HaLoH is proud to join the global celebration of
International Women’s Day on March 8, a day to recognize the economic,
political and social achievements of women. We also acknowledge few lady
harmonica players who are currently making melodies on the tiny instrument
harmonica and playing a remarkable role in popularizing harmonica in India. In
today’s article, we shall be knowing about some Indian women who have passion
for the Harmonica.
Three generations and their love for Harmonica:
Musicians
tend to have long careers, so it is not unheard of to see two generations of
musicians playing harmonica often in a family. But three generations of
harmonica players is unusual. Introducing three generations of harmonica
players -Mrs Ramani Subramanian, Dr Revathy Ramaswamy and Baby
Annapurna of HaLoH.
Mrs Ramani Subramanian
Mrs Ramani 75yr (mother of Dr
Revathy) is a multi-talented and very self made person. She knows Carnatic music and has learnt to
play accordion/harmonium on her own. She has given vocal music concerts and has
held 14 one man shows all over India. Amongst all the instruments she plays,
she loves harmonica because of its melody. She is also a painter. She has won
all India competition in embroidery and cookery as well. She had encouraged and
provided guidance to her two daughters to participate and win in almost all school
level music and dance competitions.
Dr Revathy Ramaswamy
Dr Revathy started playing harmonica
after getting inspired by her mother Mrs Ramani. The first song which she learnt from her
mother along with notations was “Ajeeb daastan hai” and the second one was- ”kahin
door jab”. It is just because of her mother that she has an inclination towards
music. She recollects having played some tunes like “Oh Maria” in her college
days. She got associated with HaLoH after attending Indian Harmonica Day
Celebration 2013 on 22nd November. Since then she is a very active
participant all HaLoH events. She is seriously working to enhance her harmonica
playing skills, especially meends through bending.
Baby Annapurna
Annapurna, (Daughter of Dr Revathy) is
learning Carnatic (vocal) music and Western Classical music on Piano. Dr
Revathy started going with her to piano classes to motivate her as she initially
refused to sit in classes. Now both are
taking the grade 3 theory and cleared grade 1 practical. Annapurna is much better than her mother. She
picked up harmonica very fast in just a week and performed at HaLoH event 2014.
Now, she is also taking lot of interest in the harmonica.
After
the above three generation of lady harmonica players, we continue this article
on some more women harmonica players from other parts of India.
Sushma Joshi Apte
Sushma
Joshi is a 60 year old
grandmother of a 4 and a half year old girl. For the past
18 years, she is living in Dubai though she
hails from Pune. She has been playing the harmonica on and off since her school
days (late 60s). She was fascinated listening to her uncle play the harmonica.
Those days, it was unheard of any girl playing the harmonica as harmonica
playing was considered by many to be a predominantly a male thing.
At times, she was not able to get
hold of a decent harmonica and finally got a Hero. Now she owns a Larry Addler
Professional, Hohner Chromonica 270, Hohner CX 12, a Yamaha single reed and the
Hohner Little Lady in her collection. She didn’t have any formal training and
plays the harmonica by ear.
While browsing on internet she came
across this blog. She felt all articles are very interesting to read.
Neena
Prahallad
Neena
Prahallad from Bengaluru has sent her
autobiography which is published below.
My Introduction:
Nees
Pachu to the world of Indian harmonica
and to our near and dear ones as Neena prahallad, I was born second amongst my four siblings to my wonderful parents CG
Narayan Rao and Prema Narayan Rao in the beautiful Goddess Meenakshi Temple city of Madurai, Tamil Nadu. My father almost an Octogenarian now was with
the TVS group and had in those days a good set of friends who used to often Jam to do
some little music together. He had a very natural flair for playing a few
instruments like the Chromatic
Harmonica (Hohner 64), an Accordion, Piano, Harmonium and a very conventional
Bamboo Flute! He did not receive any formal training in music but had a ear for
good music. His Innate Passion to play The Harmonica was very Evident as I
still remember him sitting to play on his Harmonic late in the evenings as a
one year kid. Seems to me just like yesterday but the memories of him playing
The Harmonica still remains Etched deep in my mind even today! I did hear him
playing Meethi meethi baatonse, Sayonara, and of course the Nadaswaram which
happens to be my most favorite of all his songs...I learnt to play the Nadaswaram
hearing him and...many more too...we siblings grew up to see him play the
Harmonica .As the family expanded and his responsibilities surmounted he shifted gears to establish himself to
become an Entrepreneur in Mysore . At this stage we barely got to see him playing the Harp or the
Flute ! Someday I wish to have a small piece of his recording out for all to hear
!
