HaLoH met Vasudev Prabhu on December 28th at Park Hotel, Hyderabad. Harmonica Lovers of Hyderabad
Vinayak, Ramana and Aram Lakhotia enjoyed a fabulous musical evening by
Vasudev and PHOENIX.
Vasudev
has also recorded harmonica parts for several movie tunes and radio sports. He
has collaborated with international musicians such as Chris& Izzy (USA) and
Jimmi Hocking (Australia)
Currently,
Vasudev is one half of a unique acoustic duo called “By2Blues” which also has
Ananth Menon on vocals & Guitar.
By2
Blues:
By2Blues is one of the few acoustic duos in India that sings and presents the
blues in its simplest format. It’s just two musicians – Ananth Menon and
Vasudev Prabhu, with an abiding passion for a genre of music that is deeply and
subliminally connected to almost every form of Western music that one hears
today.
A classic ‘guitar-harmonica duo’, Ananth and Dev have set out to pay their
tribute to the blues, in many ways the ‘haiku’ of the West, in their own
home-grown style. Ananth lays down the gritty grooves with his guitar and tops
it with a voice that is like fine whisky – smooth, mellow and welcome. Over
this potent combination, the wailing harmonica dances like country rain on a
tiled roof… drizzling steadily and gently, and bursting into a fierce downpour
at times.
By2Blues is a Bangalore-based duo influenced as much by the classic post-war
era music as by other genres like R&B, Country Blues, Soul, Blues-rock,
Gospel, Funk and Rock n Roll.
By2Blues works best in a setting that is personal and mature; Ananth and Dev
have performed at several festivals individually and as a band, as well as at
popular watering holes in Bangalore. Although a young band (comprising seasoned
musicians) By2Blues is fast garnering a fan base that includes curious 17 year
olds, appreciative 70 year olds, corporate execs with an evolved taste in music
and just about anyone who’d like to hit the ‘pause’ button for a while, and sit
back for some meaningful, easy-on-the-ears, uncluttered entertainment in the
middle of a hectic life.
HaLoH team celebrated
Indian Harmonica Day on 22nd November at Hyderabad. 22nd November was the 82nd
birthday of Father of Indian Harmonica-Late Shri Milon Gupta. Milon Da
popularised this cute little instrument with his melodies and taught to play
Harmonica to many Harmonica Lovers.
Harmonica Lovers of
Hyderabad organized a Karaoke musical nite of Bollywood classics on the Harmonica.
Two guest players-Shri V.S. Shirali (Mumbai), Shri Swarup Mitra (Raniganj, West
Bengal) and other members of Team HaLoH mesmerized the audience with Bollywood
classics on that evening for two and half hours. This event was sponsored by
M/s Virtusa. Harmonica Lover-Colonel C P Sri Ram was the impeccable Master of
Ceremony for the evening.
The audience enjoyed the performances of all the
Harmonica Lovers. They clapped along and enjoyed the renditions. The first
rendition was our National Song-‘Vandemataram’ by harmonica lover Shri Kailash
Nath. The last rendition was our National Anthem ‘Jana Gana Mana’ by harmonica
lover Shri G. Rajkumar. Some of the guests had tears of joy and hugged the
performers. The guests comprised 120+ Music Lovers Including our Maharajah of
Pithapuram Shri RVMR Ratna Rao garu, Our Mentor Shri Kantha Rao garu, C.Ramana
Play back singer, Shri Kalaga Krishna Mohan AIR Hyderabad Station Manager, Shri Rajeev Srivastava
from (Mumbai,) Dr Sita Ram Cardiologist of Apollo, Dr Prasad. Harmonica
Lover of Hyderabad Col C P Sri Ram anchoring the show.
Shri Vinayak (Vice President) speaking about HaLoH, Milon
Gupta and Indian Harmonica Scenario.
Mrs
DarshnaPai, Head-Virtusa Hyderabad lighting the
lamp.
Media
Coverage by AADRI TV (will be telecasted shortly)
Mrs
Darshana Pai addressing the gathering
Maharajah
of Pithapuram Shri RVMR Ratna Rao garu felicitating M/s Virtusa on behalf of HaLoH.
Team HaLoH
Details of the performances are given below.
