RE: [Harp-L] Carribean Harmonica

["Rick Dempster" <rick.dempster@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks Ryan!
                      I'll check this stuff out.
RD

>>> "Ryan Hartt" <rhartt1234@xxxxxxxxxxx> 13/10/2006 11:33:56 >>>
I've been meaning to bring up a similar point for quite some time. I've
been 
on a huge Ska kick for a little over a year now. And there is a decent

amount of harmonica in traditional Jamaican Ska. Roy Richards'
"Contact" 
being the foremost example since it was the biggest hit. The other
harmonica 
player of note is Charlie Organaire with "Go Home" and "Merry Twist 
(Boogie)" which are both on Trojan Battlefield on Trojan. There are
several 
more songs I have in my collection that feature harmonica but the
player is 
unknown to me.
With a quick click through my iTunes I found:
"Rough & Tough" - Stranger Cole
"Midnight Track"  - Owen Gray
"But Officer"  - Karl Walker
"When You Call My Name" - Stranger & Patsy
"Musical Communion" - Baba Brooks
Most of which come from  Rough & Tough - The Story Of Ska: 1960-1966.
Most 
of the playing is just chordal work doubling the upstrokes on the
guitar.

I too wish there was more with harmonica on it and more info about it.
Ska 
was such a singles market that it is tough to find albums buy anyone
but the 
few that made it big like Desmond Dekker and the Skatalites. I suggest
the 
Trojan 3 CD collections for anyone looking to check out some Ska,
harmonica 
or not. The Trojan Jamaican R&B box is particularly acessible for blues

fans.
Ryan



>From: "Rick Dempster" <rick.dempster@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>To: "Winslow Yerxa" <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>
>CC: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx 
>Subject: [Harp-L] Carribean Harmonica
>Date: Fri, 13 Oct 2006 10:40:10 +1000
>
>Hi Winslow;
>                   Hope you don't mind the direct inquiry; if anyone
else 
>on the list has anything to add, I'd be pleased to hear.
>                   A few years ago, if my memory serves me, you
responded 
>to a post I made regarding a Jamaican harmonica player called Roy
Richards, 
>who worked with Baba Brook's band and had a hit in 1967 (probably a
hit in 
>Jamaica and UK) called 'Contact'.
>                  I've since tried to track down something else by
him, but 
>there is nothing out there, apart from the odd bit of accompaniement.
>                  Chances are that everything I want to here from Roy
is 
>encapsulated on that one track anyway. But it has caused me to wonder
what 
>kind of status the harmonica had in the West Indies.
>                 I have heard the odd track here and there, one on a 
>chromatic, played in first position (Richards plays a tremolo model)
>                 I wonder that there isn't more. You'd think a cheap 
>instrument would have found popularity in the Carribean.
>                 I seem to recall you had some names, but I may be 
>confusing you with someone else.
>                 If the harmonica (being  British colonies they might
have 
>called it 'mouth organ' in Jamaica & Trinidad) was not popular in that

>corner of the world, I wonder what the reason was. The music of the
old 
>Calypsonians might have been considered the preserve of more
sophisticated 
>players who could play 'proper' instruments, but the area of music
occupied 
>by steel pan players ie more 'street' style would have suited
harmonica, 
>and Roy Richard's playing falls into that camp in my opinion.
>                Woddyareckon?
>RD
>
>
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