[Harp-L] Real creativity

["Barnum, Ansel \(Ansel\)" <Ansel.Barnum@xxxxxxx>]

Recently I?m beginning to become disillusioned with my childhood harp heroes. Last night I heard one of them in concert which was admittedly a great show. However, it was the same one I?d heard last year, the year before, and so on going back to when I first heard them ten years ago. And that seems to be the trend amongst most in my harp pantheon. Yes, they conceived of great music at one point in time, but they don?t continue to do so, instead replaying the great ideas they (or someone else) thought of in the past. And even those that do periodically come up with new material on a CD just rehash it like a jukebox in concert.

So my question is: Where is the *real* creativity? Who are the musicians that play something fresh every time a harp meets their lips? I certainly appreciate that the diatonic harp and blues form imposes constraints that chromatic jazz players do not face. Which is why I?m searching for those geniuses able to break through these barriers to that zen state of art. Who can I turn to for inspiration of exciting, dynamic, creative music that continuously flows into the instrument?-in this case, a diatonic harp?


Ansel