Hussain Sagar to Hoogly-Harmonica Lovers' trip to Kolkata

This December, harmonica lovers Ramana, Vijay Konda and Rameshwaram (from M.P.) visited Kolkata to meet other harmonica lovers for discussing harmonica. This trip which lasted for 4 days was a memorable experience for them. They met lots of great harmonica players and had interesting harmonica sessions.

The people whom they met were Messrs Bhaskar Chowdhury,Karun Chakaraborty,Premangshu Chatterjee,Sugato Chatterjee,Swarup Mitra,Sukanto Ghoshal,Shubmay Das Gupta,Dr Pankaj Bose,Anupam Pal,Dr Prashant Kumar Bhandopadyay,Dr Debasis Mukherjee and Mr Sumanta Basu.

Shortly, you'll find some articles on these harmonica lovers in this blog. The followers of this blog may have an opportunity to see rare photographs of some great harmonica players including harmonica legend Shri Milon Gupta in due course.

Harmonica lovers' sunday meeting on 26th Dec' 2010

This week, two harmonica lovers from different states visited HaLoH meeting at Indira Park.

Raman Khandelwal from Jaipur (Rajasthan), and Sanath Kumar from Chennai attended the meeting yesterday.

Raman Khandelwal is a virtual member of HaLoH and is one of the publishers of this blog. This was his first meeting at Indira Park. He was very enthusiastic to meet all the HaLoH members. His prime wish was to play the harmonica under the "Bodhi" tree in (as we popularly call it) in the presence of other harmonica lovers.

After watching some harmonica related videos of Kolkata harmonica artistes at on laptop, all the players played their favorite numbers one-by-one. This was followed by herbal tea and sweets before calling it a day.

Harmonica Lover of the week- Sanat Kumar

I am a Structural Engineer. I had done my Bachelors in Civil Engg. from College of Engineering, Kakinada & M. Tech (Structural Engg.) from I.I.T Kharagpur. I am presently working with an MNC in Chennai. My interest in instrumental music was generated from the intermittent melodious instrumental tunes which used to be played during Binaca Geet Mala and other radio programmes of yesteryears. I came across a Hero diatonic instrument quite accidentally on a pavement in the then Bombay during my college industrial tour. At first, I did a fewexperiments with the little instrument by myself and did succeed in being able to play a few easy tunes although not so accurately. One fine day, while I was studying in my hostel room in I.I.T Kharagpur, I heard the tune "Jaago Mohan Pyaare Jago....." being played brilliantly by somebody in the other wing. I just couldn't believe that this song could be played on the Mouth Organ so well. I at once tried my best to play this on my diatonic Hero instrument but soon discovered that it was beyond me. At that time, I knew nothing about the Chromatic or any other types of mouth organ. After this, I gradually got busy with my job and hardly found time for this hobby. It was only about eight years ago when I travelled to Germany that I bought a Hohner Mouth Organ and my interest began to revive. Four years back, I bought a Chrometta 14 Hohner. I recently bought Suzuki SCX-64 & Hohner Puck. I am ignorant of music theory and cannot read any notes. I play only by the ear. My first interaction with other Harmonica playes, like in the case of most others, happened through the net from Youtube postings. This is how I first came across HaLoH which was luckily being formed almost at the same time as my rising interest in the little instrument. My first visit to HaLoH happened when I visited Hyderabad during 2008. I was very thrilled to meet so many like minded Harmonica enthusiasts at one location for the first time in my life. I wished to visit more often but due to very busy work schedule, my second visit had to wait till DEC 2010. I thank all the members of HaLoH for sharing some very memorable time with me. I wish all the members a great time ahead and A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Please do convey my regards to all the members of HaLoH.

Thanks & Regards,

Sanath Kumar,

Chennai

Megha chaye aadhi raat-Ashok Bhandari

Saying Hello! to HaLoH

It was a great excitement to me when i planned a trip to meet Harmonica Lover of Hyderabad Ramana after visiting Keyur bhai in Ahmedabad last month.When my train reached Hyderabad, it was 12:30 midnight. Ramana was there to receive me. It was the most touchy moment i felt ever. There were endless talks about harmonica till 6 am. I learned his practice methodology on harmonica. He is one of the most talented players. On sunday 24th Oct, I went to meet HaLoH members at Indira park. There, I meet Shri Vinayakji who was a student of Great Milon da. He gave me some great tips under "Bodhi" tree. I met several magnificent players like Mr.Rajkumar, Mr.Vijay Konda, Mr. Avinesh Singh, Kailashnath ji,,Mahendra Gala ji, Soni sahab and each of them has his own style of playing harmonica. I thank Ramana and all HaLoH members to make my trip memorable with love and great learning experience.

Please watch this video which showcases my meeting with HaLoH team and my harmonica rendition in the background.

Thank you

Rameshwaram Bhardwaj,

Katni,MP

Zindagi kaisi hai paheli-Ramana