The first job interview here at Saga Musical Instruments often starts with the question, “So, what instrument do you play?” Not everyone in our Company picks, but we do take our music seriously and I think that it shows in the quality of the product that you will find between the covers of the Retail Music News. If you stop by our stand at any Trade Show, you’ll hear music—often it is our customers who also tend to be musicians with high standards honed by their hands-on experience or just as likely, it is Saga’s staff members who just cannot seem to forget what got them into the business in the first place.
Recently we wrapped up a Trade Show in Shanghai, China. In our stand we try to give the locals a good taste of that old time Country Music that defines the Saga presence at most trade shows.
But the Shanghai Music Fair is a tough gig. Electric guitars and drums compete with horns and of course hundreds of traditional Chinese instruments playing scales that test the limits of western musicians. And it is loud—real loud—Each day at 11:00 AM and 3:00 PM our Bluegrass Band jumps on stage and lets it rip. This year it was so noisy that I could not even hear the banjo player that was right next to me so I invited the small but enthusiastic collection of people watching us if they would like to join us outside the hall. Minutes later, the Pied Piper was leading this ragtag group out the door and into the courtyard between exhibition hall. It was quiet out there and the pure acoustic sound of the mountains was magical!
We were soon joined by a few members of the local police force who just knew that we were doing something that was against the law, but fortunately for us they couldn’t figure out what it was. So, we just kept on playing! We did the same thing everyday twice a day and had a great Shanghai Music Fair! Come over and pick one with us next year!
Richard Keldsen
San Francisco
November 2012