A report on NAJHF 2000
by Mark D. Poss
| HISTORY The
North American Jew's Harp Festival (NAJHF) is an annual retreat held for and by musicians
to celebrate and preserve the art of making and playing the small instrument. Unusual
instruments of all types are also welcomed and featured. Held every third weekend of
August in the North-eastern Oregon village of Richland, the two day event draws musical
pilgrims from around the continent and the world. |
Info & Registration Booth
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More information on the history of the festival may be found at: http://www.jewsharpguild.org/festindx.html
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| PREFACE
Being the soundman for the festival, I have a unique perspective
from my perch on the sound-trailer above the crowd. The drawback is that I don't get to
rub elbows with folks as much as I'd like, nor have the opportunity to take adequate
notes. So I quietly observe. Keep track of my knobs and notes. And do my best to
reconstruct it all later. This report is the result.
The 9th Annual North American Jew's Harp Festival
August 18,19 - 2000
To say that Richland, Oregon is remote is an accurate
statement. But I refuse to say it's in the middle of nowhere... for the somewhere
that it is, is wrapped in natural mountainous beauty and an envelope of silence which is
broken only by the sounds of animals; the cry of coyotes, hoots of owls, screeches of
night hawks, honks of passing geese. For the last six years a remarkable number of
musicians have braved the trials of travel to escape to this location for a weekend of
music and comradeship. This year, moderate temperatures, abundant sunshine, and total
absence of rain, allowed for a near-perfect outdoor experience. |
Unusual Instruments Day
^ Ray Jacobs &
cardboard instruments > |
An official total of
forty-two musicians performed during the "Unusual Instruments Day" on
Friday, and "Jew's Harp Day" on Saturday. I suspect that there were a dozen or
more additional players present. Open-mic performances commenced at noon on Friday and
continued non-stop until dinner break at five p.m. Amongst those performing were Ray
Jacobs of Montana who builds and plays a variety of instruments built primarily, or
exclusively, of cardboard. Most notable of these instruments was an acoustic dreadnought
guitar which is loud and easily mic'd. Its tone and playabiliy had folks awestruck. |
 |
| Dave Bellinger (kalimbas@spiritone.com)
of Portland, OR., impressed us all with his array of electric kalimbas, and an instrument
he calls a Violimba. The Violimba is made from steel-strap(s) on a kalimba shell and is
bowed. Its eerie sound is captured by a piezo element. Dave also introduced us to his
salad bowl bass and other "found-object" creations. He offered all these
instruments for examination at his battery powered "Instrument Petting Zoo." |
Dave Bellinger's "Wild Instrument Petting Zoo"
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| Musical saws were represented by
well known sawyer Allan deLay of Portland, OR. and Rick Myers, also of Portland. Both are
virtuosos and delighted the crowd with their sweet-sounding skills. Rick also plays guitar
and banjo and provided a great amount of energy throughout the event. |
Alan deLay |
Rick Myers & Larry Hanks |
John Palmes
(johnpalmes@gci.net) of Juneau, Alaska made the
long trek to perform on MouthBow and conduct a mouthbow workshop. He was joined by Jon
Faddis of Seattle and Wayland Harman of Boise. Wayland also demonstrated some of his new
projects: globular didjeridu, cubular didjeridu, horn-in-a-can water didjeridu, and the
"parrot" in-the-mouth microphone.
Wayland Harman & his "parrot" mic
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John Palmes
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| Of course, our band, The OddTones, also did a set on
Saturday which included our song "Water Jar Rock" (a Ball canning jar played
against electric guitar and Clackamore/Trump), and a progression for Nose Flute. (see http://www.mouthmusic.com/oddtones/) |
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The OddTones
Michael , Wayland and Mark |
| Many other less unusual
odd-instruments (autoharp, bones, cigar-box fiddle, djembe, kazoo, washtub bass,
etc.) were present among the myriad of guitars, mandolins, fiddles, banjos, accordions,
harmonicas and other traditional instruments. Among those performing with these were, Dick
Kaiser (the Road Kill Poet) & Craig Hawkins (Pendleton, OR.), Jack Roberts
(Goldendale, WA), Jim Sqibb (Nampa, ID), John James (Cheney, WA) and many others. |
As the sun set in
a vivid red hue from the forest fire smoke that settled in the valleys in the not-so-far
distance, Friday continued with Featured Performances by some of the folks already
mentioned above. A surprise visit was "cowboy poet" Pat Fielding (Summerville,
OR) who recited humorous poems strictly from memory, and his wife who startled us all with
some excellent yodeling.
