The adventures of an accordion ‘King’

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Still image of Manuel Vega in the Hohner studios of Germany.

It’s a Colombo-German road trip movie of accordions and the aspirations of one music ensemble to reach the pinnacle of vallenato stardom: the stage of Francisco “El Hombre” of Valledupar’s legendary vallenato festival. For sixteen years, the film’s protagonist, Manuel Vega, has been trying to win the most coveted accordion music festival in Colombia: the Leyend of the Vallenato. But fame has eluded him; and as the years pass, more ‘Kings’ are crowned in the Plaza Alfonso López Michelsen.

One red-letter day, however, an invitation arrives in the Valley of Upar, for Manuel and his troubadours to perform alongside another musical legend: the Hohner Accordion Orchestra. Based at the German musical instrument maker’s headquarters in Trossingen, Germany, Manuel Vega, decides to cross an ocean and arrives in the heart of the Schwarzwald, the Black Forest, and birthplace of the ‘Corona’ accordion. After an historic performance at Hohner, Manuel Vega’s musical fortune suddenly changes and upon his return to the cradle of Colombian vallenato, the talented musician decides the time may have come to become the ‘King’ of the keyboard.

Produced with the support of the Magdalena University, the Hamburg / Schleswig-Holstein Film Fund and the Secretary of Culture of the City of Hamburg, the ‘The journey of the accordion’ was released last year in Germany to rave reviews. Directed by filmmakers Rey Sagbini (b.1972, Colombia) and Andrew Tucker (b.1979, Australia) “The journey of the accordion” is an emotionally charged feature film, which makes its debut in Colombia, May 14th.

Having studied as classmates in Hamburg, Sagbini and Tucker, came across the idea of telling the story of vallenatero Manuel Vega after they visited the Hohner Accordion Orchestra in Trossingen. Thinking at first that it would make for a short movie, once they met musician Vega and his group back in Colombia, they were so impressed by the story that they decided to turn their short into a full-length feature. Filming took place over four years.

‘The journey of the accordion’ was first screened in Colombia  in 2013 during the Cartagena Film Festival and where it won the Audience Award. It was then invited to tour the world at prestigious film festivals.

The musical history of Colombia is inextricably linked to the accordion as this instrument accidentally arrived on these shores in the late 19th century after a shipment destined for tango in Buenos Aires turned up in the port of Barranquilla. Costeños quickly embraced the misplaced ‘Corona’ and more than a century later vallenato is a sound, which characterizes much of Colombia’s rich musical heritage. For director Rey Sagbini, vallenato was in his veins as he grew up in Valledupar not far from the stage of Francisco “El Hombre.” When hearing vallenato, the Colombian movie director felt a deep connection to his native soil and stories of handed down through generations of unrequited love and the infamous musical duel between “Francisco” and the devil in which “Francisco” won.

Having grown up in Germany, Andrew Tucker, felt the accordion was as much about marching bands as it was about beer gardens. If played by sailors in taverns along the Elbe, it was only when Tucker first came to Colombia in 2000, that the musical instrument took on a whole new persona. It was no longer melancholic, nor militaristic. In the hands of Colombia’s vallenato virtuoso, it was majestic. The story of one man and his music is at the heart of ‘The journey of the accordion’. A compelling movie which eloquently speaks  of what  it means to dream, to travel, and put Colombia on the world’s musical map. In as much as “Francisco” won over the devil, ‘The journey of the accordion’ should win over audiences.

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