Accordion Eulogies

March 4, 2024
In this poignant blend of personal and cultural history, Álvarez (Spirit Run) traces the roots of the accordion in an attempt to understand his estranged grandfather. Growing up in Yakima, Wash., all Álvarez knew for sure about his grandfather was that he brought his family to the United States from Mexico, abandoned them when Álvarez’s father was a child, and played the accordion. As an adult, Álvarez also learned to play the instrument, and set out across the U.S. to speak with accordion players and manufacturers in order to “retrace his steps and revive the spirit of the accordion in our family.” In Boston, New Orleans, and other cities, Álvarez learned of the accordion’s mechanical quirks and ties to oppressed communities worldwide, including Black Creoles and the Indigenous peoples of Mexico. His investigation led him back to his ancestral corner of Mexico, where he reconnected with his ailing grandfather in a meeting that ultimately left him cold. “I didn’t gain that much form my short encounter with my grandfather,” Álvarez writes. “But I am thankful for the person I grew into during my crazy pursuit of this idea of a grandfather.” With its rigorous curiosity and emotional vulnerability, Álvarez’s account makes a strong case that the journey is more important than the destination. Agent: Rebecca Gradinger, Fletcher & Co.

November 22, 2024

After writing Spirit Run, his first memoir, �lvarez became a father and found himself keen to pass on his family's patrilineal stories to his son. Here, he describes his odyssey to connect with his grandfather Eulogio's accordion-based musical heritage, make sense of his father Huicho's loner tendencies, and find himself in the process. Learning from accordion players and manufacturers across the country, �lvarez weaves European tales into South and Central American folklore and links each side of the Mississippi to the Deep South. With the help of an aunt in Texas, �lvarez realizes his Michoac�n grandfather was both a reprobate and a trickster, which shreds his romantic notions of the man. By the tale's end, it is his love of norte�o music that ties up loose ends across the �lvarez generations. Taking the audiobook listener along for a metaphorical ride, Asa Siegel's convincing narration reenacts in reverse the �lvarez family's migration to the U.S. and unflinchingly conjures up the ghosts that are part and parcel of this musical and personal journey. VERDICT A moving ballad exploring familial and cultural legacies, with Mexican corrido music at its core. Tragic, mournful, and melodious, all at once.--Sharon Sherman

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