A Song For An Old Friend 180g LP

The song of an antique accordion fills the cobble stone streets bathed in sunlight, the courtyard park as the bell tower announces the arrival of evening. Its music can also be heard throughout the verdant meadows and lush forests, among the sprawling wildflower-lined paths of the mountain villages, high up into the clear azure sky, and across all the land below. It can even be heard on the battlefield amidst cannon fire and wafting smoke, and on the hand-built stage as locals crowd around hanging on every note and applauding their approval. The instrument's perfectly preserved air box sways back and forth as nimble fingers dance across its keys, resonating like a pleasant dream. This age-worn accordion is like a poet traveling across space and time, recalling with vivid imagery times long gone but never faded, countless moments of passion, joy, sorrow, hesitation and longing.

The accordion is a free reed instrument that was invented in Berlin, Germany in 1822. Throughout the century that followed, European emigrants gradually brought it with them to all corners of all continents. During the first two World Wars, the accordion was introduced to China by Russia, first appearing in Shanghai and the northeast, then dispersing from there. After the founding of New China, the accordion, with its lively tune and ease of portability, became one of the most popular instruments of the era, and remains a fond memory among several generations of the Chinese.