BY PRATIMA ACHREKAR | NT NETWORK
Brendan Power is one of the most in demand harmonica player in the world today. UK-based New Zealander Brendan Power is acknowledged by many for his creativity and music skills as a versatile harmonica player.
Equally at ease on both the earthy Blues Harp as well as the sophisticated Chromatic Harmonica, he tunes them to his own scales to create a highly original style. He has recorded fifteen solo CDs to date, in a wide variety of musical genres. Brendan also works as an international Harmonica specialist for the world renowned Suzuki Musical Instrument Manufacturing Co. Ltd. He was recently named the harmonica player for the year 2011 by the prestigious website www.SPAH.org.
Disagreeing with the charge that the youth are turning away from instruments such as the Harmonica, he says "No, it is not true. On my last visit to Bangalore, I saw a very good response from youngsters. This instrument still attracts teenagers, since you can play variations in music, such as mix music blues, traditional music, Irish music, jazz, Bulgarian and folk music. It encompasses a blend of many styles, which has gained it popularity."
Brendon recently had a live concert at Ravindra Bhavan recently. This is Brendon’s first visit to India. Brendan’s eclectic skills have made him an in-demand session player, leading him to live and recording work with artists such as Kate Bush (her latest album ‘Director’s Cut’), Sting, Van Morrison, James Galway, Paul Young, Shirley Bassey, John Williams, Mike Batt and many more. His playing is also heard on many Hollywood movie soundtracks (the 2008 Oscar winning soundtrack for ‘Atonement’).
Brendon’s favourite musician among the Indian fraternity is Carnataki violinist, Arun RamaMothy. As we learn that Brendan has picked up nuances of Hindustani and Carnatic Classical music from Sai Tejas Chandrashekhar, a Carnatic Classical harmonica player, he follows this up with an explanation of 50 harmonicas (chromatic and diatonic) which he has brought along with him in two cases. HE explains the specialty of each harmonica. When asked what his favourite music genre is, Brendon replies, "Blues, folk, chaotic, pop, jazz, irish, original beat boxing, blues and slow tunes and switching on to original tunes."
Brendan is an expert player at playing traditional Irish music too (winning the 1993 All Ireland Title). Brendan recently pioneered a few new harmonicas with incredible bending capability to play Hindustani and Carnatic Classical music. But, unfortunately, we do not yet have harmonica players who are exploring this genre of music on this instrument in India.
Brendon’s visit to Goa was an exciting one. In fact, he mentions that he is interested in learning tunes of Konkani music as he goes on to say, "I would love experimenting with indigenous Goan Konkani music. The only thing is that I should get a chance to listen to it, so that I can contemplate and pick up some tuning notes." On a concluding note, Brendon adds, "I have heard a lot about Goa. It is fun to be here as tourists flock in large numbers. I will definitely visit it a second time."
