At the Cotati Accordion Festival we are weighted heavily each year in solo acts and some duos. However, in order to display our multicultural ethos, and to get people up out of their chairs and moving to the music, we present some big bands. These are not big bands from the swing era, with a dozen different musical instruments, but large bands nonetheless.
This year we will be including bands playing in styles that include jazz, Russian, Nicaraguan folk, western, Klezmer, polka, zydeco, Forro, Italian, Latino, rock and more. Five of our bands are an example of how we jump from genre to genre. Folaeda Forro will be bringing us a great Brazilian sound while Hernandez Hideaway will show us how rock can meet Klezmer. The Steve Balich Band will be playing classic polka while Mariposa Del Alma will be bringing a big time Latino sound to the stage, fronted by three Latina singers/sisters from Oakland, Ca. Finally , its the Mad Maggies who bring rock to the stage that gets your body moving and excitement levels rising.
The Mad Maggies are a mainstay at the festival, fronted by Maggie Martin on her featured accordion. The Mags are “hard to describe but easy to love”. It is really hard explaining what is happening up on that stage when they start rolling. Let’s just say its several different genres thrown in the face of rock and the end result is a ball of excitement with instinctual body movement.
Whether it be polka, Forro, Klezmer, Conjunto, rock or Sourdough yodeling, we like to say at the festival that there is something for everyone. I think that mission is what brings us all together and what creates the joy at our event.
