SQUEEZE PLAY
Popular Toronto accordian shop has been run by three generations of the De Florio family,
Son and grandsons now run famed Toronto accordion shop founded by Matt De Florio
Family-owned Musical Instruments of Canada is one of the last businesses of its kind in Toronto and currently boasts one of the largest selections of accordions across the country.
Formerly called De Florio Imports when it was founded by professional musician and accordion player, the late Matt De Florio in 1960, his son Rudy now owns and operates the shop alongside sons Chris and Shawn — a third son, Neil, lives in Newfoundland.
Rudy De Florio began working at his dad’s studio and shop on Eglinton Ave. W., in Oakwood Village, in 1966 when he was 17.
“My father needed me for some repair work. That’s where I started,” De Florio, a musician himself, recalled.
At 15, listening to one of his father’s records by the Dave Brubeck Quartet, which featured alto saxophonist Paul Desmond, he was inspired to take up the woodwind instrument after playing the clarinet in music class at school. Decades later, De Florio can still play and would like to get back to it, but admitted he’s a little out of shape.
“I get a few tunes out of the small button accordion,” he says, modestly.
He might not be the accomplished accordionist his father was, but it’s clear De Florio has a passion for not only the instrument, but also for sharing stories about his dad.
It was the opportunity to meet two of the most influential accordionists of the mid-20th century, Charles Magnante and Pierto Deiro, in New York in the 1940s that cinched Matt De Florio’s professional music career. He got his start performing at the Old Mill, followed by a stint at the Royal York Hotel’s Imperial Room.
From 1953 to ’57, the elder De Florio was a fixture on the popular CBC TV show, Holiday Ranch, which aired Saturday evenings before Hockey Night in
Canada. Singers, like Perry Como and Robert Goulet, and Lorne Green of Bo
nanza fame, made guest appearances.
“A very sweet, folksy instrument … the accordion is good, clean fun.” RUDY DE FLORIO CO-OWNER MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF CANADA
A familiar face within the industry, De Florio’s father was often asked, ‘Where can I buy an accordion.’ That led to the idea for his own business, which specializes in sales, repair and refurbishment of accordions.
Its collection includes imports and its own brand names, Caruso, Lido and De Florio.
“We developed our own electric accordions back in the late ’60s,” De Florio said of the Lidovox organ accordion, the only one of its kind constructed in the country.
The 1960s marked the accordion’s heyday. Accordion sales in Toronto and the GTA were booming, De Florio said.
He recalled the day the family received a shipment of as many as 300 accordions — 50 full pine crates, which needed to be put on a hoist to get them into the second-floor shop. Many of those accordions were purchased by schools throughout the city in the 1960s and ’70s.
De Florio Sr.’s talent extended beyond playing. He also wrote method books and taught lessons in two music studios the shop once had.
“Right now, it’s dwindled down to about one-tenth of what it once was,” De Florio said of the instrument’s popularity.
Accordionists find it “a very sweet, folksy instrument,” said De Florio, who lives in Etobicoke.
It’s an instrument “everybody and anybody” can play. “The accordion is good, clean fun.”
The walls of the shop, at Eglinton and Oakwood Aves., are adorned with photographs, posters and newspaper clippings of De Florio’s customers, including Kevin Hearne of the Barenaked Ladies, singer Anne Murray, who purchased an accordion for her daughter; and Michael Boguski of Blue Rodeo.
The wall of fame of sorts also boasts clippings of such acclaimed musicians as the late jazz accordionist Art Van Damme — Matt De Florio’s favourite — Australian singer Tina Arena and the Hansen-Eaton Duo, among a long list of others.
De Florio says he can’t imagine working anywhere else.
“You develop a rapport with the customers,” he said.