When author Noé Álvarez was growing up in Yakima, WA he remembers hearing accordion music wafting in the orchards where his parents picked fruit, at dance halls, and at house parties. But his grandfather Eulogio – a traveling accordion player – remained a figure steeped in mystery and infamy. 

The path to understanding that “ancestral tragedy” sent Álvarez across state and country borders in search of his family’s history and a deeper knowledge of the music that propelled it. That journey is detailed in Noé Álvarez’s new book, “Accordion Eulogies: A Memoir of Music, Migration, and Mexico."