Bandoneón
|
Bandoneon "Cardenal" (made by ELA for Hohner) |
The
bandoneón is a
free-reed instrument particularly popular in
Argentina. It plays an essential role in the
orquesta tipica, the
tango orchestra.
|
Early bandonion, ca. 1905. |
The bandoneón, called
bandonion by its
German inventor,
Heinrich Band was originally intended as an instrument for
religious music and the
popular music of the day, in contrast to its closest cousin, the German
Concertina (or Konzertina), considered to be a folk instrument. German immigrants to Argentina brought the instrument with them in the early
twentieth century, where it was incorporated into the local music.
|
Alfred Arnold bandoneón, ca. 1949. |
Like
accordions and
concertinas, the bandoneón is played by holding the instrument between both hands and either pushing in or pulling out the instrument while simultaneously pressing one or more buttons with the fingers.
Unlike the
piano accordion, the bandoneón does not have keyboards per se, but has buttons on both sides; and also unlike the accordion, most buttons on the bandoneón produce a different note when played closing than when played opening. This means that each keyboard has actually two layouts - one for the opening notes, and one for the closing notes. Since the right and left hand keyboards are also different, this adds up to four different keyboard layouts that must be learned in order to play the instrument. There is also a difference between the notes produced on the button layout of an Argentine-tuned bandoneon versus a German-tuned one.
Additionally, none of these keyboard layouts presents a
scalar sequence of notes. A few of the adjacent buttons form
triads, for example the buttons under three adjacent fingers might sound G, B, and D when the instrument is pushed in, and F#, A, and C when it is pulled out -- an example from an Argentine-tuned bandoneon. This makes it easier to play some simple music with I-V harmony, but quite challenging to play elaborate scalar passages and runs.
The late Argentinian classicist and tango king
Ástor Piazzolla was a leading exponent of the Bandoneón.
*
Argentine Tango homepage - Includes video clip of a bandoneón player performing in San Francisco.
*
Squeezebox, an open repository of squeezebox knowledge on Wikia.
