Hello HarmonicaUK Harmonicists,
It’s just a couple of days until the 90th Anniversary festival, and we’re all very excited and busy finalising things. The event is now sold out, and the programme has been uploaded to the festival 2025 area on the Harmoncia.uk site.
If you plan to perform in the Sunday Delegates concert and use a backing track, please email it or send it via a file transfer service like WeTransfer to [email protected] as soon as possible after you read this.
Round up all the loose change that’s down the back of the sofa, and get ready to snap up some bargains. Once again this year, the legendary John Cook will be calling the Auction and hosting the Bring and Buy Table, which helps us keep things running. The rules for the Bring and Buy table are in the festival area on the website.
Also, this year in our trade area, we have representatives from Hohner, Seydel, Lee Oskar, Suzuki, Battle Plan Harmonica Accessories, Pinegrove Leather and Crefftau Cribarth Harmonica Creations.
Phil Leiwy will once again be the event compere, or the Compere without Compare, as he likes to refer to himself. Who are we to argue?
HarmonicaUK Patron, Adam Glasser, is freshly back in England for the festival, after accepting the Best Traditional Jazz Album award for his album, SA and Beyond, at the 9th Annual Mzantsi Jazz Awards in Johannesburg, South Africa. Adam is leading two workshops on Playing Jazz Standards, and encourages planning to attend to email him [email protected] with suggestions, favourite songs or recordings.
Please do check the website before the event for the latest updates. Resources for the workshops are still trickling in….
Photo contest
Fancy winning a year’s membership to HarmonicaUK? Clean the lens on your phone or dust off your digital SLR. We’re running our first-ever delegates' photo contest for the best photos and videos taken at the festival. We’ll publish the winning photos in an article about the festival in Harmonica World and post videos on the website. Details and a list of prizes will follow in the November newsletter.
Sat Session for November, with Jason Ricci
Sat Nov 8, at 5 pm UK time, the sensational Jason Ricci from New Orleans will be hosting our final Saturday Session for 2025 and speaking about basic arpeggios, scales, approach tones, meows and enclosures. This event promises to be as entertaining as educational. You can learn more about Jason here www.jasonriccimusic.com
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to email [email protected]
Cheers,
Gene Myers
Chair and Editor
Newsdesk brings you a selection of items from the HarmonicaUK Newsdesk this month. Click "Read more..." to read the full news item.
5th Button Boxes and Moothies Festival of Free Reed Instruments
As part of their 30-year anniversary celebrations, Button Boxes & Moothies will be taking place once more in Aberdeen from 14-16 November 2025. Read more...
KONSTANTIN REINFELD: From Morocco to Hamburg
Tour news, dates, and the World Harmonica Festival in Trossingham. Read more...
Learn with Ed Hopwood for a whole Weekend
At the Euro Blues Weekend - an upcoming weekend of workshops, jamming and a concert that happens in Wantage, Oxfordshire, 14th -16th November. Read more..
New Event- Playing Together Weekend
Announcing a new event, The Playing-Together Weekend, conceived and organised by HarmonicaUK member Hilvert Scheper, with the hope that it will become an annual event. This event will be held at the official start of Spring, at the weekend of 21 - 22 March, 2026. Read more..
Joel Andersson's new record, The Dark Well, is submitted for a Grammy
Enda Scahill and Joel Andersson's new record, The Dark Well, has been submitted for a GRAMMY in the Best Global Album category. Read more...
The Complete Argentine Harmonica Course is now available
The Complete Argentine Harmonica Course by Santiago Alverez is now available for purchase! It dives into the soulful world of Argentine music—exploring the fire of Tango and the heart of Folk—so you can play with more style, feeling, and confidence. Read more..
Rodrigo Eberienos’s new album
Rodrigo Eberienos, one of Brazil’s foremost harmonica players, with a 31-year career, unveils his latest work: New Old Stock, an album that celebrates classic blues, rock, and soul with a modern, vibrant edge. Read more..
2nd Hong Kong International Chromatic Harmonica Competition
Further to the success of the 1st Hong Kong International Chromatic Harmonica Competition held in 2023, government funding for the second competition has been secured, and the King’s Harmonica Quintet is proud to host the 2nd competition on 30 Mar- 4 Apr 2027. Read more..
Playing with the Lee Oskar Melody Maker Harmonica
LearnTheHarmonica.com is sharing six new free harmonica videos focusing on the Lee Oskar Melody Maker Harmonica, a specially tuned harmonica designed to make playing melodies, pop tunes, and folk songs feel natural and easy. Read more..
New at Seydel - the 1847 Classic Easy Third
The 1847 CLASSIC is now available in an exciting new variant: the 1847 CLASSIC EASY THIRD Tuning– designed for players who want maximum flexibility when performing melodies and chords. Read more..
Events this month - Read more and Zoom links on our Events page…
HarmonicaUK Festival 2025
Join us for our 90th Anniversary Festival 17-19 October 2025 at Hillcourt Hotel in Birmingham, with guest artists Lee Oskar, Steve Baker, Joe Powers and Mat Walklate
HarmonicaUK Friday Coffee Morning - Friday 24th October 11:00 am UK Time
Join us on Zoom every Friday Morning, 11 am - Noon UK time, for a chat about harmonicas, music and more! Meeting ID: 999 3719 8697 and Passcode: 178801.
HarmonicaUK Friday Coffee Morning - Friday 31st October 2025 11:00 am UK Time
Join us on Zoom every Friday Morning, 11 am - Noon UK time, for a chat about harmonicas, music and more! Meeting ID: 999 3719 8697 and Passcode: 178801.
HarmonicaUK Open Mic - Saturday 1st November 5:00 pm UK Time
All levels, all styles, and a friendly atmosphere. You can also come and listen in too. Details and link here
Saturday Session - Jason Ricci - 8 November 5:00 pm UK Time
Jason will be talking about improvising with basic arpeggios, scales, approach tones, meows, and enclosures. Read more...
