The Vikings had problems getting music out of a harmonica, but Norwegians began to take up the chromatic harmonica seriously in the 1960s. In 1985 a group of harmonica enthusiasts met at a seminar in Elverum. Two years later, in August 1987, the Norwegian Harmonica Forum (NMf) was formed at a harmonica workshop at Klepp Folkehøgskule.
Sigmund Groven told the members about the World Harmonica Championship being held in Jersey, later that year, and they decided to go and take part in the competition. They rehearsed under the able direction of James Moody, and came together for a dress rehearsal on the day before they all left for the invasion of Jersey.
Tore Reppe was a student of Sigmund Groven and he entered for the Solo Chromatic Competition. He wrote about his experiences at the festival in Jersey.
“The whole trip to Jersey and the World Harmonica Championship 1987 was an experience of a lifetime. A plane full of harmonica players landed with a thump in Jersey on a very stormy day. Trees were blown down along the road, but things calmed down when several hundred harmonica players started blowing. The atmosphere in the Norwegian delegation was good, and we immediately began to familiarize ourselves with the surroundings and not least the concert hall. I looked into the hall and there I heard a wonderfully skilled musician on the chromatic harmonica. It was obvious that the level in the competition was high. Later I got to practice the test piece with a good pianist, and felt that this worked well.
Now it was only up to me how this would end. The tension was high on the day of the competition, and just when I was supposed to play the test piece, the TV camera team started packing up to leave. I was a little surprised, but luckily I managed to keep my concentration. I managed to perform James Moody’s test piece, Caprice, quite well. Later I played, Munnspillfantasi, by Øystein Sommerfeldt as my chosen piece. It is for solo chromatic and it requires many playing techniques on the instrument. You really have to concentrate to play it well.
This video shows the prize giving ceremony for the Solo Chromatic Competition and the pieces Tore played at the festival.
He played the test piece by James Moody, Caprice, and his free choice piece was Munnspillfantasi, by Øystein Sommerfeldt.
In the concert he played, In the Evening, Summer Nights and Duett.
After the competition I was exhausted from both the pressure and the performance. In the evening there was an awards ceremony and the excitement in the Norwegian crowd was good. They had great faith in me, and when my name was read out as the winner, it was one of the Norwegian participants who lifted me up in the air, and the atmosphere exploded. The harmonica player I had heard practicing in the concert hall on the first day came in second place (Yasuo Watani).
The members of the NMf group, including me, played in the Senior Harmonica Band section and performed very well, coming second. We played Aria by Sigmund Groven, and Rustic Scenes by James Moody. The full list of the members of the Band was Tore Reppe, Sverre Kvam, Per Hermansen, Georg Pollestad, Jon Hafsmo, Jørgen Sagevik and Tore Herrem.
The video shows the prize giving ceremony. The Laakirchen Music School Harmonica Orchestra from Austria won first prize.
We played Aria by Sigmund Groven, and Rustic Scenes by James Moody. The members of the Band were Tore Reppe, Sverre Kvam, Per Hermansen, Georg Pollestad, Jon Hafsmo, Jørgen Sagevik and Tore Herrem.
It was a fantastic evening for all of us, but especially for me of course. I called my family in Norway and told them I had won. It was a very emotional phone call. After a week in Jersey we were pretty tired when we landed at the airport in Norway. So I thought I was dreaming when I came out into the arrivals hall and there was a crowd of people welcoming me. A band and a choir from my hometown and family and friends had turned up to honour the boy from Haltdalen who had been abroad and won the World Harmonica Championship 1987. Thanks to the jury who liked my way of playing music – thanks to Jimmy Hughes who organised the festival, and thanks to Georg Pollestad who made a fantastic instrument for me – the Polle Chromonica. (Tore Reppe)
Here is a link to the World Harmonica Championships organised by James (Jim) Hughes in Jersey in 1987.