[Harp-L] Little Annie and other female harpists

["Mick Zaklan" <mzaklan@xxxxxxxxx>]

   Enjoyed the Annie Raines-Dennis Gruenling clip very much.  While watching
it, my mind drifted back to the last S.P.A.H. convention.  I had been
surprised to see headliner Jim Liban hit the stage at the Thursday night
blues show in his street clothes.  Over the years, I've watched Jim work in
some pretty sharp bluesman suits and vintage clothing.  And I considered
this an important gig.  Jim even felt compelled to explain it to his
audience.   Something to the effect of: "They told me women never come to
these things so I didn't bother dressing up!".
   Ditto with a Harmonica Masterclass blow-out concert I'd witnessed a few
years earlier.  Billy Branch came on last, took one look at his audience and
exclaimed: "Where are all the women?".  The imbalance struck him as funny,
especially since the bulk of his work is still in neighborhood taverns where
the genders are busy trying to mix with each other.
   I know S.P.A.H. is concerned with getting more youngsters playing and
performing on the harmonica.  Wouldn't be a bad idea to try to grown things
on the female side also.  Not that female players necessarily guarantee more
female players or audience members; but watching Annie Raines, it struck me
that there are enough women harpists playing at a high level now that you
could build a pretty nice convention or evening concert around that theme.
Personally, I definitely wouldn't mind sitting through an evening of Annie
Raines and Paul Rishell playing the blues, Hermine Duerloo performing jazz
standards with Carolbeth True on piano, Maria Wolfsberger playing classical
music, etc.  Throw in S.P.A.H. regulars Judy Simpson-Smith and Cara Cooke
into the mix, too.  And I'm sure everybody else has their own favorites.
   Just food for thought.  At the very least, someone ought to extend a
convention invite to Annie and Paul, if they haven't already.  I don't think
she's been to S.P.A.H. convention since 1991 and that was as a paying
spectator.

Mick Zaklan