Monday, April 07, 2008

Treats to the sounds of the harmonica



The harmonica is a free reed wind instrument (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonica). When I was a lower Secondary School student, the harmonica was choosen to be the instrument that all students of the level has to learn for our weekly compulsory music lessons.

The thing I can remember about blowing the harmonic is that notes are made by blowing air into or drawing air out of the holes of the harmonica. It can be quite a challenge, and I personally think that it is an even greater challenge to obtain a nice sound on the harmonica.

I have had the pleasure to get myself a few CDs of the recordings of Harmonica virtuoso, Maestro Yew Hong Chow, performing on the harmonica. I managed to listen to a few tracks of one of the CDs, before my CD player started giving problems. Anyway, Maestro Yew challenges the listeners' ear to discover the beauty of the sounds of harmonica. The clarity and beauty of the sound from his rendition will make it worthwhile to have a copy of one of these CDs.

I found out that two of the CDs were actually recorded in the 1970s, and later converted to digitised format. As such, listeners will be treated to what can be considered historical recordings from the 1970s. It will be interesting to hear glimpses of the musical journey that Maestro Yew has went through over the past decades.





This CD was a gift. Many thanks for it.

The works that are being performed in the above three CDs include: Fisherman's Song, J.S. Bach's Badinerie, Butterfly Lovers, Kangding Love Song and more. I have yet to listen to all three CDs, but so far, my personal favourite is Under the Silver Moonlit Night.

All the CDs that you see on this post are available for purchase at S$10 each. It is an affordable price for anyone who are interested to have a collection of original recordings of music performance on the harmonica.

I understand that the CDs are available from:

Harmonica Aficionados Society (Singapore)
21B Smith Street, Singapore 058 935
Email : has@harmonica.org.sg
Website : http://www.harmonica.org.sg

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