Planet Squeezebox: Accordion Music From Around the World. - sound recording reviews

Whole Earth Review, Spring, 1996 by Lahri Bond

The Zulu call it a squashbox, in Germany it's been called a pig-organ, Mark Twain called it a Stomach Steinway, and Leadbelly called it a windjammer. The accordion is heard around the world, and on this three-CD compilation we get examples from forty-four international traditions, with no Lawrence Welk in sight.

The first disc is devoted to European, Celtic, French Canadian, and Cajun music. Highlights include an Irish air by Tony MacMahon, a Cajun two-step by Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, the blazing intricacy of Scotland's Phil Cunningham, and an evocative polska by Finnish star Maria Kalaniemi. Further afield are the Austrian punk group Attwenger and the swirling Breton music of Jacques Beauchamp. The second CD mixes the bayou swing of Zydeco Force with manic polka by Austin's Brave Combo, sly and sinuous Colombian vallenato by Lisandro Meza, and the Tex-Mex fury of Esteban (Steve) Jordan. The third disc continues with African (I.K Dario, MBE), Egyptian (Hassam Ramsy), Arab, Baltic, Russian, Chinese, and Sumatran music. The only non-squeezebox track features the lusheng, a Miao reed pipe from China that is thought to be an ancestor of the accordion Its free-reed sound is that of a cross between accordion and harmonica.

The beautifully packaged set includes a fifty-six-page booklet that's dense with color photos, explanations of the traditions and of the various types of accordion, and bios of the artists, Ellipsis Arts, producers of the engrossing world music fusion compilation Planet Soup, has assembled another amazingly diverse collection. What's next2 Planet Jawharp?