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Purism
There's one thing that I have trouble understanding in the world of music (or rather of " musics ") : purism. Often it carries with it the best of intentions : to preserve a musical tradition, an authenticity, etc. But at the end of the day, isn't its main consequence to kill what it wants to protect ? Don't misunderstand me : I'm all for respecting musical traditions and origins... But I do oppose the idea that a musical style must be exclusively what it has been in the past and not evolve. The most astonishing aspect of purism in the realm of harmonicas is that beyond the " purist effect " that may concern a musical style (blues, traditional Irish, etc.), purism extends to the instrument as a whole : how many times have I heard that diatonic was instrument for blues only, that only chromatic was fit to play classical or jazz, that chromatic sounded sickly sweet, that playing fast was soulless... Thank God, in the early days of the harmonica pioneers, the players didn't bother with these preconceptions, or at least a lot less... Had that not been the case, we would never have heard Little Walter's amplified swing, the powerful chromatic blues of George Harmonica Smith. Closer to us, our ears would never have been graced by the Arabic themes of Howard Levy with Rabih abou-Khalil, the raucous chromatic sound of Bill Barrett would have stayed in a cupboard, and Malagasy would never had known the beautiful fluid lines of Vincent Bucher's playing... In the end, the main effect of musical purism is to close doors. It is to hammer in beginners' minds that " this way " is the " right way " to play the instrument that they dare not explore, that they lose the enthusiasm of discovering and experimenting. Finally, what happens ? The instrument dies from a lack of new blood. The most astounding aspect of this in the harmonica world is that the same people who contribute to smothering creativity are the ones who lament about the status of the harmonica as a " second class " instrument. The contradiction is blatant : by keeping the harmonica in a musical ghetto (for example, limiting diatonic to blues), the way the instrument is perceived is unlikely to evolve ; quite the contrary, in fact... Planet Harmonica often receives records of harmonica players, some famous, some less so. You could not believe the lack of imagination that goes into these discographic productions. Quite often, they hold themselves pretty well on their own, but what is new and fresh in there ? Not much, unfortunately... That a young artist who is starting on the road to a musical career should feel compelled to imitate in order to make himself a name, I can understand. But most often it is the confirmed artists, those who have been on the circuit for years who sound more stale than a well in the Sahara desert. Many of those who are often called the " best " harp players are in fact nothing more than dry imitators, followers, not artists in the noblest sense... Ultimately, I believe music is about having something to say. And
of all those who have nothing to say, the most interesting will always
be those who keep quiet... |
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