To better understand his Mexican roots, Spirit Run author Noé Álvarez knew he had to get to the truth about his larger-than-life paternal grandfather, a traveling accordionist who his descendants believe put a curse on them. With Accordion Eulogies: A Memoir of Music, Migration, and Mexico, a heartfelt memoir that blends personal and cultural history, Álvarez attempts to separate the man, now 90 and still living in Mexico, from the myth. He does so by tracing the complex histories of his estranged relative and that of the humble titular instrument, which was introduced to the Mexican people by German immigrants in the late 19th century. The result is an oral history of traditional Mexican music, a meditation on intergenerational trauma, and a love letter to Álvarez’s long-suffering father, whose pain he hopes to finally heal.
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