The Power Of The Harmonica

Abe, Brendan, and Laura at Pobitara Wildlife Sanctuary

A lot did happen last week . We had three house guests from halfway across the world. It isn’t everyday that you get to host a guest like Brendan Power, the world renowned harmonica player. Brendan and his partner Laura, and Abe Thomas stayed with us for three days. He was invited to play in our city on December 2 by the Harmonica Association of Guwahati. My husband met him last year in Singapore at the Harmonica Festival and they had since been in touch with each other. He was also invited to play at the International Music festival in another venue in our city. Abe Thomas from L.A. who’s in the music industry and is the Indian representative of MI, facilitated the process of this major event happening on our city.

The morning after they arrived, DH accompanied them to Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary, a place known for its rhinos, leopards, reptiles, and migratory birds. I stayed back to oversee the arrangements for the party we were to throw in their honour later in the evening.

Brendan and Laura at the park

 

Abe looks on as Brendan plays the harmonica accompanied by my son on the snare drum.

The party held in our loft had about forty guests. There was a pin-drop silence when Brendan started to play. For many of us the fact that the harmonica could sound like that was something we couldn’t even think of! It was beautiful and it was magical. Below is the link to one of the numbers that he played called Sweet Bulgarity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avTlwH122mI

The shows in both the venues were well appreciated. There were other musicians from our region who participated in the shows as well. But the star was Brendan. The thought that came to everyone’s mind was – can the harmonica really sound like that? Of course it can! Particularly if it’s played by the maestro himself, Brendan Power, voted the Harmonica Player Of The Year 2011.

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