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.

Waah Ustaad! : Harish Nayyar from the land of Golden Temple

If you are a harmonica lover and a regular follower of You Tube channels pertaining to Indian music played on the harmonica, you must have definitely come across this slim young Punjabi businessman from Amritsar-The land of Golden Temple. He is our harmonica lover this week. His harmonica friends lovingly address him as ‘Ustaad Harish Nayyar’.

First harmonica-First song: It all started in 1990 when Harish, a college student was holidaying with his friends in Dalhousie. He purchased a Hero tremolo harmonica. After initial struggle, he could play the Indian harmonica Anthem- ‘Hai Apna Dil To Awaara’ from the movie Solva Saal. Within a few months, he purchased a Tower Chromatic harmonica and started playing Hindi songs on it. He also performed on stage during college functions. This was just a beginning and Harish never used the chromatic button because he was oblivious to the fact that the button is meant for getting chromatic notes in between some songs. Soon, he passed out of college in 1992 and played the harmonica once in a blue moon.

Passion for harmonica: Love for the Harmonica re-surfaced again in 2008 and Harish started playing harmonica regularly. He started uploading his renditions on the You Tube. It was during those days that he became popular through his channel. Our member Raman Khandelwal remembers talking to Harish Nayyar over phone in 2008 to convince him to upgrade to valved harmonicas of other brands. He also remembers how people used to identify this budding harmonica player. One day Shri Vinayak B., a senior harmonica player of Hyderabad told Raman about Harish that there is a guy who attempts new songs on his Tower harmonica and he has a good sense of melody. Very soon, Harish learnt the usage of slider button and started playing complicated songs. People used to discuss about this guy usually playing those songs impeccably on a ‘Tower’ which were never attempted on the harmonica. He proved that even on an ordinary budget harmonica, one can get wonderful melody. He has no basic knowledge of music and plays the harmonica by ear on a ‘C’ Chromatic harmonica by matching with the scale of karaoke tracks.

Soon, Harish upgraded to a ‘Swan’ valved chromatic harmonica. He improved his harmonica skills manifold times after switching over to a 12 hole valved chromatic. Later, he purchased a Hohner Larry Adler Pro 12. Currently, he plays on the Hohner CX-12 harmonica which is his most favourite instrument.

There’s one funny incident which Harish recalls. One day he came across an advertisement of a music institute in Amritsar which also mentioned ‘harmonica’ in the list of music instruments that were being taught. Harish went to the institute to improve his harmonica skills and found two young guys managing the institute and teaching the harmonica. They played some songs on the harmonica and demonstrated how they would go about it. Then they asked Harish to play some songs. Once, Harish started and played a couple of songs, they were dumbfounded and immediately requested him to join their institute as a harmonica tutor. Harish was reluctant to do so because he felt that he had miles to go and learn a lot before he starts teaching. He politely declined their offer and went back home.

Style and preferences: Harish usually plays Indian melodies. He enjoys playing those songs which were never attempted on a harmonica by other players. His style of playing can be easily identified by his ‘murkis’. Harish says that he can’t play any song straight. He naturally tends to use ‘murki’ while playing. He says “I listen to the song carefully before attempting it and believe that if one listens to the song right, one plays right and if one listens to the song wrong, one plays wrong. I try my best to play in ‘sur’ i.e. play correct notes as far as possible and if unnecessary, I avoid effects like hand vibrato and tongue slapping which may deviate from actual music.

HaLoH wishes Harish Nayyar a Happy Birthday! He’s celebrating his birthday on the 17^th of November. Enjoy this rendition- ‘Satyam Shivam Sundaram’, yet another non-conventional song played on the harmonica by him.

More info on Harish Nayyar is available on the following links of our blog.

http://harmonicahyderabad.blogspot.com/2010/01/rendezvous-at-delhi.html

One must definitely listen to this Sindhi number ‘Dama Dum Mast Kalander’ played by him.

Harmonica Our Passion!

