My narration of Ahmedabad trip would be incomplete without mentioning my visit to Mahatma Gandhi's Sabarmati ashram. I longed to visit this place as I am a firm believer of his teachings. Moreover, I also share my birthday with "Bapu" on the 2nd of October :-) I believe in "ahimsa" and follow the principle of Gandhi ji's three monkeys- "Speak no evil, See no evil, Hear no evil"

Salaam Pune

I'm sure most of you must have heard about the recent harmonica concert “Melodies on Harmonica” in Pune on 22nd May 2010. I was lucky to attend that concert. Thanks to harmonica lover from Pune-Mr Amaresh Deshpande who arranged me the front row tickets on my requisition through a phone call.

I often heard there is no encouragement for harmonica in India, but I changed my opinion after seeing the crowd outside Yeshwantrao Chavan Natyagruha before the programme. I was surprised to see the crowd, that too for a "ticket" programme! Yes, the programme was not free-of-cost and the people had purchased the tickets for the show. I was one among those curious harmonica lovers waiting impatiently to listen to the harmonica live by the great harmonica players like Shri.Madan Kumar, Shri Nandu Belvalkar, Shri Upendra Laxmeshwar, Shri Shamkanth Suthar and Shri Vishwanath Shirali. The auditorium was almost full with more than 700 people and the most awaited programme started sharply at 9.30 pm as per the schedule.

Programme started with "Papa kehthe hai bada nam karega by master.Sarang Rajguru followed by

"Yehi woh jaga hai" by female harmonica player Miss Girija Shirurkar, "Maine tere liye hi sath rang ke", Titanic theme songs by students of the harmonica institute of Pune, "Aaa Chalke tujhe" by Shri Bhupendra Kumar, "Ye mere dil pyar ka diwana" by Shri Pratap Basale, "Gore gore" by Shri Hemanth Gadre. These are few numbers I can recollect.

Some songs were really good and got standing ovation from the people. They were,-"Inteha ho gayi intezaar ki" (Sharabhi), "Oh hansini", "Gulabi ankhen" by Shri VS Shirali, "O mere sonare sonare" by Shri Madan Kumar accompanied by Shri Nandu Belvalkar on the chord harmonica, "Kya yahi pyar hai" solo by Shri Nandu Belvalkar played with 10 holes Swan chromatic harmonica, "Chakke pe chakka"( Brahmachari) by Shri Upendra Laxmeshwar, "Disla ga bai disla" (A marathi song from film: Pinjara), "Mere yaar shabba khair" played by Shri Shamkanth Sutar and "Apsara ali" (Another Marathi song from film:Natarang) played by Shri Amaresh Deshpande.

Special attraction in the programme were saxophone accompaniment by Shri Anil Karmarkar and the Anchor Shri Sidharth Bendre.

My cousin Mr Ganesh, a software engineer in Pune and I enjoyed our weekend in the harmonica concert by the great players. As a break from all the writing stuff, I thought I'd share a few of my photos with you...

Rendezvous with Shri Michael Pokish, Shri Nandu Belvalkar and Shri VS Shirali :

The next morning, I met Shri Micheal Pokish at his DO-Say restaurant. (He does whatever he says :-)) I was amused when he asked me in Telugu -“challani majjiga thraguthara?" (would you like to have butter milk?). He had stayed in Hyderabad for about 10 years. We went to his home and he showed his grand collection of harmonicas and played few tunes for me on harmonica.

Then I went to "Belvalkar's Anand Dham" to see Mr Nandu Belvalkar in person. Here, I got an opportunity to meet another renouned harmonica player Shri VS Shirali. We had a great time discussing harmonica as well playing some tunes.

Hope you've enjoyed seeing my visit to “melodies on harmonica” photos. If you've never been to Pune Harmonica concerts, I highly recommend it in future for a relaxing break from your work pressure. The climate is warm, the food excellent, the beauty stunning and the people are genuinely welcoming towards their guests.

Salam Pune!

