The Accordion in the 19th Century - Gorka Hermosa

entitled Accordion Essay: The Touching Story of George Washington`s Boyhood
(1867). [120, 121, 122, 123, 124]
Fig. 105: John Kimmel 204 . Fig. 106: Photograph of Fig. 107: Mark Twain 205
R.N. Keely (c.1846) 206 .
COLOMBIA:
The first known accordionist was
Francisco Moscote (1848-1953); he was
also a singer and composer of numberless
songs. He created the vallenato style. [40,
89, 298, 419]
ARGENTINA: Fig. 108: Francisco Moscote 207 .
Around 1852, the accordion started to be used to perform marches on the ships
of the Argentinian navy, to that date, the notes of the National Anthem and other
marches had been sung a capella [141]. The Afroamerican José Santa Cruz (circa 1860-?)
was a pioneer of Argentinian folk, performing polkas and mazurkas (basic rhythms of
the chamamé) at the accordion. Later on, he replaced the accordion for the bandoneon
and he was the father of the well-known bandoneon player Domingo Santa Cruz (1884-
?). [40, 227, 299]
BRAZIL:
German immigrants introduced the accordion in 1845; its presence was
noteworthy among the 2000 German soldiers who disembarked in 1851 in Brazil, hired
to fight the Argentinian dictator Manuel Rozas. When the war finished, many of these
soldiers stayed in Brazil, making the accordion popular in these lands. The first
documented mention of the traditional Brazilian accordion (sanfona de 8 baixos) is
from 1875, when an instrument with eight basses was introduced by Italian immigrants.
In the south of the country, the accordion started to settle at the end of the 19 th c. as solo
204 Photograph taken from the CD Virtuoso of the Irish accordion John Kimmel (1980). Fig. taken from:
http://www.worldmusicstore.com/virtuosooftheirishaccordion1980johnkimmelcd.aspx
205 Fig. taken from: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Twain
206 One of the first photographs of an accordion. It was taken in Philadelphia (USA). Fig. taken from:
http://www.musurgia.com/products.asp?ProductID=2304&CartID=5219402222009
207 Fig. taken from: http://wwwpartacordeon.blogspot.com/2011/02/biografia-de-grandes-acordeoneros.html
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