Happy New Year 2010
It's an event which has been happening since the birth of humanity, with the same scenario occuring on the last stroke of midnight, where ever on earth people are standing at that moment, near the Fontane di Trevi, the Corcovado, the Grand Canyon or on the Champs Elysées decorated with millions of incandescent lights.
On midnight's Eve rendez-vous, people are traditionally recalling the outstanding events of the preceeding year. As far as we are concerned, 2009 has been marked by the "World Harmonica Festival" (WHF) which included as usual the "World Harmonica Championships". It took place in the mythical city of Trossingen.*
The competition has reached a considerable level due to the participation of harmonica players coming from Far East Asia. They have reached a high technical level in all competition categories, and they have finally won 11 gold medals out of 14 awarded. France has obtained a silver medal with Christelle Berton and a bronze with Antoine Leroux.*
People have had exceptional opportunities to attend to several dream concerts, with,featuring, our alien Howard, the fabulous "Hong Kong Harmonica Association Orchestra", Olivier Ker Ourio, etc.
What a shame that people have to wait four years before the pleasure of sharing the next WHF2013 with the harmonica planet!
It's always an enthusiastic rendez-vous, and it's a pity that, unfortunately, a lot of harmonica players can't afford the expenses of being part to an event like that. In the antique Greece, during the Sophocle period, rich citizens sponsored the shows, and spectators were paid to be present... Times have changed, we must accept event logistics working only with the help of a new race of "mecenes", not easy to convince,"the sponsors". Let's pay tribute to the organizers who are sparing no efforts to obtain money to organize harmonica events, such as the "8th Pacific Harmonica Festival" in Singapore, top event in 2010 summer, and also, in spring, our "20th H2F/France Harmonica Festival" in Domancy city, Savoie.
Time is passing so fast, make the most of it and as it flows past there will be more and more people who won't have had the chance to know and listen to Claude Garden... that's life.

Happy New Year to all of you and your families

Jean Labre
* See article http://www.jeanlabre.com/english/article.php?id=63
* See results of the competition on http://www.whf-2009.de
Published January 1st 2010