Rustom Karwa rocks in Hyderabad

"Ramannaa? This is Rustom Karwa here. See, I am coming over to Hyderabad tomorrow, we can meet” I got this call in the evening on 8^th June ’10. I was overjoyed by his call. I was longing to meet him face-to-face for quite some time. Rustom ji is so kind that he gave me his complete itinerary for the 9^th of June.

Rustom ji is a well known personality in Bollywood and has been a favourite of many music directors for playing the harmonica in their films. He is also famous for his whistling which he does in movies. I also got the opportunity to listen to his whistling during my interaction with him.

I met the harmonica maestro Shri Rustom Karwa at a 7 star hotel in Hyderabad, where he was going to perform on the harmonica along with his huge 21 piece acoustic instrumental orchestra from Mumbai for a private gathering in Hyderabad. The moment I saw him I touched his feet to seek his blessings “Hey, please don’t do that….. I am still alive” said Rustom Ji by holding my shoulder.

I had little inhibition to enter the hotel and I wanted to leave the place without giving any trouble to Rustom ji but he (Rustom ji) took me into the hotel and offered me a seat. He introduced me to the event managers as a harmonica friend. For a moment, I forgot myself by seeing the arrangements of the stage.

I enjoyed myself throughout the concert. I got an opportunity to watch a 45 minutes non stop musical recital by world famous “Maske electrical strings trio-Australia” on the same stage, in between the musical concert by sitting next to Shri Rustom Karwa :-) I’m uploading the video of “Maske electrical strings trio” (Not recorded by me) It was a memorable moment for me.

Rustom ji was kind to share his experiences with me for almost an hour while sitting in the Hotel. He was delighted on learning that HaLoH possesses his original EP which was recorded in 1970 by Polydor Company. Thanks to Rustom Ji for presenting me the copy of the same EP in CD with his autograph.

Please enjoy the video of Rustom ji’s live performance which I had captured using my mobile phone. Please excuse me for the poor video quality.

Rendezvous with Arijit Da

Recently, Shri Arijit Mukherjee- a great player and the nephew of harmonica legend Late Shri Milon Gupta, visited Hyderabad. HaLoH members Shri Vinayak B., Shri Vijay Konda, Shri Ravi Babu and I (Avinesh Singh) got the opportunity to meet Arijit Da at Tata guest house in Jubilee hills. Thanks to Shri Vinayak B. for coordinating the meeting.

After a brief chat with him, we quickly realized that he was very polite, straight forward and a nice human being. We all played our favourite songs in front of him and he explained our strengths, weaknesses and ways to overcome those weaknesses. This was very interesting part of the meeting. On our request he started playing Hohner 270. He explained facts by demonstrating the same on his harmonica using examples of appropriate songs. He played many famous classic songs. All of us had many clarifications on harmonica and he was very co-operative, supportive and happy to answer all of them.

He explained us a very systematic approach towards learning the harmonica and emphasized on using proper notations, ragas and clear single notes. Of the many things which he explained, few of the important things were- when to play chords and when not on a harmonica, how to hold harmonica properly, which songs are suitable for playing on a harmonica and which are not suitable, how to simplify notes without losing the essence, which harmonica should we use in Hindi Bollywood and Western songs etc.

To conclude, I have to say that we met a very nice, technical and professional human being who was totally impartial in exchanging ideas for the benefit of harmonica community. On the lighter side, he promised us a good party when he meets us in Hyderabad next month.

NOTE: MORE INFO ON ARIJIT DA CAN BE READ IN THE DETAILED WRITE-UP ON HIM WHICH WAS POSTED RECENTLY IN THIS BLOG.

http://harmonicahyderabad.blogspot.com/2010/04/arijit-mukherji-noteworthy-harmonica.html

- Avinesh Singh

Hello HaLoH!

It was a very warm day with hot current of air blowing on the roads of Hyderabad, the city of Nizams. Being a harmonica enthusiast from Jaipur and a virtual member of HaLoH, I was desperate to meet some harmonica lovers for the first time. I first met Ramana Illaiyaraja at Abids. It was my second meeting with him after we met at Jaipur. Then, Shri B. Vinayak, a senior harmonica lover was just in time. Very soon, I saw Shri Avinesh Singh driving at Abids. We all went to Nampally station to meet Shri Vijay Konda. I was impressed by the way these guys coordinated and gathered in a very short span of time. I relished my favourite Vijaya buttermilk during our casual meeting before saying good bye to Vijay Konda.

