At the recent Frankfurt Musikmesse in Germany, Italian accordion manufacturer Scandalli produced for the first time in its history, a bandoneon.

Bandoneon has a long history, starting from 1840, and during that time, some history books claim that more than 100 different layouts of bandoneon have been created.

Nowadays the only system used by Argentineans to play tango is the Rheinische Tonlage (Rheinische pitch), also called Argentinean system.

This bisonoric system (sometimes called “diatonic”) has 142 notes, 38 buttons in the right side and 33 buttons in the left side with 2 reeds tuned in octave (like 8+4 registers in accordion). The new Scandalli bandoneon is made in Rheinische system with five extra notes, so the final range is with 152 notes, 39+37 buttons.

Scandalli is also planning to make the unisonoric model (sometimes called “chromatic”), better known as “Peguri system”, that is often considered the favorite system by accordion players.

One of the most important features is that nearly all traditional bandoneons have zinc plates, and the Scandalli bandoneon uses the same material. The instrument is completely handmade using different high quality woods, although the most used is Palisander in order to get the typical warm and deep sound of the old bandoneon.

For Scandalli, the “bandoneon project” is not only a new model. It also represents the “meeting point” between skilled artisans and designers and a great musician, who worked together for several months in order to achieve the “highest level bandoneon”.

Thanks to the outstanding musical, technical and artistic competence of Aleksandar Nikolic, well known teacher, bandoneonist and leader of the famous Beltango Quintet, for his part in developing this bandoneon product. Picture below of Aleksandar Nikolic performing on the new instrument at the Frankfurt Musikmesse.

Autore: Gianluca Bibiani

Gianluca Bibiani ha scritto 1222 articoli.

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