Harmonica Festival Report ! (Long)

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On this long week-end, the cream of French harp enthusiasts headed towards 
St Aignan sur Cher, near Blois, to enjoy a three day harmonica festival 
called ?Harmonica sur Cher?. This is the second year that this festival is 
held, and the new edition did not disappoint. 

The festival kicked off on Thursday night, with a double bill of the Thierry 
Crommen Trio followed by Brendan Power and Michael Lempelius. Thierry 
Crommen is a lyrical harmonica player from Belgium, as comfortable on 
chromatic as he is on diatonic. He is a sought after session player, but has 
also released a number of his own projects, mostly jazzy acoustic stuff. 
This new trio he is heading is in that vein, accompanied by Erno on keyboard 
and Chris de Pauw on acoustic guitar. The repertoire consisted of varied 
instrumentals, ranging in styles from folk-influenced to oriental, with a 
lot of jazzy jazz in the middle. The high point of the concert was the 
collaboration on stage with the local children?s choir. Thierry had composed 
a hymn to which the children put words about childhood mistreatment. It was 
a very moving moment, and the children seemed to enjoy it as much as their 
parents and the reast of the audience. All in all it was a good concert, 
despite moments of uncertainty. I felt that the trio is recent, and probably 
needs more touring, writing and playing together to be completely at ease 
with their repertoire. 

Brendan?s concert was stunning, as is usually the case with this artist who 
has become a reference in the world of Irish music. As time goes by, his 
repertoire expands though, and it is no longer fitting to describe him as a 
player of celtic music only. His repertoire includes Irish or Irish inspired 
stuff, of course, but also blues, oriental and even far-eastern tunes. It 
seems like any melodic folk music that strikes Brendan?s ear ends up being 
played. It was the second time I saw Brendan on stage, both times with 
Michael, but it was apparent on Thursday night that they have been playing 
together a lot. There was a fluidity and a complicity between them that was 
nothing short of magical. The audience perceived it and seemed to thoroughly 
enjoy the show, together with foot stomping, hands clapping and dancing in 
the aisles. What a great gig ! 

The night ended on a jam session with a jazz band hired for the occasion. 
Unfortunately, the sax player was so intimidating that few harp players 
dared go up to play, and the night folded around 2 AM. This would turn out 
to be an ?early? night for most people attending the festival. 

Friday kicked off around 10 AM with a masterclasse by French diatonic wizard 
Michel Herblin. Michel isn?t exactly what one would call an articulate 
teacher, so his masterclasses tend to be a little messy. However, there is a 
lot of tips and ideas to glean if one knows where to look, and hearing him 
play with no amplification reveals the incredible richness of his tone, an 
astounding experience in itself. I only attended to the end of the class, 
unfortunately, since I had to go and pick up a friend at the train station. 

A bunch of us had a nice collective meal in a classy restaurant in St 
Aignan, and the group included Brendan, who is as delightful in conversation 
as he is on stage. It?s refreshing that someone so talented can remain both 
so humble and open-minded. Additionally, Brendan has a great love for French 
food and wine, which makes for lively meals ! 

The afternoon started with Brendan?s masterclasse. Instead of preparing a 
given class about a specific topic, Brendan ask each of the participants to 
think of a question they wanted to ask him. I played the role of translator 
and it was a very interesting hour and half, with Brendan opening up most of 
his harps and explaining about valves, alternate tunings, ornamentations, 
various quick harp fixes, playing fast, etc. 

Thierry?s class then followed, focusing on positions. Thierry explained how 
the notion of positions as associated to blues playing was very restrictive 
since it was essentially different ways to play a blues scale on the harp 
whereas most any kind of scales could be played. He went through one of his 
compositions played on a C harp, that switches from the key of E to the key 
of A then the key of D but never relies on a blues scale. His class was very 
accessible, and taught me a few teaching tips I?ll certainly be re-using. 

There was another ?early? jam with the jazz band in one of the local bars 
(most venues in St Aignan are associated with the festival), which allowed 
many people to discuss their favourite topic of the week-end : the 
harmonica. There, I spent time re-acquainting myself with Robert Koch, 
harp-ler, microphone buff and very good harp player. I also met Jean Labre, 
the erstwhile president of France Harmonica who, as he says himself, now 
enjoys the perks of the job without the constraints : he just attends gigs 
and festivals ! 

