Last weekends Eastbourne Accordion Festival took place at the Queens Hotel on the seafront, and was well organised and supported. The organizers were Jackie and John Romero.

The opening concert began with spots by Harry Hussey and Gennaro Fiondella, after which Jack Emblow and Tony Compton performed two lengthy sets of jazz standards. The following morning Emblow and Compton returned to play more music and to take questions about their careers and influences, how they improvise, create harmonies, etc. They also took the opportunity to pay tribute to the late Art Van Damme, cited as a major influence.

Italy's Mauro Carra appeared twice in concert, on Saturday and Sunday evenings, giving outstanding performances of Italian and French musette music, and some classical and jazz pieces. There were also two concert performances by London accordionist Romano Viazzani, one of which was a demonstration of the new Roland FR7X digital accordion.

Other accordionists performing during the festival included Alan Young, Gennaro Fiondella, Harry Hussey, Harvey Sharpe and Roman Volushchuk. The Saturday evening concert was followed by a lively Scottish ceilidh to the music of Harvey Sharpe – accordion, and Alan Young – piano. Harry Hussey and Alan Young led jam busking sessions.

Workshops included ‘Orchestra’ and ‘Playing Bel Viso’ - Gennaro Fiondella, and ‘Playing By Ear’ – Trevani. The trade show included The Accordion Shop, Trevani, Birmingham Accordion Centre, and Rob Howard’s ‘An A to Z of the Accordion’ 4-volume series of books.

The next festival is set for October 8th to 11th, at the Langham Hotel, Eastbourne.

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