BASIL BUNELIK
Basil Bunelik was born in the UK surrounded by music. His Ukrainian mother played piano and sang, and his father of Irish descent played harmonica, but it was not until the family moved to Ukraine for a couple of years that the 9-year-old boy was given the chance to have piano lessons with a gifted Armenian piano teacher. Inspired by his teacher and the mainly Russian and Ukrainian folk songs used for teaching, Basil made rapid progress until his return to the UK at age 11. Unfortunately, the family was not financially in a position to continue tuition, but when a teenage school friend with a piano showed him how to play Rock & Roll, soon enough Basil was in a band, enthused by the musical opportunities in 1960s London. He played in a soul band with the yet undiscovered Billy Ocean for a few years before realizing a Hammond organ was not the ideal instrument for his first love - folk music. Basil joined the Balalaika Russian dance group in London in the 1970s and played accordion with them, having taught himself how to play. He also played with the Society for International Folk Dance where he was introduced to music from several different cultures, which accounts for many of the tunes incorporated in this book World Music for Accordion Made Easy.
In the 1980s Basil moved to Devon where, employed by Dartington College of Arts, he was again surrounded by music of many cultures. During that time, he formed a band of music students to perform Eastern European folk music at arts centers and festivals throughout the UK. In the 1990s Basil formed a ceilidh band which performed English, Irish and Scottish folk music for weddings and festivals; during that time, he became a school teacher and realized how versatile an instrument the accordion is. He resolved to one day compile a book of the tunes that inspired him to learn the instrument. Here it is!