Zou Hong / China Daily

Forget cowboy movies and the blues, Brendan Power turns the mouth organ into another instrument altogether

It is the kind of music you are likely to hear as you watch the sheriff's posse settle in for the night, warmed by the glowing embers of a campfire. The harmonica is as much a part of Westerns as howling coyotes, cicadas and Colt .45s. But the world-renowned harmonica player Brendan Power is so versatile with the instrument that he can transform it to play music that would not be out of place as the soundtrack to a costume drama set in ancient China.

That is exactly what Power, 56, did in Beijing recently, when he gave an exquisite rendering of Jasmine, a well-known Chinese folk song, on his Western harmonica.

"This is awesome," said Xu Guangyu, 22, a harmonica lover who had traveled from Henan province in Central China to meet Power.

"I have heard him play Chinese folk music before, but the live music is even better. I can feel that he is very sensitive to sounds and emotions."

Power, whose music can be heard in many Hollywood movies, such as the 2008 film Atonement which won an Academy Award for best soundtrack, is in China for the Shanghai Jazz Festival, from Oct 23 to 29, and touring around.

A recent lecture that Power gave in a blues club in Beijing was packed with fans who bombarded him with questions.

Jasmine, whose rendition particularly impressed them that afternoon, is just one song on Power's latest album, New Chinese Harmonica, to be released soon. On it he plays nine well-known Chinese folk songs that were originally played on Chinese folk-music instruments such as the erhu, a string instrument, and the hulusi, a traditional Chinese free-reed wind instrument.

"It's a new style of harmonica playing," he says. "This is my attempt to show Chinese people that the harmonica can actually be just as expressive for Chinese music as traditional instruments."

Power, a New Zealander who has lived in Britain for 20 years, says the harmonica was invented in China about 2,000 years ago and is the basis for the modern harmonica that was developed by a German.

However, the tremolo harmonica that many Chinese people owned as children is widely considered a toy and unsuitable for public performances because of its limited range. The modern harmonica played in the West is usually chromatic or diatonic, offering a greater sound range than the instrument most Chinese are familiar with. That makes playing Chinese music on the harmonica even more pertinent, Power says.

"It's like bringing the harmonica back to China, completing a circle. Because this sound in here has never been played before on the harmonica. Even though it's Chinese music, and it's a Chinese adventure, it's a new way to play Chinese music. It's more authentic than other kinds of harmonica. I hope that some players will take this as a starting point and then learn to play Chinese traditional music."

Power says he has always been fascinated by China. Drawn to Chinese Taoism, he wrote a thesis on the ancient Chinese Taoist philosopher Zhuangzi when he was at college many years ago.

He has released 15 solo CDs, in a wide variety of musical genres such as jazz, pop, and blues. He is also an expert player of Irish traditional music. In 1993 he won the All Ireland Title, and more recently the Society for the Preservation and Advancement of the Harmonica in the US named him international player of 2011-12.

Power says that his long fascination with China has included its traditional music.

"I love it; it's a passion for me. I mean I just love hearing the expression; the scales are often very simple scales, but the motion and expression of the Chinese traditional musicians gets out of the simple scales. I think is amazing."

He says his desire to play Chinese music was inspired by a video of a well-known erhu player, Min Huifen, playing the piece Moon Reflected in Er-Quan Spring on YouTube two years ago. "I was just blown away by her expressiveness and her passion, and I love the big bending notes, so I wondered if I could do it on the harmonica. Then I studied it and I changed the harmonica to suit it."

Wei Fu, 27, from Tianjin, who has been playing harmonica for about 10 years, says Power's creativity is thought provoking. "He uses the harmonica to play Chinese music and to imitate the sound of Chinese instruments, which many Chinese musicians have been unable to do. I think it's worth reflection and learning."

Power says he knew little about music before he picked up a harmonica at college 36 years ago, after watching a performance. That led him to various kinds of music. He says he has worked with dozens of big names over the years, including Shirley Bassey, Kate Bush, James Galway, Sting, Van Morrison, John Williams and Paul Young.

"To me it's the soul for tones, it's like the human voice. It's a mysterious instrument. It looks simple, but there's so much complexity when you get into it. I keep finding new things all the time, new ways to play, and new ways to modify it."

Zhang Xiaosong, a harmonica player and teacher who invited Power to Beijing, says Power is a wizard with the harmonica. "He does not play the instrument in the orthodox, traditional way. The scales and tuning mode of his harmonica are modified. If he gave me his harmonica I could not play it."

Power contributes his creativeness to the dynamism of New Zealand, where musicians usually listen to all kinds of music, because of the lack of a strong traditional music scene. "I think people who grow up in a very strong tradition find it hard to break away and be experimental. In New Zealand we have no strong tradition; it's kind of easier to just try things."

In recent years the harmonica has become widely used in rock, blues and jazz in the West and is an accepted part of band music. Power says that when he started playing he could not find a teacher. He learned all kinds of music by himself, through trial and error and improvization.

"I can't read music; I just listen. It's a slow way to do it. But I think if you do just listen, you get inside your body. It does mean that you get more in tune with the music than if you just read it on a piece of paper."

Moreover, he adapts the instrument to various kinds of music. "I'm one of those people. I pull (a thing) apart and see how it works," he says.

Power knows full well that the harmonica is not an instrument in high demand, and his key to success is to make himself versatile, not only by playing different musical genres, but also by designing harmonicas and teaching. He has set up a teaching website, sells books, has become a customizer, and is now an adviser to Suzuki Musical Instruments Co of Japan.

Power's visit is an encouragement for many Chinese harmonica lovers, who are eager to emulate him, Zhang says. "It's important to get more Chinese to know that the harmonica is really a musical instrument, not a toy that you play alone at home."

Zhang recalls that when he started learning harmonica about 10 years ago few teaching materials were available, so he had to write to harmonica players overseas to get suggestions.

Things have improved, and more Chinese are learning to play the instrument and comparing notes with people overseas.

Power says he has talked with Chinese manufacturers in the hope that his designs for harmonicas that can play Chinese folk music can be mass-produced. Such harmonicas would be cheap, he says, encouraging many to try them.

As for Chinese harmonica fans, Power says he thinks they have great potential. "People are very enthusiastic. It's not the top level in blues yet, but I'm sure in five years, 10 years, you'll close your eyes and you wouldn't know whether it's a Chinese guy or a black guy from America."

chenyingqun@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 10/26/2012 page29)