An evening with "Debashis Dutta"

Recently, after celebrating Deepawali, Harmonica Lovers of Hyderabad met another harmonica lover Mr Debashis Dutta from Bangalore. They had dinner at a restaurant after having a good musical session. HaLoH members enjoyed listening to the renditions by Mr Debashis and also played the harmonica one-by-one.

Mr Debashis Dutta, an Aerospace and Materials engineer by profession, is 55 years old. He is based atBangalore where he had lived and worked for the last 30 years. He did his B.Tech in Metallurgical Engineering from BHU-IT and then followed it up with an M.Tech degree each in Aerospace Engg (IIT-Madras) and Materials Engg (IISc Bangalore). He currently works in a senior engineering position for a USbased aerospace MNC in Bangalore. He is a member of harmonica Club of Bangalore.

He is a self-trained mouthorgan player. He got introduced to this instrument when he was about 14/15 years old in high school by his maternal cousin Mr. Satinath Mukherjee who was an accomplished harmonica and piano professional and a contemporary of the great Milon Gupta. His cousin gifted an old Hohner mouth organ to him which he still possesses. What interests him about the instrument is that it is quite versatile, user friendly, a constant companion for every season and every place and produces music that pleases his ears along with everyone else’s ears. Moreover, anyone with an ear for music can learn the instrument on his/her own and give performances.

More information about Mr Debashis Dutta can be obtained at the following link

http://harmonicahyderabad.blogspot.com/2011/03/haloh-meeting-with-debashis-dutta.html

Harmonica our passion!

‘Chalo Dilli’: Harmonica Lovers’ Meet

Dilli Dilwaalon Ki- Channi Uncle plays a perfect host

On 2^nd October, harmonica lovers from different parts of the country gathered at Channi Uncle’s place in Delhi to “Breathe Harmonica”. This 59 year old gentleman has been playing the harmonica for almost 40 years. His name is Chander Parkash Chawla and he is popularly known as ‘Channi Chawla’. He is a retired government employee and is crazy for this cute little instrument. He says that playing the harmonica, listening to harmonica and discussing about harmonica makes him feel happy. He has a unique personality with a good sense of humour. He has his own distinctive style which separates him from the crowd. He loves collecting harmonicas and suspenders. No wonder, you’ll find him with the right combination of suspenders to suit his clothes. He hosted the meet at his place and made proper arrangements for boarding and lodging of the guests who were not from Delhi.

The Rendezvous- ‘Breathing Harmonica’

The harmonica lovers started arriving at Channi Uncle’s place since the morning of Gandhi Jayanti. No sooner did they arrive, than the harmonica session started and the people continued playing the harmonica seamlessly only to call it a day at 10:30 PM. It was also a memorable birthday celebration for Ramana from Hyderabad who happened to share his birthday with the father of our nation. The rendezvous lasted for almost 12 hours.

The guests of Channi Uncle included M/s Swarup Mitra from Raniganj near Kolkata (W.B.), Rameshwaram from Katni (M.P.), Ajay Vijh from Singrauli (U.P.), Ramana Ilayaraja from Hyderabad (A.P.), Keyur Shah from Ahmedabad (Gujarat), Raman Khandelwal from Jaipur (Rajasthan) and Harish Nayyar from Amritsar (Punjab). The Delhites who graced this occasion were M/s Rajeev Ranjan, Rajkumar and magician ‘Big Bhandari’. The co-hosts were harmonica lovers M/s Rakesh Chaudhry and Sandeep Tomar.

Harmonica Lovers with Arijit Mukherji

Channi Uncle and his guests visited harmonica icon Arijit Mukherji at his residence in Gurgaon. They had a good time listening to the mesmerizing renditions of his upcoming projects. Some of the songs of these projects were so soothing to listen that the guests Keyur Shah and Raman could not refrain themselves from requesting Arijit da to play one of the numbers once again on his music system. Arijit da also played some numbers on his harmonica to make the session livelier.

More info on Mr. Arijit Mukherji can be obtained at the following links.

