Arrangers: Daniel Thonon; Edu Ugarte; Niall Vallely.
An outstanding album of accordion music from around the world, this single-disc compilation from ARC is perhaps even a rival to the much harder to find Planet Squeezebox on Ellipsis. The album centers to some degree on artists from the ARC roster, but there's a good deal of licensed material from small independent labels in the U.S. and Europe alike. The rounds begin with tango artist Hugo Diaz and a bit of nuevo tango before moving into a more subdued Macedonian piece and a work for the French diatonic accordion. Enrique Ugarte plays a nice tropical-sounding piece on a standard accordion. Mohsen Allaam (hailing from an earlier Hossam Ramzy album) adds in a piece for the Egyptian quarter tone with a nice darbukka beat, followed by a medley of Irish tunes and a medley of Bulgarian dance forms. The great Maria Kalaniemi contributes a jumping Finnish tune, and the well-known Renato Borghetti adds in a tango of sorts via Brazil. Vitaliy Bezrodnov makes the accordion hum with his dexterity and virtuosity, and Roberto Tombesi provides a piece on the diatonic with an aesthetic of the sea included. Niall Vallely provides another look at Irish tunes, and the album finishes on a bolero from Enrique Ugarte that has a bit of a haunting quality to it. Overall, it's a fine album of music on an instrument that in its various forms can evoke the full range of emotion and energy. Pick it up if you're a fan of world music in general. ~ Adam Greenberg