The evening?s concerts were devoted to blues. First, Vincent Bucher came on 
stage with his blues band called ?Papa Gombo?. Vincent is best known for his 
collaboration with Tao Ravao, a mix of blues, African and Malagasy music, 
but he remains an immense blues player, with a great presence and a lovely 
Elvis-like voice to boot. Most harp players in the audience had to pick up 
their jaw at the end of his set, which included an awesome performance of 
Albert King?s ?Angel of Mercy?, much blues, a number of Zydeco numbers and 
some rock n? roll stuff. The band is very solid and guitar player Jérémie 
Tepper has a very interesting and unique style. A great time was had by all. 

The second concert that evening was a French band doing mostly west coast 
style blues. Called, ?Scratch my Back?, the band is fronted by harp player 
and singer Kevin Doublé. I?m not usually a big fan of West Coast as played 
by most bands today (I?m not talking about T-Bone Walker here, you 
understand), but I must confess to having enjoyed myself immensely that 
evening. Kevin has a velvet crooner voice, powerful and smooth, not unlike 
Sugar Ray Norcia?s, and his harp playing is very, very good. There?s little 
original stuff in his vocabulary, indeed I could sometimes pick up entire 
lines from Little Walter or Sonny Boy Williamson 2, but it was so smoothly 
played, so powerful, that it?s hard to begrudge him these thefts. The 
rhythmic section was square and efficacious, and the guitar player very much 
in the style, integrating a little snippet of jazzy in his blues. Towards 
the end, ?Scratch my Back? introduced a guest guitarist and singer from 
Louisiana who, unfortunately, wasn?t on level with the band, either singing 
or playing guitar. For the last couple of numbers, Kevin invited Vincent on 
stage and they jammed together, a battle of big tones ! 

All in all, I was pretty pleased with the evening. The only disappointment 
came from a reduced audience compared to the previous night. The organisers 
were planning on the fact that a blues-only evening would draw blues 
enthusiasts, but sadly, that wasn?t the case. No doubt the formula will 
evolve in the future editions. The night was far from over, though... 

There was another jam planned in a tiny bar up the street from the concert 
hall. The jazz band was churning it out when I got there. We pressured 
Thomas Laurent, an aspiring jazz chromatic player, to play with them, and he 
literally floored us ! We?ll be looking out for this kid, I suspect the next 
time I see him will be on a stage ! I then butchered ?Watermelon Man? with 
the band, and decided to call it a night even though I suspected that things 
would pick up later on with the arrival of the members of the two blues 
bands. I was running a class at 9 AM the following morning, so I couldn?t 
afford to stay? From the echoes I had later, though, things indeed grew hot 
: the members of Scratch my Back basically kicked out the jazz players, 
installed a huge amp for the harp and the blues jam lasted until 5 AM !!! 

But, as I said, I missed all that. I woke up somewhat groggy at 8:30 AM, 
took a quick shower and was off to the concert hall where myself and French 
harp player David Chalumeau were running our classes. His was a pure 
beginner class and mine was an intermediate level class on first position. I 
had 10 pupils (including Robert and harp player Julien Cormier who didn?t 
really need to be there, but contributed to the class for the rest of the 
students). I focused the technical side of the class on accuracy in the 
lower octave and mastering blow bends, and the musical side on playing 
Trouble in Mind a la Big Walter. I was very pleased that all the students 
managed to bend their high-end blow notes by the end of the class, and I 
think most of the students were happy although a couple of them would have 
been better off in the beginner?s class. The classes lasted until noon, when 
there was another jam by the open air market. It was a good opportunity to 
sit down and chat, and also to sample the local wines. I ended up buying a 
bottle to further crowd my (already overflowing) wine cellar... 

After lunch, there was an informal meeting of harp players in yet another 
bar. I decided not to attend and to catch an hour?s sleep instead, since I 
was running another class for children at 4 PM. Robert took charge of the 
meeting and, from all accounts, it was a great success. Apparently, he even 
managed to get the jazz guitar player to accompany whoever wanted to play 
with straight ahead shuffles, quite a feat indeed ! 

