We Love Harmonicas
Daniela Blancas (marketing intern)
Daniela: Hi my name is Daniela Blancas I am the marketing intern for Circus Bella. I am currently a Senior at San Francisco State majoring in marketing. I started my internship in October, gathering and creating content for all social media pages, and had the opportunity to assist Circus Bella for Kaleidoscope 2023. I will tell a little story that happened during my time at Kaleidoscope.
It was an early Saturday morning on January 6th - the second to last show of our run of Kaleidoscope, a holiday Circus show that we presented at the East Cut in Downtown SF. We set up our very own Big Top Circus Tent right in the middle of the city. Like any traditional Circus as people arrived there was popcorn, cotton candy, and Merchandise for sale. June, one of the Merch sellers (daughter of Circus Bella’s band leader, Rob Reich), and I were given a very important task that day.
June (merch seller)
Natasha Kaluza (clown/super duper hula hooper)
Jamie, one of the clowns, had a few extra harmonicas that he wanted to give out (more about why Jamie had so many harmonicas below) He gave us specific instructions to give the 33rd child a free harmonica for the next 3 shows so that’s what we did. At first, there were other things to consider as well, what would happen if the 33rd child had a sibling? We decided it was best to hand it randomly because both because of the sibling conundrum and also June and I kept losing count a few times (oops). June and I presented the harmonica to the lucky random winner during intermission. The child was thrilled and started playing it as soon as it was handed to him. The family was very happy to see him happy and thanked us for the gift. I am so glad I was able to make a kid's day. Below you will see the video of the child playing the harmonica.
You may be asking why harmonicas? Well, let me tell you a little bit about Jaime. Jaime loves playing harmonicas, Jamie Coventry has a background in theater, music, and education. Jamie secured a BA at SFSU before going on to complete two years at the Clown Conservatory of the SF Circus Center. He has developed two of his 45-minute shows and hopes to inspire others to create and stay curious. Together with Natasha Kaluza, he won Best Comedy / Clown Act in the American Circus Festival two years in a row, and Best Duo in the Pickle Water Free Circus Festival. He also formed Tin Sandwich, a neo-vaudevillian harmonica ensemble that plays blues, jazz, pop, Balkan and tango. coventryandkaluza.com fun fact it helps him breathe, he formed Tin Sandwich, a neo-vaudevillian harmonica ensemble that features a variety of different styles such as jazz, tango, chromatic + more and just like Jaime always says “If you’ve get frustrated with life, blow it out your harmonica”
Now here’s a fun little story Jaime has to tell
Jaime: There is a big harmonica community in Japan, so when Bella was in Japan I sought out some players. On my day off I traveled an hour on the bus to meet an old Japanese guy who only plays tremolo harmonicas (a kind of harmonica with doubled reeds to sound more like an accordion) and travels with no less than 24 harmonicas in different keys when he goes out to play at a gig. We walked around Fukoka, and he showed me a couple of music stores, I bought a Suzuki harp and we tried to share some stories in what shared vocabulary we could find. Music can bring the world together!
Jaime Coventry (clown)
About Harmonicas
The harmonica was created in the early 1820s, as an aid for tuning pianos. Also known as a French harp, mouth harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonica
Want to learn more about Jaime?
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coventryandkaluza?igsh=ZDE1MWVjZGVmZQ==