My Childhood Harmonica
days:
I
must say fortunately I belong to the generation where we saw little of a
Television ...but just a lovely Radio where my elder sister and me would love to
listen to Aap ki farmaaish where we would be waiting to hear Ameen sayani talk.
He would host the show and the Listeners choice on Sundays too. As a child my
orientation was more towards playing Shuttle Badminton rather than having to
lay my hands on the books! I loved all kinds of dancing and would be selected
to be a part of group dances... be it Guajarati Garba, Punjabi Bhangara or even
our Karnataka folk dance, Tribal dance.....I was extremely fond of dancing and
asked my mother to put me into a Bharatanatyam class but my Amma dear politely made
me understand that Carnatic classical music would do me good as she told us
This will forever remain with us even when we grow old too... Her thought was
sensible enough :) Finally my elder sister and myself learnt both Carnatic
classical and Ghamaka together and passed our juniors. My sister Poornima
Sridhar was a good singer too used to play harmonica but never took it up seriously also had a passion to collect the English song
lyrics and sing along with the radio. We would sing duets together. One such summer vacation time when I was in
class 9 , as I remember My father told me and my elder sister that he will give away his Harmonica to a
cousin of mine who wanted it always . I was very sad and angry thinking why my
Bapa did not think of giving it to us and allowing us to play before he decided
to give it to someone else and the
opportunity to do so. I said NO WAYS! All I knew about this beautiful Piece of
instrument was... It was very heavy to hold and was glowing like silver and was
lying in a beautiful case with rich red velvet inside. I certainly knew this
was a Treasure for sure and somehow did not want to let go of it from my father’s
nest. And I knew and heard my Bapa playing beautiful music with it. Then my dad...I
mean Bapa as we siblings always call him challenged us to learn the Harmonica
in just a day ...else he Threatened to give it away.I took up the challenge to
learn. YES!! I will I said in just one Instant and grabbed the Harp from my
Bapas hands and went straight to our Prayer room and shut myself until I learnt
playing .... No matter what time it
could be! Before shutting myself to start learning to play the Harmonica I
quickly asked my Bapa what I should start playing first... He said...Doe a Deer
a female deer (song from sound of music)... I simply nodded my head and shut
myself to START... He even instructed me to start slapping my tongue and showed
me to do that just one time! Once Inside, I did my prayers silently sitting in
front of our Gods Mantap and took off for almost half a day NON STOP with my
Bapas Hohner 64 Harmonica without finding the need to eat food or milk! I did not come out until I learnt to play the
entire song NON STOP :) wow! What a beautiful feeling it was when I completed
and then opened the door to tell my Bapa ....I have done it and well your
Harmonica is not going out of our house now :)...Bapa heard me playing with
patience with a faint smile generating on his face. Perhaps knowing fully well
that I was a kid who would walk the talk :). Finally this little silver beauty
became one of my proudest possessions. The one I started to play in my life...Hohner
64 :). I learnt many a songs during my summer vacations all by myself! i
received no formal training from my father in Harmonica... but that challenge
and encouragement was more than enough to pep me up! Eventually I passed out
from school to do my Pre University ...by then the passion to play Harmonica
had surmounted beyond my imagination... I gave my very 1st public performance
in class 11 in front of a Jam Packed 500/600 audience on our annual college day!
