By: Maya Rader
On July 21st, from 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., Bryant Park held an Accordion Festival featuring five bands, each with an accordionist. This was done to showcase the accordion in different cultures and genres.
According to the Bryant Park website, this event was held to bring attention to the “often overlooked and little-known instrument.”
The bands performed Lebanese, New Orleans blues, Brazilian, Balkan, and Colombian style music.
A giant stage and many chairs were erected on a lawn in the park. Food vendors were set up along the lawn’s side, in addition to a Bryant Park stand giving out blankets to viewers so they could sit on the grass. Hundreds of people attended.
Ksemia Weiss said that she was on her way home when she heard the music and decided to check it out. The accordion had been in her Russian family for generations, and she explained that she found it “very interesting to hear accordion used in different ways and hear different cultures of accordion music playing.”
Another attendee, David Hawks, remarked that he thought the music was “pretty good.” He was also on his way home when he heard the music and decided to stop by.
The Accordion Festival is one of the many events scheduled at Bryant Park this summer. To check out other activities at the park, go to bryantpark.org.