Harp Logo



TO: internet:harp-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hugh Messenger says:

    >I'd just like to say ... I've never seen a 'cool' harp logo.
    >Anything with an actual harp in it I've seen pretty much
    >sucks. Harps are very difficult to represent 'stylisticly',
    >unlike say a guitar. A guitar has a universally recognizeable
    >shape. The harp is just a rectangular box with some holes in
    >it.

I ALMOST agree. The shape of the harmonica is sort of arbitrary
and isn't suggestive like the shape of a guitar or saxophone.
Instead of caressing something human-looking, the harmonica
player appears to be greedily and furtively stuffing something
into his mouth - perhaps a rat or other small creature.

And, yes, most attempts at artistically portraying the harmonica
have been pretty boring. But recently I've seen some good ones.
The one on the Hendrik Meurkens CD (NOT CLEAR OF CLOUDS - my
mistake - it was the more recent Manhattan one, and not the
airbrushed 270 on the front cover, but an energetic, Keith
Haring-like scrawl in red on the inner liner. I've also seen a
similar one on (I think) the cover of a Raful Neal album, where
little harmonicas (again, in simple but stylized drawings) appear
in white on a chocolate-colored wall, as if they were stencilled
or even rubber-stamped on.

The trick is to get past the merely descriptive and get at the
heart of the human desires vested in the appearance of an object.
As a teenager I used to have dreams about finding the "right"
instrument (this was before I figured out why the fifth position
I was playing didn't sound like the crossharp I was hearing). I
especially remember going into a bedroom in an old-fashioned
house, opening up a shirt drawer, and finding Little Walter's
harmonica. It was much chunkier than a Marine Band - more like a
260, substantial and heavy. Its metal was not silver, but dark
blue, like the blued-out chrome on the tailpipe of a Harley
Davidson. Only darker - the metal was so blue as to be almost
black.

I've often thought about food layout photography involving
harmonicas - Mike Turk's Harmonica Salad cover gets at this, but
spoils it with too many harmonicas amid nothing more interesting
than ruffled lettuce. If they had cut down on the harmonicas, and
added a sprig of dill, maybe poured on a little vinagrette and
sprinled some capers on it, or maybe put some nice toast and
caviar on the side, maybe used some nice flatware, and silverware
to reflect the finish on the harp, a cloth napkin with good





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