the.com/accordion
a one-person orchestra you wear, capable of polka, tango, and full emotional warfare
means A portable, bellows-driven musical instrument played by pushing and pulling air through reeds while pressing keys or buttons on either side.
from From the German 'Akkordion', coined in the early 19th century by Viennese instrument-maker Cyrill Demian for his patented squeezebox. The name nods to 'Akkord' — a musical chord — because the instrument's clever buttons could sound whole chords at a single press. 'Akkord' itself traces back through Romance languages (compare Italian 'accordo' and French 'accord', agreement or harmony) to Latin 'cor', heart — so an instrument named, fittingly, for hearts in agreement.
- core mechanic
- bellows pump air past metal reeds to make sound
- both ways
- each button can play two notes—push and pull
- tango fuel
- powers Argentina's bandoneon, its moodier cousin
- folding genius
- name comes from German for harmony, akkord
- polka empire
- once outsold guitars in early American music stores
accordions of castelfidardo — italian town that has produced 60% of world's accordions since the 1800s
button accordion — traditional irish folk instrument with rows of buttons, used in céilí and sean-nós music
piano accordion — keyboard accordion popularized by paolo soprani in early 1900s italy, standard concert instrument