Accordian Kareoke

Our family was enjoying a leisurely afternoon at la playa near el Castillo in Sabinillas, Spain the other day.  It was a fun beach, although I’ve seen much better.  The surf was relatively calm as it broke over a mixture of small pebbles and course sand.  On one end of the beach there was a short outcropping of crustacean encrusted rocks that interested the girls as they searched for tiny, sea creatures with their pink and green “fishing” nets (they look like butterfly nets to me…but what do I know about these things).  My kids had advised me earlier that this highly specialized fishing tackle is only found in the finest surf shops, souvenir stores, Chinese bazaars and las tiendas on the beach boardwalk (next to the ubiquitous florescent foam “noodles”).  Does anyone ever actually catch a fish with these flimsy things?  Hours and hours of effort from the girls, and nothing.  Anglers must be born optimists.  Always thinking about the “one that got away” and how they’ll catch it next time!  Of course there is something more profound here to learn…enjoying the process and experience of fishing…not the actual result…but I’ll save that for another blog entry.

After a couple hours of the kids diligently chasing the elusive marine life, we retired to el chiringuito (the beach bar) Andres y Maria for some much deserved, cold refreshments and a bite to eat.  The waiter promptly served 2 cold cervezas and 2 Fantas limón.  Then the “band” started.  Accordion music (kinda)…and it was loud!  In my opinion the accordion should be limited exclusively for use in Germany and Austria where the polka (oompah, oompah) reigns supreme.  Fetch me my lederhosen!  I digress. Accordion music does not belong in the soundtrack of my daydreams as I lounge on the beach in Spain while tossing back a frosty one and pondering the palm fronds gently swaying in the salty, Mediterranean breeze.  It was a case of cultural collision for me.

But that’s not even the worst of it.  The “musician” supposedly “playing” the instrument was plugged into some new fangled, electronic karaoke machine designed specifically for the accordionist.  And he had the dial turned all the way to the pre-recorded, digital songs with full percussion accompaniment.  His fingers weren’t actually manipulating any of the ivory keys.  It sounded like some tinny, thumpy, post-modern electronica mixed by a cheap Casio keyboard found in the basement bedroom of an acne faced teenager laying down a new track.  Are you kidding me!?!  Who in their right mind actually spent time and money to develop, manufacture and sell a karaoke machine for the accordion enthusiast?  It must be a huge, emerging market that I am simply not in tune with.  Great idea – need to write a business plan for my next pitch to the venture capitalists.

I consider myself to be a good tipper and appreciate the effort and practice that goes into many street performers’ acts.  But, when this pretender came through the bar with his hat in hand for a donation…I couldn’t even bring myself to look the guy in the eye, let alone give him 1€.

P.S. I’m not being fair to the fine man in the picture!  He’s a real accordion player we heard on el paseo (promenade) in old town Málaga, Spain a couple nights later.  I belatedly needed a picture for this blog entry.