Vande Mataram --- Kailashnath
Raat ke hum safar--- V S
Shirali
Nadia se daria--- Swarup Mitra
Ramayya Vastavayya --- G Rajkumar
Inteha Hogayee --- V S Shirali
Dil hoom hoom kare --- Avinesh Singh
Gata Rahe Mera Dil---Ravi Babu
Wada Karo nahin---Swarup Mitra
Pal Pal Dil Ke Pas---Ramana
Ye Jo Mohabbat Hai--- V S Shirali
Kya hua tera wada---Kailashnath
Tum bi chalo hum bi chale--- Rajeev Srivatsava
Janeman Janeman---Swarup Mitra
Ye dil hai mushkil--- Mahendra Gala
Jeevan Se Bhari--- V S Shirali
Bhanwre ki gunjan--- Ashwin Betai
Mere naina sawan badon--- Swarup Mitra
Kya yahi pyar hai--- Avinesh Singh
Kahin dur jab--- Vijay Konda
Lakhon hai nigaon mein--- Inderjit Singh Soni
O Hansini--- VS Shirali & Ramana
Mere Sapno ki rani --- Nityam Bhimani
Ye dil mujhe bata de--- A Rajkumar
Jare ud jare panchi--- V S Shirali & Swarup Mitra
Sayonara Sayonara--- Ravi Babu
Jana gana mana--- G Rajkumar
The joy on the faces of Harmonica Lovers is inexplicable.
HaLoH plans to celebrate Indian Harmonica Day every year.
HaLoH team is glad
to announce that we are celebrating Indian Harmonica Day on 22nd November at
Hyderabad. 22nd November is the birthday of Father of Indian Harmonica-Late
Shri Milon Gupta. Milon Da popularised this cute little instrument with his
melodies and taught to play Harmonica to many Harmonica Lovers.
We will be
organising Karaoke musical nite with Bollywood classics on Harmonica by 2 guest
players and other members of Team HaLoH on that evening to celebrate Indian
Harmonica Day for the first time in India. Details of the programme are given
below.
Programme : Indian Harmonica Day 2012
Celebration-Karaoke musical nite with Bollywood classics
The carnatic harmonica concert by Mr Saitejas Chandra Shekar was organized by HaLoH successfully on 13th September’2012. The harmonica lovers enjoyed the harmonica recital by Saitejas. This was followed by interactive 'question and answer session' by all the participants wherein they could learn more about Carnatic music and its application using the harmonica.
The Team :
Harmonica - Saitejas Chandrashekar
Violin - Vidwan Bhatti Pawan Singh
Mridanga - Vidwan C Ramakrishna
List of items performed.
1. Vattapi Ganapatim bhajeham : One of the most popular compositions in the Carnatic Music repertoire. Composed by Sri Muthuswamy Dikshitar in the Raga Hamsadhwani [a creation of his father Sri Ramaswamy Dikshitar] and set to Aadi Tala [a cycle of 8 beats]. The composition is on Lord Ganesha and also gives a very auspicious beginning to any Carnatic concert.
Scale of the Raga [ Key C]
Arohana - C D E G B C[hi]
Avarohana - C[hi] B G E D C [This is a penta-tonic Raga]
2. Entha muddO entha sogasO : A composition of Sri Tyagaraja Swamy in the Raga BindumAlini, set to Aadi Tala.
3. Raghuvamsha sudha : Another very popular Carnatic number composed by Sri Patnam Subramanya Iyer in Raga Kadanakuthuhala [a creation of the composer himself] and set to Adi Tala. The number is a favourite of all Carnatic Instrumentalists. It is believed that the composer conceived this Raga, having been inspired by the tunes and melodies of the English bands.
4. RagasudhArasa : Saint Tyagaraja's composition in Raga AndhOLika and Adi Tala - 2 kaLe - cycle of 16 beats. This was the first ever composition in Andholika and remains to be the most popular one in this raga even today.
5. PalukE bangAramAyana : a lovely composition of Sri Bhadrachala Ramadasa in Raga Ananda Bhairavi and Adi Tala, opularised by Dr. M Balamuralikrishna. Ananda Bhairavi is a gamaka laden raga and one of the very important Carnatic Ragas
Scale of the Raga [Key C]
Arohana - C D# D D# F G A G C[hi]
Avarohana - C A# A G F D# D C [This is just the skeleton of the melody. Since this a a very heavy Carnatic Raga, there are many subtleties with regards to the notes in the Raga which can only be demonstrated practically]
6 ManavyAlagincharadaTe : Another Tyagaraja masterpiece in Raga NaLinakanti and Adi Tala.
7. Jagadodhdharana : Sri Purandara Dasa's masterpiece tuned in Raga KApi and Adi Tala - 2 kaLe. Purandara Dasa, often referred to as "Karnataka Sangeeta Pitamaha", is said to have composed this song at the ApramEya temple in MaLoor [near ChennapaTna, Karnataka]
8. BrahmamokkaTe : one of the most popular compositions of Sri TaLLapAka Annamacharya. Tuned in Raga BhowLi and Tishra Nade Adi Eka [cycle of 4 beats with 3 counts per beat]
9. The English Note : one of the most popular tail-enders in a Carnatic Instrumental Concert. Was composed by Dr Harikeshanellur Muttayya Bhagavathar, the court musician of the Wodeyars of Mysore, when someone asked if he could compose something that would appeal to Westerners. This was later popularized by his disciple Sri Madurai Mani Iyer
10. Bhagyada lakshmi baramma - Sri Purandara Dasa's popular composition tuned in Raga Madhyamavati [often rendered at the closing of a Carnatic concert as mangaLa raga] set to Adi Tala. This song is in praise of Goddess Lakshmi.
