Accordion Tribe - Lunghorn Twist

2006 is the 10th anniversary of the Accordion Tribe, a collective of five of the world's most distinctive and innovative contemporary accordionists: Bratko Bibic (Slovenia), Lars Hollmer (Sweden), Maria Kalaniemi (Finland), Guy Klucevsek (USA) and Otto Lechner (Austria). Individually, they are celebrated locally and internationally as adventurers in classical, jazz, folk and avant-garde music circles. Collectively, they have created a multi-dimensional new vehicle for accordion music exploration and entertainment, featuring solos and combinations, new compositions and collaborative arrangements. Accordion Tribe have recently enjoyed greater exposure with the release of the award winning documentary film Accordion Tribe - Music Travels.

April 28th sees the release of the third Accordion Tribe album, Lunghorn Twist. Recorded in Lars Hollmer’s Chickenhouse studio, Uppsala, Sweden in November 2005, “Lunghorn Twist” showcases the band at their most adventurous and eclectic. The five musicians convened with almost twenty new pieces, some in completed form, others in raw state. The band chemistry kicked in immediately upon arriving to the studio and the music gushed forth for ten days, taking unexpected twists, turns and directions. Over seventy minutes of music was eventually produced from the sessions. Lars Hollmer, in a super-human effort, spent over one month assembling, editing, mixing and preparing the album for final release. The result is the band’s most challenging, compelling and brain-contorting music to date. In “Lunghorn Twist”, the distinctive personality of each musician is clearly heard while various mixtures of personalities and styles in many of the pieces opens new windows to accordion exploration, in composition, arrangement and performance. The Accordion Tribe hereby presents one of the most fascinating, engaging and enjoyable accordion albums in the history of the instrument.

Career history:

The Tribe first converged in May 1996 for their first highly successful three week European tour followed by the international CD release (Intuition) of their first album, “Accordion Tribe”, the best of the live material from those eighteen concerts. In May 1998, the Tribe reconvened at the internationally known Musique Actuelle Festival in Victoriaville, Canada, where they received rave acclaim.

November 2001 saw the release of the first Accordion Tribe studio recording, conceived at Lars Hollmer’s legendary Chicken House studios in Uppsala, Sweden. Released internationally by Intuition in spring 2002, “Sea of Reeds” received positive reviews all over Europe and in USA. The Tribe embarked on their second European tour in autumn 2002 followed by a third European tour in 2004.

Simultaneously with the Sea of Reeds recording and the 2002 tour was the filming of a full length feature film about the Accordion Tribe, produced by Maximage of Zurich, directed by Stephan Schwietert. The film, entitled Music Travels, was released in spring 2005, instantly receiving three awards: Swiss ART TV - Best Film of the Year, Swiss Film Prize - Best Documentary, Wurzburg Film Festival - Best Documentary. Music Travels was released on DVD in Switzerland in summer 2005.

Accordion Tribe re-entered Hollmer’s Chickenhouse Studios in November 2005 for the recording of their third album, “Lunghorn Twist”. The result is in your hands now.