IAF II

The International Accordion Festival was just that. This is the second time we'd been to this fest - 2+ days of music featuring the accordion. Some solo - some group. Everything from jazzy to folk to rock to tex-mex and on. There was even a hard-core polka band. Acts DID come from across the US and beyond - San Francisco, Quebec, New Orleans, Arizona, New York City, Argentina, Italy, the Canary Islands. Relaxed atmosphere, multiple stages, and free of charge. Accordions ranged from button boxes to piano style to concertinas. Some of the fun is watching the artists learn new things from each other in some of the workshops.

Lori and I signed up to volunteer at the event and ran the merchadise booth on Sunday evening. We hope to be even more involved next year. In fact, this would have been the third year in a row that we had gone, but Lori's grandpa passed away a few days before the event last year, so we cancelled the trip.

I was able to see all the acts and while most were very good Yves Lambert and Chango Spasiuk were two standouts. Lambert is like the godfather of Quebecois folk music - to me it came across as similar to creole. On most songs, one or both of his fiddlers kept the beat (no drums) with their feet on miked boards. Sort of looked like they were tap dancing while sitting down.

Chango Spasiuk and his group from Argentina played a more romantic style of music - very passionate with mood and time changes throughout some of the songs.

Best of all was seeing Santiago Jimenez, Jr. and his band - "National Treasure" as Lori put it.

The festival takes place in an arts village/historical site called La Villita, part of which is on San Antonio's Riverwalk. One of the stages features a stage on one side of the river and the tiered seating up a small hill on the other side. Not only do people walking along the river get a front row view of the stage, the boats (and ducks) are regularly paddling on through.

The picture is Santiago Jimenez and his group on Friday night from across the river (and high up). More pictures in part III.