Valley Music Hall of Fame finalizes second class of inductees. Here’s who made the list

The Valley Music Hall of Fame has finalized its second class of inductees.

This list includes the patriarch of Fresno’s first family of folk music, a field worker-turned-trumpeting R&B star, a pair of big-band pioneers, the area’s OG classical concerts club and one of the most renowned Armenian musicians in the world.

The inductees — Gene Bluestein, Ray Camacho, Allen and Faye Harkins, The Fresno Musical Club and Richard Hagopian — were announced at an event last month and will get an official presentation ceremony Sept. 27 at Roger Rocka’s Dinner Theater in Fresno’s Tower District. The event will also serve as the nonprofit’s official fundraiser.

“Our passion is celebrating the musical heritage of the Central Valley,” says Valley Music Hall of Fame chair Don Priest.

“The people who really gave of themselves and their talents to enrich their community.”

Valley Music Hall of Fame 2022 inductees

Gene Bluestein retired as a professor from Fresno State, but was a folk recording artist with a well-known family band with his children Joel, Evo, Jemmy and Frayda. He was known for creating programs to help get music (especially folk music) into schools and for bringing many well-known folk musicians to Fresno including luminaries Pete Seeger, Doc Watson and Lightnin’ Hopkins .

Ray Camacho is the man who put the rally cry “Si Si Puede” to music. Camacho grew up working in the fields in Mendota before discovering the trumpet at Fresno City College. His band, the Teardrops, melded the rock and soul music of the era with Mexican regional music and cumbias and became a staple on the regional tour circuit (along with the likes of Santana and Tower of Power). The band played its first show at the Rainbow Ballroom in 1960.

Allen and Faye Harkins created the “Harkins Music Machine” in Madera in the late 1950s.

Allen was a teacher at Madera High School and a pianist, composer and arranger of big band music. Faye was a designer, seamstress and choreographer who was known to teach majorettes routines on her front lawn.

Along with bringing home various awards for Madera High bands over the years, Allen became “the arranger” for high school and college bands throughout the Valley. His own big band performed for the naming and dedication of the Allen Harkins Amphitheater in Madera.

The Fresno Musical Club was the cultural precursor to Fresno Grand Opera, Broadway in Fresno and its ilk. The group was established in 1905, before colleges and symphonies were doing “cultural arts.” For 81 seasons (from 1908 until 1980) the all-volunteer organization presented an annual concert series.

In the early 1960s, the club was also strongly involved in a fundraising project to bring new artwork to the Saroyan Theatre. It can still be seen today.

These days, the club’s focus is on its scholarship and awards program, which it gives to qualified, classically trained and career-oriented musicians each spring.

You can find Richard Hagopian’s bio up at the National Endowment for the Arts. The Fowler native was a National Heritage Fellow in 1989. He is regarded as “one of America’s most accomplished folk musicians” (according to a New York Times critic) and one of the most renowned Oud players in the world.

The Oud being an ancient stringed instrument, similar to a lute.

Depending on the source, the 85-year-old began performing traditional Armenian music somewhere between the ages of 9 and 13 and became a sort of collector and library of Armenian music, learning more than 1,500 traditional folk songs. He is know for passing on that heritage as a performer and master-class instructor at places like the Manhattan School of Music and Fresno State, where he served as Artist in Residence.

Aside from music, Hagopian and his wife ran the family-named Hagopian’s International Deli in downtown Visalia for 36 years.

Valley Music Hall of Fame nominations

For those following, the Hall of Fame has been working, since 2017 at least, to memorialize the contributions of those in the Central Valley music scene. Its inaugural class, inducted at a virtual ceremony last year, included Russell Howland, James Winter, Dave Stogner, Dick Contino and Audra McDonald.

Inductees are chosen by the Hall of Fame Board using a scoring rubric and culling from a list of nominees generated by the public each year. Nominations for the 2023 class are open now through Dec. 31. The full form can be downloaded from the organization’s web page.

Though the board is receiving more nominations than they have space for, Priests encourages public input.

“We want people to be nominated,” he says.

For instance, he would like to see guitarist Juan Serrano worthy of a nomination.

“But nobody’s done it yet.”