Bahia Vista Tango Kicks Off To a Great Start

Friday night 2nd December in the Bayview Hotel, Oystermouth Road was Bahia Vista Tango's first gig. Despite it being a rubbish night weatherwise we pulled in enough dancers to make the event work. More power to their collective elbows, or should that be knees, they danced great.

A vid of selected hilights could well find its way up here soon.

WATCH THIS SPACE!!!!!!!!!!

harpwales goes global

I could feel the electricity running down my arms. Buzzing under my skin it stabbed into my fingers. ‘She’s going to give me a heart attack,’ I thought, the idea alone creating a secondary voltage surge. But as sensation was equal on both right and left sides, there was no pain in my chest and I was still breathing, I worked out that she probably wasn’t.


What I was sure about though was that I was not a happy harmonica player. I wondered what I would have done had I been on my own turf and not in a foreign country, the guest of someone I hardly knew who was being a real pain. Pointless really, because my current state fulfilled none of those criteria.


I didn’t know whether I was more shocked than angry. I had been invited to Mallorca for a few days to check whether it would be a good place for me to look for work as a musician. Now it seemed my hostess was doing everything in her power to block me. ‘If you play here,’ she said as I tested the free movement of my slide and warmed my harmonica up, ‘I’m going for a coffee somewhere else and you’ll have to come and find me later’.

Welsh Cheese and Cider Festival at Parkmill Gower Swansea 15th may 2011

gig went well. onwards and upwards.

check it here:

Romance de Barrio by Anibal Troilio

and here:

Jalousie by Jacob Gade

Tango Mango

Con mis catorce billetes, yo empecé mi viaje. Todo fue bueno y yo llegué a mi destino una hora temprano. Dije 'Hola' a mi anfitriona y fui a la 'Tango Mango' para comer y para encontrar los bailadores.

Yo bailé. No lo habia hecho desde el mayo pasado a causa de la espalda. Esta vez, aunque yo había olvidado muchos pasos, todo estaba bien.

Cuando las señoras bailan por la tarde ellas visten de forma de informal. Pero por la noche es diferente. En ese momento ellas visten las ropas muy bonitas, las faldas, los vestidos y las blusas todas centellantes. Pero más importante son los zapatos. Tienen todos colores con los tacones muy altos y muy peligrosos. Es estupendo.

songwriting class

if you want to check out our songwriting class which i've been running for swansea university please click this.

its the fun path to empowerment. no wonder its under threat of closure. hope you enjoy

tango mango

booked my rail tickets for tango mango in devon in april. i'll be there from 14th - 16th. hopefully i will be able to play some music, spread the word, sell a few CDs ..... and do the washing up. which i am so good at!!!!!!!!!!!

new gig

got a last minute invitation to play in swansea last weekend. in the three tunes i was permitted i managed to reach the mostly latin audience deeply enough to get a rebooking. so thats two return gigs - which is excellent news for all those who are following my could-be-more-meteoric rise to harmonica stardom. i'll post the date when i know.

i also got confirmation of my norfolk return indirectly via their online programme

my new webpal has agreed to correspond with me to improve my spanish. she speaks it like a native. which isn't really surprising as she is argentinian. she is also an aspiring tango singer with an aunt who sings professionally in france. she is also half a world away.

i recently refurbed my website featuring my new cd. hope you enjoy.

paz y amor

the gigs start to roll in

I've just had a return booking. Yeeha! Six years after I committed to my chromatic harmonica teacher, for the second time, the first year being taken up with learning how to tongue block, it looks like all my hard work could start to pay off.

Well it might. And it might not. Whatever. But it is satisfying to be invited back.
I suppose I must have given up on jazz. I did try. Honest. But it seems to have beaten me. When I hear most jazz harmonica now I cringe.
So what I've done in the absense of an accompanist who is open to the tango genre is to record guitar backing tracks. These were originally to practice to.
Then I realised that I could use them in a live situation. Then I realised that I could use them as the basis of a CD. And thats what I've done. 'Interpretaciones' - twelve standard tango, vals and milonga melodies with myself on guitar and harmonica came out in December 2010. Yours for a tenner. Mail me.
Having played at Tango Mango in Totnes a couple of times in recent years, and offered to play for tango fans in other parts of the country, Madeline Lees finally invited me to play in Diss, Norfolk last December.
I used the backing tracks and the gig went really well. I played two sets of about 20 minutes each while Mike Lavocha DJed and Alice and Martin of Moontangles made some lovely music also.
It must have worked because now I've been asked to return to Diss for their milonga on 11th June 2011.
So thats cool.
In the meantime heres some of the music but please don't pay it on crap laptop speakers. This is my heart calling. It needs sensitive handling. Even the most basic ear-phones would be ok.