The very first song I did was...Ek din bik jayega maati ke mol. I loved that
song which had so much of meaning and melody too. Subsequently I performed on
every annual college day and participated in college competitions too. I did
definitely bag a 2nd prize and in the final year of my degree I played the most
popular kannada song in my Harmonica..Aakasha deepavu neenu, ninna kandaaga
santooshavenu... I bagged a 1st prize in instrumental music... The last song I
did was for the farewell day of our Final year graduation...
Sayonara... Sayonara..... There is the picture you can see here in black and white,
in the year 1983.
My
Married Life & Harmonica:
Every
girl grows up to become a young woman and the next minute you see yourself is
in a wedlock! I am blessed to be married to CH Prahallad. I bid a Tearful adieu to my Amma Bapas house and my Bapas
Harmonica and without a second thought steered myself to dorn the garb of a
dutiful wife and a responsible daughter in law at a very young age. It was
truly a challenge for me . I took it in the right stride and enjoyed my new
role as a Wife, and a Daughter in law too. Years passed by and well,
responsibilities surmounted for both me and my Husband. During this journey of
life we were blessed with two wonderful sons...Anirudh prahallad and Amaresh
Prahallad. Off and on, I would pick up my Harmonica from my ammas house use it
for an occasion and return it back to them as I knew that was such a precious
piece and My Bapa had sourced it from his very good friend who lived in Germany.
That was one and the only Harmonica my
Bapa had with him. With the passage of time and during the formative
years of my children growing up I barely had time to think about my own self
...least play the Harmonica. But a bit of sadness was always there deep inside me
when I used to think about My Harmonica ...I missed her deeply :(! Those were
the days when none of us could barely think of affording to buy Hohner
Harmonica and they were not easily available too. That was the least priority
in our list. Much later my husband who always knew that I had an undying
passion to play the Harp.on one such occassion a very good friend of my husband
Prahallad Kulkarni from Switzerland
gifted me with a Hohner 270 in the scale
of C when he got to know from me about my passion to play the Harmonica . Again
I could not lay my hands on them... and then came in my favourite super 64 The
1st gift from my Husband sourced from Switzerland. That was the most wonderful
moment for me when I got to feel it I used to play to my hearts content off and
on.was not satisfied as I could never
ever find a single minute for myself to pursue my passion of playing the Harp
the way I wanted. I was constantly looking out for Milon Gupta and Madan
Kumarjis cassettes which were not easily available in Bangalore those days. I
was Frantic and my Husband also tried his best to help me find these cassettes
of the two great Harmonica masteros who were contemporaries! One a Legend and
the other we all are lucky to see and hear! God Bless! All the times my husband
was more than eager to help me find their cassettes but in vain... :(.Incidentally
way back in the 80s I even asked my husband to introduce me and take me to his
good friend Krishna Prasad Keshavachar who was a great Harmonica and a
guitarist those days.He used to play the PUCK and the chromatic those days. The
meeting with this passionate Artist never happend..:( . Finally I got to meet
him a couple of months back through our Bangalore Harmonica club and told him
the story :) we laughed it away!
Harmonica in the midst of my Family:
Both
our sons have grown up to become young men and our elder son moved out to
pursue his masters and his doctorate in cancer biology in Europe. The house
felt totally empty and again time to pay attention to our 2nd son Amaresh who
now is a student of Medicine in a premier institute in Hubli. I often travel a
lot to be with my 2nd son as he needs me with him now and that is when I found
Ramana bhaiyyas...RAMANARAAGA YouTube channel, I became so ecstatic that I
called up my Husband one fine day and gave him links to check on you tube.
Everything I wished to hear...all the songs from Milon da and Madan kumar ji was there for me to hear.I asked my husband to
bring my Harmonica back from my cupboard
in Bangalore to Hubli so that I may start off again! My Happiness knew no bounds. This time the Harmonica Bug bit me
good. Prahallad was more excited than me ... I knew that this is what I wanted
and this is what I was looking for constantly! My Harmonica journey started
back again from 2 years when my elder son Anirudh constantly kept telling me to
do something that I always loved doing.
