RE: [Harp-L] Harmonica in the Mexican Revolution

"Rick Dempster" <rick.dempster@xxxxxxxxxxx> · Wed, 14 Nov 2007 12:19:35 +1100

I've listened to a good deal of older ethnic & regional music from
Mexico and other Latin American countries. The harmonica is very rarely
heard. I'm talking here of music recorded pre-war. If the instrument was
common 'south of the border' then it was for home entertainment only.
Plenty of accordion down that way then, but virtually no harmonics.
RD

>>> Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx> 14/11/2007 7:45 >>>
One good source of information is Hartmut Berghoff, a German writer
who
has done considerable research on Hohner. His German-language book is
hard to come by, but there is a lengthy essay in English available
here:

http://es.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/2/2/338 

He states that Hohner had a marketing representative in Mexico City
specifically by 1908, With Alfred Veerkamp as representative for both
Mexico and South American - basically the Spanish-speaking countries
of
the new world, a very large territory. Berghoff states that Mexican
sales were negligible before Veerkamp opened the Mexico City office in
1908.

But did instruments filter down from the U.S. on the secondary market,
independent of Hohner's distribution? Possibly, but only when
sufficient quantities were available to move them beyond immediate
markets. Hohner did not begin exportation to the U.S. until about 1868
or '69, and manufacturing output was small until the introduction of
semi-mechanized methods at the beginning of the 1880s. Until that
time,
Hohner had backlogged orders and buyers begging for product.
Production
in 1880 was still only about 87,000. However, by 1892 it had risen to
2.1 million (remember, though, this  is for worldwide sale, not just
North America). Between 1900 and 1913 production rose from 3.1 million
to 11 million.

This puts the Mexican Revolution of 1910-17 right in the middle of a
major expansion of harmonica marketing in North America in general and
Mexico in particular. Were armonicas de boca, purchased from the mule
packs of travelling peddlers, to be found in the pockets of the troops
of Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata? It certainly seems possible.

Winslow

--- victorio montes silva <silvaharp@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> 
> SILVA
> INICIATIVA PARA LA PRESERVACIÃN, OPTIMIZACIÃN Y EL ESTUDIO
CIENTIFICO
> DE LA ARMÃNICA DIATÃNICA
> 2007
> http://youtube.com/user/silvaharp 
> http://silvaharp.spaces.live.com/ 
> 
> 
> Thanks David , any help is welcome.
> Indeed Have you saw this movie,I will look, you mention is the
> harmonica Hohner El Centenario.
> 
> I am conducting an investigation to commemorate the meeting between
> Pancho Villa and emiliano Zapata, which succeeded the December 4 of
> 1914.
> 
> 
> Atte.
> Victorio Montes Silva
> "El Hacedor De ArmÃnicas"
> 04455 1681-5162
> ____________________________________________________________
> AVISO IMPORTANTE:
> Este correo electronico y/o material adjunto es/son para uso
> exclusivo de la persona o la entidad a la que expresamente se le ha
> enviado, y puede contener informacion CONFIDENCIAL o RESERVADA,
> clasificada asi por la legislacion aplicable. Si usted no es el
> destinatario legitimo del mismo, por favor reportelo inmediatamente
> al originador del correo y borrelo. Considerese notificado que
> cualquier revision, retransmision, difusion o cualquier otro uso de
> este correo, por personas o entidades distintas a las del
> destinatario legitimo, queda expresamente prohibido.
> 
> This e-mail and/or its attachments is/are intended only for the
> person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain
> confidential information
> and/or privileged material, thus classified by the applicable
> legislation.
> If you are not intended recipient, please notify it to the sender
and
> delete immediately. You are hereby notified that any review,
> retransmission, dissemination or other use of this e-mail by persons
> or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited.
> ___________________________________________________________
> 
> 
> > Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2007 11:13:09 -0800
> > From: dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
> > Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Harmonica in the Mexican Revolution
> > To: silvaharp@xxxxxxxxxxx 
> >
> > I'll think about that and see what I can remember. The only
> reference I can think of is fictional, the movie ''Once Upon a Time
> in the West,'' where Charles Bronson plays the harmonica throughout
> the movie, which I believe is set during the mexican revolution. I'm
> thinking Hohner made a harmonica especially for Mexico around that
> time. It is possible that the French overlords introduced the
> harmonica in the 1860s to Mexico City, if it hadn't already worked
> its way down from the U.S. by then.
> >
> > I'll do some more thinking about this...
> >
> > Dave Payne Sr.
> > Elk River Harmonicas
> > www.elkriverharmonicas.com .
> 
> _________________________________________________________________
> Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! Download today it's
> FREE!
> http://messenger.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200471ave/direct/01/ 
> _______________________________________________
> Harp-L is sponsored by SPAH, http://www.spah.org 
> Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx 
> http://harp-l.org/mailman/listinfo/harp-l 
> 

____________________________________________________________________________________
Get easy, one-click access to your favorites. 
Make Yahoo! your homepage.
http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs 
_______________________________________________
Harp-L is sponsored by SPAH, http://www.spah.org 
Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx 
http://harp-l.org/mailman/listinfo/harp-l