b. 1883    d. 1969

Emile Vacher was perhaps the most influential of all French accordionists. Born in Tours, he moved with his family to Paris where he encoutered the exciting mixture of Auvergnate, Italian, American and Gypsy musics which which he, with other accordionists, such as Charles Perugi and Martin Cayla, helped mould into the emerging musette genre. As a composer (Les Triolets etc) and recording artist he was an influence on button accordionists in Scotland including Will Starr.

Why Vacher should have recorded a couple of sides of Celtic dance tunes is not known – perhaps his recording company recognised the potential market for such music and sought to exploit it through one of their greatest stars.

For more on the musette genre see:

http://www.daddysqueeze.com/fb_accworld_history_musette.htm

Miss McLeod Reel

Sailor’s Hornpipe