Gifted
with a phenomenal range of expression, harmonica virtuoso Roland van
Straaten takes his audience from the passion of Blues and Tango to the
sensuality of Oriental Song -
a moving and mystical experience.
The charismatic musician has performed his “Blues Harp Solo” programme
in theatres, in churches, and at gala events all over the world, and
has presented his “Blues Harp Concerto No. 1” for harmonica and
symphonic orchestra at concert halls. The programme “Basilica” combines
van Straaten’s highly expressive harmonica with the regal sound of the
church organ.
The Art
of Harmonica Playing
Cupping the
hands has been an essential human gesture for thousands of years.
Nomads have used it to draw water from a well; monks have used it to
urge God's love into their hearts; Roland van Straaten uses it to ease
his harmonica to smooth and vibrant life.
The
harmonica, or blues harp, has long held a firm place in both
African-American music and the European folk tradition. Straaten has
taken this small metal object and fashioned it into a conduit of the
passion and sensuality of oriental song. The secret of his success - in
churches, festivals and concert halls - lies in the phenomenal range of
expression he coaxes from an instrument that is still hugely underrated.
Roland van
Straaten takes his audience on musical journeys from the Mississippi to
the Ganges: dancing through Europe's bucolic idylls one moment, sinking
into the groves of Zen monasteries the next. Not for nothing have some
critics seen his work as one possible realisation of Stockhausen's
dream of the "polyphony of styles".
However we
choose to describe it: listening to Straaten is a moving and mystical
experience. Because in Roland van Straaten's hands, the harmonica
assumes its new and rightful place in the orchestra of the world.
