All of us are still "aglow" in the aftermath of the 9th annual
North American Jew's Harp Festival held last month in Richland, Oregon. As usual, it
exceeded our wildest expectations! The crowd may have been a little smaller than usual,
but the group of
attending musicians was just about the best ever!
FESTIVAL NEWS:
A great big THANK YOU to all of our sponsors, we appreciate you more than you know!:
Eagle Valley Grange; Guyer, Lindley, Bailey & Martin, CPA's; Eagle Valley
Communications; Betty's Books; Cliff's Saws & Cycles; Rustic Realty, Inc.; Vic Bobb;
Dr. Charles Hoffman; Warren and Janet Karon-Howe; Marilyn's Music Plus; Kathleen Bergland,
Attorney; Sumpter Secretarial Services; Mouth Music Press; Bill Gohring Jew's Harp Maker;
Roland Bades, Jew's Harp Maker from Austria; Ron Vinson, Artist; Common Sense Computer
Services; David Bellinger; Longbranch Grill.
For me, seeing the end of another festival is almost a let-down ... I work on the
festival all year long and once its over I always feel like, "Is that it?" But
usually as soon as we return home, there will be a letter in the mailbox saying "send
info on next year's festival" ... and it starts all over again. Well, this year, in
the mailbox we got an extra special nice letter from first time festival attendee, Clive
Julianus. His letter really brought home what we are all about. He said, "Just a note
of thanks for one of the best experiences of my life. The festival was certainly a turning
point in my relationship to music. The encouragement and support I experienced was
phenomenal ... thanks to the increased self-confidence from the support of fellow Jew's
harp players, seeing their performances ... my playing has improved quite rapidly."
Thanks for the letter, Clive, it "made my day"!
We are all looking forward to next year's festival - our 10th! We're planning some
extra special things: Valerie Bruesch will be making a quilt made from past festival
T-shirts to be raffled off; Ron Vinson will be doing a 10th anniversary Festival T shirt
in 4 color. 2001 fest dates will be August 17th and 18th, so mark your calendar now. We
hope to hold the festival again at the Eagle Valley Grange Park in Richland, Oregon and
confirmation of that will come after the first of the year.
GUILD NEWS:
At the meeting just following the festival, the Jew's Harp Guild voted to increase
annual membership dues to $15 for individuals and we have added a new family rate of $25.
We will be sending out a membership renewal reminder just after the first of the year. We
will offer the "renewal special" again this year where you can get a 2000 fest T
shirt for $10 when you renew your Guild membership.
The Guild also decided to start working on another "Festival Highlights CD".
This new CD will feature highlights from previous festivals. We hope to have it available
by early summer 2001.
OTHER NEWS:
We recently received notice that the International Jew's Harp Society is now
accepting applications for membership.
See article and info on the following pages.
Guild member, Des VanDyke from Amsterdam, recently produced her first CD
"ENJOY". The music is full of driving rhythms (rhythmic drums, keyboards, bass
and, of course, Jew's harps. For info or to order, write Des at:
Desiree VanDijk, Zaanhof 60, 1013XX Amsterdam,
The Netherlands ... or email dees@flash.a2000.nl.
Well, that's all for this time! I wish all of you a wonderful fall and Holiday season.
As the new VIM 9 – 2000 slipped from its envelope, I was
immediately struck by the full color cover. Editor Frederick Crane has put his new press
to work by filling out this issue’s 84 pages with color photographs and images, as
well as several striking illustrations by Steven Stwalley.
VIM’s scholarly mission is continued with updated information on trump related
websites, recordings, and printed resources. Articles by Fred, José Luis Pignocchi, and
Robert Bassara, allow the reader to travel through time and space. From the middle ages to
the present. From South America to South-east Asia. Fred’s penchant for folklore is
exhibited in the wonderful collection of tales entitled "Trolls and Trumps"
which feature the fanciful illustrations by Stwalley .
The nine issues of VIM cover trumpdom from 1982 to 2000. Cost is US$ 9
each, postage-paid worldwide.
Contact: VIM - 601 N. White St. - Mt. Pleasant, IA 52641 U.S.A.
From the "Progressive Musical Instruments Corporation"
Catalog circa 1937 – Our thanks to Doug Birch of Lansing,
Michigan for sending this and others.
The PLUCK-N-POST and ON-LINE NEWSLETTER need more contributors!
If you have ideas for articles, sketches or pictures, etc. Please query the editor,
Mark Poss, at (208) 466-6614 (10am-10pm MST) or 924 10th. Ave. N.– Nampa,
ID. 83687
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.
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"
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
John Palmes
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/)
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
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
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"
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
Matt Glasson
(alias Mugwump Jizm)
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.
Jew's Harp greeting cards and prints by pointillist artist Ron Vinson (rvinson@eoni.com)
Photos by Veronica Poss & Valerie Bruesch
An Invitation to Join the
International Jew’s HarpSociety
At the Third International Jew's Harp Festival and
Congress in Molln, June 1998, a special committee met in two sessions to discuss the
future of the Jew's harp movement. Participants of this committee were renowned
researchers and outstanding performers from all over the world, like Ivan Alexeyev from
Sakha-Yakutia/Russian Federation, Phons Bakx from the Netherlands, Anton Bruhin from
Switzerland, Fred Crane from the USA, Anon Egeland from Norway, Franz Kumpl from Austria,
Rimma Madvarova from Kyrgyzstan, Tran Quang Hai from France, Manfred Russmann from
Austria, and Robert Zagretdinov from Bashkortostan/Russian Federation. The board agreed
that an international organisation was needed, for communicating and co-ordinating among
persons interested in the instrument, and established the basis for one. The organisation
is to be called International Jew's Harp Society, Internationale Maultrommel-gesellschaft,
Mezhdunarodnoye Obshchestvo Vargana; the equivalent of these names in any other language
is to be considered official as well. Official communications are to be in English, and if
necessary in Russian. As much as possible, the Internet and e-mail will be used for
communications; a special Website will be set up.
