Brendan Power

I've always loved listening to Indian, Chinese and Arabic music. A big part of the attraction for me was the use of exquisite microtonal bending on all notes in their scales (known as Ragas in Indian Music, and Maqam in Arabic). I was especially inspired by the soulful wide pitch bending in Chinese music, on such traditional instruments as the Erhu and Hulusi.

In about 2010 I started studying Chinese traditional music more closely, with a view to playing short pieces that caught my ear on harmonica. But when I tried playing along to the Erhu on conventional harps, it just didn't work - there was not nearly enough bending available!

I found I had to create an entirely new type of harmonica to achieve an authentic sound for Chinese music and Indian ragas. Because of its inspiration, I called it the AsiaBend and I first used it on my 2012 album New Chinese Harmonica. Happily despite its name, I soon found the AsiaBend was great for playing soulful Western melodies more expressively too, and started using it regularly on my gigs. The album and live shows generated many requests for the harmonica itself, so I got a batch made to my specifications by a Chinese manufacturer and sold them from my website. Unfortunately I found the quality was inconsistent so didn't renew the order - and none have been sold for the past 10 years or so. However, the requests kept coming...

Finally I'm glad to offer the AsiaBend once again, in a custom-made version and in several different keys.

From the outside the AsiaBend looks like a typical chromatic harmonica, but it's certainly not! You'll instantly realise that when you check out the videos below (where I'm demonstrating the original Chinese-made version). As you'll hear from the videos, this is a completely new harmonica type with a unique sound: an all-draw, all-bending soul machine!

Here are some of my albums where you can hear the AsiaBend in action:
New Chinese Harmonica – 2012. Most tracks
Unadorned – 2018. All the 'bendy' tracks

Unlike other harmonicas of similar universal bending ability (eg. the Hohner XB-40), my AsiaBend uses only draw breath direction throughout the whole instrument to create the main scale and bent notes, and has no windsaver flap valves! Instead of valves the AsiaBend uses the slider action of an airtight chromatic harmonica to isolate reed pairs and select the bending function. It employs normally-silent blow x-reeds paired with active draw reeds to allow every draw reed to be bent controllably in pitch to adjacent scale notes. Its scale layout is designed to allow the player to controllably bend every note of a diatonic major scale (and related modes) up to and down from other notes of the scale, as well as microtones in between. The fact it has no valves means that the overblow technique is available on every hole to obtain extra chromatic notes.

ASIABEND TUNING CHART, Including Draw Bends

Bending on the AsiaBend is exactly the same type of interactive-reed draw bending as on diatonic 10-hole harps. The scale is similar to the middle octave of a diatonic, or Solo tuning on chromatic, with a 3 octave range. So it will be easy for both diatonic and chromatic players to adapt to. The layout for key of C is:

To see the diagram in other keys, use our tuning diagram tool

These are draw notes only. The notes all bend down to the adjacent scale note below with the exception of the G (bends down to E) and the left-hand C (bends down to A). Blow notes don't sound in normal playing but there are overblows on every hole, slide-in and out, which give these notes: C#, D# - F, F# - G#, A# - C#, C (they are repeatable in all octaves).

Remember: THIS IS AN ALL-DRAW HARMONICA. No blow notes at all! (Think of it as the opposite of a saxophone or flute, which are all-blow instruments. There ARE blow reeds inside, but they don't make a sound if you try to blow - they only act to allow the draw reeds to bend). Please make sure you understand this principle before you order. The videos show how it's done.

There are several advantages of getting your harp made in a bespoke version. First, it will be lovingly handmade by Andre Coelho, with careful attention to fine tuning, reed gapping etc. Second, it can be made available in several different keys. Third, you can order optional reed-slot embossing, for the ultimate in sound and expression. (I recommend it on this harp, because it will make controlling the bends easier).

As soon as I'd invented it, the AsiaBend became one of my favourite harmonicas, and I've used it on every gig I've done since. It has a beautiful, unique sound that feels great to play, and really catches peoples' ears.