Accordion
Welcome to the accordion world of Eric Cloete
About Eric
Eric Cloete masterfully plays the music of the world on the accordion.
This ranges from the classical European accordion tunes from Italy and France, to the fiery samba's, lambada's and tango's of South America.
Eric and his accordion as shown on Top Billing (Bastille Fest, Franschhoek)
Eric's affinity for this instrument started many years ago as a boy of 10 years old. His parents realised that he has some musical talent and gave him a 48 bass red Frontalini. After a short while, with no musical background, he figured out the bass and a long and fruitful musical career started.
He spent his school years in the Boland town, Worcester. After many solo performances on the accordion for school concerts and private functions, he graduated to an electric guitar and formed a three man band to play pop music, Beatles and 'Stones, in those days. For many years the accordion was forgotten because he studied mathematical science at the University of Stellenbosch and freelanced as an organ player in the area.
When the bug bit again, Eric started to collect accordions and increase his already vast repertoire of songs. At a stage his collection had 14 large accordions, all in fine playing condition, with one approximately 100 years old!
All quality accordions can be traced back to the factory where it was made, using a unique numbering system as shown above.
Nowadays he plays mostly on a large 120 bass Scandalli and for smaller occasions on a lighter Excelsior. On occasion, for concerts or weddings a Settimo Soprani does the job; without electronic amplification.
Eric regularly performs at corporate functions, weddings, birthday parties, streets parties, etc. Catch him at the Olive festival (RK), Dutch Festival (Tulbagh) and Bastille Festival (Franschoek) in July. He also plays accordion every last Sunday of the month at Cafe Felix in Riebeek-Kasteel. (see image above)