Re: [Harp-L] Blues Notes & Microtonality

[Bill <bill.eborn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

This is a bit conjectural as I haven't had time to explore it as fully
I would it as I would like - others may have done though, so any thoughts
would be welcome.

If anyone has seen the excellent documentary that Martin Scorscese produced
on the history of the blues, that was presented by Corey Harris, they may
have noticed the statement that the great Malian musician Ali Farka Toure
made when he talked about his reaction when he first heard John Lee Hooker.
He said it was like 'our (Malian) music' but different.

As I understand it, the origin of many of the people who went on to form the
slave populations of the southern US and the Carribbean was often from those
parts of West Africa (Mali, parts of Nigeria, Niger, Ghana, Senegal
etc) which underwent a process of conquest by Arab armies from the north, in
the 9th and 10th centuries.  This conquest was followed by the spread of
Islamic culture and learning etc.  So presumably the musical traditions of
Sufism, complete with the quarter tone, which is of course a major feature
of arabic music, would have fused with the earlier musical traditions of
that part of africa to form the music, which transported to the 'New World'
went on to form the blues.

This connection's fascinating, I reckon, there's also a great phd thesis in
this for someone too, or it may already be one - I hope so!

This site http://www.maqamworld.com/ has some examples of scales and sound
samples of the use of quarter tones in arabic music which some may find
useful.

As for the use of the harp in West African Desert Blues, the only person I
know of who has explored this, is the French harp player Vincent Bucher, who
plays on an album called Kongo Magni with the Malian guitarist, Boubacar
Traore and IMHO very, very nice it is too!

Bill
On Fri, Sep 5, 2008 at 1:12 PM, <IcemanLE@xxxxxxx> wrote:

> Good concise, clean description.
>
> To get a handle on this sliding sound and controlling it, try to simulate a
> cat crying - meeooooooooow - on hole 3 inhale. As Steve states, start
> slightly
>  below the minor 3rd, let the note rise up towards the "ceiling" and bring
> it
>  down again.
>
> The cat crying could be a parallel to a moaning sound. It is the human
> emotion in the moan that grabs the listener when it is recreated in a
> sliding
> musical note - harmonica, slide guitar, synth w/pitch bend, human voice.
> This is
> an expression of blues heart, harking back to the day of slaves working in
> the
>  fields or the feeling of that woman having done me wrong.....
>
>
> In a message dated 9/5/2008 5:45:25 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
>  steve@xxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
>
> Just a  personal observation:
>
> I see blue notes mainly as moving notes or slides  and use them to
> create tension by altering the pitch while I play  them, rather like
> how a slide guitar player would do. They usually  sound most effective
> moving upwards (eg from slightly below a minor  3rd through to just
> below a major third or the lowest bend in 4-draw  all the way up to
> the natural note), but can also sound good sliding  downwards. Exact
> pitch control of the bend and a smooth, gradual  slide are important
> to make this work,
>
> Steve
>
> Steve  Baker
> steve@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> www.stevebaker.de
> www.bluesculture.com
> www.youtube.com/stevebakerbluesharp
>
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