Hi, everyone - This is Mugwump Jizm - Jew's harpist extraordinaire and PNP point man from NYC. I write from within the dirty and disheveled nooks of Manhattan known as Spanish Harlem or Hellgate. My life here is comprised of simple things: lousy job, tailless cat, beautiful girlfriend and psychedelic rock. I play in the supergroup GOD, a transcendental performance band, and we are most certainly enthusiasts when it comes to bringing diversity to the palette of our sound. Such diversity can be well cited with the trump - or, as I prefer, the Jew's Harp.

My main contribution to the band is as a guitarist and singer, but when we like to bust open the flood gates on sensory intake, I'll pick up anything to try to make music out of it. The Jew's Harp is a personal fave - I can't describe the reasons or logistics – I just picked it up about a year ago and had a natural connection with it - we do good together. My preferred harp is the Szylagi, loud and bright, but I've found that the Whitlows have some nice undertones worth exploring. I'm frequently adjusting my approach of breath and plucking and undertones to make for interesting rhythmic patterns in which GOD can 'jam.' But while there are a plethora of neato sounds that can be made without the aid of effects, implementing my Jew's Harp into our soundscape often calls for a more unique approach. There are so many effects to toy with, it can get a bit overwhelming, but let's stick with some of the basics for now and start with….

REVERB - There's nothing quite like the wet sound of reverb to help carry your harp's twangs and drones into the vast open sonic wasteland. There is an undeniable monotony to the tone of a Jew's harp, and the tendency, while playing with a group of other musicians, is to PLUCK-PLUCK-PLUCK away to eagerly fit into the square grooves of a 4/4 hoe-down. With a bit of reverb applied, it's natural to withdraw a little - let the BOINGS and TWANGS carry more weight and speak for themselves. Depending on the degree of wetness, the instrument can be played against the hanging overtones in the sonic mist. Throw a little reverb on anything, and the ear perceives additional depth to the sound because of the space that the echo creates. Reverb also lends a little class - a cathedral sort of reverence that is normally lacking from the hillbilly association of this instrument.

DISTORTION - Although you can purchase different 'Fuzz' pedals and other digital distortion effects, nothing quite does it like the good old fashioned way - playing through a guitar amplifier with some mean distortion channel to rip it up. The Jew's harp bears a heavier, dirtier sound through distortion as one would expect and naturally beefs the weight of the twangs to some significant, and not altogether unpleasant, effect. Granted, in the context of playing folk music, this end of sound manipulation is not so appropriate, but it does open up doors to some possibilities.

WAH-WAH - As the Jew's Harp is already on the end of shrilly sounds, a WAH would seemingly do little to vary the quality. After applying such a WAH, however, you'll find that, with the pedal up, the characteristic high end of the Jew's Harp is distinctly muted and buried - leaving a disgruntled and embittered buzz like that of an insect being strangled underwater. On the high end of the WAH, all the shrilly glory of the Jew's Harp is amplified into an obnoxious hiss of harping frenzy. Then, of course, there is the fluctuation in-between that hails as the trademark of the WAH, most frequently associated with guitar. The fluctuating WAH pedal works most appropriately on the harp when it is being used percussively rather than harmonically or as a solo instrument that's carrying a melody. Its use with the harp certainly changes the texture of the sound fairly dramatically, and the additional rhythmic contribution that the opening and closing of the WAH creates brings a new set of cards to the table.

These are some basic effects and filters that can be purchased as individual analog pedals or comprehensive digital pedal boxes. I have used both and find them good for different uses at different times. Using the pedals and some of the extreme effects can introduce a completely new and radical face to the Jew's Harp, but it can also take off some of the edge and beauty that naturally exists within it. It is a different ballgame - playing with effects vs. playing straight - and both have their merits. Ultimately, it's a matter of application and choice where appropriate, but if you can afford to take the risk, you may be pleasantly surprised with some of the results the digital medium may bring.

Just a message to let you know that a new edition of the Dutch Jew's Harp Papers is out now: http://www.zeelandnet.nl/paclax/jewsharp

With info and photo's concerning:

• International Jew's Harp Festival Amsterdam Cancelled.
• Norwegians try to organize the 4th Festival next year.
• Double CD-box Molln Festival is out now. More than 46 tracks with life performances from thirty well know jew's harp players and other interesting representatives from the jew's harp cultures in Asia, Europe and Northern America.
• Video film. An exotic road movie that follows the footsteps of the Swiss Jew's Harp virtuoso Anton Bruhin on a poetic voyage of discovery from his homeland to the steppes of Yakutia Siberia and Tokyo Japan.

At last, our long waited for web sites are ready! Being the first edition, they will be improved and extended in due time. We will keep them updated about the two big events: this year's Norwegian Jew's harp festival at Vågå(Vaagaa) from 6th to 8th of October, and the planning and organizing of the 4th International Jew's harp Festival & Congress next year. There will be a general meeting about the 2001 event in April, which will be the starting point for our planning and organizing this big arrangement. I also want to ask you if you could put us on the links list of the JHG.

Greetings from Svein Westad, Norsk Munnharpeforum:
http://www.kongsberg.net/kongsberg_spel_og_dansarlag/munnharpe/default.stm

I recently received the new trump journal by Frederick Crane - VIM #8 - 1999 - "Papers from the 3rd International Congress - Molln 1998" (127 pages). As usual I am totally impressed with the quality and content of Fred's publication. This issue features 14 papers on trump subjects presented at the Molln Congress by a multi-national cast of experts including: Tran Quang Hai, Ivan Alexeyev, Spiridon Shishigon, Rudolf Henning, and Tadagawa Leo, among others. Each paper is presented in each of the Congress's languages: English, German and Russian. (What a monumental task!) Also included are "Memories of Molln '98" as seen through Fred's eyes; a fairly thorough account of the event along with COLOR photographs.

The papers cover a wide range of topics and regional influences... It would be a disservice to attempt to summarize them here in a short form. You'll just have to trust me when I say that this issue is a MUST HAVE for anyone interested in the trump (jew's harp) or traditional music from many cultures.