Lars Hollmer

In the years since Lars Hollmer first got together with his friends to play music in late-'60s Sweden, it seems unlikely that his primary goal has been rock stardom. For one thing, there is his choice of instruments, with the accordion looming large among them. Although certain accordionists have over the years acquired a hipster cachet, from the internationally acclaimed nuevo tango master Astor Piazzolla through renowned but lesser-known squeezeboxers like New York City denizens Guy Klucevsek (a Hollmer collaborator in Accordion Tribe) and Andrea Parkins, the accordion probably suffers from the lingering images of Lawrence Welk polka shtick, provoking snickers from the narrow-minded who remain clueless about how forward-thinking, and indeed radical and revolutionary, accordion music can be.



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