He could not bear to see his mothers talents go wasted. With children apart and
the strains of travelling constantly and for having waited for such a long time...
I plunged deep into this wonderful world
of Ramana raaga. I eventually became a member of The Bangalore Harmonica Group
which was less active on Face book.I failed to get responses then as I was the
only Woman Harmonica player amidst a group of male Harpers. I was disappointed
in a way to see that. In fact it was Abe Thomas who found me out and guided me to get into joining Harmonica
India group in fb. I was completely amazed to see how big the community of Harpers
had grown and how much I had missed out since a span of 30 long years.
Fortunately I did not regret one bit of having missed out playing the Harmonica
though it was haunting me deep inside which I had camouflaged. The priorities
of the Family were far more important to me than my Harmonica. My journey began!
I started my riyaaz during night hours for almost 4 to 5 hours every single day
staying awake along with my son Amaresh who was into his 1st year of his
medicine. He is a Passionate tabala player too and has a flair for different
instruments too. My Husband plays the Banjo and is learning to do the conga now
along with harmonica. During the long hours of my son’s studies I would help
him to stay awake playing Harmonica up to 3 am in d wee hours of morning and every
time my elder son who lives in Europe skyped me, he would look forward to
hearing me. He loves me playing the Harmonica, my dearest Anirudh! The recent
gift I got from my son Anirudh is a Hering 64 and a suzuki SCX56! I love them both!
The 2nd one often would take a break
for few minutes from his studies and would join me with his tabala beats in the
middle of the nights. This enabled me to co ordinate better. I would love this.
I never stopped my night Riyaaz sessions which would go on for almost 4 or 5
hours.
Women in Harmonica:
Slowly
I started interacting with our Bangalore Harmonica group where I was following
Mr. Debashish Dutta’s Harmonica work on sound cloud. I loved his style .It
definitely had substance . I came across many a wonderful Harmonica players
during this period and literally nose dived deep into Harmonica. Here in the
world of women Harmonica players I was excited to see the amount of work Dr.
Babita basu has done , I love Haimanti Karmakars playing too and of course my
good friend and a young veteran Sushma Apte Joshi from Pune who lives in Dubai.
I love her style of playing too She uses the tongue slapping technique too.
Each one of these women are very special to me and I do share such a wonderful
bond with Sushma and Haimanti too. Babita basu is a very versatile woman who
has many a feathers in her cap. I feel and wish and envisage a dream to see
more and more lady Harpers coming out from their Hibernation... be it shyness
or whatever. 5 years from now I see more women coming out with their Harmonicas.
Just watch out folks :)
My further Journey with
Harmonica:
In
due course of time I did Happen to
follow and Interact with Ajay kumar Vij
from Singrauli MP who is another fabulous Harmonica player and who is instrumental in giving me the right guidelines when
required . His VIBRATIONS kindled me to learn more. I also thank him immensely
from my heart for his patience to hear me and guide me when I required the most
.He was the one who helped me and guided me to play along with the Karoke and
gave me enormous tips on how to go about it. I realized I had missed out on the
nuances of music in Harmonica and started working on it back again. I did get
in touch with Mr. Chandrashekar Khare who told me that He was doing a lot of
chromatic b4 and now had completely shifted to playing the Diatonic!He is a
great Harper too. And I admired Vikas karandikar ji .He is a very creative
Diatonic Harper and a thorough gentleman. My Thirst never quenched...My search
never ended! I came across namma Worlds one and the only Carnatic classical maestro...Saitejas
Chandrashekar and spoke to him expressing a desire to meet him when I came to
Bangalore. I looked forward to meeting him during my son’s annual vacations. Saitejas
invited us home and I got to understand the kind of work he was doing in
classical front. Carnatic classical always fascinated me and I loved Sais work
immensely too. He then promised me to introduce me to The Bangalore Harmonica
club where we had very few members .but each one is a master in his own accord!
