Evergreen tunes, forgotten instrument

A debonair Dev Anand sings Hai apna dil to awara, much to the dislike of his co-passenger on the train, Waheeda Rehman as Laaj, a girl running away from home after her father decides to marry her off. What makes the Hemant Kumar number from Solva Saal evergreen is the harmonica interlude by Pancham.

The humble harmonica enjoyed another glorious moment in Sholay in the scene where Jaya Bachchan turns off lamps while Amitabh Bachchan rests against a post, playing the instrument. That’s Bhanu Gupta playing one of the most haunting tunes of Hindi film music.

Then there is Milon Gupta’s contribution on the harmonica in Yeh hai Bombay meri jaan from C.I.D.

In the West, the harmonica is as integral to the blues as water to fish but it went out of fashion on the Indian music scene soon after R.D. Burman’s death and then of legends like Milon Gupta.

Reynolds Music India will pay tribute to the forgotten instrument on Indian Harmonica Day, November 22, at Gyan Manch with fine harmonica players like Anupam Pal, Sukanta Ghoshal, Kajal Chakraborty and Sumanta Basu. The celebration will continue beyond the programme as Reynolds introduces harmonica lessons at its Free School Street address from December 1.

“We are the first to start a harmonica school. Anupam Pal will be teaching the students. We want to put the harmonica in the larger picture. It is the ultimate instrument when it comes to blues in the West. One of the reasons behind the decline in its popularity (here) was the lack of availability. But now it’s very much available in Calcutta,” said Peter Remedios, the CEO of Reynolds Music India.

The course will be open to people of all age groups and it would take three-four months to pick up a few simple tunes. While diatonic harmonicas are prevalent in the West, in India the scale-change formats are in demand.

“It’s almost a dying instrument because electronic keyboards allow you to recreate almost any sound. Further, there are fewer instrumental performances. Earlier, most cultural programmes featured orchestras. What we want to say is that the harmonica is not an expensive instrument; you can carry it around. Then there is the misconception that one doesn’t need to learn to play the harmonica; it’s something one has to learn to play flat-sharp notes,” says Anupam Pal, who decided to learn to play the harmonica after listening to Milon Gupta’s rendition of Kahin deep jale kahin dil around 1970.

“The programme is a way of telling people the possibilities of the harmonica. One big advantage of the instrument is that it doesn’t require electricity. It’s a complete instrument and doesn’t always need musical support. You can sit on a train or a bus and just play it,” Remedios said.

So, join the programme on November 22 and who knows, you may come away inspired enough to learn the harmonica bit of O mere sapno ki rani.

(Indian Harmonica Day, a two-hour programme, will be held at Gyan Manch on November 22, 6pm onwards. Entry is free.)