Get blown away with HarmonicaUK's Virtual Annual Festival, 15-17th October starting at 7pm BST on 15th. This is a truly world-class international festival, with artists from four continents: Adam Gussow, Howard Levy, Antonio Serrano, Roni Eytan, Will Wilde, Santiago Alvarez, Phillip Henry, and Robert Legault are set to entertain and educate you.
Free, open to all, and no need to pre-register. Please go to the Facebook event page and let us know if you'll be attending or interested, and we'll keep you up to date with the latest announcements.
To access the festival or AGM you can click here or to enter manually via zoom the meeting ID is 942 3074 7187 passcode 185909
The Raffle has prizes from Hohner, Seydel, Suzuki, Richard Smith, Battle Plan Accessories, and there will be manufacturer sessions too.
There is a competition which will be screened on Saturday morning, and open jams on Saturday and Sunday.
Our Annual General Meeting is on Friday, where you'll learn about some of the most exciting changes to HarmonicaUK in its 85-year history.
The festival is free, however, you can decide to donate directly to help support the artists via PayPal. Please give generously!
Festival '21 Schedule of Events - All timings and artists are subject to change
Friday 15th October
19:00 Introduction and AGM
19:30 Harmonica UK Relaunch
20:30 AGM and Relaunch Q and A
20:50 Intermission Video
21:00 Adam Gussow - Workshop
Saturday 16th October
09:30 Competition - start time is dependent on number of entries
14:15 Silverfish Microphones - Trade Stall
14:45 Intermission Video
15:00 Robert Legault - Workshop
16:15 Intermission Video
16:30 Phillip Henry - Workshop
17:45 Intermission Video
18:00 Roni Eytan - Workshop
19:15 Intermission Video
19:30 Howard Levy - Workshop
Sunday 17th October
13:30 Trade Stall
14:00 Intermission Video
14:15 Will Wilde - Workshop
15:30 Raffle Draw
16:15 Santiago Alvarez - Workshop
17:30 Intermission Video
17:45 Antonio Serrano - Workshop
19:00 Concluding Remarks
19:45 Jam with Neil Warren
You'll be blown away with HarmonicaUK
Please donate generously to our festival artists!
ADAM GUSSOW has been a member of the raw and unforgettable Harlem blues duo Satan & Adam for more than three decades, recently featured in a Netflix documentary by the same name. Overblow powerhouse Adam Gussow is known to blues harmonica players around the world thanks to his two-channel ministry on YouTube and his pioneering website, Modern Blues Harmonica. Thanks to Brian Kramer for the great drawing.
HOWARD LEVY was born in Brooklyn in 1951 and began recording in the late 1970s. In his workshop he will play music from the many groups and projects with which he has been involved, including Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, with whom he became a two-time Grammy winner. Howard is renowned for his mastery of chromatic playing style on a diatonic, and overblowing and overdrawing techniques. He is a multi-instrumentalist, and has recorded and toured with numerous famous artists.
ANTONIO SERRANO was born in Madrid in 1974. His father started to teach him to play the harmonica when he was seven. Six years later he shared the stage with Larry Adler at a concert in Paris. Antonio developed a unique playing technique that allows him to switch between musical styles. He is renowned, especially in his native Spain for playing in many diverse musical styles from classical to pop.
PHILLIP HENRY is one of the most versatile harmonica players around, he plays both guitar and harmonica. He combines styles such as blues, country and folk music with beatboxing. He spent some time in India and on his return, he joined The Roots Union. After three years touring the band finished. He then joined with fellow bandmember Hannah Martin to form award-winning folk band Edgelarks, who have released several albums.
ROBERT LEGAULT returned to the stage five years ago after a long absence. At the same time, he released his new album Le mouton noir (The black sheep). He has been performing with his band les Mercenaires du terroir.... not as bad as it sounds it means the mercenaries of the land. He plays a mixture of covers of local music of Quebec and some of his own compositions.
RONI EYTAN has developed a unique way of playing the harmonica, drawing on influences from a wide range of music. He was the first harmonica player to be chosen for the prestigious Herbie Hancock Institute program. Roni’s music is based in jazz and traditional music studied in his hometown of Jerusalem.
He has been playing around the world with his band, and is working on his debut album.
SANTIAGO ALVAREZ studied Chromatic Harmonica with Franco Luciani in his home town of Buenos Aires. He has devoted himself to playing mainly folk and tango music. He is part of a new movement in Argentina where younger players are playing traditional Latin-American music especially the tango. He has played as part of the Tanino Duo for over ten years together with Diego Romano who plays keyboards.
WILL WILDE picked up his first harmonica at the age of sixteen, and became obsessed with playing harp. He doesn’t stick to playing music you would expect, he brings rock music to the harping world. He plays the lines that you would expect a guitar to play – and has signature tunings to allow him to hit otherwise impossible notes. He started playing Chicago blues but gravitated to the rock harp sound that has made him famous.