All of us travelled to Avinesh ji's residence and had a musical session. I was impressed by the harmonica skills of these people. Each one had their own speciality. Avinesh ji showed his collection of harmonicas and played the harmonica. A few of his styles reminded me of Big Bhandari Ashok ji. Vinayak ji's harmonica recital reminded me of Milon da. Ramana too impressed me with his latest recording and he played a song using a karaoke track on his favourite mobile handset. I took valuable tips on playing the harmonica from Vinayak ji. We never felt that we were meeting for the first time. In fact, we felt as if we knew each other very well. After savouring some snacks at Avinesh ji's place, it was time to say good bye to each other.

Before leaving Hyderabad, I enjoyed my supper at 'Kamat' with my friend Ramana. Though I could not meet other harmonica lovers, I made it a point to talk to Shri Kailashnath over phone. On my request, even though it was dark, Ramana showed me the gate of Indira Park where HaLoH meeting takes place every Sunday morning. I wished to see the "BODHI" tree under which HaLoH members achieved "Nirvana" after playing the harmonica under it ;-) I wish to visit Hyderabad again to meet other harmonica lovers under that tree in Indira Park.

-Raman Khandelwal, Jaipur.

"Mere naina sawan bhadon" by Big B(handari)

This is a very emotional song played by Shri Ashok Bhandari on the harmonica. This song was sung by Kishore da in 1976 for the film Mehbooba. It was picturised on the romantic hero of those times -Rajesh Khanna. "Big Bhandari" has done justice to this song. He has also played it in different octaves. The sound in lower octave really gives that emotional touch to this song. Here are both the clips attached for your listening pleasure. HaLoH thanks Shri Ashok Bhandari for recording this clip for this blog.

Harmonica lover aims for new Guiness record

As per the English daily newpaper DNA, a Harmonica lover Shaileshkumar S. Sethiya, who recently shifted to Bangalore, had aimed for a new Guiness record on May 1st 2010 by playing the harmonica continously for 30 Hrs. This was published in DNA's May 26th edition. Interested in this article? Just go to the link mentioned or try reading page no.5 of the electronic paper issued on that date.

http://epaper.dnaindia.com/dnaahmedabad/epapermain.aspx?queryed=16&username=&useremailid=&parenteditioncode=16&eddate=5/26/2010

Harmonica lover of the week-Inderjit Singh Soni

Shri Inderjit Singh Soni invited all HaLoH members to his residence. Hence, this week, instead of meeting at our regular venue-Indira park, Harmonica Lovers of Hyderabad Mahendra gala, Kailashnath, Shivraj, A Rajkumar, Avinesh Singh, Dharmendra Jain, Ravibabu and Ramana assembled at Shri Soni’s residence. We had a great musical session for 2 hours blended with all kinds of tunes on harmonica followed with tasty Punjabi snacks :-P

HaLoH thanks Mr Soni for his warm reception and hospitality

In the following video I have used a western harmonica tune played by anonymous player :-)

Aajare pardesi- Avinesh Singh

Hi Friends,
This is my second attempt with Karaoke.
Although this song is relatively difficult I have tried it hard and dedicating it to MY Harmonica Lovers of Hyderabad (HaLoH)
I have selected a song from film Madhumati. Aaa Jaa Rae Pardesi... I am really inspired by the way Ashok Bhandari Ji has played it.
My sincere thanks to Ashok Bhandari the Big B(handari) of Indian Harmonica, who has provided me the original Karaoke track which he had recorded for the same song when he played it in Harmonica. Hope you all would like it.

-Avinesh Singh

Harmonica lover of the week-Ramana

Today I'm delighted to publish my first recording on harmonica “Pyar hua iqraar hua from Shri 420” and I am dedicating this song to My friend,guide,philosopher and harmonica lover of Hyderabad Shri Vinayak on his birthday.

Vinayak Sir,

Many many happy returns of the day.