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

Khana Khazana: Big Bhandari hosts dinner

The harmonica lovers were invited by Mr. Ashok Bhandari for dinner. Very few people know that he is a personality with multiple talents. Needless to say that he is also a good cook. He reciprocated Channi Uncle’s gesture by inviting him and his guests to his place.

Harmonica magician Mr. Ashok Bhandari popularly addressed as Big Bhandari by our harmonica lovers gave a brief speech to harmonica lovers on the harmonica during his earlier visit. He says that he is not a harmonica player and he does not know the mathematics pertaining to music and harmonica. He just plays the harmonica with feelings. He prefers calling himself a performer. Harmonica lovers who heard Big Bhandari Live for the first time were convinced that he has the capacity to entertain and mesmerize his audience with his performance.

More info on Mr. Ashok Bhandari can be obtained at the following links

http://harmonicahyderabad.blogspot.com/2009/12/ashok-bhandari-magician-who-loves.html

Back to Work:

After the Delhi visit, almost all the participants had forgotten their Dil (heart) and Dimaag (Mind) in Dilli for almost a week. Information related to some of the harmonica lovers present in Delhi can be obtained at the following links.

Ajay Vijh:

http://harmonicahyderabad.blogspot.com/2011/03/ajay-vijh-and-his-positive-vibrations.html

Swarup Mitra: harmonica tiger from West Bengal

Harmonica lovers Ramana,Vijay Konda from Hyderabad and Rameshwaram from Katni (M.P.), on their trip to Kolkata, had the previlege to meet a harmonica lover at his residence in Raniganj (West Bengal). This 40 year old teacher in a govt. primary school is lovingly addressed as 'Harmonica tiger' by Ramana and Rameshwaram. He is Swarup Mitra, a student of Milon da’s student-Saikat Mukherjee. Swarup Mitra is an excellent harmonica player. His soul is completely filled with music. He can play keyboard like a professional and can produce all the chromatic notes like a vocalist through his throat. He doesn’t need any chromatic tuner to identify any note. He has got musical ears and trains his students to play with the help of notations. He has enormous talent with multiple qualities. Above all, he is down-to-earth and friendly.

Early days as a harmonica lover:

Swarup Mitra was in 3rd or 4th standard when he fell in love with harmonica's sweet sound. He used to listen to his father's friend's son. When he asked for the harmonica, the boy scolded him but later lent him his diatonic harmonica to play. By evening, he managed to play 2-3 lines of Rabindra sangeet on his own. Very soon, he could play almost 75% of the tune in his house. His father bought him some locally made harmonicas but he opened all the harmonicas and broke them. When he was in 7th standard, his name was registered to play harmonica on Rabindra Jayanti at school. He did not have any harmonica with him for the purpose. So, he borrowed a 24 holes hero tremolo harmonica for two days from his father's student and played that song. For this, he was gifted a fountain pen by his school.

Swarup Mitra always felt that he was not getting all the missing notes on the harmonicas. In 1985, he purchased his first Hero Chromatic harmonica. From then onwards, he used to play regularly in different cultural programmes on invitation.

One interesting event he cannot forget is during his trip to Goa and Mumbai. He came across some foreigners who started dancing on listening to his harmonica. They had a good music session after which they gifted him some swiss chocolates.

In search of a harmonica Guru:

Swarup used to listen to Milon da's renditions on Vivid Bharti. He also purchased cassettes of Milon Gupta and Saikat Mukherjee. In 1987, he came across a person who used to learn from Saikat Mukherjee. When asked about the address of Saikat da, that person did not give him the address but just dropped a hint that Saikat da lived in Kamarhati area. That hint was enough for him to plan a meeting with Saikat da. It was a herculean task to find a person in the streets of Kamarhati. However, Swarup was determined to wander in that area with a Hero Chromatic harmonica and three audio cassettes of Saikat da. He thought of showing those cassettes to people in the streets and find Saikat da's address. He was lucky enough to meet a person on the road who knew the address of Saikat da.