John James (Cheney, WA) |
 The
night closed with the "Star-light Jam" as most folks left the audience to join
those on stage. I finally shut down the sound-system at 12:50 a.m. after a curious jam of
"Hit the Road Jack" indicated that most folk had run out of steam. |
Jew's Harp Day
| Saturday started off with a group
photo and "Band Scramble" sign-up and selection. A "Band
Scramble" is a sort of organized jam where interested players throw their names into
a hat. Names are then drawn to form a number of bands with six or seven players each. The
newly formed bands then disperse to various locations to practice and pick a spokesperson,
a band name, and three songs to perform in an hours time. The black headed and footed
sheep in the pasture adjoining the park made a slow walk to graze next to the band at the
fence. A quail observed the same practice with a steady gaze. |
NAJHF 2000 Performers
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At ten a.m. the call-to-arms is given from stage and each
band in turn performs their hurriedly learned arrangements. I am told this is great fun
for the musicians, but from the soundman's perspective it is the most challenging aspect
of the entire weekend. (If there are any other soundmen out there with this kind of
experience mixing on-the-fly so many unusual instruments, I'd love to hear from you!) In
most cases the extreme talent of these musicians is obvious at this time, as the
performances already have a polish with only an hour of practice. |
| The sunny day warmed up with Jew’s harp performances.
A couple of fine trumpist from California, Chris Towne (Nevada City,CA.) and Clive
Julianus (Prpltig@aol.com) (Fairfax,CA.), showed
innovation and versatility in their sets. Pluck editor and world-known jawharpist,
Gordon Frazier of Seattle, played 'harp with several groups throughout the day and gave a
short beginner's workshop on stage. He also shared a look at his extensive collection of
'harps with everyone during a relaxed workshop in the cool of shade tree. Again we took a
break for dinner at five p.m. (Reasonably priced food provided by the Grange folks from
their little cook shack on site.) |
Chris Towne
Clive Julianus
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| A gusty summer breeze picked up as day
slid into evening. The sunset still spectacular in the smoky sky. Saturday
evening is when the local folks from this mainly agricultural and tourist driven area come
to enjoy the only show in town. The parking lot swelled and every spot in or around the
area in front of the stage was covered with seat or backside. This small community has
always supported and enjoyed our annual visits. |
The band
scramble bands repeated their morning performances. Then there was a mood-shift as the
night's Featured Jew's Harp Performances opened after a short stage presentation of all
the kids that had made "Unidentified Musical Instruments" during the "Kids
Events" of the weekend. |
The kids & "Unidentified Musical
Instruments"
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| Clive Julianus opened with a bit
of hot improvisation as people got settled then gave up the stage to The OddTones. Other
featured performers were Bill & Janet Gohring (Sumpter, OR.) Larry Hanks (Berkley, CA)
Roland Bades (Molln, Austria), and Gordon Frazier. Matt Glasson (alias Mugwump Jizm) of
New York City absolutely stunned the crowd with his high energy, theatric performance. I'm
not sure what Matt expected from a crowd of this nature, but he tailored his set quite
nicely and received a loud and furious round of applause. 
(L-R) Wayland, Gordon, Bill, Roland, Larry, Clive
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Matt Glasson
(alias Mugwump Jizm)
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As the night grew cooler the music got hotter as we
filled the stage with wall-to-wall musicians for what we call the "Grand-Jam."
Again it was pushing one in the morning when I threw the last switch and gathered the
mics. I then laid my back on the grass in the middle of the park grounds to soak in the
milky way and full red moon. Satisfied the world was right I crept into my sleeping bag
somewhere near two.
New 'Harp News
| One of the things I look forward to every year
is examining new designs of 'harps, or those of other cultures that I'd not had a chance
to lay my lips on before. Unfortunately there were not many of that
description present this year. It was a great pleasure to see and hear Roland Bades
(Wimmer) playing multiple (usually four) 'harps. While this may be common in Europe, it is
out of the ordinary in North America. I felt fortunate to be tutored in the technique by
such an excellent player. |
| Bill Gohring did introduce us to
his newest designs of 'harps. Two of his tiny new creations fit into an extra-small
Altoids box with room to spare!! They played as good as they looked, with excellent
volume, and incredibly long sustain with very little air required. These could be blow
started, and were precisely tuned as usual. |
Bill Gohring's new design |
Tying on the Ribbons
The NAJHF is not a large festival and I personally feel it's not
destined to be. I refer to it as a retreat, a getaway from the world to concentrate on my
art and to share and absorb a common experience with fellow musicians. It is a unique
event in many, many ways and one of the most enjoyable I've ever been part of. I felt a
certain amount of dread as we descended from the mountains and crept back up to the speed
of a fast lane world.
Mark
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Other Notes
Jew's Harp makers:
Bill Gohring (Gohring Jew's Harps) (www.jewsharpguild.org/wgharps.html)
Roland Bades (Wimmer (pronounced Vimmer) Maultrommeln of Molln) who made a twenty hour,
7000 mile trip to be here. (see: www.maultrommel.at)
Distributors:
Mouth Music Press (www.mouthmusic.com)
Other:
Jew's Harp greeting cards and prints by pointillist artist Ron Vinson (rvinson@eoni.com)
Photos by Veronica Poss & Valerie Bruesch
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