With Love

Ramana

Passion for harmonica continues..

Hi all, This week end I have come up with a new version of the song from film Shor - Ek Pyar Ka Nagma Hai... A very famous and ever green song. Hope you would like it . My sincere thanks to Keyur Shah Ji from Ahmadabad for giving me all support and knowledge to create this video and for doing the mixing.

-Avinesh Singh

Meeting the Big B(handari) of Indian harmonica

Now-a-days if anybody talks about current generation harmonica wizards in India, Shri Ashok Bhandari’s name will be in the top-list. Like every Indian harmonica lover I am also mesmerized with his harmonica magic. The more I listened to Big Bhandari, the more was my desperation to meet him. This desperation kept on increasing until I planned my vacation to Delhi and I met him at his office. Needless to say, I had witnessed the harmonica magic live. One must listen to him live in his lifetime.

When asked why he doesn’t play Western Jazz or Blues because of his regular touring around the world, he says jokingly, he would prefer Indian Dal and Roti to Western food. He adds- “We Indians try to copy western people whereas many western people enjoy our Indian harmonica music. Harmonica is an instrument which has to be played by feelings and not by mathematical formulae alone.”

I had the privilege to take lunch with Ashok ji that day. I hope to meet Big Bhandari again to enjoy more his harmonica magic in future.

Please watch a video I recorded at his office. (Excuse me for the poor quality)

Arijit Mukherji-The Noteworthy harmonica player

I still remember that day 16^th Nov 2008 when my friend, guide and philosopher Mr B. Vinayak gave me a CD- “Down memory lane” by Shri Arijit Mukherji (The nephew of harmonica legend Shri Milon Gupta). After listening to that CD, I fell in love with his harmonica playing. The same day I got his contact number and restricted myself from calling him after learning about his profile. After hearing his next album -“A tribute to Kishore Kumar” I couldn’t resist myself and had started disturbing him more often.

Few days back, with prior appointment, I met Arijit da at his residence in Gurgaon and for few minutes, I fumbled with excitement and was unable to express myself. Arijit da understood my condition and offered me a Coke. Then, he asked me to play harmonica. One by one, I played not less than 10 songs on his demand. After listening, he gave me lot of tips for my betterment. Later, I too witnessed him play my favourite numbers on his favourite Larry Adler Professional 12 harmonica.

Arijit da presented me his “Down memory lane” CD. I requested him to autograph on the same. Almost 3 hours just passed like 3 minutes in his company. I left their house with utmost satisfaction of receiving some tips. Arijit da was so caring that he enquired about my welfare after leaving their home.

Given below are some of the media write-ups about him which appeared in various journals. Those interested can read further.

Business Standard, December 21,2008

Noteworthy player

Arijit Mukherji wants to popularise the mouth organ.

The impressive collection of mouth organs that reside in Arijit Mukherji’s home in Gurgaon belies his profession. When he’s not at work at Fidelity Investments, he’s playing his favourite instrument — a beautiful Larry Adler Professional. And that’s just one of the many pieces that he has hand-picked, over decades, from different parts of the world. He is primarily steeped in the Western musical tradition, unlike many lovers of music in India. Not many Indians, he says, have taken up the mouth organ.

While Mukherji never harboured dreams of being a full-time musician, his dedication to the instrument is, nonetheless, admirable. He includes an hour-and-a-half of practice every morning and considerably more time when he’s practicing to record for his albums. “The only travel which I do during my annual leave from work is for my recordings,” he says, dispelling the myth that this instrument is just about “blowing and drawing”.

“I take my music seriously because I aim to revive this instrument in India,” says Mukherji. He learnt the tabla at the age of six, followed by guitar, but it was the mouth organ which he learnt most enthusiastically. It was his uncle, Milan Gupta, a renowned solo mouth organ artiste in the country, who gave Mukherji his first lessons, he remembers fondly.

More than 25 years later, he recalls how the right side of his mouth and tongue regularly got bruised due to regular practice. “When the art — and style — of playing the mouth organ seeps into your senses, and you have successfully adapted to the use of your tongue while playing, it no longer pains that much,” he says.

Mukherji started learning the instrument theoretically only five years ago, and admits that even though a mouth organ is pocket-sized, it’s extremely complicated in structure. While this instrument is more popular in Western music, Mukherji, through his albums, has Indianised his tunes. “When you hear Clapton, you know it’s him. I have developed my own tone which, thankfully, my uncle loved when he heard,” he says.

Mukherji, with his immense talent, touches high pitch as easily as he swoops into low notes, thanks to the regularity of his practice hours. Small wonder then that his humble mouth organ resonates, in recording sessions, with a host of other instruments including the sarod, sitar, guitar, flute and santoor.

“The first time I recorded an album, the idea was not to sell. We were playing in Usha Uthup’s studio in Kolkata and she heard us by accident,” he says. What followed was a hand-written letter of recommendation by Uthup — who absolutely loved his work — and that’s how Mukherji cut his first album with Music Today.

Mukherji feels that he has been fortunate to meet the right people on the music circuit. Music director Shantanu Moitra, for example, has been a source of guidance and support and one of his mentors too. “He’s an honest person. Every time I’ve had trouble adapting a song to the instrument, I seek his advice,” says Mukherji.

Mouth organ in hand, Mukherji slides a CD into a music player and allows me to listen to his new album, A Tribute to Kishore Kumar, by T-Series. We listen to “Zindagi ka Safar” a popular Hindi movie track, to which Mukherji has given a distinct western feel and turned it into a rock ballad. He pauses to point out another track on the album, “Jeevan ke Safar mein Raahi” which also has a noticeable western influence. “The song is a copy of a Mexican tune, in the first place. I worked around it, changed the rhythm, but still retained an Indian feel,” he explains.

Mukherji has also done jugalbandi of sorts in his albums. With sarod artiste Pratyush Banerjee, for instance (“He’s also a family friend,” he says), Mukherji has created albums. One of his earlier albums, Down Memory Lane, by Music Today, recreated some of the works of legendary artistes like R D Burman and Salil Chaudhary. “When people heard I was trying to recreate Salil da’s work, they were astounded,” says Mukherji, who recently visited Mozart’s house in Salzburg and jokes that he can now die in peace.

Planning to work on an album of Latin melodies as well as Rabindra Sangeet, Mukherji worries that his favourite instrument might just be falling off the musical map in the country. The artiste encourages children in the neighbourhood to take lessons from him. “People are keen on performances rather than learning,” he rues.

For Mukherji, after all, it’s music that still continues.

Tuesday , November 25 , 2008 The Telegraph, Culcutta

Harp of the matter

Say that the mouth-organ is defunct and expect to be admonished by Arijit Mukherji, a passionate practitioner of the instrument for the past 23 years. “I don’t think that the mouth organ is dead. The art is suffering because of a dearth of players,” believes the 40-year-old, whose debut album, Down Memory Lane (2007) was a rare instrumental record from India selected by Apple iTunes and E-music to be sold on their online stores.

An ex-Xaverian from Calcutta, Arijit is now the director of Fidelity Investments in Gurgaon. He likes to straddle the diverse worlds of art and banking. At the moment, he is ready to release his second album. “We will be launching the album in the first week of December. It will be a country-wide release on T-Series,” says Arijit.

Nephew of the legendary Milon Gupta — perhaps the only true-blue mouth-organ artiste working in the mainstream film industry in the 50s — Arijit owes his inspiration and skill to his uncle. “I learnt the tabla and guitar, but listening to mymesho play the pocket instrument was way more fascinating! He taught me to play when I was 18 and I am the only one in the family after him to have pursued this art form. In a way, I’m trying to revive the art and pay tribute to my uncle’s endeavours in popularising the instrument during that era,” explains Arijit, who plays the chromatic harmonica, which offers flat and sharp notes unlike other diatonic mouth-organs.

While Down Memory Lane tried to recreate the charm of Salil Chowdhury and RD Burman, his second album is a tribute to Kishore Kumar classics that have been rearranged with keyboards, mandolin and flute accompanying his mouth-organ solos. “Music director Shantanu Moitra has arranged the order of the tracks for this album,” says Arijit.

In the new album, Zindagi ka safar gets a rock-ballad treatment, while Jeevan ke safar mein rahi is rearranged with a swing feel.

Music is “not just a hobby” for Arijit, who spends hours listening to or looking up videos of international players like Larry Adler, Charlie McCoy and Jerry Murad. “I would like to use different acoustic instruments to produce a Latin album someday and another on Rabindrasangeet,” he smiles.

Indian Express.com, Dec 29, 2008

Harmonica player Arijit Mukherji’s second album is A tribute to Kishore Kumar

Music from the harmonica, the shiny, rectangular mouth organ was a regular feature in songs or as a prop, in old Hindi movies. (Remember the brooding image of Amitabh Bachchan serenading Jaya while languorously playing the harmonica in Sholay?) Arijit Mukherji, 42, Finance Director with Gurgaon based Fidelity Investments, is one of Delhi’s last remaining harmonica players; for some reason, the tiny mouthpiece has fallen out of favour with budding musicians. “My uncle Milon Gupta played the harmonica in movies like CID, Kashmir Ki Kali and Dosti,” says Mukherji, who’s just released his second harmonica album, A Tribute to Kishore Kumar. “My uncle’s influence made me love this instrument.”

The album has 10 of Mukherji’s favourite Kishore Kumar tracks in which Zindagi ka Safar gets a rock-ballad treatment, while Jeevan ke safar mein rahi is rearranged with a swing feel. Mukherji explains how blues players use harmonicas to create a jazz like sound, while he Indianises the tone. “I can take out the meend from the instrument to Indianise the sound,” he explains. Mukherji has had occasional musical alliances with Usha Uthup, sarod player Pratyush Banerjee and music director Shantanu Moitra (of Parineeta fame) who has arranged the music for his second album by changing the interludes, preludes and rhythm patterns.

HaLoH meeting at Pink City

From Gurgaon, I visited Jaipur to meet the virtual member of HaLoH Mr Raman Khandelwal popularly known as KK (Kromatic Khandelwal). We met for the first time. On Sunday morning, we called Hyderabad and spoke to all HaLoH members who assembled at Indira park.

I know KK through a social network because we both are harmonica enthusiasts. Raman K, is a 35 years old businessman from Jaipur. Music (Harmonica) and Soft Skills training especially “Body language” (non verbal communication) skills for sales effectiveness are his hobbies. He was brought up in Vijayawada, AP and is now settled in Jaipur (Pink city). I stayed in their home for two days and received lot of love and affection from all their family members which I cannot forget in my life time. Apart from the harmonica session at his home, I liked the Rajasthani dishes and other items like Pav Bhaji and a variety of sandwiches. His family gifted me a Rajasthani bandhej dress material for my better half. KK and I roamed all around in Jaipur while talking about only harmonica. I took some lessons from him on Music theory during this trip. No wonder he is very good at explaining things and has taught some basics of musical theory to some harmonica lovers. KK promised me to visit Hyderabad this year.

KK, All HaLoH members are waiting for you to share their love.

Harmonica lover of the week Mr Anand, a retired defence personnel

During 62 year old Anand's college days in Chennai, one unknown person used to play melodies on the harmonica (not a beggar :-)) for the people at a bus stop everyday at a particular time. That harmonica player inspired Mr Anand to pick up harmonica. 20 years ago, he recorded two instrumental cassettes on his favorite tower harmonica. Shortly, we will share those numbers with you. With the increasing age and responsibilities Mr Anand hardly touched the harmonica but after seeing the enthusiasm of HaLoH, he wants to revamp his harmonica. Though he never played for years, he agreed to play a number for us. Watch this video and encourage this harmonica lover.

Sandy’s journey with HaLoH begins

This sunday, 10 harmonica lovers attended the meeting at Indira Park, Hyderabad. A new face graced the occasion. He is Mr sandeep Bhagerwal, a software engineer who learnt about HaLoH through internet. Sandy is seen playing love theme from the movie Sholay on his tower harmonica.

HaLoH welcomes Sandy.