Finally, Swarup Mitra reached Saikat da's residence. He waited for some time till Saikat da arrived. Saikat da listened to around 4-5 songs and told that he would send him (Swarup) to his guru Milon da as his guru would be able to teach better. However, Swarup insisted that he would learn from Saikat da. Saikat da agreed. Very soon, in a span of 7-8 months he became very close to the family members of Saikat da. Saikat da's wife insisted that he should stop taking fee from his student Swarup because he became just like a family member. From then onwards, Saikat da never accepted any fee from him. He also visited Swarup's house with his family and stayed there for three days.

Time for first HOHNER:

In 1988, Swarup Mitra convinced his father Shri. Kamal Kumar Mitra to buy him a Hohner Super Chromonica 270C from M.Hohner, Germany. They wrote to Hohner directly regarding their interest in purchasing a harmonica. The company agreed to ship the harmonica after receiving International Reply Coupons equivalent to the costs involved. Finally the parcel arrived. Swarup could not sleep for 4 days due to excitement.

Visiting the Mecca and Madina of Indian Harmonica:

In1990, Saikat da told Swarup Mitra that he would take him to the Mecca and Madina (holy places) of Indian harmonica. That place was none other than his Guru Milon Gupta's residence. Swarup was stunned to hear Milon da live. He was highly impressed by Milon da's style and techniques. He had the previlege to see Milon da demonstrate various techniques in front of his eyes. After a few years, when Milon da breathed his last, he cried a lot.

Career Vs Harmonica:

Very few people in India dream of pursuing a career in harmonica. Swarup Mitra once dreamt of pursuing his career in Harmonica. For this, he got support from his parents and he even quit his job at Indian Railways, Chittaranjan because he felt that the prevailing condition at Chittaranjan was not conducive for practicing harmonica. He did not get that environment which would motivate him to take his harmonica seriously.

He went to Doordarshan around 30 times just to get an audition form but failed to get one. On a sunday, he saw an amateur boy playing the harmonica on Doordarshan. Eventually, he was disappointed and decided not to approach Doordarshan any more and continue concentrating on practicing harmonica and teaching how to play this wonderful instrument to those who wish to learn from him.

His favourites:

Swarup Mitra likes listening to the renditions of Milon da, Saikat da, Karun da and some songs of Gautam da. He has special regards for his student Mukesh (a flute artist and a good harmonica player) and Ritesh Mallik without whose support he wouldn't have come across many harmonica lovers including some HaLoH members through You Tube.

Message for the beginners:

Swarup Mitra says,

1) LISTEN to the song AGAIN and AGAIN (as many times as possible) before playing it on the harmonica.

2) LEARN NOTATIONS because notation is the skeleton of the song.

3) ADD EXPRESSIONS to the song because the skeleton should be covered by a body.

4) Don't be proud that you are better than the other

Rameshwaram:

http://harmonicahyderabad.blogspot.com/2010/07/harmonica-lover-of-week-rameshwaram.html

Keyur Shah:

http://harmonicahyderabad.blogspot.com/2010/06/my-experience-at-ahmedabad-atithi-devo_18.html

Happy Deepavali. Have a Blast.

Harmonica Our Passion!

Vardhman Jain visits HaLoH

Recently, harmonica lover Mr Vardhaman Jain from Vadodara visited Hyderabad on his official trip. He completed his engineering from MNIT Jaipur and joined Indian Railways. He has been playing the harmonica since his college days. Despite his hectic schedule he obliged and spared his valuable time for this brief rendezvous. Here is a tagged photograph of the Harmonica Lovers.

You can enjoy more videos from Mr Vardhman Jain at

http://www.youtube.com/user/vardhman1962

Harmonica Our Passion!

Inderjit Singh Soni: Visit to Pink City

Recently, Mr Inderjit Singh Soni visited Jaipur (Pink City) along with his family. He met our virtual member Raman Khandelwal. It was their first meeting but they felt that they knew each other for quite a long time. They spent two hours discussing about music, harmonica and had a musical session with karaoke tracks. Here’s one of those numbers played and recorded by him along with karaoke track at his home. Mr Soni, who started playing the harmonica in his childhood, says that he has been improving his harmonica skills after being associated with the harmonica lovers at HaLoH. He is also thankful to Mr Avinesh Singh for taking pains in teaching him the basics of recording.

