As promised last week, here's a little blurb about Brendan Power. I discovered Brendan's music about four years ago through various recommendations on harmonica mailing lists. I managed to borrow a copy of New Irish Harmonica from a friend (the record was, and still is, hard to find in regular shops). I wouldn't say I was blown away in the traditional sense of the word, mostly because, truth be told, Celtic music doesn't do much for me. Much as I would like to dig in deeper and enjoy it more, it's the kind of music I love to listen to live in a pub but have less fun hearing on record.
That said, Brendan's record got me interested and hooked, especially those pieces that blended blues technique with Irish jigs or reels. When I met Brendan later he told me he'd taken a lot of flack from Celtic music 'purists' because of these, but I find music the most interesting when it results from a blend of influences. Anyway, this was enough for me to be interested in Brendan's work, and a trip to Britain gave me the opportunity to get in touch with him and organise a meet up. I ran an interview, which was published in the third issue of Planet Harmonica.
More importantly (for me), I got to know Brendan a little and enjoy his company. Brendan is a great person, humble, humane and ever curious, qualities not always present in musicians of his caliber. His enthusiasm for the harmonica, his technical experimentations on the build of the instruments, both diatonic and chromatic, are quite amazing. During this first meeting I took the photo of his workbench shown here, but it really doesn't do it justice. The attic in which he played and tinkered looked like an Alchemist's lab to me, and Brendan was only too happy to explain his processes, show his samples and let me try his prototypes.
When I left Brendan's house, he gave me several of his records, including an early version of Tradish (originally called Tanks Aloft), which I immediately fell in love with. It had the right mix of traditional and 'blended' for me, it respectfully pushed the envelope, both musically and instrumentally. Pieces like the M1 Reel or Lament for the 21st Century has a ring that was hard to ignore. It was obvious to me then that Brendan had become one of the harp pioneers, even though he would always minimise his own importance. Just as importantly, Brendan is very aware that playing in one or more styles well does not make one able to play all styles equally, and he has the humility of playing to his strengths while working on areas he wished to expand on.
Later, I tried to spread the word around in France about Brendan, and he was booked for the French harmonica festival in Condat, 2001 I think it was. He came over with Michael Lempelius, a German guitar and bouzouki player, great guy as well, and since my parents have a country house not far from the festival I had the pleasure of playing host for Brendan and Michael. We shared a lot of music, but also great food, wine and camaraderie and I have very fond memories of that long week-end. Michael left thinking that harmonica players are all lunatics, but that's probably not far from the truth, is it ?
Michael and Brendan's concert was great, of course, but they were eclipsed that night by French harmonica UFO Eric Chafer who came out of nowhere and blew everyone (including Brendan) away. Fortunately, last year Brendan came over for the Festival in St Aignan and I had the opportunity to see him and Michael again, in a relaxed atmosphere and a bit less of a hotseat.
There is always this misconception that a good performer (I'm not talking about musicianship here, but rather stage presence, aura, etc.) is an active performer. The reality is simply that a good performer is someone who manages to draw the audience into his musical world, no matter how he does it. Brendan and Michael, in their low-key, seated on stools way, excelled at doing just that. With lots of smiles, a few words in broken French here and a lot of cristalline sound there, they had the audience entranced from start to finish. I understand that Brendan doesn't perform that often these days, so really, if you have the opportunity to see him, don't miss it.
I felt a deeper musical complicity between Brendan and Michael that night and indeed Brendan confirmed to me that they had been playing nearly all their gigs together since 2003, hence a lot more ease and instinct on stage as a result. Brendan gave me a recent home release of a live recording of him and Michael in his living room, and although the sound quality and mixing is not as perfect as that of a professional studio album, it's a delightful listen that truly captures that interplay. It's called Pure and Simple, a very fitting title. It's not for sale on his website yet, but I'm sure you can ask him directly if you're interested.
There's no telling where Brendan will go from here. His mind is never at rest, always listening to new stuff, working out new designs for his home-made harps. He has just re-released Tradish under a more professional packaging, with a slightly different mix of tracks, and the backing of a record company, so hopefully we will see and here more of him in the coming years. There's a rave review of it on the BBC2 radio website, a good start if ever I saw one !
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