Mouth Organ Maestro Madan Kumar Live

Living legend mouth organ virtuoso Madan Kumar was in Ahmedabad on a private visit when we requested him to be at the practice session of the Harmonica Club of Gujarat. Humility is the hallmark of great masters, and so with Madanji. He obliged the club members by his presence and remained with us till well past midnight. Though he has been suffering from severe cough and cold, he rendered a few numbers at our insistence.

Madanji uses a variety of techniques to explore the full potential of this tiny musical instrument to produce mesmerizing melodies, bringing in variations to the original tunes. We present here two of his numbers that exemplify his mastery over mouth organ.

A date with Madan Kumar's pupils

Mouth organ maestro Madan Kumar wants to devote the rest of his life to teaching this wonderful musical instrument, which is fast becoming extinct, to the next generation. Ever since he closed down his recording studio about four years ago, he has been teaching young music enthusiasts. This is more out of passion and as a mission to popularize mouth organ among the young people than for monetary considerations.

I had been wanting to meet Madan Kumar's pupils for quite some time now. I met three of them at a popular pub-cum-disc in Pune recently. Pub owner Ramesh Khole, his chief chef Mushtaq Pathan and Meera Patole, three of Madan Kumar's disciples took some time off their busy schedule to meet me. Since it was a week day and that too early in the morning, there were not many guests in the pub.

Ramesh told his disc jockey to shut the music system so that we could have some quiet and peace. I was keen to record at least one number each of Madan Kumar's pupils before the lunch crowd started trooping into the pub. All three of them agreed. Here are the numbers:

Madan Kumar Blesses HCG

On a personal visit to Ahmedabad, mouth organ maestro Madan Kumar took time off on the evening of July 15, 2010 to share musical moments with the members of the Harmonica Club of Gujarat. As usual, club trustee Bansi Gajjar played the host.

During the evening between 8 to past midnight, Madan Kumar regaled the members of HCG with anecdotes from his more than 50 years of rich musical experience as also played a few numbers. He was humility personified in insisting on listening to the youngest players - Devansh and Aditya and gave them some tips as to how to improve their playing.

Madan Kumar presented to the HCG half a dozen of his yet to be released audio CDs saying, "I authorize the HCG to release these under their banner."

Madan Kumar was formally inducted into the HCG as a lifetime member and patron. Bansi Gajjar pinned the badge of the HCG to Madan Kumar's lapel.

Madan Kumar and members of the HCG later had dinner at the Cama Hotel where too several members as well as the harmonica maestro played a few numbers to the pleasant surprise of other diners.

An Evening with the Maestro

Living legend mouth organ maestro Madan Kumar was formally inducted into the Harmonica Club of Gujarat as a life member and patron on July 15, with club secretary Tapan Bhatt pinning the club's badge on his lapel.

Madan Kumar has intimate relationship with Ahmedabad. His wife hails from the city. Moreover, he has fond memory associated with the release of his first HMV record linked to Ahmedabad. He was in the town when he learned about the release of his HMV record which had his photograph on the cover. So when he went to pick up the record from a store, the shop owner immediately recognized him and gifted him his own record. It was only when he showed the record to his wife that she came to know she had married an accomplished musician.

"When I appeared for my first stage show in Pune, I was trembling with stage freight. I closed my eyes as the curtain went up and started playing, thankfully shutting my mind to the fact that I was playing before a large audience of college students. The thunderous applause, after my performance, wiped out my fear and I started giving stage performances thereafter," he recalled.

Madan Kumar has a unique style of playing mouth organ. He uses a variety of techniques to embellish his rendition - vamping, tremelo, chording, tonguing, bending. "Play by your soul," he advices his students.

Madan Kumar bestowed on the Harmonica Club of Gujarat a priceless gift in the form of giving the club the right to release his audio CDs under the banner of HCG. The club would soon release the CDs, comprising some of the special numbers by Madan Kumar at a function.

Melodies from Mouth Organ Maestro Madan Kumar

I had the good fortune of being with mouth organ maestro Madan Kumar for a day. On my request, he was kind enough to play a few numbers for the benefit of The Harmonica blog. He had given us his audio CDs during his visit to Ahmedabad. The numbers on the CDs are a treat to the ears. But watching him play live, without the accompaniment of a full-fledged orchestra is a heavenly experience.