Harmonica Our Passion!

Ashwin J. Betai: A Journey from Rangoon to Hyderabad

Our harmonica lover this week is Shri Ashwin J. Betai who was born in Rangoon (Burma) and is now settled in Hyderabad. He is a 50 yrs old Gujarati businessman with a good sense of humour. There is never a meeting at Indira park when HaLoH members do not laugh at his funny jokes. He can play many instruments like Harmonica, Flute, Mandolin, Harmonium and Keyboard.

Ashwin ji developed the love for music during his childhood at Rangoon when his father used to play the harmonica. Later, their family shifted to Kolkata where he used to observe his uncle play the Mandolin. His uncle taught him to play the Mandolin. At the age of 17 or 18, on his request, his uncle gifted him a Hero harmonica and he started performing in college stage shows. Today, after being settled in Hyderabad for almost 30 years, he still plays the Harmonica and Flute in several programmes of his community.

Though he has Hohner Larry Adler 16, he still loves to play old Hindi melodies on his Tower harmonica. His 13 yr old son Yash A. Betai is learning to play the harmonica from our own fellow member Shri B. Vinayak who was a direct student of Milon da. Mr Vinayak teaches with notations and feels that Yash is picking up harmonica skills very fast and jokes that one day he may play better than his father.

Ashwin ji has a special inclination towards the wind instruments. He feels that even a sick person becomes well after listening to the sound of harmonica and flute.

Our Second Birth Day!

Friends,

It was exactly two years ago (according to the Lunar Calender) i.e. Dushera 2009 that this blog was launched.

We had begun a journey not knowing where we were headed but I guess we are slowly finding our way, thanks to all your support, guidance and patronage.

We at HaLoH thank you all and look forward to your continued support.

A Happy Dushera to all of you.

Milon da’s son says “HaLoH Hyderabad”

Recently, HaLoH members G Raj Kumar, B Vinayak and Ramana met Shri Sanjoy Gupta, The son of harmonica legend Milon da.

It was a brief rendezvous at hotel Mercure in Hyderabad. Mr sanjoy Gupta is a free lance Cost Accountant and is settled in Mumbai.

Mr Sanjoy Gupta doesn’t play the harmonica. Never the less, He has carefully preserved almost 80% of the collection of rare EPs,LPs,Audio cassettes and harmonicas of his father. His son (Milon da’s grandson) Master Shubhayu Gupta is a music lover and has cleared his 6^th grade theory for keyboard from Trinity College of Music, London. He will be appearing for his practical examination this year.

Mr Sanjoy Gupta had discussed about harmonica, And his father’s close friends and associates settled across the globe including Karun da ( Shri Karun Chakraborty) who’s article has already been published on this blog.

http://harmonicahyderabad.blogspot.com/2011/02/rendezvous-with-milon-das-associate.html

It was really interesting for those present there in the meeting to learn about the close associates of Milon da.

Harmonica our passion!

Big (B)handari’s version of ‘Om Jai Jagdish Hare’

Long back, our friend Kromatic Khandelwal requested Big Bhandari to record one of his favourite harmonica tunes-‘Om Jai Jagdish Hare’ which he plays often. This artee, sung in the praise of Lord Vishnu (Narayana) has been finally rendered by Shri Ashok Bhandari on his Hering 16-hole harmonica.

The recording is excellent and a track had been especially prepared for this rendition. Bhandari ji has very creatively improvised on this popular number to get a different feel. The notes in the beginning of this rendition have been impeccably bent on the harmonica to mimic the sound of a conch shell.

More details about Mr Ashok Bhandari can be seen at the following link.

http://harmonicahyderabad.blogspot.com/2010/01/rendezvous-at-delhi.html

HaLoH thanks Bhandari ji for this treat.

Harmonica Our Passion!

