HaLoH pays tribute to the Indian harmonica legend (Late) Shri Milon Gupta

Harmonica Lovers of Hyderabad pays tribute to the Indian harmonica legend (Late) Shri Milon Gupta who breathed his last on Feb 18th in the year 1995.

may his soul rest in peace.

22nd Nov'11-Celebrating Milon da's 81st birth anniversary

Last night Harmonica Lovers of Hyderabad celebrated 81st birth anniversary of Milon da. They had a great time from 10 pm till midnight playing few Milon da’s numbers on harmonica. Milon da is the man who popularized harmonica with his melodies and taught harmonica to many harmonica lovers including our core member Shri Vinayak B.

HaLoH pays tribute to the Indian harmonica legend (Late) Shri Milon Gupta

Harmonica Lovers of Hyderabad paid tribute to the Indian harmonica legend (Late) Shri Milon Gupta who breathed his last on Feb 18th in the year 1995. It was a small gathering at Rajkumar Gavvala’s residence. Milon da is the man who popularized harmonica with his melodies and taught harmonica to many harmonica lovers including Shri Vinayak B. HaLoH members M/s Vinayak, A. Rajkumar, Kailashnath, Ashwin, Mahendra Gala, Ramana attended the meeting. Shri A. Rajkumar introduced another harmonica lover to HaLoH who is Shri Shyamala Rao, Branch manager for a Govt. General Insurance company at Hyderabad. He shared his love and passion for harmonica with all of us. One of the greatest harmonica players of this country Mr Swarup Mitra called HaLoH team at the same time to pay his tribute to the harmonica legend Shri Milon Gupta whom he calls as “the Bhagwan of harmonica”. He played the tune “Aaj koi na apna” over phone. Another Milon Da’s fan from Kolkata Mr Shubmay Das Gupta sent a message to HaLoH team “I still remember that fateful evening. I was at Rabindra Sadan at that time, a stone’s throw away from Milon Da’s residence, when he passed away. I took my last class from him only on the evening before and was unaware that he was no more. Hence, could not pay my last respects." Smt. Sujata Dutta, daughter of Milon da expressed her feelings regarding the tribute paid to her late father by harmonica lovers to Shri Vinayak. Mr

Ajay Vijh(MP), Mr Ashok Kulkarni (Maharashtra), Mr Debasis Dutta (Banglore) also expressed their respects for the legend.

Let us pray for the departed soul of the gentleman musician MILON GUPTA on his 16^th death anniversary.

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

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.

Tribute to Shri Milon Gupta

Harmonica Lovers of Hyderabad pays tribute to the Indian harmonica legend (Late) Shri Milon Gupta who breathed his last on Feb 18th in the year 1995.

may his soul rest in peace.

Get this widget | Track details | eSnips Social DNA

This blog is dedicated to the harmonica legend Shri.Milon Gupta

This legendary personality was born on 22nd November 1930 in Calcutta. His mother was a very accomplished singer in Calcutta having sung in the All India Radio. As a child he used to play the ordinary mouth organs till one marine engineer person from Dover Road / Deodar Street of Calcutta (where Milon Gupta used to live) got him two Hohner Chromatic Harmonicas. And there began the journey of the great Milon Gupta. A self taught musician with absolutely no formal training, he single handedly took the mouth organ to levels never attained in India. He showed that how a pure Western Instrument with such complications and limitations can be adapted to play Indian melodies and songs with all the perfect nuances. This was evident in his early days itself when he was mesmerising audiences with his skillful playing of songs like ''palkir gaan'', ''gayer bodhu'', ''Ayega anewala'', ''jago mohan pyaare'' and many more, which till then was unheard of being played on a mouh organ. Such was his repertoire and mastery over that instrument that he soon got noticed by the great composer Salil Chowdhury, whilst he was performing at a local concert. This was way back in 1950-51. Soon came ''Pasher Badi'', a very successful movie in Bengal in those days (which later got remade as Padosan in Hindi), and that movie marked the begining of Milon Gupta's mouth organ being used in films. Soon he set for Bombay and played in innumerable movies like Naukri, CID, Dost, Dosti, Roti, Kashmir ki Kali, Patita, to name a few. He played under the distinguished composers like Salil Chowdhury, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, SD Burman, Kalyanji Anandji, Shankar Jaikishen, OP Nayyar, Mukul Roy, Sudhin Dasgupta, Manna De, Shyamal Mitra, Hemant Kumar and many more. He spent a number of years assisting OP Nayyar and in one of his sittings with OP Nayyar and Majrooh Sultanpuri, the famous Yeh Hain Bombay meri jaan was created. The story goes how OP Nayyar asked him to play that particular western number and Majrooh saab wrote the lyrics on the spot. This was later narrated by Milon Gupta in an interview on Television a few years before his death. His command over Western music on the instrument was unparalalled. He had a school of sudents who would only learn Latin and Western music from him. Even though he had no formal training, he was equally fluent with both the Indian notation as well as the Western Stave notation. People who have his private recordings of western playing have often compared him to the great Larry Adler who once met Milon Gupta when he came to India for the only time. Almost unbelievable as it may sound, but he adapted this instrument to play kirtans and rabindrasangeet with as much finesse as he used to play Western. It was because of Milon Gupta that this instrument reach the height of its popularity in India. The old timers in Deodar street still recollect how SD Burman used to drive to his house regularly to drop our very own RD Burman to take lessons from Milon Gupta. A fact unknown to many, he was one of the only person in India who knew how to repair and retune the mouth organ. He used to spend every Monday to repair mouth organs for hundreds of his students all across the country. Again unbelievable as it may sound in today's world, he never charged a penny for that. Milon Gupta has innumerable 78 rpms, LPs, EPs, cassettes and CDs to his credit, most of them being smashing hits across the country. Songs played by him like ''o sajna barkha bahar ayi'', ''Ajeeb dastan hain'', ''Aj koi nahin apni'', ''Zindagi kaisi hain paheli'' and many others sound as if the songs were composed keeping him and his instrument in mind. The mouth organ, as he always used to call it, became a household instrument because of him and after his death on 18th February, 1995, the instrument has almost faded into oblivion from the Indian film and music industry. A perfect gentleman, who was lovingly referred to as Milonda by all and sundry last played some mesmerising interludes in Nachiketa's (one of Calcutta's most popular singers) a few months before his death, giving the audience a taste of the Larry Adler influence on him. A great cook, a perfect gentleman, our very own Milonda is still referred to as one of the finest soloist this country has ever seen.

(Courtesy : Shri.Milon Gupta's nephew Mr. Arijit Mukherji)