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ACCORDIONISTS REUNITE FOR A FINE TIME WITH LUCILLE
Rancho Santa Margarita Teacher Keeps
Things Squeezin’ With Former Students
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9/21/2009 : Costa Mesa, CA--Lucille Camatti has had a front row seat in the rise, decline and resurgence of the accordion. For 30 years, she ran Camatti’s Accordion Studio in Downey, a school where hundreds of students learned to play the accordion from 1952 through the mid-1980s.
During much of that time, Camatti led her students each year to the Western States Accordion Festival, an annual event in Long Beach. However, as her students got older and “interest in the accordion began to wane in the wake of Beatlemania,” Camatti said, the studio was closed.
Camatti, a child prodigy who began studying the accordion at age 5, was performing regularly by age 7 on southern California radio with such numbers as Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Flight of the Bumble Bee.” Aram Khachaturian’s “Sabre dance,” and many other challenging numbers.
In 1955 Camatti was a founding member of the Western States Accordion Festival, a predecessor of today’s Accordion Federation of North America. Her students over the years won many competitions including one, Donna Massey, who won the coveted Festival Queen competition.
After Camatti’s studio closure many of her students put down the accordion and didn’t play again or even think about it until they came together for the Studio’s 50th Anniversary Reunion in 2002. More than 80 of her former students, drawn from nine states, showed up at a reunion at Camatti’s Rancho Santa Margarita home
“It was a blast, and it sparked a renewed interest in playing together again,” she said. “The only concern was, with a couple of exceptions, no one had played their accordion seriously for the past 40 years.”
Undaunted by any kind of rustiness, Camatti and seven of her former students launched the Reunion Accordion Ensemble in 2003. The eight member group continues to perform and will be one of the featured bands at “The Big Squeeze, “ the 1st Orange County Accordion Festival on Sunday, October 11 held in conjunction with the Orange County Market Place, the weekend swap meet at the fairgrounds in Costa Mesa.
The ensemble includes, aside from Camatti, Massey, the former Festival Queen, who lives in Huntington Beach; Dale Hardeman of Rancho Santa Margarita, Bill Sinner of Huntington Beach, Bob Dietsch of Crestline, Mark Deiley and Mary Lynn Blucker of Rancho Cucamonga and Tiah Barrow of Palmdale.
They appear in authentic German garb, including dresses for the four women and lederhosen for the four men, and also perform authentic German dances.
While the ensemble plays a wide range of music—from classical pieces arranged for the accordion to pop standards, they will stick to German polkas at The Big Squeeze when they perform at 2 p.m. and 3 p.m..“
While Camatti had played accordion in the years following the closing of her studio at Oktoberfests and school functions, she didn’t see much of a broader audience for the music she grew up playing. However, she feels that is gradually changing.
“Most people just don’t realize how incredibly versatile the instrument is,” she said. “Without even realizing it, they hear accordion sound tracks in countless movies and TV shows. Even Neil Diamond’s band used an accordion in his recent “Hot August Night/NYC” performance. I’m never surprised to see notable rock bands having an accordionist step in to play certain licks in rock, jazz and blues.
“The accordion is like diamonds: it is forever and, though people may not know it, there are more accordion students now than when my studio was in full swing.”
See for yourself, when the Reunion Ensemble, along with more than 40 other accordionists and musicians, ranging in ages 8 to 91 showcase a variety of music styles on four stages to demonstrate the squeeze box’s versatility and cross cultural appeal including Cajun, zydeco, folk, jazz, gypsy, French, German, tango, Russian, Tex-Mex, Latin, blues, rock and much more.
The Festival, which runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., also includes free dance lessons and a section for music related and specialty vendors along with the regular base of Market Place vendors, food operations and other attractions.
Though the talent is rich, the Accordion Festival will not put a squeeze on your wallet. All activities including entrance to the swap meet are included in the price of Market Place admission, which is $2 or FREE with a canned food item to help the Orange County Food Bank. Children 12 and under are free. A complete schedule for “The Big Squeeze” is available at the website www.ocmarketplace.com.
All attendees will have the opportunity to win a FREE Hohner Bravo 48 II accordion donated by Hohner USA. Free sign ups to win the accordion, which is ideal for beginners, will be available from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Big Squeeze information booth. The winner, who must be present to win, will be announced at 2:30 p.m.
In its 40th year the Orange County Market Place is held every weekend (except during the Orange County Fair) at the O.C. Fair and Event Center in Costa Mesa. Hours are 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. More information on these events may be obtained by visiting www.ocmarketplace.com. or calling 949-723-6660.
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