Although it is still a rather minuscule group playing the accordion in Hong Kong, the instrument’s fan base is growing slowly but steadily. Neil Li finds out more from the pros. 

Ukrainian-born Nazar Tabachyshyn is one of the few music conservatory-trained professional accordionists in Hong Kong. (CALVIN NG / CHINA DAILY)

During Hong Kong’s manufacturing heyday, industrial buildings were full of factories and workshops, churning out products that were exported all over the world. The manufacturers have since moved out of Hong Kong, and the spaces once occupied by them turned into chic offices, spacious art studios, and abundant music rehearsal spaces.

Inside one of these gritty behemoths, you might be greeted by classical piano notes flowing down from one hallway, and heavy-metal guitar riffs booming from another. But in one particular building in San Po Kong, you will be treated to the truly unique sounds of the accordion.

Hong Kong musician Jonathan Tam traveled to Castelfidardo, Italy, to learn the fine art of accordion repair from master craftsmen. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Setting up shop

Jonathan Tam set up the Hong Kong Accordion Store in the summer of 2019. It wasn’t planned. He had recently moved back to the city from abroad and was looking for an accordion teacher so that he could continue learning to play the instrument.

Soon he realized that there weren’t that many accordion teachers in the city to choose from. He was beginning to consider the possibility of bringing experienced and well-trained accordion teachers from overseas to teach the instrument in Hong Kong. And then he met the Ukrainian accordionist and teacher Nazar Tabachyshyn through friends. 

“Nazar told me that he was thinking of starting his own music school in the city, which I thought was a good idea, and so we decided to open the shop together,” Tam said. 

“In Hong Kong, it’s not easy to find someone who graduated from a music conservatory with a focus on the accordion like Nazar has,” he added.

Sean Wong points out the importance of banding together and sharing of resources between members of the tiny community of accordion players in Hong Kong. (CALVIN NG / CHINA DAILY)

Tam’s interest in the accordion began in 2014 when he was studying in New Zealand. At the time, he would fix and tune pianos on the side. One day, a friend asked Tam if he could try repairing his broken accordion. Tam had never seen the instrument before. It seemed like a challenge worth taking up. 

“It turned out to be very difficult to fix, as the structure of an accordion is so different from other instruments,” Tam said. 

It took him almost a month to fix, but by the time he completed the task, having researched the instrument online, Tam was hooked to the accordion.

Afterward, he bought used accordions to learn to play and repair them by himself. His fascination with the instrument took him in 2018 to Castelfidardo, Italy, known as the epicenter of accordions and their builders, where he could study accordion repair from manufacturers.

“During my time in Italy, I met many accordion enthusiasts from around the world and realized that there actually weren’t too many people who were properly trained to repair accordions,” Tam said. 

Today, his shop receives a monthly average of four accordions that need repairs, and around a dozen inquiries about lessons as well as purchasing accordions. While these numbers might not sound that impressive when compared with the status enjoyed by more well-known instruments, Tam was pleasantly surprised by the number of “hidden” accordion players in the city. 

An accordion can produce the sounds of several instruments, including the flute, bassoon and organ. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

An instrument like no other

Like Tam, Sean Wong first came across the accordion while studying overseas in 2009. He would watch buskers in France play the instrument. Wong loved the light-hearted and happy atmosphere that accordion performances were able to conjure up, and he wished Hong Kong could get some of that atmosphere. After his return to the city later that year, Wong began taking accordion lessons as well as learning via the internet.

Wong said one of the most interesting features of the accordion is its distinct sounds. While most musical instruments can produce only a particular type of sound, the accordion can produce the sounds of several instruments, such as the flute, bassoon and even organ, by selecting the corresponding register switches on the instrument. “It can sound like an entire orchestra all by itself,” he said.

In 2011, Wong started an accordion group, The Accordi (with the Chinese character for “people”), with a number of fellow accordion students after a busking performance they did on Christmas Eve was a hit with the audience. 

“None of us had any busking experience, but we saw that the audience really enjoyed listening to the accordion. That is what led us to form the group as we wanted to share our love for the accordion and its beautiful music with more people,” he said.

Since then, the group, which consists of 13 members, many with full-time jobs, continues to busk every Christmas as well as perform occasional gigs and mini-concerts.

Wong believes the relative lack of interest in the accordion in Hong Kong is because one doesn’t get to hear much of the instrument in the city. A dedicated accordion concert or recital is rare in Hong Kong. And if students are looking to learn a music instrument in school, not too many have an accordion available for them to try. “How can you know if you are interested in something if you don’t even know it exists?” he said.

The COVID-19 pandemic has certainly made it harder for the group to give performances or even practice together. However, Wong continues to create new accordion arrangements for songs and shares them with the other members to practice by themselves.

“Especially for a less-common instrument like the accordion, I think it is very important for those who are interested in it to be able to find others and play and learn together. It makes the experience even more enjoyable,” he said.

An accordion can produce the sounds of several instruments, including the flute, bassoon and organ. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Spreading the word

Tabachyshyn came to live in Hong Kong in 2014. He says that while more people in his native Ukraine would be familiar with the accordion compared with the numbers in Hong Kong, there might be an advantage in knowing less. 

“The accordion can easily attract people here as they think it is a ‘new’ instrument. In Europe, there are many people playing the accordion. So people there are less appreciative of it, since it is something common,” he said. 

On the flip side, “If people don’t know what the accordion is, they might be less likely to go to an accordion recital and instead choose to listen to something that they already know, say, a piano or saxophone performance.”

However, he feels excited about the instrument’s future in Hong Kong.  His students range from teenagers to adults with full-time jobs. Sometimes his neighbors who have heard him practice ask if they could come over to listen to him play.

Tabachyshyn, Tam and Wong are all optimistic about the instrument’s potential to become more popular in Hong Kong than it currently is. It’s just a matter of getting the instrument out there, they believe.

“Once you have had a chance to play the accordion, it’s hard to stop,” Wong said.