In pictures: 100 years of Pakrashi harmoniums

The harmonium is an instrument that was born in the West, but found its true home in the East. After a lot of adaptations from different instruments, the harmonium was born in 1840 and was patented by Alexandre Debain of France. Since it was a portable instrument, the British exported them to India. Churches began to use the harmonium, and slowly it became one of the most sought after instruments in India. Above, a classic Pakrashi harmonium

Though it has become central to Indian music, orthodox schools of music didn’t quite readily accept it. In its initial days, even Tagore rejected the instrument, and was quoted as saying that it was the ‘bane of Indian music’. All India Radio had also banned the harmonium for decades. But many maestros like Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Begum Akhtar and Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, among others did use the harmonium as their accompaniment. Above, Zakir Hussain tries out a Pakrashi harmonium

Since its foothold in India, there have been quite a number of companies that started making the harmonium with precision and skill. One of the pioneers in Kolkata is Pakrashi and Co. Born in 1922, Pakrashi has had a considerable contribution in the making of the instrument and celebrated its centenary recently. Above, workers craft a piece

The scale-changing harmonium was first made in Kolkata and the then-proprietor of the shop, Sudhir Chandra Pakrashi, had a considerable contribution in its making

Making harmoniums is Pakrashi and Co’s forte. Many popular musicians have been using Pakrashi’s harmonium for years. Starting from Ustad Zakir Hussain to Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty (above), to even maestros like Salil Chowdhury to Rabindrasangeet exponent Suchitra Mitra and Ghazal king Jagjeet Singh have all used Pakrashi’s harmoniums

Located at 82A, Rashbehari Avenue, this century-old shop has supplied not only musicians, but regular families too. There was a time when every middle-class family had a harmonium in its possession. Not just in India, Pakrashi also delivers harmoniums to different parts of the world – even to its birthplace, Germany