Harmonica Lover of the week: Rajeev Shrivastava

HaLoH introduces to you a die-hard Harmonica lover from Mumbai whose passion towards Harmonica is just 18 months old. It all started when Rajeev Shrivastava, an aircraft engineer (electronics & electrical) was searching for a video song “Bhanwre ki gunjan hai mera dil” on youtube and came across an upload by our very own Ajay Vijh from Singrauli whose article has been published earlier on our blog. After viewing this upload, Rajeev was impressed by Ajay Vijh.

He then purchased a harmonica from a music store to try playing hindi melodies on his own. After repeated unsuccessful attempts for 2 months, he realised that his harmonica lacked that Chromatic button and on Ajay Vijh’s recommendation, he had purchased Hohner 270 harmonica to play hindi melodies. He practiced hard to play the songs. After 5 to 6 months of struggle, he could play a few songs. He also tried playing blues on the diatonic harmonica. He started learning to read western staff notation, solfa notation and later switched over to Bhatkhande (Sargam notation). He’s now mainly interested in Bollywood melodies and first tries to play a song on a keyboard before trying it on the harmonica.

Rajeev has a good collection of harmonicas which include Hohner 270 in 10 keys, Hohner 270 Deluxe, Hohner 280C, Hohner CX 12, Suzuki SCX 48C, SCX 48G, SCX 56, Hohner Marine Band in all scales, Tremolo etc. His all-time favourite harmonica is Suzuki.

Rajeev Shrivastava  used to communicate regularly with Ajay Vijh and Ramana (HaLoH). His first mass interaction with harmonica lovers throughout India was at Indian Mouth Organ Players’ Meet (IMP Meet), Kolkata. After this meet, his passion for harmonicas became more intense. He practices for hours daily to improve his harmonica skills. There were instances when he would reach his office 1 hr to 1 ½ Hrs late due to his late night practice sessions which lasted till 2 AM or 3 AM.  Apart from his interactions with harmonica lovers who attended IMP meet, he also met harmonica lovers at Baroda, Delhi, Lucknow, Pune and Hyderabad. He also participated in Indian Harmonica Day celebrations at Hyderabad on 22nd November 2012.

HaloH wishes him all the best in his future endeavours.

We breathe harmonica!