Brendan Power is a New Zealander who has developed a considerable reputation for his concert and recording work featuring the harmonica. Equally at ease on both the earthy Blues Harp as well as the sophisticated Chromatic Harmonica, he employs his own custom tunings to breathe fresh life into an often typecast instrument - especially in his original compositions, which feature on several of the instrumental CDs he has released to date.
Since arriving to live in London in 1992, Brendan's innovative approach has earned him some notable achievements in a variety of musical fields. He has recorded with classical guitarist John Williams and flautist James Galway, and in the popular music world has played on tracks by Paul Young, Shirley Bassey, Mary Black, the French orchestral composer Paul Mauriat, Van Morrison, and Sting; he has also guested with Sting's band in several TV appearances. However, it is in the Irish/Celtic music scene that Brendan has become best known; he is of Irish extraction, and playing traditional music on the harmonica is one of his passions. He won the 1993 All Ireland Title in the 'Miscellaneous Instruments' category, and subsequently recorded a CD entitled New Irish Harmonica. Its fresh approach virtually redefined the role of the harmonica in traditional Irish music, and the album won considerable critical praise: Folk Roots magazine picked it as one of their top albums of 1994, Rock n' Reel called it "...simply superb...probably the best instrumental album this year", while the Irish Times described Power as a "master player" and the album as "electrifying". New Irish Harmonica is licensed worldwide by the American label Green Linnet.
Its success has led to some prestigious recording and performing work with top Irish musicians, including extensive guest appearances on albums by Altan, Arty McGlynn & Nollaig Casey, Arcadie, and a track by Paul Brady on a recent crossover compilation album entitled Common Ground featuring major Irish artists, produced by Donal Lunny and released by EMI. Brendan composed the soundtrack for the acclaimed Irish feature film Guiltrip (his album Blow In contains music from the movie). He’s also composed music for several radio plays in Ireland and NZ.
His playing was featured in a BBC/RTE television series on the future of Irish music called A River of Sound, and the Celtic music programs SULT (Irish) and TAKSI (Scottish). From 1996-99 Brendan toured Europe, Australia and New Zealand as a member and featured soloist of the orchestra for the hit Irish dance show Riverdance. He is now a free agent again, and has been busy completing an album of original tunes, a blues duo album with Dave Peabody, a collaboration album in Bulgaria with Georgi Petrov and local folk musicians, the debut album of the innovative harmonica group Iron Lung, and Live In Ireland, recorded on tour in Feb 2000 with guitarist Andrew White.
Along with playing and recording, Brendan is particularly interested in harmonica tuning and construction, and has developed a number of innovations in these areas. One of his ideas (the Power Reed Valve System), was adopted by the Suzuki Musical Instrument Co. of Japan, who incorporated it in their top-of-the-line ProMaster harmonica
Out of nowhere emerged Paul Marney Leobrera, at age 16 stepping onstage in early September 2010 for a single-song courtesy jam at Skarlet’s Jazz Kitchen, home base for Manila’s pre-eminent jazz sessionists. Jaws dropped over his musical maturity as a blues musician, and he was immediately asked to stay onstage for the rest of the night. And suddenly he began receiving invitations to “sit in” all over town.
Within months, Paul put together his own band, the Bleu Rascals, with friends Spencer Rymonte on bass and Darwin Quinto on drums, both 18. All three are intensely devoted to the blues, ranging from the traditional Chicago style and on to Stevie Ray Vaughn and John Mayer. They quickly established themselves as the tightest and most convincing blues band in Manila, even at their young age.
The band now is the busiest blues band in the Philippines, performing as many as four gigs in a single week. In early June 2011, they were selected as backup band for visiting American blues professional Michael Bourne. In four gigs over three days, including an online radio-TV broadcast, Michael and the Bleu Rascals gave some of the strongest blues performances seen in Manila night spots over the past 25 years.
The band is now receiving invitations to perform at major music festivals in Manila, and it has even been approached about performances outside of the country.
Yes, the future of the blues in the Philippines is indeed in good hands. And, with luck and lots of work, perhaps they will bring along with them a new generation of blues fans throughout the country.
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