Hannah James & Tuulikki Bartosik
Album: Chatterbox
Label: Rootbeat
Tracks: 12
Website: http://www.rootbeatrecords.com

As a huge fan of accordions, I can appreciate the idea of two fine accordion players coming together and merging different cultures together to form a wonderful album. This of course is not always going to work, sometimes partnerships don't always click.

I am very happy to say that in the case of Hannah James and Tuulikki Bartosik that they click amazingly and have created a gem of an album that I think will be near on impossible to top in the accordion world.

The tunes used on the album come from a wide variety of sources, mostly Scandinavian in origin but with some nice original compositions thrown into the mix too. What we have presented to us feels a little like a world beer festival, little bits to whet your appetite.

We get traditional tunes like 'Karelian' from Finland, but these ladies have also been sure to reward their listeners with original songs like 'Mias Polska' just to make sure fans of the accordion have plenty to sample. There is fast, slow and everything in between (such as 'Walk of the Naughty Accordions' - extra points for a brilliant name).

There is not a monopoly of instrumental either, 'Lonesome Woods' gives us a great sample of vocals too as Hannah enchants us with her soothing voice. Equally Tuulikki presents us with a mysterious vocal sound to give you goose bumps.

For me one of the best on the album is 'Ellin Polkka'. This track really storms right through and you can feel unbelievable energy flowing from it.

A wonderful celebration of accordions.

Paul Rawcliffe