Absolutely! Taro Senga is the most exciting blues/rock harp player I've heard in a long time. I remember jamming with Him when he was a kid at a Tokyo music show, and he was damn good even then. Now he's got the perfect blend of technique and feel, along with confident stage projection.
It's all the more refreshing that Taro and his brilliant band are from Asia. The technical level there on classical chromatic, bass & chord is the best in the world, via the big well-organised APHF competition system, but I always felt improvisation and individual expression were not really valued and subsequently not at a high level. But players like Taro and his fellow Japanese diatonic/chromatic virtuoso Koei Tanaka are starting to make Western Jazz & blues players sit up and take notice, because they are just so hot! It's great for the future of the harmonica.
Last Edited by Brendan Power on Dec 04, 2014 10:58 AM
Awesome!! Not to bring down another player just to cheer this one on, but I feel like he has speed to rival John Popper but uses it much more tastefully
I just love the band. The feeling I get from that last song, "Walkin' on the Street," is the feeling I got from the Spin Doctors when I first heard "Pocket Full of Kryptonite" It's young men having big fun and finding the chords and melodies to communicate that. The Beatles did that with "Hard Day's Night." It sounds easy to do, but it ain't. "Love Shack" has some of that. Just fun jangly music. In this case, as with the Beatles, there's some sophisticated harmony going on.
If I had the money, I would make these guys headliners at Hill Country Harmonica 2018. Do you think we should find out their fee and start a Kickstarter campaign? Have they ever played in America? I would like to put them on the Foxfire Ranch stage. It would be beyond epic.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Jun 13, 2017 4:36 PM
Work with a Japanese/English translator. Find one at a college where languages are taught. They will appreciate the fact that you are speaking with them in their language and find you interesting, at the very least.
Open a dialog. If you book far enough in advance, plane tickets are cheaper. If you network and find them other gigs, their fee may go down in favor of a vacation/tour across the US.
Be fearless and go for it. It's really not that hard to pull stuff like this off.
How exciting! ---------- The Iceman
Last Edited by The Iceman on Jun 13, 2017 6:58 PM
Sorry. I'm just not quite ready to let this thread fade away again just yet! I love these guys. That first video in the original post had a big influence on me when it first surfaced on this forum. Thanks for that Wheel.
Tom ---------- Be humble for you are made of earth. Be noble for you are made of stars.
Hmmm. No one is stepping fearlessly forward on this one? No one wants to bring them here? Too bad. Opportunity lost! Talk w/no follow through? (I'd do it, but am too busy w/gourmet foods). ---------- The Iceman
Last Edited by The Iceman on Jun 18, 2017 10:33 AM
Lots of moving pieces will have to come together in order to have Sean O'Phelan and the Midwest Harmonica Workshop take over Hill Country Harmonica and actually make the event happen in May 2018, 11 months from now. Even more moving parts will have to come together in order to bring Taro Senga and Monster to Foxfire Ranch in Waterford, Mississippi for that event. If Sean is game, and if the budget can be created, he certainly has my blessings. Thankfully, it won't be me doing any of this. That's the only way it will happen! I'm just not interested in being a promoter. But I"m a big fan of the band, and, like Iceman and more than a few of you, I'd love to see it happen. Let's hope!
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Jun 19, 2017 7:03 PM
