Leyland Accordion Club, Leyland, Lancashire, England.

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Leyland Accordion Club - 16th May 2007

Ceilidh On The Radio

On RTE Europe and RTE FM (Sky channel 0142 and also 0160) there is a programme called Ceilidh House. It’s from Kilcoona, a small community near Headford in Co. Galway, Eire. It’s a hive of traditional music and song inspired by accordion player Matt Cunningham. This programme features the Music of Matt and his band, Eric Cunningham, Fionnuala Deacy, Ita Cunningham, Richard Murray, Margaret Flanagan and a group of young local musicians. This 58 minute long programme starts at 21.02 and finishes at 22.00 on Saturday, 30th of June, 2007.

This Wednesday

This Wednesday, we have one of our local players' concerts featuring a wealth of accordion talent from our home grown players. If you are a player, then please remember to bring your accordion along with you. If you haven't played at the club for a while, or at all, then we would love to hear you play. Those of you who only attend our guest artist concerts will probably find that you love our local players' nights. We always have a great time and we see such a great variety of players.
Please tell your friends about our concerts. The doors open at 7.30 for an 8pm start, the concert finishes at 11pm. As usual there will be the raffle, tea/coffee, good company and great entertainment. See you on Wednesday.... David Batty

Preston Riversway Festival

On Saturday I enjoyed a great time at Preston Riversway Festival. I'm sorry for not mentioning it in the last newsletter but I only found out about it at the last minute. There were stalls, boats, entertainment and lots going on at this annual event. I spent several hours playing the accordion on a narrow boat in Preston docks where the event was held. I was photographed and filmed by various visitors to the docks as was Harry Davies who owns the boat and who was also playing. Colin Ensor and Rebecca Parker also arrived, then helped to entertain the public and boaters. There was plenty of praise for the accordion and a few newsletters were given out with at least one possible good lead for a new member of the club.

Dermot O'Brien

Dermot O’Brien passed away on May 22nd in his hometown of Ardee, County Louth, in the Republic of Ireland, following a long battle with cancer. For many years he had lived in New York, but had returned to Ireland following the death of his wife Rosemarie in January 2005. Dermot O’Brien was a legend of Irish show business, and was equally well known as a singer and accordionist. After becoming All Ireland Champion in 1954 and 1959, he turned professional, fronting Dermot O’Brien and the Clubmen, a show band whose repertoire ranged from pop music to traditional jazz. In 1966, his vocal/accordion single ‘The Merry Ploughboy’ went straight to number one in the Irish charts, a feat only otherwise achieved by Elvis Presley and the Beatles. Dermot O’Brien was the most commercially successful accordionist Ireland has produced to date, and his recordings sold in large quantities throughout Ireland, Britain, the USA, and other parts of the English speaking world. He had a huge personal following, and influenced a whole generation of accordionists in Ireland and the UK. Few accordionists worldwide could match Dermot O’Brien’s stage presence, and his ability to entertain was second to none. A truly memorable man who will be sadly missed.

Roland V Accordion Championship

The semi-final of the first European Championships for players of the Roland Virtual Accordion takes place on October 6th in the Casino in the French town of Bourboule. The finals of this new competition will take place in Italy in November. There is a prize of 5,000 Euros for the winner. Competitors need to fill in entry forms and submit an audio or video recording, and the closing date for entries is July 15th. Send to Roland Central Europe, V-Accordeon Festival, 4 rue Paul-Henri St Thibault des Vignes, Lagny, Cedex, France. For further information email: vincent.riviale@rolandce.com

The Jazz And Swing Accordion Story

‘Squeeze Me - The Jazz and Swing Accordion Story’ is the title of a mammoth 101 track 4 CD box set that includes rare and historic recordings by many of the leading European and US jazz accordionists of the 20th Century. Accordionists featured include Art Van Damme, Mat Mathews, Tito Burns Gus Viseur, Tito Guidotti, Tony Murena, Michel Warlop, Rolf Syverson, Charles Verstraete, Cornell Smelser, Joe Mooney, Johnny Meier, Tommy Gumina and George Shearing. The CD package also includes a fully illustrated 42-page booklet that contains extensive details of the careers and music of the many accordionists featured, and as such makes a unique historical record of a sub-genre that has been hitherto otherwise largely ignored by the jazz world. For further information email: louis@proper.uk.com

Our Website

Our Internet website has had 106392 visitors as at 17th June 2007, thats 1075 visitors since last month. This month we have been getting a lot of junk messages sent from the Ukraine to our noticeboard but I'm on the case and working to ban the person concerned.

Lostock Hall Festival

This Folk Festival is to be held on June 29th, 30th and 1st of July at Lostock Hall Community High School. This is a ticket event at £43 for the weekend, or you can just book Saturday at £25 or Sunday at £20. Telephone Ken on 01257 263278 for further details.