I first uploaded these videos on the Youtube so that they can be accessed by harmonica lovers across the globe. Here I present these videos to the discerning visitors to our blog.

A date with Mouth Organ Maestro Madan Kumar

Madan Kumar is humility personified. Maestros are like that. The greater heights they achieve in their profession, more humble they become, just like a fruit-bearing tree which bows down as they are laden with fruits.

When I called him up to say, "Sir, I am coming to Pune", he said, "Hop over to my place on Sunday." Madan Kumar lives in the central business district of Pune in a studio apartment on the MG Road.

Both his children, a son and daughter, are married. Son lives in San Fransisco and daughter in Mumbai. In their Pune apartment, only Madan Kumar and his wife live. Having spent 60 years playing mouth organ, Madan Kumar, now 67, cannot live without music. So, he has converted his living room into a small make-shift recording studio.

He squats on the ground on a matress, offering me the sofa to sit on. Like a child, he shows me his collection of harmonicas - all from M Hohner, Germany, except one from Hering. Some of the harmonicas have become collector's pieces as Hohner has stopped making them. There is a harmonica with solid silver body, weighing 300 grams. There is a double bass harmonica and a complete set of CX-12 in G, C, Bb, E and F scales.

Madan Kumar has mastered the various techniques of playing mouth organ - vamping, chording, tounging, vibrato, bending notes to be able to become a one-man orchestra. "I have become a sound engineer by experience," says Madan Kumar, who had to give up his studies after matriculation to take up a job in the construction industry as a labour supervisor.

To complete a song, Madan Kumar, while playing the lead, also records on different tracks chords, octave playing, special effects in the form of vibrator and vamping, which he then mixes on a digital editing device.

Past few years, Madan Kumar has been teaching youngsters. "Only if the new generation takes up playing harmonica that this little instrument has any chance of surving the onslaught of electronic synthesizers," he says.

On one of his visits to his son in San Fransisco, Madan Kumar had presented his five-year-old grandson Pranav, a harmonica. The little one, after blowing into the instrument for some time, had kept it aside till he saw his grandpa's video on the Harmonica Club of Gujarat blog recently. "Look, that's grandpa playing mouth organ," he exclaimed excitedly to his dad.

Pranav fished out the mouth organ his grandpa had given him and began playing. "Why are you moving your fingers like that?" the dad asked. "That's the way grandpa plays," the boy explained non-challantly.

Nostalgia - IV: Madan Kumar

Baar Baar Dekho Hazaar Baar Dekho Ye Dekhne Ki Cheez Hai Humaara Dilruba.

Yes, those who had the privilege of listening to Madan Kumar performing live in Ahmedabad at an informal gathering want to hear him play all the time.

"One needs to get into the spirit of the original song to be able to play it on the mouth organ in such a way that the feeling comes out naturally," he said.

We present here a fast number played by him which had rocked the bollywood in the 1960s:

Nostalgia - II

Madan Kumar believes in exploring and experimenting with all possible techniques - tonguing, vamping, bending, chording - of playing harmonica. "There is no fun if you play harmonica in single reeds. What is then the difference between playing a harmonica and playing say a flute?" he asks.

He also believes in innovation and improvisation. "One need not necessarily copy the exact tune of a song composed by someone else for a film. One can always make improvisation," he says. When he plays, the full impact of this tiny musical instrument is felt as if a full-fledged orchestra is accompanying his harmonica.

Enjoy one such number:

Madan Kumar Live: Nostalgia

The Gujarat Harmonica Club had the privilege of seeing mouth organ maestro Madan Kumar perform live before a select gathering in Ahmedabad on August 4. He was in his elements and so were the audience who included harmonica players of varied experience.

We all gathered at Bansi Gajjar's home around 9 p.m. After a round of chit-chat, we requested Madan Kumar to play some numbers for us. "Let me start with my all-time favourite song which always triggers off nostalgic memories," he said.

Here is the song - Yaad Kiya Dil Ne Kaha Ho Tum: