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Thomas "Tomcat" Colvin, Manila, Philippines, 30 Oct 96 On Asia Pacific Harmonica Festival I've just returned to Manila from Taipei in Taiwan, where I attended the Asia Pacific Harmonica Festival. This is the first such Festival. At last year's World Harmonica Championships in Yokohama, a group of the top Asian players got together and decided Asia deserved its own Festival, which would run in alternate years to the World Championships, which I'm guessing will now stay in Europe/North America. This year's festival was organized by the Harmonica Art Promotion Association [HAPA] of Taiwan, which has run three previous national Festivals, beginning in 1993, and therefore has some experience at running such events. This year's Festival was remarkably successful. Over 800 attended, mostly from Taiwan, but with a 48-member contingent from Japan, as well as contingents from Hong Kong, the People's Republic of China, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. SPAH's Bob Williams would have been envious: most of the competitors were young -- elementary, high school and college students. And their level of musicianship and technique was quite high. The youngest competitor didn't even come up to my belt -- must have been no more than 7 or 8 years old. He was included in the final evening's line-up of performers, playing Flight of the Bumblebee and something by Bach. One of the finest performers of the entire competition was a 12-13 [?] year old Japanese boy who played tremolo flawlessly. The program ran non-stop from 8:30 a.m. til after 9 p.m. Competitions were held in Youth Tremolo [17 contestants], Adult Tremolo [32], Chromatic [25], Duo [20], Trio [24], 4-9 person Ensemble [23], 10-45 person Ensembles [14] and Diatonic [5]. Concurrently there were workshops on Tremolo [2], Chromatic [2], Diatonic [1]. The judges were drawn mostly from the top ranks of Asian players, along with a few top musicians/composers from Taiwan. Among them were [several of whom have attended a SPAH convention within the last few years]: Shigeaki Iwasaki and Yushin Yoshida from Japan, Ho Jia-Yi of People's Republic of China, Ho Bai-Chang of Hong Kong, Chang Yia-Gaw from Malaysia, Sun Jen-Kuan of Singapore, Lee Hea-Bong of Korea [and yours truly, included, I suppose, as the only Caucasian in attendance and a veteran of an earlier HAPA Festival]. A harmonica store did brisk business throughout -- though I was disappointed at the small number of CDs for sale [including four of Bonfiglio's were there, released in Japan]. The next Asia Pacific Festivals will be held in Malaysia [1998] and Korea [2000]. The World Championships will be held in Germany [1997] and France [1999]. MARK YOUR CALENDARS. The organization of this Festival was outstanding. HAPA deserves a very big round of
applause for setting a very high standard. On King's Harmonica Quintet Continuing my report from yesterday about the 1st Asia Pacific Harmonica Festival, the highlight of the Festival for me was the Saturday night performance by the King's Harmonica Quintet. I found it both astonishing and inspiring: no one can claim that the harmonica lacks merit as an instrument after hearing this group. Such clarity of sound, and nuances of delivery. Founded in 1987 in Hong Kong, the quintet, composed of 2 treble chromatics, 2 tenor chromatics and a bass harmonica, specializes in readings of classical chamber music. The group came to international attention in 1995, with its first appearance outside of Hong Kong. They walked away with a bundle of awards from the World Harmonica Championships in Yokohama, and the group has also established a home page on the World Wide Web [http://home.netvigator.com/~cblau/khq/]. I understand that the group also appeared at SPAH 1996. For those who would like to hear/see this group, the quintet has two self-produced cassettes and a videotape available -- all highly recommended, though I prefer the video. The group is also selling its arrangements, though it uses the Asian notation system for harmonica, which is unfamiliar in Europe and North America. [Perhaps someone can explain it here; I don't understand it yet.] In addition to the website, the group can be contacted at the following addresses: Room 406, Fu Hong House, Fu Keung Court |
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