The ‘The Bangalore Harmonica
Club relationship:
One
fine day Prahallad and myself were invited for their regular Harmonica meeting
in NCC OFFICERS MESS. The very first meeting was along with my husband and
second son Amaresh with our Bangalore harmonica group! This beautiful vibrant
yet humble group welcomed the 3 of us with utmost warmth! They knew I had an
undying passion for the Harmonica and struck a great chord instantly! I was so
very fascinated to be amongst the beautiful group of Harpers ...that too in
Bengaluru... Saitejas, Debashish da, Rajeev ji
Deep moni, Sanjay da, Kapilesh
bhaiyya, Kiran Mandanna, Ashok sengupta sir welcomed us with so much warmth.
From then on we became a part of their family. These wonderful People fondly
call me Didi ( sister ) and we all share
a wonderful Bond together. The Bangalore Harmonica club!! Kudos to the
wonderful team who formed Bangalore Harmonica group like Avinash Kulkarni and a
couple of others 7years ago .Our club has grown ever since under the guidance
of many a seniors like Debashish datta , Kiran Mandanna Rajiv ji and youngsters
like Kapilesh bhai, Sanjay datta, and many more. This is what I always wanted
and this is where I knew I belonged! More than me, rather along with me my
wonderful husband Prahallad and Amaresh were fascinated with this harmonica
group. They too developed interest to try their hands on this little silver
beauty along with me. Our 2nd son Amaresh took to Harmonica instantly during
holidays like I did when I was a little girl. He is learning to play Harmonica
and is a fast learner too! He has been a great guide to me along with his
father...The generation today is much faster and smarter too. From the very
first day of our meeting with our Bangalore Harmonica group none of us have
looked back! We all have together worked and our club is proud to have 50
members. It is very important to be in the right kind of group to get into that
MOULD of MUSIC! I am very proud to say that we are one Big Beautiful family of
Harmonica players and can surely be even more proud to have such wonderful
professional players with us like Saitejas chandrashekar for Carnatic classical,
Vasudev Prabhu for Blues The Best in India and SJ Prasanna Jagannath for Bollywood
and has credentials for playing s. 18
instruments.He has to his credit The Limca book of records playing 6
instruments together . Debashish da who is one of the finest players and is unique in his own ways and is known very
well for his passion to do the YAMAN Raaga and the Rabindra Sangeet. This
gentleman Amazes me ....One has to see to believe each one of them
. The versatility of Mr. Kiran Mandanna who is another passionate and a
fabulous Harmonica player keeps me up on my toes always! Amaresh has taken to
Harmonica like a duck to water and our group has always been supportive of the
younger generation coming forward to learn Harmonica! I enjoy being amidst our
group as it facilitates so much of learning. I love my Bangalore Harmonica Club
and will continue to work and contribute towards its progress! My 1st public
performance after a span of 30 long years was for our Bangalore Harmonica and
reed instrument festival on Nov 30th 2014 where I Performed my 1st Bollywood
song chukar mere manko kiya tuney kya ishaara with the LIVE BAND if front of a
huge public audience! I became totally nervous and my mouth dried up instantly,
the video of this song also shows me asking for a sip of water. It was not an
easy thing to come on stage and face a big audience as I did when I was in
college .We as a family of 3 i.e., My Husband, my 2nd son Amaresh and myself
gave another performance together on the day of
our Bangalore Harmonica festival. We together presented Yaad kiya hai
dil ne kahan ho tum a popular song from the movie Patita. It was a very
satisfying feeling to have my Husband and my son perform along with me on Stage
with karoke. I shall forever remember
this moment and thank Our Bangalore Harmonica club from my heart for giving me
and my family a wonderful Platform and an opportunity to learn and play Harmonica.
I have eventually outgrown the fear and we in our club take the initiative to organize
many a meets where we get more exposure to Learn and play Harmonica. Now my sons are very happy for me as they feel
that I am in the Right place, with the right kind of people and the right group!