I barely woke up for four and found, somewhat to my disappointment, that 
only three children showed up for the class. It went brilliantly though. 
They were given a colourful Hohner plastic harp for kids, I taught them the 
very basics (playing single notes, holding the harp) in five minutes and we 
then practised a number of ditties and children?s songs. My only condition 
for the kids to attend was that they should know how to count and read 
numbers. I?d purchased a red and blue marker pen and told them that red was 
the colour of the mouth, so it meant you had to breathe in, and blue was the 
colour of the sky, so it meant you had to breathe out. I then tabbed the 
songs in line on a paperboard and they played. They really seemed to enjoy 
themselves, despite having trouble playing single notes. I ended the one 
hour lesson by showing them how to imitate a steam locomotive, a police 
siren, an ambulance and a steamboat call. Needless to say, they loved it ! I 
also let them try out the Chinese bass harp I was carrying in my backpack, 
and they tried to get a note out of it for about ten minutes. As the class 
ended, one of the 8 year-old girls asked me when I was coming back for the 
next class ! I couldn?t have been more happy ! 

After another ?aperitif? and a nice meal later (did I mention that St Aignan 
virtually guarantees you great food and drink ?), I stumbled upon David and 
Thomas again. They had spent their afternoon visiting the town, from the 
XVth Century castle to the handpainted Church crypt. You can check out what 
St Aignan looks like on the Office de Tourisme?s website : 
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/ot.st-aignan-sur-cher/ 

Then the evening concerts started with Michel Herblin followed by 
Jean-Jacques Milteau. That night, the concert hall was packed ; in fact, it 
seems that a number of people could not get in. Michel came up on stage with 
three musicians: a drummer who occasionally doubled on piano, a pianist who 
occasionally doubled on guitar, and an amazing accordion player. They mostly 
played Herblin's own pieces, or ?personal decompositions? as he likes to 
call them. Michel?s sound was, as always, astounding, although if truth be 
told, the PA didn?t quite carry over the richness of his tone. Despite his 
cynical exterior, Herblin is an unabashed romantic when it comes to music, 
and his compositions reflect this. Compared to other concerts I?ve seen of 
his, this was both the best musically and the most accessible for the 
public. There were a couple of pieces that I found a little too smoochy, but 
on the whole, it was a good set. Everyone is waiting for him to release an 
album of all these great instrumental numbers, but god only knows when that 
will happen... 

After a short break, the evening show resumed with Jean-Jacques Milteau 
accompanied by guitar player Manu Galvin. JJ is considered the pope of 
diatonic harmonica in France, and I have seen him many times, in various 
band configurations, so I wasn?t expecting too much of this gig. Man, was I 
wrong... 

First of all, the sound was awesome. I don?t think I?ve ever heard such a 
crispy clear, deep, and gut-churning diatonic sound before in my life. A lot 
of it is due to Jean-Jacques?s playing, of course, since he?s been working 
in that direction for the last decade, but the sound engineer did an amazing 
job of capturing that thing of beauty and restituting it to the audience. 

Milteau?s repertoire, especially when he?s playing with Manu only, is a mix 
of tunes, mostly instrumental, from various influences and folk traditions. 
It?s very accessible and could be considered easy listening if not for that 
incredible presence and musicality. I really didn?t expect to do more than 
enjoy the show, but at times, I was literally on the verge of tears. Manu?s 
accompaniment was as tasteful as ever, and his own solo playing on pieces 
like ?Mercy, mercy, mercy? or ?Sowetho? stunned many in the audience, 
especially guitar players... I know this all sounds way overboard, but on 
that Saturday night, I really felt, probably for the first time in years, 
that Milteau truly deserves the consideration he has. It?s not just fan 
geekness. He IS the French pope of the harmonica? 

And on that great note, the festival ended. Well, not quite. There was yet 
another Jam Session, which I couldn?t attend for long because I was driving 
back home to my wife and kids early on the Sunday morning. I felt quite 
frustrated about that, but at the same time, I was so tired after the hectic 
three-day festival that I blissfully fell asleep as soon as my head hit the 
pillow. On the following morning, I drove back to Paris with Thomas and 
David in my car. Thomas made us listen to his soon to be released five-track 
demo. Wow. No I don?t just think we?ll be hearing more of him : I know it !