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8/02/2010

Simon Lee & Adam Sikora

For countless years Adam Sikora is an institution to Berlin's Blues Scene now. Strongly influenced by the likes of Sonny Terry, Johnny Woods and Sonny Boy Williamson his style certainly does comprise these greats' techniques (as to be heard in the following):



However Sikora, in cooperation with Simon "Lee" Dahl, frequently manages to create an original, extremely powerful and captivating sound. That he does by employing elements of pre war techniques as well as percussive Hill Country Blues. Here's one of the duos' merely classic recordings:



These days Lee & Sikora are to remain some of just a few artists still covering the great 30's & 40's material all over Europe - and as Seasick Steve said: "They doin' it right!".

Please check out Lee & Sikoras' Website!

Now here's a very special treat for y'all vintage lovers:
Lee & Sikora's PROMO including 8 tracks full of intensity, passion and musical mastery - pls enjoy!

maz

DeFord Bailey '73 Recordings

In December 1973, David Morton recorded the late DeFord Bailey as a Christmas present for his father.
At http://defordbailey.info/audio there are 21 free tracks downloadable
- a must-have for every harp fan!

What is particularly interesting about these recordings are two things: first of all there is DeFord's technique. In comparison to his first recordings, which had been made about 45 years ealier, his sound is way softer and may even sound a bit sloppy to some. There are far less tongue slaps and tricky offbeats and one may hear a toothless breath in between the notes every once in a while...still some darn fine playing for a 73 year old though!

Secondly there are these little sections between the songs where DeFord speaks about all kinda harp related things such as hardware quality as well as clues his technical approach. Go check it out if you haven't done so yet - it's definitely worth it!

Enjoy!
maz