Though my 1st son Anirudh has not laid his hands on the Harp yet... he feels
much happier to see his own mother enjoy playing the Harmonica. He says more
and more women must come out from their Hibernation and pick up Harmonica. I am
fortunate enough to be blessed with a beautiful family who love Harmonica and encourage
me to do harmonica! I thank my Husband Prahallad and both my sons for their support,
love and encouragement... To me the Bangalore Harmonica club is anther home! We
are blessed with an active group and meet up as often as once or twice in a
month. I love Harmonica! I would love to
travel miles and more to Jam and learn with our Harmonica group!
My Inspirations:
I
admire The work and style of Madan kumar ji, Ashok Bhandari ji, Gautam Choudhary
ji , Sumanta Basuji, Aseem Banerjee ji ,Ujjal Dutta bhaiyya, Swarup Mitra ji, Jagjit sing Isher ji, Debashish Dutta ji,
Kiran Mandanaa ji,SJ Prasanna, Sandipan
Chakraborty , Upendra Lakshmaneshwar ji,
Ramana Ilayaraja bhaiyya Vish Shirali ji and my Great guide Ajay kumar
Vij bhaiyya, Harish Nayyar ji Nakul Dagat ji
and I love hearing to our own Krishna Prasad Keshavachar who is equally
amazing on Harmonica and the Guitar. Of course last but the least our Saitejas
Chandrashekar’s Carnatic music. I do like hearing Mr, Abel verghese who loves
super 64 and Mr. Wilson David who has immense passion to play the diatonic Harp
with so much of a feeling. At this juncture I need to mention about Vasudev
Prabhu who is a versatile diatonic player and known for his blues. Our very own
Mr, Tirumale Ananthachar Srinivas is a truly passionate Harper and a senior
citizen who loves to play old Bollywood numbers. These people truly inspire me!
Apart from our Legend Milon Gupta, I love the work of Christell Berthon,
Genevieve Dartevelle, Stacie Collins, Maria Coyote, Grace Brim, Little Jenny
Bohman, Big nancy , Kid Addonizio, and many more women Harpers across the globe
! Roli from swiss also Amazes me .I love his Titanic and Orange blossoms! There are many more promising youngsters who
are doing an excellent job in Harmonica too! These youngsters are way ahead of
us and in fact I would say they are far luckier to have everything they need to
learn and understand about Harmonica with a click of a button these days.
I wish to thank my Good friend in Hubli Ramya Sai for taking special interest in shooting my Videos and encouraging me to do it the right way and in the right place!
Facts:
I
do not follow any notations as I have never learnt the musical language. I just
go by the ear and play as my sense of music is reasonably good enough! Much as
I do not deny the fact that Notations are far too important to get the notes
right...But to me as a woman who has waited for too long a period strongly feel
from my heart that it is very important to enjoy playing Harmonica with the right
melody which is pleasing for the ears... As long as you have the sur and you
enjoy the feel of it one should not STOP! I cannot go back 30years younger to
start from the basics of Notations where all our professionals have put in years of hard work for that...Time
in life is short and is passing so swiftly that I am trying my best to make up
for all that I could not do in these past 30/40 years ! And here I am now with my chromatic harmonica
taking a lot of tips and guidelines from wonderful groups apart from Our
Bangalore Harmonica group... Harmonica India, Harmonica studies in India,
Indian mouth organ player’s forum which keeps me curious for learning more and more,
one’s life time is not sufficient for learning this Instrument! This is one
instrument which is so handy and can fit into a pocket! HALOH is doing an
Excellent job under the guidance of Our own Ramana Illayaraja !
