For day #4 of our accordion advent calendar, we return to holiday music, but this isn’t your typical, cheery Christmas tune. Instead of Santa, Rudolph, or Jack Frost, we’ve got an alcoholic gambler and his heroin addict wife hurling insults at each other. And yet, year after year, The Pogues’ “Fairytale of New York” heads the lists of top holiday songs in the UK, as perhaps the ultimate seasonal ode to dysfunctional family. James Fearnley’s accordion takes a backseat to the sparring vocals of Shane MacGowan and Kirsty MacColl on this one, but it’s hard to argue with the end result.

The Pogues (feat. Kirsty MacColl): Fairytale of New York mp3

Buy If I Should Fall From Grace With God by The Pogues

Few musical scenes could compare to 1930s Paris, where bal-musette, jazz, and gypsy influences came together as “jazz manouche” or “gypsy jazz.” Guitarist Django Reinhardt is the name most often associated with this music, but there were plenty of excellent accordionists involved, too. Gus Viseur, Tony Murena, Joseph Colombo, and the artist on today’s advent calendar song: Jo Privat. This Privat track, from his album Manouche Partie, features musette guitar legend Jean “Matelot” Ferret and was recorded at the end of gypsy jazz’s reign, just before its popularity was eclipsed by rock and newer dance music in the 1960s.

Jo Privat (feat. Matelot Ferret): Java Manouche mp3

Buy Manouche Partie by Jo Privat and Matelot Ferret

Day #2 of our “25 Songs” accordion advent calendar takes us to the Rio Grande do Sul region of Brazil, near the Argentine border. There, we find the music of the gauchos, and of the incredible Brazilian accordionist Renato Borghetti. For more than twenty years, Borghetti has been adapting and modernizing the folk sounds of his native land, using the gaita-ponto (diatonic button accordion) as his tool of choice. This track comes from one of his earliest albums, Renato Borghetti, and was also included on the Planet Squeezebox compilation (sadly out of print).

Renato Borghetti: Hospitaleira Vacaria mp3

Longtime readers have probably noticed the decline in our posting frequency the past few months. (Work + baby = no time for Let’s Polka.) But this month, we promise to make up for it. Today we’re kicking off “25 Songs” — an accordion advent calendar featuring MP3 downloads of awesome accordion tracks every day from now until Christmas. It’s our way of wishing you a happy holiday season and an opportunity to showcase some our favorite accordion-toting artists from around the world.

Our selections won’t always be holiday-themed, but we’ll kick off the month with Cafe Accordion Orchestra’s cha-cha version of “Winter Wonderland,” from their excellent Cafe Christmas album. Listen for the sounds of one of Minnesota’s hardest-working accordionists: Dan “Daddy Squeeze” Newton.

Cafe Accordion Orchestra: Walkin’ In A Winter Wonderland mp3

Buy Cafe Christmas by Cafe Accordion Orchestra

Let’s face it: there’s a frightful shortage of good Halloween music. (I swear, if I hear “Monster Mash” one more time…) Veronique Chevalier agrees, which is why she’s put together Polka Haunt Us, a “spook-tacular” compilation of 13 songs based on famous ghostly legends from around the world. The album combines various polka styles with world music genres and then layers spooky/goofy lyrics on top to create what Veronique dubs “World Gothic Polka.”

The album’s opener, “The Beer Hall in Hell,” parodies the classic beer-glorification polkas, but “there’s no last call in Hell and this polka never stops.” “After Wife Polka Tango” recalls the ghost of Eva Peron, while “White Witch of Jamaica” is based on the tale of 18th century serial killer Annie Palmer. Accordionists Alex Meixner (a Grammy nominee last year), Mike Surratt, and Gee Rabe all contribute to the bubbling musical brew.

If you’re in Southern California, there’s a Polka Haunt Us release party tonight at Club Good Hurt in Santa Monica. In addition to performances by Veronique, Count Smokula, The Rhythm Coffin, and others, the first 100 paid guests will receive a free copy of the CD. Trick or treat!

Alex Meixner and Lili Haydn: Full Moon Face Off mp3

He goes by many names: Esteban, Steve, “El Parche,” “accordion wizard,” or even “the Jimi Hendrix of the accordion.” No matter what you call him, though, there’s no denying that Esteban “Steve” Jordan is one of the most innovative and influential accordion players ever to pick up the instrument.

