[Harp-L] Re: Harp-L Digest, Harmonicas and Accordians?

["Peter Graham. " <peter.graham13@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello to all,
I have not posted here before, but have dropped in to follow the discussion from time to time.

On the topic of Accordians (and Fiddles,) I have recently extended my practice of Old Timey styles to early Cajun tunes, playing Fiddle and Accordian parts on Harmonicas.
As far as combining Harmonica and Accordian, I feel that would be mostly fruitless in this particular genre, as the great beauty of the Cajun Box is its rather rude, commanding presence- the Harmonica would tend to combat, rather than complement that; too many reeds!
Having said that, my beginning efforts in playing this music is to provide similar backing and tonality while allowing the Harmonica it's own voice.
There are some magnificent precedents for playing Cajun on harp, (Artelus Mistric, Isom Fontenot,) and they have performed on single reed marine bands or similar. I have started playing these tunes on Octave Harmonicas, placing Auto Valve plates on 260 combs, an idea developed by the great Rick Epping.
Have a listen to works in progress, if you're interested.
Peter Graham.

http://youtu.be/op6RQaF7ArY

http://youtu.be/E7qjBjDZIOQ



> 
>> On 25 May 2014, at 13:02, "Tony Eyers" <tony@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> 
>> So I have a view on combining SPAH with an accordion festival: it won't work.
>> 
>> The reason: there are regional accordion styles, each characterised by the accordion type and the repertoire. Most of it unfamiliar to us, much of it unplayable by us.
>> 
>> If you got a bunch of accordion players together they would hammer their tunes. We'd be watching for the most part.
>> 
>> Just my two cents worth. I could be wrong.
>> 
>> Tony Eyers
> 
> A harmonica-fiddle convention would be good. ;-) Now there IS a nice combination! For me, duetting with a good fiddle player is the best fun there is.