I
love my Hohner super 64 and swear by Suzuki 48 and 56 too. The best long
distance runners are for me Hohner super chromonica 270 series. Herring 64 amazes
me too. I love the SUZUKI Manji too.and the Hohner Golden melody. I loveusing the techniques like tongue slapping, Octave
playing and single notes too which are so very important! Luckily for me My
father guided me well. The right balance and knowledge comes with experience to
use all these techniques whenever required! I am still learning and have way to
go ahead in Harmonica music! This keeps my mind and body Completely ACTIVE and Positive!
It is but a great feeling to connect with most of the fellow Harpers in India
and each one of them have unique styles. I shall continue to work and wish to
come out with more and more songs in the near future By the Grace of the
Almighty and Blessings of my Beautiful parents and support from my dear family
specially and few of my Good friends too. During this phase I plan to continue
meeting many a Harmonica players from our country in person and get to
understand and learn Harmonica better. However, My Family is always my Top most priority and to me
Harmonica is just an undying passion which will follow me everywhere and
perhaps lead me to meet the most
wonderful people in our country and the rest of the world where we can
understand each other betterand do more music together!
Acknowledgement:
I
thank you immensely from the Bottom of my Heart! If “RAMANARAAGA YouTube
channel ” was not created, I would never have surfaced back after a Hiatus of 30 long years.
My Heartfelt thanks along with my Husband, to Ramana
illayaraja who is a wonderful human being and a wonderful harmonica player himself and has worked
relentlessly to bring Harmonica players from across the country together. A
passionate Harper himself who idolizes both Milon da and Illayaraja ji, His
contribution to Indian Harmonica remains unparalled! My greatest regards and
respects to Ramana bhaiyya! Only one
Harmonica player can understand the other fellow Harper better! I am proud to
be knowing this gentleman who is in a very large way instrumental in bringing
me back to the place where I belong! The most beautiful world of Harmonicas. I
remain indebted to him... With this I would love to end my write up!
A
special message for all the Harmonica players in the world;;; Through Harmonica
do let us together join hands to spread
the message of Love and Peace,
Harmonious living, Sharing and contributing enormously towards a cause . Peace
be between us all and may we stand united always and Harp endlessly and
gloriously in the name of the Sun and the moon and the stars and the wind on this Mother Earth! AMEN!
I wish to say special thanks to my husband Shri Prahallad for all the love, support and encouragement he is giving me.
I wish to say special thanks to my husband Shri Prahallad for all the love, support and encouragement he is giving me.
Nees
Pachu/ Neena Prahallad
The
Bangalore Harmonica club,
Bangalore.
Rosy Puniyani:
Given below is write-up in her own words:
I am Rosy Puniyani, working as PGT English, in Kendriya
Vidyalaya Sangathan, since 1994.
Since childhood I have an inclination towards music.
Harmonica is my favorite musical instrument. From the childhood days, I have
watched my elder brother ( Ajay Vijh) playing it. I loved listening to him and
sometimes tried playing it too. It was just like that, that I started
playing it. And in doing so, I was encouraged by him and others too. He is my
inspiration, guru and guide as well. He corrects me and also suggests me songs
to play.
I play simple tunes on c-scale songstar and tremello harmonicas.
During my graduation too, I had participated in Inter-Faculty Western
Instrumental Competition. To my surprise, I bagged second position for two
consecutive years. This undoubtedly encouraged me and brought me special
recognition. I strongly feel ladies can and will contribute their bit to uplift
this tiny wonder and give it its due place in modern contemporary
music.
I try playing on karaokes made available to me by my brother
and have also played on stage in school’s Annual Day Programme and other
functions. My younger son, Aditya Puniyani is also fond of this magical
instrument and I am proud to say that he plays much better than me and that too
very confidently.
Babita Basu :
An article
on Dr Babita Basu was already published in this blog. Please click on the link
below to go to that page.
http://harmonicahyderabad.blogspot.in/2013/09/a-lady-doctor-and-harmonica-lover-dr.html
Haimanti Karmakar
Haimanti Karmakar is highly
talented harmonica player from Durgapur, West Bengal. We will publish more details
about Haimanti very soon.
Happy Women's Day!
