Italy to find the part. I can't tell you how
pleased I was to find the part at Ziggie's Music.
Dionne, thank you for letting me play your father's Excelsior Symphony!
It was a pleasure and honor. I believe this
is one of the
best American made accordions I've seen.
We are
proud to have the endorsement of Ziggie's Music for the SIWA &
Figli Super Quattro Accordion. |
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Guenadiy
Lazarov (The Accordion Gallery) and Dionne Hauke (Ziggie's Music)
share the love for accordions and accordion music. |
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The
Arizona Accordion Club
Accordionists from many parts of the country could learn from the
traditions of the Arizona Accordion Club.
The January meeting was packed
of music ranging from Italian favorites to American classics, to jazz,
to polka and even some exotic Balkan rhythms... It is always
great to get together with so many nice people, enthusiastic about the
accordion music. A cocktail bar and delicious treats complemented the
rich entertainment program. At the end of
the official performances
there was a great informal party with Mario uniting everyone with his
inspiring performance
of Italian songs.
I appreciate the opportunity to present the SIWA & Figli Super
Quattro accordion. It was a great pleasure to play
some Balkan music
for my new friends and to have them experience the charm and power of
this new accordion.
I am very happy by the overwhelmingly positive
response to the Super Quattro accordion. Typical comments
were "wow, it is powerful", "easy to handle", "responsive",
"beautiful"...
Look at
everyone's smile - we sure had a great time at
the AZ Accordion Club January 2008 Meeting. |
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New friends of
SIWA Accordions |
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