Brendan Power & Alternative Harmonicas Forum

Hello, everyone. I'm a novice harp player so looking forward to listening to more experienced players than me.

Welcome Scratch.

Hi Scratch,
I'm here for the same reasons.

Hello anyone here,

I am Triona from Aue, Erzgebirge (i.e „Ore Highlands“ in Upper Saxony, about 10 miles from the Bohemian border and about 25 miles from Klingenthal, the home of the oldest harmonica factory in the world still manufacturing. ), famous for the football team of Wismut Aue, mining on uranium ceased by 1990.

Born in Stuttgart (DE), mother tongue is Svabian (a south german dialect), foreign languages: German, English, Swedish, Norwegian, Dutch, and on non-professional level Czech, Polish, Danish, French, Italian, and a little bit of several others.

My first harmonica 1970.
I found it accidentally in the dormitory of a festival, where anyone has forgotten it.
I have it still, although it’s not really playable any more.

Here it is:



Thanks to the unknown. I gave away a quite new harp to a musician of the State's Ensemble of Rwanda in reward decades later. He was a drummer - like entirely all of the ensemble - and he was so mesmerized about that little instrument, which he had never seen or heard before, after I had played a little session with a couple of the heavy drummers. (And I can tell you - these drums are exorbitantly loud! You must have a good breath to keep on with these.
Here a sample in session cast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVVLhzJH0os
Full orchestra contains at least 40 of these.)
I hope that will do. But I don't know, whether the harmonica became a more spread instrument in Rwanda since that time.


I play mainly rhythmically accentuated, mostly more or less improvised folkmusic (of all countries, but mainly German, Alpine, Bohemian, Moravian, middle- and eastern European like Bulgarian, Polish, Russian, Scandinavian, recently also Irish, Scottish, Breton) on diatonic harmonicas - recently increasingly using slide diatonics and diatonic bass.

A quite good description might be “High-Speed-Polka” – just wild dancemusic. With pleasure medieval (yes, I know there were no harmonicas in the middle ages ) and other ancient stuff like baroque etc too; reggae, experimental sounds, punk etc and any wild mixture of all of these, as well as ballads; but very rarely blues. (With the last there are 1000 and 1 doing better than me.) Many like my music, some not.


my favourite harmonicas:
SEYDEL Fanfare, 1847, Session Steel and brass (preferably low and extra low tunings), Concerto, Sampler
TOMBO Major Boy + Minor Boy (old series preferred), Pocket Bass (diatonic)
HOHNER Chordomonica II, XB-40, recently (but not yet very good) Vineta, CX-12, chromatic double bass
Recently Brendans Irish Session Harp, Slide Diatonic (Paddy-Richter-10 hole).


Other Instruments and musical activities:
Jaws harp, overtone flutes, fujara, didgeridoo, khaen, singing, yodel, beatbox / mouth percussion, recently (but not yet good) overtone singing – all in all more or less related among each other.
Acoustic percussion (wood, metal, drums, talking drum, bodhran, friction drum etc)

Because of lack of time and too less activity in exercise still on beginners level: bagpipes, diatonic hand harmonica, mandolin, bouzuki, full drum set. That concerns my new Asia-Bend too. (More about this and special questions following in a separate thread).

Translations from Swedish and English into German (mainy) and vice versa and intermediate too, other languages in preparation (here especially singable translations of song lyrics).
Writing and processing of song lyrics, on request with pleasure for others too. Please contact me, if there is any need. (Short texts for private use for friendship; fully professional / commercial requests on larger translation jobs like technical texts, scientific essays, PR-texts etc for a fair price, VAT invoice possible.)

Only rudimentary knowledge in reading notes and musical theory. I try to improve that. But singing and playing on sight is not. Anything by ear and memory. If there is no record on sound carrier available, studying on sight is only note by note on the Bontempi.


Related interests:
Dancing (oriental dance, folkdance, irish and highland dance), folkloric costumes and festivals, medieval, viking and celtic festivals, history (music and common), building and inventing musical instruments.

Because of working stress (service and maintenance mechanic for machines / car-shop equipment) as well as sometimes lacking activity in exercise and steadiness I did not achieve the step from pure amateur to half professional level at least, although having tried some times. (Not counted here some succesful experience as street musician.)

I have rudimentary stage equipment, some poor recording equipment too. But simply playing music for a number of people (without a micro) is one thing. The ability to use stage equipment properly (nowadays mainly digital) is wholly another thing. Especially when constantly being at war with electronical devices and computers.

