One full year... That's how long it will have taken us for this new issue of Planet Harmonica to see the light of day. The reasons are many : a new job for me, some of my precious collaborators have also had a hectic year... Anyway, it took a long time, and sometimes I nearly gave up, discouraged by how much work it represented. Thankfully, here it is. I hope you like it !

I was very pleased for the opportunity to have Brendan Power on the "cover" of this issue. To me, Brendan symbolises a bridge between tradition and modernity. He plays a music that is open on the world and on others. I think that if, in its short life so far, Planet Harmonica should have an editorial line, it would be that one : to help the harmonica to progress without negating its past. That is also why we have launched a new series "Young Lions of the Harp" in this issue : its aim is to look at the new approaches that young players are taking, everywhere in the world.

Some are even more lyrical than me about their favourite instrument, and one of our French collaborators, Sylvain, submitted a poem on the harmonica. 'Tis a season to be merry, so it's quite refreshing to remember the simple childish joy that most of us experience when playing...

Planet Harmonica has evolved along these few issues. The technical "infractructure" is at last stabilised, which will certainly mean less work in the coming issues : a stable "model" is an important building block for any magazine. That being said, I don't want to commit to the release date of the next issue : I'm going to be a father soon, and something tells me that that event will have a huge impact on my life and available time. Well, I can mention June as a date, but I don't believe in it much !

Unlike its beginnings, Planet Harmonica's elaboration has now become very collaborative, and I for one am very pleased about it. More than ever before, this issue would not have come to life without the help of all those who donated some of their time for its completion.  It's still full of typos and spelling mistakes, but that's what you get from typing at 300 mph at three in the morning ! We'll try and get them corrected bit by bit.

Some of you have asked how they could help. We've written a nice little essay about that, but it can be summed up in a few sentences : if you feel like a French/English or English/French, translator, we have a job for you ! One other less time-consuming way of supporting us is by purchasing on Amazon through our banners. This pays us the few dollars we need each month to pay our web hosting service provider.

Anyway, to sum up this year, I wanted to thank deeply all the readers, and even more profusely all those who helped and supported us, in no particular order,  Niall, John, G, Pascal, Chon, Sylvain, Sabine, Frédérique, Jean-François, David, Yves, Paul, Greg, Nico, Brendan, Ted, François, Bruno and Doug. I hope I'm not forgetting anyone and if that is the case, please forgive me, tiredness is to blame !

A Happy New Year and a Happy New Millenium to you all,

Benoît Felten