Raga Shankarabharana [Ionian Mode] The regular chromatic tuning.
Scale - Key C
Arohana - C D E F G A B C[hi] and back. [played songs 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 and 9 on this harmonica]
Harmonica maestro Brenden Power has customized 3 Songstars for me in different modes. The common element in the tuning of these harmonicas is that the press of the slide bar on any note [both blow and draw] will take me to the next note in that raga[mode]
Media coverage of Harmonica Lovers of Hyderabad (HaLoH) in "The Hans India", one of the fastest growing English dailies in Hyderabad: Please click on the link..
Harmonica Lovers of Hyderabad (HaLoH) presenting you a Carnatic Classical Harmonica Recital by Shri Saitejas Chandrashekar.
The details of this programme are given below.
Carnatic Harmonica - Saitejas Chandrashekar
Accompanists :
Violin - Vidwan Bhatti Pawan Singh
Mridanga - Vidwan C Ramakrishna
Venue: Ananda Nilayam, Opp: Water Tank, Ashok Nagar,Hyderabad,
Date : 13th September, 2012
Time : 6.30pm to 8.30pm
All are welcome.
About Saitejas Chandrashekar
Saitejas’ journey began with Carnatic vocal music. After initial classes under Ratnamma Murthy, he trained under Sarvamangala Dhruvanarayan, M.S. Vidya, R.K. Suryanarayana and Rupa Sridhar, his current teacher. He also learnt tabla from K.L. Jamadhar and Vishwanath Nakod (his light-music teacher too). Along the way, he won prizes, a scholarship, and performed on stage, radio and TV. These 16 years of training contributed to his harmonica concert. After all, this was a performance without precedent, without teacher or guide. Saitejas just applied his extensive classical-music training to the harmonica.
His tryst with this instrument began at the age of 10 when, like so many children, he received a diatonic harmonica as a present. “I would play film songs and the national anthem. At one point, I attempted the Bilahari Swarajathi ‘Raravenu’ as Bilahari is a Shankarabharanam derivative and Shankarabharanam is a major scale in western music, where the harmonica is prevalent.”
Encouraging win
It turned out right and so he began playing other Shankarabharanam derivatives like Kadanakuthuhalam, Hamsadhwani, besides Mohana. The turning point came when he ventured to play “Vatapi” (Hamsadhwani) on harmonica at an intercollegiate competition and won the first prize. Since there were violin and veena players participating, this win was an endorsement of his experiment. He soon stepped out of the boundaries of Shankarabharanam and started on Anandabhairavi, Malayamarutham, Rithigowla, etc. “I also acquired a chromatic harmonica with a slide bar which enables shifting of swaras and thus, production of more ragas. It has 12 holes, 48 reeds and three octaves.” So, in 2006, Saitejas gave a 45-minute Carnatic concert and in 2009, he gave a full-fledged concert (90 minutes) including alapana, neraval, and kalpanaswaras.
The journey, however, was not easy. First, there were no teachers, or guides. Second, the process of alternately blowing and drawing out air, which harmonica-playing entails, can be fatiguing in a long performance. Moreover, producing gamakas is a big challenge. And there have been critics. Some senior musicians opined that this was an unwarranted experiment, saying the harmonica is inadequate for Carnatic music since it can never produce the full range of a human voice or violin.
“My knowledge of anuswaras from vocal training has helped enormously. I am now attempting tougher ragas like Huseni and gamaka-laden Carnatic Shankarabharanam. I agree the harmonica is no match to the violin or human voice. I’m not sure I can play Thodi or Bhairavi on it. But then while every instrument has its limitations, it also has its own potential and that is what I am working on. With inspiring models like pathbreakers Kadiri Gopalanath and C. Ramdas, I hope to make the harmonica more productive and acceptable.”
First Indian Harmonica Festival organised in association with
HARMONICA LOVERS OF HYDERABAD (HaLoH)
and
INDIAN HARMONICA ASSOCIATION, KOLKATA (IHA)
For the first time in India, this sort of festival was organised at Kolkata on the 18th and 19th of August 2012. Fifty odd harmonica lovers of 13 states from all over India had gathered at Kolkata to attend this meet. The purpose of this festival was to interact with harmonica lovers from all over India, to exchange information about music and harmonica with each other and discuss about promoting harmonica amongst the people in India. This festival was dedicated to Late Shri Milon Gupta who is the ‘Father of Indian Harmonica.’ His birthday-22nd November was officially declared as “Indian Harmonica Day” in this meet. This was a unanimous decision by all the delegates.