But essential to me is to keep the joy. And to be able to give some joy to some people every now and then. I consider this the most important.


I think that must do for now.
I hope, that was not too much for a beginning.


dear greetings
triona


annex:

Here some links to videos with me, to give a short impression of my music.
I hope the one or the other might like it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLEypQfi5k4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tonxjW62xU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLYpC8-Um7s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zq1Vgwvockc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_INPBWdxj3g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlATdHbY3ds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqie_kZaFQ4

no records on any slide diatonic available yet – sorry,
soon come I hope


last edit: adjustment of the search request
new edit: search request cancelled.
Now I have a TOMBO Contrabass and newly I could order a SUZUKI SSCH-56

Thanks Triona! Such varied skills and interests - I enjoyed your playing too. Great to have you here on the forum

Thanx, with pleasure.

greez tri

triona wrote: ↑Sun Apr 16, 2017 2:44 pm Harmonicas, which I would like to have
– but they are very hard to get in Europe:
TOMBO Contrabass
SUZUKI SSCH-56
If there happen to be any offers - new or used, please contact me.

By the hint of a user I could buy a TOMBO Contrabass. (Thanks to E.)

The SUZUKI SSCH-56 I am still looking for.


dear greetings
triona

Enjoy the Contrabass, and please post a review once you play with it a bit!

Randy Landry from Louisiana, not the lone wolf blues co. Randy I'm the other one lol.
Been playing harmonica now for oh maybe 15 - 20 years. Like blues, jazz, gospel, also play trumpet, and percussion.

Hello all,

I just see this new subject, so I bring my little participation

I am Patrice RAYON, from France. I started to blow/draw in the harmonica since 1995 thanks to a method of Jean-Jacques Milteau (5 minutes a day)...
A tried different brand of harmonica, but finaly I keep to the Crossover and Thunderbirds for diatonic and mainly SCX56 for chromatic (I am exterm beginner with chromatic... but I play better diatonic)

I hope sometime I can breath the harmonica to make music... but I spend so much time for several reasons, to write and speak about harmonica that's after about 22years, the more you speak the less you learn ... You see people around getting professionnal, but perhaps yourself you are not pretty sure you can be more useful to do the same...

I was moving a lot to masterclasses, festivals, workshops so I got to know more and more people... And the more people and artists you know the more you start to speak, share and finaly you make a blog local to you country up to the day someone from far away push to make something less national and more international...

The result is today here: http://harmonicacontact.com/ ... I have no real merit except the time to do it and the trips I do to meet people, to be aware of. Because notice that I just spend time to highlight people who are doing (Sometime I am more known on Internet, So I make them profit about it )...

It can sounds very difficult to lots of people to understand, but I feel more interested to see harmonica begin more and more known, and see people to play better and better and profit about that myself... Finally somewhere that sounds like what SPAH is doing in USA (Society for Preservation and Advancement of the Harmonica) ... but NHL is doing the same in UK .... Brendan is very involved ( should I say that the three harmonica player I prefer are from New Zealand Brendan , France with Michel Herblin, and Belgium with Thierry Crommen who is hidding himself but merit far more to be known as one of the very bests ) ...
There are other alive people that have my very deep respect for all their involvment (Joe Filisko, Roger Trobridge and other ones ...)

Also this is really a deep pleasure to see people happy with such small instrument and not to be too far from those positive waves to iradiate you as well ... Kind of "Savoir vivre" ... To be proud also from the accomplishment of your friends... To get satified about the curiosity you can put in the things the other are trying to do and your dream to be to see such positive things to exists for long like in a dream where you don't want to wake up !!!...

This year I am going to Bristol, Germany, Spain, USA, Belgium,... I just got some friends from Russia to convince me to go to Russia next year...
I went to Africa where I got an unforgatable experience by trying to help them some years ago...
I just wanted to help them, so helped I a bit but finaly they help me more again http://harmonicacontact.com/Diaporama/Diapositive4.JPG http://harmonicacontact.com/Diaporama/Diapositive5.JPG http://harmonicacontact.com/Diaporama/D ... ive187.JPG ( For the details I would tell you more the day I meet you... I am still in contact with the brother of Jean...less with Jean and still friend ).
Today Viola Barrend (Nethearlands) is doing something excellent and efficient in Africa (The good way!)...

Patrice RAYON