The Icelandic connection - 01.12.2020, Síða 45

Vol. 71 #4
ICELANDIC CONNECTION
187
our household probably around the later
part of the depression.
He was a Swedish immigrant and he
had learned to play with an orchestra. He
was more kid friendly, and he wanted to
teach me. He taught me to chord on the
harmonika and on the piano too. A very
nice man and very artistic, as you could
imagine with both wood and metal. He
also taught me how to chord on the piano
and pick out a tune and how to effectively
play the harmonika. Then as time went
on, I took the harmonika out to fishing
camps. They were most appreciative when
I pulled it out and played a few tunes.
Usually the environment it was in was
not ideal for a harmonika, no temperature
control, too damp at times, too hot but
most of the time in winter it was far too
dry. Somehow it endured, I can’t believe
how the bellows on the accordion would
be able to stand up to it to this very
day with some patching, for they were
a paper product with a fancy design. It
remained playable and the notes have
been amazingly true. It is noteworthy
that I twice took the accordion into
Winnipeg about 50 years ago. There were
two main accordion repair places and
neither one could help me because the
bellows were not available in the right
size for this accordion. They didn’t have
the right size so they just said, “Nope we
can’t do a thing for you”, and that was
it. It was unfortunate because if I could
have gotten them to fix it up at that time
it would still be in really fine shape. But
that is just the way the cookie crumbles!
When I first went out to the fish
camp for the winter which would be
around four months usually. Then I would
take the harmonika along, it seemed to
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