Through TOEAC accordions reclaim respectability

ROBYN SASSEN

The appearance of Dutch duo Renée Bekkers and Pieternel Berkers with their instruments onstage makes you feel like you are a part of a Fellini film set. Each has an enormous instrument strapped to her chest. There’s curious grotesqueness to an accordion duo.

“Maybe it’s because the accordion is so physical,” said Bekkers in an e-mail interview with the SA Jewish Report. “You really ‘carry’ it with your whole body.”

The two, born in the mid-1980s, have been collaborating since they were 14. “We grew up with our instruments and each other. And we have developed our own musical language which we speak while playing music together,” concurs Berkers.

The grotesque metaphor vanishes as soon as you hear them play. The duo, known as TOEAC, entranced South African audiences in 2010, and next week – on October 9 – they will be back.

“The classical accordion is not common in Holland or Europe. And the idea of a classical accordion duo is even more unusual,” says Bekkers, speaking of the “folksy” reputation of the instrument. She explains that accordion playing seems to be getting better press than it used to, with the new generation of performers.

“We both started the accordion because of our families,” Berker adds. “My aunt played it and so did Renée’s uncle.” They started collaborating professionally after graduating at the Conservatory of the Netherlands and the Royal Danish Academy of Music.

“We play different repertoires on different stages in South Africa. But we play parts of Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition in many of them. We made the arrangement ourselves.” They’ve just released it on CD.

“A favourite work for us both is Igor Stravinsky’s Petrushka, which we’ve arranged for two accordions. It’s beautiful and it fits accordion well as it has a ‘folksy’ sound. We like to collaborate with contemporary composers: in Holland, new work is being written for the accordion.

“One of our favourite composers in Holland is Gerard Beljon and we will play his ‘(It takes) 2 2 to Tango’ which he wrote for us. Besides this, we also play another Dutch work by Chiel Meijering and of course we play Piazzolla, who wrote for the accordion.”

After their South African visit, TOEAC perform in Holland, Moscow and Montreal; the latter will include an electronic collaboration.

“The piece, called ‘Air Sensible’ is a spatial work wherein the electronic sounds are created on the spot through the music played by two accordions. As in the act of breathing, what is taken in is retained, transformed and then, in a different form, returned. There are points where the two worlds merge into each other, removing the borders between electronic and acoustic.”

• TOEAC performs at the Hugo Lambrechts Music Centre, Cape Town on October 9; University of the Free State in Bloemfontein on October 10; Time ‘n Space Theatre, at Henley-on-Klip on October 11; Linder Auditorium, Parktown on October 12; and Unisa’s Sunnyside Campus in Pretoria on October 13.