Harmonica Lover of the week- Noteworthy harmonica player Arijit Mukherji

At his endeavor to popularize harmonica, Mr Arijit Mukherji played few tunes on harmonica for Tara TV “Experts” in 2008. More details about Arijit da can be seen at the following link.

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

We do hope you'll enjoy watching these videos

Harmonica our passion!

HaLoH weekly meeting on 22nd August-11

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 Vinayak, Kailashnath,Vijay Konda, A Rajkumar, Avinesh Singh, 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

Sumanta Basu-Love from the land of melody - Part 2

Visitors of this blog might remember we posted an article on Sumanta Basu -"Love from the land of melody" and his album " Those were the days"

http://harmonicahyderabad.blogspot.com/2010/02/love-from-land-of-melody.html

Now you can enjoy those videos. You will agree with us that Sumanta's recording and video editing skills are no less than that of any professional sound engineer and film editor.

Our team mate Ramana, along with Rameswram visited one of his favorite harmonica artist Sumanta Basu at his home. Sumanta played a perfect host during their visit to his home. Sumanta is not only a harmonica virtuoso but also a wonderful painter, canvas maker, photographer, composer, lyricist and a great human being. He introduced our team mates to his mother and other family members. Their meeting commenced with tasty Bengali lunch along with most tasteful discussions about harmonica. Later, they entered into the land of melody (Sumanta's music room cum home recording dash board). Sumata understood the passion of these two guys and answered all their queries with patience and passion. He showed them what he does for the creation of his music and elaborated everything step-by step explaining the nitty gritties of each step. This opened a new window of knowledge for Ramana and Rameshwaram. Sumanta promised to visit Hyderabad to meet all HaLoH members.

Sumanta's views on learning to play the harmonica:

Rather than sticking to original scale never compromise on comfort level

Play harmonica from the heart

Harmonica sounds sweeter in second octave rather than on first octave

Listen vocal version of the songs several times to know the expressions of the songs and then practice on harmonica

Playing harmonica by ear may cause flaws.

Know the basics of music and play song as per the notation.

Sukanta Ghoshal-A Chromatic Journey

We would like to express our deepest thanks to Mr Sukanta Ghoshal for his love and affection towards our team members Vijay Konda, Ramana and Rameshwaram Bhardwaj during their recent visit to Howrah. We take this opportunity to tell you a little bit about Mr Sukanta Ghoshal and his Chromatic Journey.

Sukanta Ghoshal’s musical career is a story of an enduring love towards the chromatic harmonica. Born in Shibpur, Howrah in 1970, Ghoshal was brought up in a rich musical environment. His dad being a disciple in tabla of the great Pt. Jnan Prakash Ghosh – informal musical sessions at home were common. What’s more - his aunt used to be a professor at the Rabindra Bharati University, and an aura of Rabindra Sangeet was surrounding him. These combined musical factors thus had a profound effect on Ghoshal from his childhood days as he developed a strong liking for music.

While in college, Ghoshal was inspired by a senior and took to the chromatic harmonica when he was a first year undergraduate student. He started out as a self-taught guy on a ‘Tower’ and even did a couple of shows that way! But soon he decided to learn the instrument formally, and started doing so from Premangshu Chatterjee, back in 1991.

As recollects Ghoshal, the first 6-7 months went on smoothly, and he never failed to live up to his home assignments. Harmonica by then must have captured Ghoshal’s mind completely! “It was for the first time in the song ‘Pathe Ebaar Naamo Saathi’ – that I stumbled upon some difficult note progressions.” – admits Ghoshal, smilingly!

The learning went on fine and Ghoshal got himself his first ‘Hohner Super Chromonica’ in 1992. In 1994 came an important juncture when he became a disciple of the great Milon Gupta! Unfortunately, Milon Gupta died in February 95 – Ghoshal continued learning though from his daughter Mummun Gupta. By this time, he had become quite adept at reading music on the go.

