Out of the Closet

This chapter traces some diverse aspects of the accordion's current popularity that have yet to come to light: the San Francisco neo-vaudeville scene; the accordion festival phenomenon with its emphasis on the ludic, participatory aspects of accordion playing; and Internet-based accordion communities. It explores the rise of festivals and organizations, which became focal points for diversity and provided the accordion scene with a core identity. The chapter also considers a renewed interest in learning to play folk and traditional music, workshop participation, and accordion collecting and the material culture of the accordion. The chapter concludes with reflections on the cultural work the accordion has been doing in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries—embracing the idea of “difference” and recapturing genres, cultures, and repertoires that were previously marginalized in the accordion world.