The humble harmonica has been with us for about 5,000 years. It appears to have originated in China, as has just about everything else, with the exception of the Chevrolet Impala and that skinny little band-aid people put on their noses to keep their nostrils open.

Actually, the first harmonica was made of bamboo and gourd by the Chinese. They called it a sheng. When ships started heading east/west halfway around the world in the 12th and 13th centuries, the harmonica found its way to Europe. As early as 1700, the Germans got their hands on them and eventually a guy named Matthias Hohner started putting them out in big numbers. (A lot of pros still swear by the Hohner harmonica.) By the mid 19th century, harmonicas got hot in the U.S.A. People from all walks of life began to play them: cowboys, home on the range, watching over their doggies; sailors on the poop deck of ships, doing what sailors do on the poop deck; and a guy (always) on Death Row somewhere playing a very sad blues tune.

This concludes your harmonica history lesson for the day.

One more thing: the only qualification you need to play a harmonica is the ability to pucker and breathe…at the same time. (Don’t forget those little nose band-aids!)

Manolo visited with reps of three harmonica groups today and got his doors blown off. There’s the Hawai`i Reed 21, out of the Honbushin International Center in Mililani; The Small World Harmonica Band out of the Beretania Community Park recreation center; and the Shinjuku harmonica group from Tokyo, Japan, under the direction of virtuoso Homare Hoshi. He used to live in Honolulu, but now he’s blowin’ it in Tokyo.

Manolo talked with Robert Omura, Homare Hoshi, Ron Kaneshiro (with the big chord harmonica), Mary Webster (about kissing!), Fusayo Nagai and Seiko Imoto.

As with any artistic discipline, there are some things you need to know about the harmonica, including how to play one. Experience, it is said, is the best teacher, so why not get “experienced”. (Thank you, Jimi Hendrix. Betcha he knew how to play one.)

It’s the Tenth Annual Harmonica Recital & Concert this Saturday from 2 to 4 in the Mission Memorial Auditorium at Honolulu City Hall.

Hot tip: One of the highlights of Saturday’s performance will be a duet/finale by Robert Omura and Homare Hoshi. They’re going to do “Bolero”. (Thank you, Maurice Ravel. We don’t think he played the harmonica, however.)

A very nice lady with The Small World Harmonica Band was kind enough to supply us with some very helpful information concerning this weekend’s concert and about harmonics/harmonicas in general. Her name is Mary Webster. She wanted us/you to know the names of her folks who appeared at today‘s get-together with KHON. As this is a web page, we got the space, so here goes: Layton Chew, Tit Kwon Chun, Yoshiaki Kaikoku, Stanley Fujii, Tokiko Hashimoto, Seiko Imoto, Kazuo Inouye, Ron Kaneshiro, Osamu Murata, Fusayo Nagai, Seichi Nagai, Etsuko Nakagawa, Robert Omura, Amy Preston, Frances Tagami, and the over-popular Mary Webster.

Mahalo nui to everybody who helped make this a fun morning.

They all had a perfect pucker and air to spare.

Info:

Small World

522-7022

Hawai`i Reed 21

623-4534