Very nice playing by this accordionist. He is actually playing a 5 row continental chromatic accordion.
The diatonic button accordions are usually 2 rows, 3 rows a lot of the time. The diatonic accordion is used a lot in Irish traditional music. The difference of the diatonic accordions are, each button will sound 2 different notes when you push and pull the bellows in or out, similar to a harmonica (blow and suck). The continental chromatic 5 row (and 4 rows in France sometimes) produces ONE note per button (the same as the piano accordion on each key). The 5 row accordion can have up to 102 buttons on the Righthand and 120 bass buttons similar to PA on Lefthand. It's RH keyboard layout is much more complex than the diatonic and difficult to play, but when mastered, the player can handle more complex music from classical to French musette.
Just saying.
Mockie ... thank you for that information ... I learned something new today ... I never gave it much thought but I figured a button accordion was a button accordion - I was unaware there was a difference ...
My grandfather played a what must have been a small, two row, diatonic accordion, because I remember that the same button produced two different sounds when the bellows was pulled or pushed ...
Thanks, Tony, for the Ludovic video. He is great on his CBA, but I did not expect to hear what the young Hispanic player was doing on a 3 row diatonic accordion. With limited notes (diatonic not chromatic), things can be pretty diffcult to play. That's why they have a number of instruments in different keys much like the diatonic harmonica.
Another thing is that many of the Conjunto musicians play by ear. That might come handy for them when it comes to improvisation.
And thank you as well, Torch, for I did not know about the diatonic accordions coming in different keys ...
When I heard Ludovic with the Django tribute band he just blew me away ... in fact, that whole group is made up of excellent musicians ... it was a shame that they appeared on one of the smaller stages at the Newport jazz Festival and were not heard and appreciated by enough people ...
We happened to speak with one of the producers of the Newport Jazz Festival after their performance and told him that group should be on the main stage real soon ....