Andrej Toplišek’s first independent Oberkrainer album after his time with Okrogli Muzikantje (Runden Oberkrainer) was a LP called “Postkarte aus Slowenien” which he released in 2019. I wrote about it then (linked here), simply because it was the first time in years that I’ve been so excited about a new album in the Narodnozabavna and […]
I’m very grateful to have been offered the opportunity to contribute to Denis Novato’s second book, published by Musikverlag Bogner in Germany. This book contains 10 Novato compositions, in both Griffschrift notation for Steirische Harmonika (diatonic button accordion) by Hubert Klausner (zillertal-noten.at) and standard notation for accordion by myself. It is accompanied by a CD
Denis Novato sheet music book #2 Read More »
Last year I purchased an intriguing accordion from willhaben.at, a second hand Alpin IIIC by O.R.A Castelfidardo, whose only label on the instruments reads “Harmonikafabrik O.R.A”. (Shoutout to the seller Roman, who was very transparent and helpful during the sale, and my friend Klemens who visited Roman and provided videos for me 🙋♂️👋.) Several things
Uncovering information on the rare O.R.A Alpin piano accordions Read More »
For a brief historical explanation of the technique and a video on how to use this technique in polkas, click on the article below. Waltzes in the Oberkrainer accordion rhythm technique (Slo: tresanje or spremljavo, Ger: begleitung) involve playing chords in quavers (eighth notes) repeatedly and smoothly in 3/4 time, with no bellow shaking. Below
Slovenian ‘Oberkrainer’ accordion rhythm technique for waltzes Read More »
If you’re new to Slovenian popular folk music (from Slovenia) or American-Slovenian style polkas (from North America), you might get confused between the two (I sure did), so in this post I try to clear it up with the sort of information I’d love to have had available several years ago.
Slovenian popular folk ‘Oberkrainer’ vs. American-Slovenian ‘Cleveland style’ Read More »
In the 1960s-1970s several editions of sheet music books with Boris Frank’s compositions with lyrics were published under the title “Ali že igraš” (Are you already playing). This 3rd edition contains the following songs, all arrangements of traditional Slovenian folk songs: “Hiš’ca ob cest’ stoji”, “Uspavanka”, “Vandrovček“, “Tam na vrtni gredi“. All songs were released
Boris Frank – Ali že igraš #3 [Book scan] Read More »
