Incredible Xinjiang | Alexander the accordion collector

February 09 02:33 2021

In northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the accordion is the soul of Russian folk songs. They like to play accordion in parties and weddings to express joy and happiness. But walking in the Liuxing Street, a well-known historical block in Yining City located in north of Xinjiang you can always feel this joy and happiness from accordion. 

The accordion hall displays various accordions from Alexander’s collection. (Xinhuanet, Rustan)

Besides music, there is a accordion museum in the street. This more than 1,000-square-meter museum preserves more than 800 accordions from over 20 countries. Most of accordion collection exhibited in the museum are from Alexander Sergeevich Zazulin, 63 years old ethnic Russian living in Yining. 

The accordion hall displays various accordions from Alexander’s collection. (Xinhuanet, Rustan)

Influenced by his father, Alexander learned how to play and repair accordion in his teenagers. Over 40 years engaged in repairing, he has been known far and wide for his adepts skills at repairing accordions.

Alexander’s repair skills are unique. He seldom sent them back to their manufacturers for parts replacement. Instead, he made bellows and reeds on his own. 

The accordion hall displays various accordions from Alexander’s collection. (Xinhuanet, Rustan)

By his repair skills, he nearly can repair all kinds of accordions. Among his collection, there are 194 years old antique accordion, 16 kilogram weight huge one, and less than 1 kilogram little one just as small as a book. 

The accordion hall displays various accordions from Alexander’s collection. (Xinhuanet, Rustan)

He also tried composing. Without much schooling and knowledge of reading music, he has written dozens of musical pieces throughout the years.

Having spent all his life dealing with the instrument, he invested all his savings in building a small museum to display his accordions a few years back.

Someone offered him 20 million yuan (about 2.8 million U.S. dollars) for all his accordions, but he refused, waiting for a better arrangement in life. 

Alexander is repairing a broken accordion mailed from Tacheng city. (Xinhuanet, Rustan)

In 2019, Yining and the province of Jiangsu in east China jointly invested over 4 million yuan in building the current museum. Alexander finally saw his dream come true.

The museum instantly became a local landmark and served as a platform to introduce the accordion to the public.

Alexander is repairing a broken accordion mailed from Tacheng city. (Xinhuanet, Rustan)

Now, Alexander likes to see so many tourists to visit his museum and to know his collection. But sometimes he prefers to be alone with accordions. This grey hair, blue eyes, high nose, white skin elder sitting in a narrow workshop, his uses a little hammer lightly hitting a accordion. This ding-dong of the hammer has accompanied him through his youth and will also accompany him through his old age.

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