01 August 2006

Carnival of Akkordionspieler at last!

Back on 11 July, I issued a call for entries for an online Carnival of German Kids Playing Accordions in Tents. I supplied a graphic model.

Fuse #8 produced an image from Don Parrish's trip to North Korea. Parrish writes, "We also attended the Mangyongdae Schoolchildren's Palace, were we saw the propaganda kids, the ones routinely photographed by tourists. They were supposed to smile as they played musical instruments or embroidered." And what musical instruments? Accordions, of course! No Germans, no tents, but by the large number of kids and accordions (and the small number of alternatives) I say this qualifies.

Becky commented, "My Canadian mother-in-law (of German extraction) plays the accordion, and after 12 years it still gives me the willies..." So there's an untented German-Canadian example--also a stretch, but beggars can't choose.

Even I, with all my interest in this important topic, couldn't come up with blog items that fit all the criteria. But some webpages came reasonably close.

The Accordion Orchestra of Maisach sponsors a Pupils' Orchestra for musicians aged 8 to 14. Again, the large number of kids and accordions makes up for the lack of a visible tent.

In May, Legoland Deutschland hosted a concert with "Ensembles from more than 7 nations...demonstrating that the accordion can be used to interpret all kinds of music." Rap-polka fusion, for example.

In a situation that cries out for analysis, the Jewish Museum Berlin has illustrated a page on Freud's theory of "drive/trieb" with a figurine of a blond boy playing the accordion.

And although technically he hails from Austria, not Germany, I must acknowledge the "jungen Akkordeonspieler Lukas."

1 comment:

Becky said...

Oz and Ends indeed!

I'm sure when it rains in Maisach the kids and their instruments spend some time under tents...

So what's the August carnival?!