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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Adrian Jimenez, "Stop Breaking Down"
Adrian Jimenez, "Stop Breaking Down"
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kudzurunner
4263 posts
Sep 18, 2013
6:52 PM
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Some very fine playing on this. The singing is very good, too, but also heavily accented--which for an American listener creates a certain distancing effect.
He's got a heck of a biography.
http://www.adrianjimenez.com.ar/Biografia_en.htm
He's a Hohner endorsee and has studied with Billy Branch, Flavio Guimares, and Norton Buffalo.
Nat Riddles would say--his highest compliment--that Jimenez "plays properly." He's got the sound, no question.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Sep 18, 2013 6:58 PM
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wolfkristiansen
210 posts
Sep 18, 2013
9:36 PM
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He's got the blues in him. His playing, pitch and tone are great. His sense of rhythm is good too. I agree, a "foreign" (to our ears) accent can be off-putting when a quintessential American blues like this, John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson's Stop Breaking Down, from 1937, is sung with an accent.
Blues-- an elemental music people all over the world strive to sing and play; even people whose first language is not English, even people who don't speak English at all but are moved to learn and sing its lyrics phonetically. Its universal appeal amazes me. I hope it continues to inspire musicians for another century on every continent. Somewhere in Antarctica, some scientist has a harp in his pocket.
About this particular acoustic harp workout-- a second listen will reveal something that doesn't often show these days-- the use of a drinking glass or cup to exaggerate the hand "wah" effect. You will hear it at 2:13 to 2:23 of the video. You will hear Adrián's drinking glass wah even more clearly if you go to the website kudzurunner pointed to:
http://www.adrianjimenez.com.ar/Biografia_en.htm
Listen to the eight seconds of harp that sounds as the website loads. That's Adrián's harp held next to a drinking glass as his other hand opens and closes over both. Walter Horton used this effect. I suspect we hear it on some of Horton's recordings without realizing it.
Cheers,
wolf kristiansen
Last Edited by wolfkristiansen on Sep 18, 2013 9:44 PM
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Kingley
3143 posts
Sep 18, 2013
10:29 PM
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Nice stuff.
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harpdude61
1829 posts
Sep 19, 2013
6:03 AM
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Are you guys kidding? As a born and bred southern boy, I hear singers from the north U.S.(yankees) that can't sing the blues like this guy. Many have that distancing effect on me.
Muddy Waters? No. Am I put off by it? No way. Love it! He feels it and has passion for the blues.
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The Iceman
1166 posts
Sep 19, 2013
6:44 AM
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King of the "Wah"
Nice use of space and dynamics. Am not distanced by his singing.
Not too mention a guitarist to die for.
I like it.
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The Iceman
Last Edited by The Iceman on Sep 19, 2013 6:51 AM
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Barley Nectar
39 posts
Sep 19, 2013
7:53 AM
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Wolf, could you or someone else please explain the Drinking Glass technique. How do you hold this and the harp to get such a sweet wah effect? Thanks...BN
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wolfkristiansen
211 posts
Sep 19, 2013
8:32 AM
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Here's a video of Tom Fiacco doing using the drinking glass "wah" effect:
Here's a discussion of the technique:
http://www.modernbluesharmonica.com/board/board_topic/5560960/561741.htm
Cheers,
wolf kristiansen
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Tuckster
1345 posts
Sep 19, 2013
9:22 AM
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Great stuff!
harpdude61 - LMAO! I love Siegel-Schwall Band,but I find those MidWestern accents a bit offputting. I'm always amazed at the way non English speaking players can sing in English. I guess the phrasing and timing wouldn't be the same in another language.
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kudzurunner
4264 posts
Sep 19, 2013
9:48 AM
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I'm delighted to have provoked disagreement with my comment about the distancing effect of a pronounced non-native-English-speaker accent in blues singing. One of the things that has long fascinated me, as blues music has spread around the world, is the choice that is forced upon non-US performers: do you sing in accented (often heavily accented) English, or do you sing in your native language?
Obviously the working-class African-American creators of the blues sang in their own vernacular, their own everyday language. I'm sure English is spoken fairly widely in Argentina--it is, after all, the universal language of tourism and business--but I'm also sure that there's a local vernacular, Argentinian street-Spanish, that one might sing blues in if one wanted to.
However, prestige tends in local non-US blues scenes to accrue to performers who have an "American sound," even when that American sound sounds nothing like American English--southern or Yankee, black or white.
I know that many European blues performers sing in English because English is the youth language, a pop music lingua franca that lets a Euro blues band tour Europe. A French blues band that sings in English is much more mobile, internationally-speaking than a French blues band that sings in French. German blues fans might be interested in hearing the former and are probably uninterested in hearing the latter.
It's entirely possible for a non-US blues singer to be a fantastic singer and also have a heavy accent when singing in English. I happen to find such accents intriguing; I immediately notice them, and to some extent the accents interpose themselves between the performers and me--at least when the performer is singing. When the performer is playing his or her instrument, of course, lingua franca is back in effect and I hear idiomatic blues. When the singing is happening, though--as in Jimenez's case: great soulfulness and pitch control, strong non-US accent with mother-tongue interference--I hear only half-idiomatic blues.
