Recommendations of the Editorial team
Episode 283
It is urgently time to focus on the essentials and talk about the instrument of the year.
In 2025, on the instructions of the State Music Council responsible for the award, the human voice took this place. Back then, I actually wanted to write a column about how much I regret that crooked singing has gone out of fashion in popular music and that masterpieces of erratic intonation like Neil Young’s “Tonight’s The Night” or “In A Priest Driven Ambulance” by the Flaming Lips have become unthinkable today.
But then I just forgot about it, like so many things. This must be avoided in 2026, which is why this year’s instrument should be applauded at this point with unbridled confetti throwing. Ladies and gentlemen: The accordion! You can also say hand piano, pull organ, Quetschebüggel (Rhenish) or, as in Austria, Quetschn. Note: An instrument is only as good as it is said to be in Austria.
I have a very good relationship with the accordion; my father, an entertainment musician, chose it as his regular instrument and also happily played the accordion at home. The sound of the
Squeeze chest is therefore part of my existential matrix. Thankfully, my father’s program was not folkloric in nature, he preferred playing orchestral evergreens like “Red Roses For A Blue Lady”.
Perhaps it is thanks to this influence that I have a relatively large number of records lying around on which the instrument plays a key role, including works by The Band, They Might Be Giants, Grace Jones, Los Lobos, Bob Dylan, Kofelgschroa and Tom Waits. If the accordion experiences a surge in popularity as a result of its acclaim this year and is suddenly squeezed, pulled and its bellows pumped everywhere, that would have my blessing.
And now the bongo please!
As far as the instrument of the year 2027 is concerned, I would be happy if the State Music Council chose the bongo. Since it is to be expected that my wish will not go completely unheard, I would like to rain showers of my bongo knowledge down on the interested audience of readers in advance: The drum used in pairs comes from Cuba, the larger of the two is called Hembra (female), the smaller one is called Macho (male), which alone should cause enthusiasm.
The last popular act to prominently use the instrument was the Safri Duo, whose success in the early noughties can be seen as an indication that times have always been strange. Curtis Mayfield (“Move On Up”, “Pusherman”), Santana and the Rolling Stones (“Sympathy For The Bongo”) produced much more uplifting music with plenty of hembra and macho.
Famous bongo players are rare: Ray Cooper, who rapped around in “A Horse With No Name” by America, later earned the name “Mad Ray Cooper” because of his expressive stage behavior as a touring musician for solid virtuosos such as Sting, Phil Collins and Eric Clapton. Michael Carabello, who provided percussion duties in the early Santana incarnation, is the only member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame whose primary instrument is the bongo. A disgraceful state of affairs that could only be changed by being voted Instrument of the Year.
Anyone who says: “That’s all well and good, but where can I get as much bongo as possible for my money?” I recommend that you buy the recording “Bongolia” by the Incredible Bongo Band, a wonderful album to clarify your relationship to the instrument once and for all.
Sensitive minds should be warned: after listening to it just once, your head will still be spinning for days.
