Huntsville Festival of the Arts brings world's best blues harmonica player to the Algonquin Theatre May 19.
Carlos del Junco plays the harmonica like nobody else in the world, and on Saturday, May 19 at Huntsville’s Algonquin Theatre patrons can experience his extraordinary talent.
TRUE BLUES: Recognized as one of the finest blues harmonica players in the world, Carlos del Junco performs at the Algonquin Theatre on May 19.
Born in Havana, Cuba, del Junco (loosely translated it means ‘of the reeds’) immigrated with his family at the age of one.
In his early 20s, del Junco was immersed in a visual arts career; he graduated with honours from a four-year program majoring in sculpture at the Ontario College of Art.
Sculpture has definitely had an influence on his outlook on music: “Music is just a different way of creating textures and shapes,” del Junco explained.
While respected as a blues artist, harmonica maestro del Junco plays music that transcends all categorization into sheer artistry, bringing musical credibility to what has still been considered by many as a fringe folk instrument.
His command of the harmonica is absolute – he plays with all the subtleties and nuances of a classical violinist to the edgier sounds of a blues rocker. The sophisticated sound is at once sensitive, soulful and sexy, while never forgetting the rawness inherent in blues music.
Playing a 10-hole diatonic harmonica, del Junco has developed the unique ability to play chromatically by using a recently developed ‘overblow’ technique taught to him by jazz virtuoso Howard Levy.
Overall, this approach to the diatonic harmonica, although much more difficult to achieve, is in many ways more expressive and communicative than the mechanized tone produced by the chromatic harmonica.
During the 1980s del Junco performed with many bands, including a six-year stint with rhythm and blues group The Buzz Upshaw Band. With Kevin Cooke in 1990 he formed a blues/jazz/fusion band called The Delcomos.
In 1991 del Junco performed and composed the music for Tomson Highway’s Dora award-winning play Dry Lips Oughta Move To Kapuskasing. The production toured Canada and was held over for seven weeks at Toronto’s Royal Alex Theatre.
In 1993 he won two gold medals at the Hohner World Harmonica Championship held in Trossingen, Germany. He was judged the world’s best in both the diatonic blues category and the diatonic jazz category.
With the late Bill Kinnear, del Junco released his first CD Blues in November 1993. The rich collection of blues classics was a collaborative effort with Kinnear playing acoustic and dobro guitars and handling lead vocals.
In March/April 1995 del Junco travelled to Chicago with a Canada Council grant to study with Levy. The year saw the release of the critically acclaimed Just Your Fool, a sizzling live session with Kevin Breit on guitar, Al Duffy on bass and Geoff Arsenault on drums. It was this CD and the collaborative effort with Thom “Champagne Charlie” Roberts Big Road Blues that won del Junco the 1996 Blues Musician of the Year Award.
Del Junco has toured Canada, Germany and the United States regularly since 1996 and has played all the major jazz, blues, and folk festivals across Canada.
The Carlos del Junco concert is a presentation of the Huntsville Festival of the Arts.
Tickets for Carlos del Junco are $25 for adults and $15 for youth under 18, plus GST and are available from the Algonquin Theatre box office, 789-4975, or online at www.algonquintheatre.ca. Bookings can also be made through the festival website at www.huntsvillefestival.on.ca.
