29.12.12

Bangalore bluesman Vasudev Prabhu jams with Hyderabad band PHOENIX.





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.


Harmonica our Passion!

2.12.12

Performances :: Indian Harmonica Day Celebration'12 at HaLoH

Sayonara Sayonara- Ravi Babu


O hansini meri hansini- V S Shirali & Ramana


Ye jo mohabbat hai- V S Shirali


Kya hua tera wada- Kailashnath


Jare ud jare panchi- V S Shirali, Swarup Mitra


Mere naina sawan bhadon- Swarup Mitra


Janeman janeman- Swarup Mitra


Ramayya Vastavayya- G Rajkumar


Ye dil hai mushkil- Mahendra Gala


Lakhon hai nigaon mein- Inderjit Singh Soni

Raat ke hum safar- V S Shirali

Bhanwre ki gunjan- Ashwin Betai

Tum bi chalo hum bi chale- Rajeev Srivatsava


Gata rahe mera dil- Ravi Babu


Wada Karo Nahi- Swarup Mitra


Dil hoom hoom Kare- Avinsh Singh

Kya yahi pyar hai: Avinesh Singh

Nadia se daria: Swarup Mitra

Inteha hogaye- V S Shirali

Vandemataram-Kailashnath:

Please watch this space for  more videos..

27.11.12

HaLoH celebrates Indian Harmonica Day 2012.



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.

Harmonica Our Passion!

Team HaLoH

3.11.12

Indian Harmonica Day 2012 Celebration


Dear Harmonica Lovers,

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
Guest Players        : Shri V.S. Shirali (Mumbai), Shri Swarup Mitra (Raniganj, West Bengal)
Date                        : 22nd November 2012
Time                       : 19:00 Hrs to 21:30 Hrs
Venue                     : SNEHSHISH GUEST HOUSE, 
                                  Lane opposite Lifestyle, Green Lands,    Begumpet, Hyderabad-16
Entry                       : Free
RSVP                       : halohteam@gmail.com

All those who wish to enjoy the programme are openly invited. Please extend this invitation to other Harmonica Lovers on our behalf.

Jai Harmonica!
Harmonica Our Passion.
Team HaLoH.

19.9.12

Carnatic Harmonica :: Saitejas Chandra Shekar Part-II

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.

Refer : http://sahityam.net/w/index.php/Enta_muddo

Scale of the Raga [Key c]

Arohana - C E C# E F G A# C[hi]

Avarohana - C[hi] A G E F G E C# C

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.

ScaLe of the Raga [Key C]

Arohana - C D F A B E G C[hi]

Avarohana - C[hi] B A G F E D C

Refer : http://sahityam.net/wiki/Raghuvamsa_sudhambudhi

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.

Scale of the Raga [Key C]

Arohana - C D F G A# C[hi]

Avarohana - C[hi] A# A F D C

Refer : http://sahityam.net/w/index.php/Raga_sudha

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.

Scale of the Raga [Key C]

Arohana - C E D F G B C[hi]

Avarohana - C[hi] B G F E D C

Refer : http://sahityam.net/w/index.php/Manavyala_kincha

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]

Scale of the Raga [Key C]

Arohana - C D F G B C[hi]

Avarohana - C[hi] A# A A# G F D# D C

Refer : http://krithis-theirmeanings-thestories.blogspot.in/2011/02/jagadodharana-adisidale-yasode.html

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]

Scale of the Raga [Key C]

Arohana - C C# E G G# C[hi]

Avarohana - C[hi] B G# G E C# C

Refer : http://www.karnatik.com/c1107.shtml

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

This number is based on Raga Shankarabharana [The western mhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ya5fDVfmx_g

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.

Scale of the Raga [Key C]

Arohana - C D F G A# C[hi]

Avarohana - C[hi] A# G F D C

Refer : http://www.karnatik.com/c1146.shtml

Harmonica used in the concert - Suzuki Songstar - SCN 48 [24 holes Chromatic Harmonica]

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]

1. Raga MayamALavagowLa (Double Harmonic Scale)

Scale : Key C

Arohana - C C# E F G G# B C[hi] and back [played song 8 on this harmonica]

2. Raga HarikambOji [Mixolydian mode]

Scale : Key C

Arohana - C D E F G A A# C[hi] and back [played songs 4 and 10 on this harmonica]

3. Raga Kharaharapriya [Dorian Mode]

Scale : Key C

Arohana - C D D# F G A A# C[hi] and back [did not use this harmonica in the concert]

18.9.12

For the love for harmonica @ The Hans India

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..

11.9.12

Carnatic Harmonica - Saitejas Chandrashekar

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.”

-- Saitejas ChandraShekar.

Courtesy: The Hindu-June 26th 2009.

2.9.12

Delegates' Performances :: Indian Mouthorgan Players' Meet 2012, Kolkata


Avijit Roy Chowdhury:


Rajeev Ranjan Baisantry:

Ajay Vijh:


Sanjay Agarwal:


Krishnan Reddy:


Raj Kumar:


Dr Debasis Mukherjee:


Ramasesh Iyer:

Jagjit Singh Esher:

Rajeev Srivatsava:

Sourav Choudhury:

Dr Nakul Dhagat:

S G Helkar:


Girish Deshpande, Dr Mahendra Agarwal:
Dr Raghavan Iyengar, Dr Pramod Bansod:
Arup Ghata, Arindam Sen :
Dr Shailendra Kumar:
Harish Nayyar:
Tanmoy Sankar Choudhury:


Ujjal Dutta:
Asim Banerjee:









Sumit Guha:
Please watch for the space..

29.8.12

INDIAN MOUTHORGAN PLAYERS’ MEET, KOLKATA

Dated 18th-19th August, 2012

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)

Harmonica Our Passion! (This is HaLoH’s slogan)