Mike Smieja
Hall of Fame – 2004
Mike Smieja of St. Paul, Minnesota is a concertina innovator and musician. An accordionist originally, he started playing the concertina when his son wanted to learn to play. Mike began repairing concertinas and accordion.
When Mike’s son suggested that his new concertina did not have fast enough button action for him, Mike made some innovative technical improvements. Through his association with Bob Novak, he used his innovative ideas to design and develop a new fast-action system for the Echo Concertina.