Although I can't make any promises, I've recently had conversations with my HCH partner Jeff Silverman and with another local Mississippi guy who is itching to make Hill Country Harmonica 2016 a reality. I think we're going to have an event.
I think it would be good for America and Iran if we offered a prime spot at HCH 2016 to the best blues harmonica player in Iran.
Who would that be? Please offer suggestions. We won't be able to pay for his/her transportation--HCH doesn't fly folks in from overseas--but we will absolutely find the money for rooms, food, and a performance fee. Just tell me whom I should invite.
Why would we do this? Because we are blues harmonica people, and we are fun. Iranians surely have the blues. Let's hear what they have to say.
Me, I think it's Babak Safarnejad. If you don't exclaim out loud within the first 12 seconds of this video, then you are clearly somebody who has drunk the Howard Levy Koolaid:
Here's another. The harmonica playing doesn't have the same WTF! hit-you-in-the-heart thing going on, but still: fun video:
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Aug 16, 2015 6:14 AM
Steve Baker has been to Iran to run workshops. He would know who to contact.
If for some reason it falls through, and other plans B likewise fail, then as a last resort you could fly someone out from Australia. ---------- Tony Eyers Australia www.HarmonicaAcademy.com everyone plays...
I thought you were looking for their best BLUES player? I listened to the first vid, and though the playing was good, heard very little that was Blues-ish. But it was short and the 2nd had a band so I gave it a try. Now, maybe it was because I just woke up, but if that's the best Blues player they got....
HCH doesn't fly anybody in from overseas, be they Iranian or Australian or French or whomever. We don't have the budget to do that. But we have, on occasion, made space for exceptional foreign players (Alex Paclin being the best example) who were able to pay their own way to HCH. I have modified my OP to avoid confusion.
eharp, I agree with you about the second video. I do believe that the Iranians have the blues right now, and anybody familiar with Rumi's poetry knows that they are, or can be, incredibly soulful people. I hear that blues and that soul, driven by exceptional technique, in the first video. Any good, forward-thinking festival makes room for the occasional exceptional one-off variant. (It doesn't take rocket science to realize the potential publicity value of an Iranian player in Deep South America.)
I'm open to suggestions, and sincere in my interest. That's why I started the thread.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Aug 16, 2015 6:18 AM
This fellow is obviously a virtuoso. To bad he is not playing some old worn licks! To bad he considers his instrument a vital part of modern music. I would be hesitant to invite him. If he shows, the rednecks might try an lynch him for his lack of bluesyness and his country of origin. Sad but true. (:>( ...BN