For many years I've played my blues lit classes a CD by a Czech band, Lady I and [the] Blues Birds. Lady Ivanovna has a very, very heavy Czech accent, so that she sounds (to my ears at least) as though she's gargling her words. She's an extreme case. She also sings some blues in Czech--and I actually like that stuff more, even though I can't understand a word. She sounds much more natural, and the blues spirit shines through. I've also long been friends with an African blues performer who sings about "Maugh-dee Waugh-tairs." I can't speak for others, obviously, but when I hear Muddy's name pronounced like that, it's something I notice--and again, it's something that gives the music a specific, non-idiomatic flavor.
I'm aware, too, that for their own native audiences, heavily-accented non-US blues singers are heard as....people putting forward an American sound. Or at least that's my assumption. I'll be happy to modify this particular assumption if non-US folks on this forum tell me I'm wrong.
It's an interesting area of research--the reception non-native-English blues singers by various sorts of audiences. The International Blues Challenge would be a great place for a sociologist to do a study.
As for Yankee blues singers: Hah! Bonnie Raitt is my favorite. There are good and bad blues singers of every race, nationality, and US region. The US ones, good or bad, are my homeboys. The rest are all furriners.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Sep 19, 2013 9:59 AM
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blueswannabe
276 posts
Sep 19, 2013
10:13 AM
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Years ago while in Greece some relatives of mine took me to a concert where they were signing "American" Rock. After they sang the first song, my cousin turned to me and asked, "Don't they sound just like an American Rock Band and don't they sing English without an accent?" Well, they did have an accent, albeit it was faint, but it was very noticeable to me. I love good music anywhere, but frankly, if I'm in Mississippi, I want to hear a Southern accent. But I don't want to hear a Southern accent in Europe from a Non-southerner.
But that is an accurate assessment, if you have an american sound oversees, it's more desirable.
BTW- I can't shake my Massashusetts accent.
Last Edited by blueswannabe on Sep 19, 2013 10:39 AM
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Frank
2766 posts
Sep 20, 2013
6:20 AM
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BN....use a cup or glass that you feel fits your hand comfortably, similar to a holding a bullet type mic...Second hand stores are a good place to locate good props :) here is a little ditty I did back in the day using the effect...Toilet paper and paper towel centers can be used effectively too.
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florida-trader
363 posts
Sep 20, 2013
8:16 AM
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This thread reminds me of a funny exchange I had with one of my French customers. I hope you don’t mind me sharing. He is a prominent player and harmonica teacher and we have exchanged numerous emails prior to these comments and since. To set things up, I had asked him about the “Blues Scene” in France. This was part of his response – unedited. (His English is much better than my French)
“In a other mail you asked me question about blues in France... that's a large question... The blues in france is a strange affair. A lot of people here, even the one who think being specailist don't understand the lyrics... Sometime they understand in a first degree, but not deeply what are the symbols and messages behind the first meaning of lyrics... Let me tell you a funny story... You know of course the standard (little walter i think or maybe willie dixon) "My Babe"... Of course you know also the lyrics... Here, there was a man known for being a Bluesman that sing this song in every show... And you know what became the lyrics... "My babe she don't stand non cheatin... my babe...." can you imagine???? it becames "My babe she don't stand no chicken my babe" hahahahah, and all the crowd sangs that... telling about that guy he's agreat Bluesman... hahaha... maybe he could work in a Nuggets factory hahaha... So I ve made articles about all that, let me tell you that now I've a lot of friends in the Blues business here... hahaha”
In other words, it goes a lot deeper than just an accent. My daughter is a Vocal Performance Major at a prominent university. She is a Coloratura Soprano singing operas in Italian and German. Her voice coach has demanded that she become fluent in both languages so she will actually understand what she is singing – not just mimic the sounds. It is easy to understand how that would help her project the true emotion that the lyrics and music are written to convey.
The Blues has a language unique unto itself. The music. The lyrics. The culture. I’m an American but that doesn’t mean I get it. How much more of a challenge must that be for someone outside the U.S.?
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Tom Halchak
www.BlueMoonHarmonicas.com
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harpdude61
1831 posts
Sep 20, 2013
8:41 AM
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Great post Adam! This kid has got to be from Southern Appalachia like myself. Ha! If I could only play that well!
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Frank
2768 posts
Sep 20, 2013
9:50 AM
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Sonny's classic givin a fine polish by Adrian ")
Last Edited by Frank on Sep 20, 2013 10:06 AM
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JInx
546 posts
Sep 20, 2013
10:02 AM
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nice effective rhythm stomp/tambo on that Suzie Q. The subtle accent on the 2 and 4 is all it takes to give it a pulse, a sense of life and moving forward.
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Sun, sun, sun
Burn, burn, burn
Soon, soon, soon
Moon, moon, moon
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kudzurunner
4265 posts
Sep 20, 2013
12:20 PM
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harpdude, if I didn't know better, I would sweat that Alex is signifying on the Gussow OMB style--or just stealing my licks (including, er ah, the licks I sort of stole from Jason). I like his voice, though.
Actually, on second listen, he's taken the lick I played years ago on "Unlucky in Love" (Satan & Adam) and turned it inside out:
http://www.amazon.com/Unlucky-in-Love/dp/B0010VAUCG
Nice job, Alex! Excellent.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Sep 20, 2013 12:22 PM
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Georgia Blues
105 posts
Oct 05, 2013
7:24 PM
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Great playing. The guitarist and vocalist in my band is Brazilian and the very best stuff he does is in Portuguese. Language changes everything. I wonder what this guy would sound like in his native tongue. Utterly GREAT harp.
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Alex
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Barley Nectar
124 posts
Oct 05, 2013
8:00 PM
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Thank for the cap wahh lesson guys.
Man, that kid can play and cool vidiography...Thanks
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