Born in Texas in 1939 as one of 15 children, Jordan was partially blinded as an infant and has worn his trademark eye patch (“el parche”) ever since. He made numerous conjunto records during the early 1960s, but by the end of the decade he started exploring and incorporating other musical styles into his work. He fused Latin jazz, salsa, rock, and blues with traditional rancheras and polkas, bringing new rhythms into the conjunto fold. Jordan also forged ahead with new technology, using electronic devices like phase shifters and fuzzboxes to shape his sound, and collaborating with Hohner on his custom Tex-Mex Rockordeon. In 1982, he was one of the first musicians inducted into the Tejano Conjunto Hall of Fame.

This Sunday afternoon, there’ll be a concert in Steve’s honor at the H&H Ballroom in Austin. The list of performers is like a “Who’s Who” of Conjunto/Tejano music — Little Joe, Max Baca and the Texmaniacs, Conjunto Los Pinkys, and a special performance by Steve Jordan himself. For those of us who can’t make it to the show, here’s a classic Steve Jordan track that was included on the Legends of the Accordion compilation:

Esteban “Steve” Jordan: Las Coronelas mp3

The brainchild of two-time Oscar-winner Gustavo Santaolalla (Best Score for Brokeback Mountain and Babel), Bajofondo (formerly Bajofondo Tango Club) fuses machine-generated beats with the traditional sounds of tango born of the Río de la Plata — the river separating Argentina and Uruguay. Experimenting with hip hop, rock and electronica, the band blazes new trails with relentlessly pulsing rhythms and layered sound textures.

But it isn’t all about the laptops; violinist Javier Casalla and bandoneonist Martin Ferres bring all the passion, intoxication, and surprise that you expect from great tango. It’s drama you can dance to. Their latest record, Mar Dulce, will be released in the U.S. next month and includes guest appearances by Elvis Costello, Nelly Furtado, and Japanese bandoneonist Ryota Komatsu.

You can listen to a live in-studio performance from KCRW’s excellent show Morning Becomes Eclectic, or download the track “Pa’ Bailar” below. And if you’re interested in more electronic/tango fusion, I definitely recommend checking out Gotan Project, one of the genre’s pioneers.

Bajofondo: Pa’ Bailar mp3

Of all the bands I’ve discovered while writing for Let’s Polka, DeVotchKa is quite possibly my favorite. We saw them at a club in San Francisco a couple years ago and were blown away — their unique brand of gypsy-mariachi rock was infectious and it’s hard to dislike any band that sports an accordionist/violinist, a drummer/trumpet player, a tuba player, and a wine-swigging lead singer. Two years later, after making a splash with their soundtrack to the Oscar-nominated Little Miss Sunshine, DeVotchKa does not disappoint with their new album, A Mad and Faithful Telling.

It’s easy to get caught up in the novelty of DeVotchKa’s sound — the cinematic swells, the mariachi horns, the tinkling glockenspiels — but don’t overlook the rich songs bubbling under that melting pot’s surface. “Transliterator” balances frenzy and restraint beautifully, the shuffling “Head Honcho” carries you away, and “Undone” is just achingly stunning.

We loved accordionist Tom Hagerman’s recent solo album, The Breakfast Playground, and — from his fierce violin on “Comrade Z” to his playful accordion on “Strizzalo” — he plays a huge role on this record. Other bands have helped put the accordion on the indie rock map in recent years, but few carry it as naturally or as well as DeVotchKa.

Devotchka: Head Honcho mp3

Olivier Conan didn’t go to Peru to find chicha; it found him. Conan was introduced to chicha — a style of Peruvian pop music derived from Colombian cumbias — by street vendors in Lima and was immediately hooked. Ignored by critics, art students, and the middle class, chicha was music for the poor and, as such, was largely ignored outside of Peru.

That is, until Conan returned to Brooklyn and formed Chicha Libre, whose debut album ¡Sonido Amazonico! was released today. The group plays a mixture of latin rhythms, surf music and psychedelic pop inspired by the chicha bands of the 1960s that borrowed sounds from rock and roll (electric guitars, organs) and combined them both with cumbia and traditional Amazonian music. In an interview, Conan describes how Chicha Libre pays homage to those progenitors:

“We imitated the sounds but took liberties. It has since evolved into a band with its own identity and borrowings from everywhere — in a way, it is faithful to the spirit of Chicha, which itself borrowed from all corners of the world. We’re just as syncretic and trying to be just as much fun.”

The band mixes covers of forgotten Chicha classics with French-tinged originals, re-interpretations of 70s pop classics as well as cumbia versions of pieces by Satie and Ravel. You can catch the six-piece group — which includes Joshua Camp (of One Ring Zero) on the Hohner Electravox — every Monday night in April at Olivier’s Brooklyn club, Barbès.

Chicha Libre: Primavera en la Selva mp3