Report from Caister-On-Sea, by Murl Allen Sanders Accordion clubs are alive and well in Great Britain. One would say thriving. At least six accordion clubs were well-represented at Caister, England for the Accordions International Caister Festival November 2005. People came from Wales, Ireland, France and Norway to attend. There were also two 50 piece accordion orchestras, one from Stockport, England and one from Lille, France. Each orchestra played wonderful arrangements and stirred the audience to wild applause. The French orchestra got a well-deserved standing ovation. (People in England do not take their standing ovations lightly!)

The Caister festival was organized by a fine, enterprising and award-winning accordionist and entrepreneur named Heather Smith and a team of folks including Gary Blair, Bert Santilly, Brian Jenkins, Peter Whiteley, Johnny Coleclough and Adrienne Sharpe. Heather has produced numerous accordion festivals in England for the past ten years. It is a credit to Heather that the Caister festival is such a successful event. Her gracious personality and networking skills have garnered her larger attendance at each event she produces. Each night at Caister there was a featured concert artist, dance music, and other accordion ensembles of note. The festival drew a vibrant crowd of 400 to 500 people for each of the four days. Most stayed on campus at Haven Holidays, a summer vacation park on the East Coast of England on the North Sea.

The closest city is Norwich and the closest big community is Great Yarmouth. People came from all over England and Scotland to attend this event. The enthusiasm is palpable. The Caister festival is billed as “The Friendly Festival” and I certainly found that to be true. The welcoming atmosphere was pervasive. People were interested in all the performers and participants. I could not walk ten yards without having a conversation with someone about accordion-related things or just the lovely weather. It was cold in Caister, but we had beautiful blue skies most days. The sandy ocean beach was grand and had an unusual sight of a giant “wind farm” of colossal windmills(20 or more) about a half mile out to sea. Ships could sail beneath and in between the huge individual windmills.

The featured artists for 2005 Caister were Giancarlo Caporilli “The Italian Wizard”, Gary Blair, the best Scottish accordionist alive, Oivind Farmen, the superb Norwegian classical player, and myself. Each day there were workshops to attend and accordion ensembles to join. One could choose from “elementary orchestra”, “intermediate orchestra”, “Scottish orchestra”, “Vintage orchestra”(playing all vintage accordions and appropriately vintage turn-of-the-20th century music), “Jazz ensemble” or the “Buskers Band”. There was no shortage of players for each group and often 30 or more per group. I chose to play with the Scottish group directed by Gary Blair and learned a tremendous amount about the articulations and bellows technique of Scottish accordion music. Each group was featured in a short performance on the last afternoon of the festival.

Everyone in attendance turned out to hear the fruits of everyone’s labor and it was quite a remarkable concert. The evening concerts were held in a large nightclub hall with a good stage and sound system. There was seating at tables for over 500 people, a large dance floor and a bar serving drinks and sandwiches. This setting made for some lively concerts that always included an hour or more of dance music which inspired many dancers to fill the floor. Giancarlo Caporrilli is a Rome native with a huge repertoire, amazing musical memory and a superb technician on accordion show pieces. Although he spoke no English, he captivated the audience with a stunning display of accordion virtuousity. Oivind Farmen is a classical accordionist of the first order and a colleague and duet partner of Jorgen Sundquist. His concert program included works by Vivaldi, Handel, Bach, his own compositions and pieces written exclusively for him. Oivind is an engaging performer with a somewhat shy, boyish appearance who delivers a masterful performance of beautiful classical accordion music played on a specially made Bayan, the European all-button accordion. His bass system is different than the usual and I will not try to describe it here other than to say the bass buttons and the treble buttons are in the same order and configuration. Oivind’s description was much more entertaining and informative.

Gary Blair is the reigning master of Scottish accordion. Although Gary is a commanding concert performer, his role at this festival was to play music for Scottish “ceilidh” dancing (teaching the dances while simultaneously playing). I marvelled at his performances which inspired ecstatic dancing and much laughter. He makes his playing look so easy (NOT!!!) and rocks so hard with so much soul that I have come to describe him as “the Marvin Gaye of Scottish Accordion”.

So many fine accordionists were at Caister that I won’t try to name them all. Just a few: Rosemary Wright, Harry Hussey, Charlie Watkins, Bert Santilly and many others. I met so many lovely people at Caister and had such a good time at the festival as well as sightseeing in England that I hope to return. My wife, Jan, and my sister, Karen, accompanied me and we all felt welcomed and treated very well. We had a swell time! If you are wanting a trip to Great Britain, I highly recommend the Caister Festival.