Accordions in mid-20th Century Croatia

Accordions in mid-20th Century Croatia:

ME: When you were younger, what instrument did you play? What did you do for music?

S.H.: Music, I played accordion.

ME: And what age were you when you played accordion?

S.H.: Uh, sixteen, and into twenty.

ME: Uh, did you just do it for entertainment, or did you do it for events like parties?

S.H.: For fun, but played also with groups at family parties.

ME: Thank you.

 

S.H., a Croatian immigrant, explains the sort of music he was playing in Croatia, in the 1950s and 1960s. The accordion is to this day associated with the Mediterranean regions of Southern Europe, and this is a man with a coastal island, Dalmatian background. He immigrated to America in 1970 with his wife, V.H.