However, when I met him face to face at his studio apartment in Delhi and heard him play I was wonderstruck by his talent and skill.
Listen to the Lara's Theme from Doctor Zhivago that he played for me:
Showing posts with label Magician. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Magician. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Magic with Mouth Organ: A La Ashok Bhandari
I met Ashok Bhandari, my college mate, after 35 years. Three years ago, he had found me through the Internet and since then we have been in touch with each other over phone, e-mail and chat. I had seen his performance on Youtube. Some harmonica players, after watching his videos, had expressed doubt that Ashok used some digital editing tools to create special effects.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Magic of Mouth Organ
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He popped up one day on my chat window saying, "Kyon Raja Mujhe Pehchaana?". I could hardly believe that Ashok Bhandari, my classmate in Banaras Hindu University, would find me after almost 30 years. Since we left the university in 1978, Ashok had become a professional magician, performing all over the world - Italy, Germany, Japan and Russia.
Ashok found me from my esnips page where I had uploaded some of my mouth organ numbers. He told me that he has been also playing mouth organ in all his magic shows. I had heard Ashok play mouth organ when we were in college. But, he was not a great player then. After almost 30 years of practice and performing on stage, Ashok had become a maestro - a wizard, a magician of music. He is a master of special effects - a one-man orchestra.
Ashok was so much inspired by the Harmonica Club of Gujarat and its blog that he decided to devote full time on playing harmonica. I was shocked when one day he told me that he is giving up performing magic shows and has decided to start a mouth organ training academy in Delhi.
"Mouth Organ is a magical instrument," he says. Ashok has turned this handy musical instrument into a wonderful object of performing art.
Harmonica enthusiasts can call him at 9999333104.
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Saturday, August 9, 2008
Magician Who Plays Mouth Organ: Ashok Bhandari
Internet has made the world very small, where you can bump into strangers as well as long lost friend. Ashok Bhandari, my classmate at Banaras Hindu University, found me one day through Orkut and scrapped me. My joy knew no bounds. We were getting in touch after more than 30 years. During these years, Ashok had become a professional magician.
(Left: P C Sorcar Right: Ashok Bhandari)
Ashok Bhandari is a recognized name in the world of magic. He feels that magic is a healthy means of entertainment so he uses a mix of magic, music and theater to make it more interesting. He wants to expose the abuse of magic so in all his shows he has a section showing how easy it is to cheat people by using magic. He likes to educate people through his shows and demonstrates how easy it is to use magic to fool people so that they cant be the victims of all the taantriks and godmans. He likes to perform for children the most to catch them and teach them very young.
Ashok bhandari is a magician of over 40 years of experience, performing over a thousand shows in India and Abroad He started performing magic at a very young age of 5 years. He has performed in almost every country in Europe including Japan, and Russia .
He has been awarded many times around the world. At the very young age of 5 he was awarded by Pt. Jawahar lal Nehru ( the prime minister of India) in the year 1962. Then at the age of 12 he was awarded by Smt Indira Gandhi in the year 1969. he was awarded by the President of India Mr B.D.Jatti at the Rashtrapati Bhawan New Delhi. He was awarded “The WONDERKING “ by the people of japan when he performed at the Japanese Hawaiian center for three continuous months non-stop.
Now he is concentrating on children and performing shows in schools also in different parts of India to promote how to be aware of the magic abuse amongst children. He is also working on a design of a small workshop to teach magic using small house hold and easy to use chemicals
The reason why I am featuring him on this blog is not just because he is my childhood friend, but because he is an excellent harmonica player. He plays harmonica during his magic shows. Here are a few clips of the numbers he has played.1. Yaad Kiya Dil Ne Kaha Ho Tum
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2. Mere Dil E Nadan
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3. Arabian Music
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