Saturday, July 19, 2008

Tatars Of Golden Gate Park

I try to get out to the Music Concourse in Golden Gate Park as often as I can with the accordion. I play in front of the De Young Museum, on the green park benches in front of the Temple of Music, or in the tunnels next to the De Young Bronze Sculpture Garden. The acoustics in the tunnels make me sound like I actually know what I'm doing. Here is a quick i-pod microphone recording of my take on Kuk Kugercin, along with a couple of pictures of my musical haunts. Please come say hello. We can sing Tugan Tel together. I know how to play that, and it's much more fun to sing with a friend. You'd be surprised at the kind of people you meet when you play Tatar Music out in the streets. Russians are very grateful and they recognize the accordion itself as being "Russian". Many Russian accordians here are green, and just about this size, some, a model called "Troika". Mexicans scream out , "Viva La Musica!" My accordion was a gift to me from very kind Tatars in Helsinki after we returned from Kazan together, Altan and Ergin particularly. (Rahmet ) The sticker that is on the accordion says in Russian , "Finskoi Delegatsi 1987". It was originally a gift to them from the factory in Kazan that they visited that year. I carried it home like a baby, wearing the same suit and tie for 3 days, flying standby, bumped at each point all the way home. I was bumped in Stockholm because a band I had never heard about called "Europe" needed my seat. I remember thinking, "That's a stupid name for a band". The accordion is among my most treasured possessions.

I recently met Tatar Accordionist, Rustem Veliev, who was here Performing as a guest from Kazan for our Sabantuy. I showed him the accordion and told him the story of how I received it. He told me the accordion "Is no good".














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1 comment:

Stacey said...

I love this song. My girls just danced to it playing in my office. How can I save it to my computer?

Add some links to your blog posts so i can find stuff!