[Harp-L] Re: Harmonica Mexican

["Rick Epping" <rickepping@xxxxxxxxx>]

The harmonica in Mexico suffered the same fate as that in many countries
around the world with the introduction of the diatonic accordion.  Some
years ago I met a couple of Mexican tremolo players at the Smithsonian
Folklife Festival, the elder of which told me how the harmonica was taken
over by the accordion in the early 20th century; a story similar to ones
I've heard here in Ireland where, like in Mexico, traditional harmonica
players are today few and far between. The two instruments are similar in
tonality and in the manner in which they're played, but the accordion is
much louder, making it more suitable for playing for dances, and thus making
it a more financially attractive instrument for musicians in the
pre-amplification era.

Last year at the Willie Clancy Week, Mick Kinsella and I gave a lecture on
the history of the harmonica in Ireland, in preparation for which I
contacted the curator of the German Harmonica Museum, who confirmed my
theory that this phenomenon was worldwide.  The diatonic button accordion
really started taking off in the 1920s, when worldwide harmonica sales were
at their peak.  During the 'teens and 20s, German harmonica exports to Great
Britain (including Ireland) were over 1.3 million per year, Russia 1.1
million per year, Argentina 800,000 per year, and Brazil 700,000 per year.
In 1913, 3.4 million were exported to the USA, with over 7 million in 1929.
These sales started dropping off as accordion sales rose.

One can, however, look to the playing style in early diatonic accordion
recordings to get a notion as to the playing style of the pre-accordion
harmonica, as many of these early accordion players were likely to have
started out as harmonica players.  The tongue-block vamping technique used
on the various diatonic harmonica models is very similar to the left hand
technique of the diatonic accordion.

Best regards,
Rick


>
> Message: 5
> Date: Fri, 20 Jun 2008 15:23:43 +1000
> From: "Rick Dempster" <rick.dempster@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Harmonica Mexican
> To: "harp-l" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>,       "victorio montes silva"
>        <silvaharp@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> Message-ID: <485BCB7F.7C8A.0066.0@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
>
> Victorio;
>             Enjoyed looking at the pictures of these interesting old harps.
> What I'd be even more interested in would be archival recordings of these
> instruments being played.
>             As you say, the tremolo harp is the harmonica " most
> representative in the past " of Mexican harmonica playing.
>             I have quite a few recordings of Mexican music, and like it
> very much, but there is no harmonica on any of it.
>             I'm not interested in present day people playing blues, jazz
> etc etc; only in traditional Mexican music, and the older the better.
>             Do you have any suggestions, sound files etc. you could send
> me?
> Regards,
> Rick Dempster,
> Melbourne,
> Australia
>
> >>> victorio montes silva <silvaharp@xxxxxxxxxxx> 18/06/2008 3:30 >>>
>
>
> Hello everyone
>
>
> Today I share with you the blogspot a good friend of mine.
>
> http://armonicademexico.blogspot.com/
>
>
> Together we are rescuing the tradition of harmonica tremolo in Mexico
>
> They may see photographs of the harmonic most representative in the past
> Mexican.
>
> Besides adding new information on an ongoing basis.
>
>
> To enjoy it and hope your comments.
>
>
>
> Atte.
> Victorio Montes Silva
> 04455 1681-5162
>
>