RE: [Harp-L] Carribean Harmonica



I've been meaning to bring up a similar point for quite some time. I've been on a huge Ska kick for a little over a year now. And there is a decent amount of harmonica in traditional Jamaican Ska. Roy Richards' "Contact" being the foremost example since it was the biggest hit. The other harmonica player of note is Charlie Organaire with "Go Home" and "Merry Twist (Boogie)" which are both on Trojan Battlefield on Trojan. There are several more songs I have in my collection that feature harmonica but the player is unknown to me.
With a quick click through my iTunes I found:
"Rough & Tough" - Stranger Cole
"Midnight Track" - Owen Gray
"But Officer" - Karl Walker
"When You Call My Name" - Stranger & Patsy
"Musical Communion" - Baba Brooks
Most of which come from Rough & Tough - The Story Of Ska: 1960-1966. Most of the playing is just chordal work doubling the upstrokes on the guitar.


I too wish there was more with harmonica on it and more info about it. Ska was such a singles market that it is tough to find albums buy anyone but the few that made it big like Desmond Dekker and the Skatalites. I suggest the Trojan 3 CD collections for anyone looking to check out some Ska, harmonica or not. The Trojan Jamaican R&B box is particularly acessible for blues fans.
Ryan




From: "Rick Dempster" <rick.dempster@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Winslow Yerxa" <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>
CC: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [Harp-L] Carribean Harmonica
Date: Fri, 13 Oct 2006 10:40:10 +1000

Hi Winslow;
Hope you don't mind the direct inquiry; if anyone else on the list has anything to add, I'd be pleased to hear.
A few years ago, if my memory serves me, you responded to a post I made regarding a Jamaican harmonica player called Roy Richards, who worked with Baba Brook's band and had a hit in 1967 (probably a hit in Jamaica and UK) called 'Contact'.
I've since tried to track down something else by him, but there is nothing out there, apart from the odd bit of accompaniement.
Chances are that everything I want to here from Roy is encapsulated on that one track anyway. But it has caused me to wonder what kind of status the harmonica had in the West Indies.
I have heard the odd track here and there, one on a chromatic, played in first position (Richards plays a tremolo model)
I wonder that there isn't more. You'd think a cheap instrument would have found popularity in the Carribean.
I seem to recall you had some names, but I may be confusing you with someone else.
If the harmonica (being British colonies they might have called it 'mouth organ' in Jamaica & Trinidad) was not popular in that corner of the world, I wonder what the reason was. The music of the old Calypsonians might have been considered the preserve of more sophisticated players who could play 'proper' instruments, but the area of music occupied by steel pan players ie more 'street' style would have suited harmonica, and Roy Richard's playing falls into that camp in my opinion.
Woddyareckon?
RD



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