‘Harmonica’- which is popularly called as ‘Mouth organ’ in India is a tiny free-reed wind instrument with sweet sound. It is also sometimes called as ‘Pocket Piano’ and its voice cannot be substituted by other musical instruments. Though it is a foreign instrument, it was popularised by Shri Milon Gupta who taught playing this instrument to many people. Popular Music Director of Indian Cinema R.D. Burman (Pancham Da) included harmonica tunes in many of his compositions. It was the golden era of harmonica.
The popularity of harmonica had been declining till 2008. Later, due to availability of internet access, the harmonica lovers have been exchanging information in various online groups and forums. There is an online group titled – ‘Indian Mouthorgan Players (IMP)’ in Facebook where Indian Mouthorgan Players discuss about Harmonica with each other. Most of the participants in this festival who usually access the internet are a member of this online group.
During the program, Shri Vinayak B., Vice President of HaLoH had released the latest harmonica instrumental album by Shri Anupam Paul, Secretary of IHA. The title of the album is “Bani Nahi Tabu” . This album is based on Rabindra Sangeet.
The itinerary of this festival for both the days had already been published on this blog earlier. The festival was organised as per the itinerary.
Opening of the Meet (Day-1)
Meet was started with the addressing speech of The President of IHA,Kolkata Indian Harmonicatt Mr Pankaj Bose and Mr B Vinayak,Vice President of HaLoH. Senior Harmonica players Mr Anupam Paul, Mr Pankaj Bose, Mr Kajal Chakraborty and Mr B. Vinayak were felicitated with flower bouquets by Mr Channi Chawla, Dr Shailendra Kumar, Mr S G Helkar and Mr Ramana K, President of HaLoH, followed with lightening of lamp by Junior-most and Senior-most harmonica players of the gathering.
Sessions were conducted as per the Itinerary after the delegates’ self introduction
Session on Music Theory by Mr Soumyadipta Ray
“How I play the Harmonica”- Kajal Chakraborty
“How to record your harmonica rendition at home” by Shri Sumanta Basu
First day sessions concluded with the delegates’ harmonica recital (part-1)
First day performances started with Master Sumit Guha..
Day-2
Educational Session “How I play the Harmonica”-Sukanto Ghoshal
Session on “Harmonica repair and maintenance” – Bhaskar Chowdhury
Feedback and general group discussions on Indian harmonica
IMP had a fruitful discussion about future IMP Meet. Everybody had participated very actively and provided a very valuable insight. Mr Channi Chawla extended his invitation to all IMP delegates to conduct 2nd IMP Meet 2013 in Delhi.
Declaration of Indian Harmonica Day:
HaLoH had proposed that we must have an Indian Harmonica Day to celebrate every year. The date was finalised as Nov 22nd.
Release of Shri Anupam Paul’s harmonica album -Bani Nahi Tabu:
The day’s meet concluded with the delegates’ harmonica recital (part-2)
The delegates had the opportunity to enjoy the mesmerising rendition of a rising star harmonicist Master Shubronil, studying 4th std and a student of Sukanto Ghosal
During the two days, whenever there was a break between two sessions, the delegates enjoyed the recorded music played by M/s Milon da, Arijit Mukherji, Gautam Chowdhury, Saikat Mukherjee,Premangshu Chatterjee, Rustom Karwa,VS Shirali, Ashok Bhandari,Chandranil Saha and other renowned Indian Mouthorgan Players.
The festival was a grand success and the delegates had a real learning experience with fun. The interactive and educative sessions on harmonica techniques, music theory, harmonica maintenance & repair, harmonica recording at home were quite helpful for the delegates. All the delegates also had the opportunity to perform and enjoy each others’ renditions during their free time. Please keep visiting this blog to experience the same.
Memento for IMP delegates:
IHA, Kolkata presented a beautiful table top memento to all the delegates who attended this Meet.
Mr Rahul Joshi of Pune has a surprising and a special gift for all IMP delegates. A poster with high resolution will be sent to all individual email IDs. The delegates can have a colour print-out of this poster and can keep it as a souvenir.
We convey sincere thanks to Mr Rahul Joshi, Pune and Mr Shoubik Sinha, Kolkata who had taken special initiative to make this meet successful.
HaLoH congratulates all the harmonica lovers who attended this festival.
‘Jai Harmonica!’ (This slogan was coined by Indian Mouth organ players at Kolkata)