It was decided that the initial membership will be offered to all the
members of present Jew's harp societies; in the meantime, it was proposed to add the
subscribers to the various Jew’s harp journals and newsletters. This invitation, in
fact, is going out to a large number of persons who have shown an interest in the
instrument.
The Fourth International Jew’s Harp Festival and Congress has now
been scheduled; it will be held in Norway in [2002], most probably in the month of July.
We will keep you informed on this important event. The Fifth International
Festival-Congress is planned for Amsterdam in 2004. With next year's Congress as a goal,
we feel that it is time to take the step of announcing the new society widely, and
inviting membership.
For the present, no dues are being asked. However, once the Society
gets fully under way, an annual fee of approximately US $ 15 to 20 will undoubtedly be
necessary, to pay for such communications as maintenance of the Website, an annual
journal, a newsletter, and a membership directory. For the immediate future, we expect to
communicate by e-mail to those who have such an account, and by traditional mail to
others. We encourage members to register for an e-mail address if they do not have one
(free e-mail is widely available to anyone with an Internet connection).
So here's a chance to be part of the International Jew’s Harp
Society, and to be informed on what’s going on globally with our favourite
instrument! All you need to do is fill out the form below, and send the result as a reply,
back to the address above. [Traditional mail: All you need to do is fill out the attached
form, and mail it to the [listed] address]
Franz Kumpl, Austria, President kumpl@ibm.net
Ivan Alexeyev, Russia, General Secretary
alexeyev@sci.yakutia.ru
Frederick Crane, USA, Publisher of the Jew’s harp journal VIM
From: "Svein Westad" <s-westad@online.no>
Subject: 4th jew's harp congress & festival in Norway 2002
Dear friends!
At the General Meeting in Norsk Munnharpeforum in Vaagaa on October 7th,
following decicion was made:
The 4th International Jew's Harp Congress and Festival in 2002 will be arranged at Rauland
Academy, organised by University of Telemark, Institute for Folk Music and Arts. Time for
the festival will be in the first week of September, from Tuesday 3rd until Sunday 8th.
The number of days, however, is not yet fixed, and might be subject to change during the
planning of the program. As some of you may know, the organising of the festival in
Setesdal in 2001 failed. During this process, Rauland booked another big arrangement,
European Seminar of Ethnomusicology in for September 2001. This made it impossible for
Rauland to take the 4th festival in Norway instead of Setesdal next year. Consequently,
the arrangement had to be postponed till 2002.
Rauland will be well prepared and has the very best of conditions to make a good
organised congress and a great festival:
A new building, housing seminar rooms and auditories equipped with the most modern of
facilities, DVD etc., will make the seminar part a best possible one. The Rauland Academy
also has accomodations for 90 guests, and a consert hall housing appr. 500 people. The
partisipants at the festival part: Friday and Saturday, and possibly also on Sunday, has
to be accomodated in nearby lodgings and camping areas. These will be mostly visitors from
adjoining regions in Norway.
An arranging commitee will soon be organised and start the preparatory planning work.
We will keep you informed regularly about the program and of the contributors chosen for
the lectures.
Genggongs For Sale
I have best quality Genggongs,
stringed palm leaf/bamboo jaw harps
from Indonesia. US$ 20 each, US$ 38 a matched male-female
(high-low) pair. (Domestic postage included; please add US$ 1 per order for international
delivery.)
I'd ideally like to sell only pairs, because they traditionally play them in pairs (or
more) to get the interlocking rhythms of gamelan-type music.
I have Balinese "tebeng"
available - these are genggong resonators, held in front of the instrument as one
plays. They amplify the overtones and "compress" the sound - genggongs have
never sounded better! These beautiful handmade tebeng are created from water buffalo skin,
painted red & gold, and decorated with cut-outs in the manner of Balinese
shadow-puppets.
US$ 10 each.
(please add $1 per order for international delivery.)
For more information, please write: Lena Stella Strayhorn, re: Genggongs,
3260 E. Avery St., Pensacola, FL 32503.
Or e-mail: lenalalita@hotmail.com
Lindsay Porteous
Scottish Champion Jawharpist
Tutor Pack Book, CD, or cassette with harp How to play and have fun
with the Jew's Harp
(Book, CD or cassette may also
be purchased separately)
Jew's Harp & Mouthbow Tutor Cassettes
New CD-"The Art of the Pickin' Bow"
For list and information:
Lindsay Porteous - Tron Shop
Culross, Fife, KY12 8JG Scotland
Phone: ++01383-880271
The CD features 20 of the best Public Domain, spontaneous music,
or original composition performances of the 1997 festival.
The CD was well accepted at the Molln Congress.
US $12.00 each
Shipping: Domestic US - 1 item US$ 3.00 - Each additional item US$ 1.00
International - 1 item US$ 5.00 - Each additional item US$ 1.00
Send Check or Money Order to: The Jew's Harp Guild 69954 Hidden Valley Lane
Cove, OR 97824 USA
Original Art
Featuring Jew's Harps
Blank note cards w/envelopes
Christmas Cards w/envelopes
Limited numbered, signed prints
