October Festival 2021

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.