REVIEWS Park Jiha - The Gleam - Glitterbeat Gbcd 119 A Review by Norman Darwen Park Jiha is a South Korean multi-instrumentalist, with a background in the traditional music of her country. However, this is not an album of Korean traditional music, though Ms. Jiha does use traditional instruments. On this collection of layered sound impressions and ambient and mood music, she plays the oboe-like piri, the glockenspiel, the yanggeum (a hammered dulcimer), and, most relevant for readers of this magazine, the saenghwang, a harmonica-looking instrument rather similar to the sheng, with which some readers may be familiar - it is this that is depicted on the album cover. Breathing is an important part of the approach to this album - one composition is entitled The Way of Spiritual Breath - and so too is light. The album itself is structured (loosely) to the rhythm of the day, from dawn to nightfall. The saenghwang adds a shimmering quality to some of these rather ethereal eight tracks, but, if possible, lend an ear to the starkly beautiful Nightfall Dancer where it is the main instrument for both melody and, more subtly, rhythm as the glockenspiel provides a simple, repetitive accompaniment. The whole album is dreamy, relaxing, and rather individual and different. Website: http://parkjiha.com/
Paul Appleton - Harmonicana - Own label A Review by Norman Darwen The music on this CD might come as rather a surprise to some readers, given that Staffordshire-based Paul’s admitted influences are Sonny Boy Williamson, Big Walter Horton and Paul Butterfield and he is known for his blues work with guitarist and singer Steve Luff and several professional blues bands. As the CD title suggests, this is more folk based, featuring songs played in first position on a diatonic. This CD is a product of lockdown, which Paul tells me allowed him time to explore other styles. Laurie Garman recommended to Paul that he check out American diatonic player Sam Hinton, which he duly did, leading to him backtracking through a whole bunch of traditional American material - hence the album title. The material itself is a very attractive mixture of styles. Some of these songs are well-known (try Turkey in The
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The magazine for HarmonicaUK