In 1995, he started learning harmonica from the great Parimal Dasgupta, considered a legendary musician, composer and arranger in the Calcutta music circuit. Dasgupta being a learned man and a scholar of music in his own right, Ghoshal started learning the technicalities and nuances of music from him and began to acquire maturity in terms of technique and theory. It was Dasgupta who also taught Ghoshal concepts of harmony and double stops in the 3^rd and the 6^th!

1995 proved to be a turning point in Ghoshal’s harmonica career in more respects! It was this year that he surpassed 65 competitors to snatch the winner’s trophy in both ‘Light Indian’ and ‘Rabindra Sangeet’ categories – in a competition organized by the IHA (Indian Harmonica Association) in memory of the Late Milon Gupta. What’s more – he was also selected as a grade artiste at the All India Radio! And Ghoshal did not have to look back ever since.

A regular performer with the AIR, Ghoshal does public shows selectively. Speaking of his memorable moments as a performer, Ghoshal fondly remembers a show in 2006 at the CCFC grounds in Kolkata where he played an unbelievable 25 songs at a stretch in a show spanning over 2 hours!

Ghoshal’s art reflects his sheer control over the technical aspects of playing a chromatic. His playing is also characterized by his mastery over speed; executing difficult and fast note progressions on a chromatic harmonica in a crisp manner that only a few can pull of! Ghoshal is also very particular about the small vocal inflections and nuances and is always on the lookout for that elusive ‘feel’ while he is at a song!

As a musician, Ghoshal has always been inspired greatly by the compositions of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore and Salil Chowdhury – and of course by the playing of the greats such as Larry Adler and Milon Gupta. “I have listened to ‘Salil Chowdhry Hits’ by Milon Gupta more than 200 times!” – chuckles Ghoshal.

Since 2000, he is also engaged in inspiring others to pick up harmonica - as a faculty at Banichakra, Kolkata – nurturing fresh minds to take the art forward!

Write up by Mr Arindam Sen, Kolkata

HaLoH meeting with Debashis Dutta

After a vacation at Mysore, on way back to Hyderabad, our member Ramana halted at Bengaluru for a few hours. He met Mr Debashis Dutta, a popular harmonica player of India at his residence. No wonder, without harmonica session, any harmonica enthusiast's vacation is incomplete. Though it was a working day, Mr Debhasis deferred his official meeting and spent about 3 hours with Ramana on discussing and enjoying harmonica session.

Mr Debashis Dutta, an Aerospace and Materials engineer by profession, is 55 years old. He is based at Bangalore where he had lived and worked for the last 30 years. He did his B.Tech in Metallurgical Engineering from BHU-IT and then followed it up with an M.Tech degree each in Aerospace Engg (IIT-Madras) and Materials Engg (IISc Bangalore). He currently works in a senior engineering position for a US based aerospace MNC in Bangalore. He is a member of harmonica Club of Bangalore.

He is a self-trained mouthorgan player. He got introduced to this instrument when he was about 14/15 years old in high school by his maternal cousin Mr. Satinath Mukherjee who was an accomplished harmonica and piano professional and a contemporary of the great Milon Gupta. His cousin gifted an old Hohner mouth organ to him which he still possesses. What interests him about the instrument is that it is quite versatile, user friendly, a constant companion for every season and every place and produces music that pleases his ears along with everyone else’s ears. Moreover, anyone with an ear for music can learn the instrument on his/her own and give performances.

This is what Mr Debashis Dutta says about his harmonica playing style and preferences: “My playing style is basically single note playing but I do resort to Octave playing depending on the requirement of the song. For that matter I also resort to tongue slapping once in a while depending on whether that style would best suit the particular line of the song in a given situation. I try to get into the emotion or "feel" of the song rather than concentrating too much on accuracy of individual notes, lyrics or grammar. This approach according to me brings out the best from a harmonica or any wind instrument. I prefer playing Indian music, i.e., old meldious Hindi or Bengali songs with beautiful tunes composed by legends like Salil Chowdhury, Pancham Da, SD, Naushad, Madan Mohan etc. I prefer to play Chromatic harmonica of Suzuki and Hohner brands.”

Embedded below is a rendition by Mr Debashis Dutta.