An Evening with magician mouth organist Ashok Bhandari

Ashok Bhandari, popularly known as Jadugar Bhandari, took the trouble of driving down from Janakpuri, Delhi, to Vaishali in Gaziabad, to spend an evening with me. These days, he is busy in the greening of Delhi campaign, organizing tree plantation events all across the national capital. His events management company was involved in building the brand 'Experience Delhi' during the commonwealth games. The brand building campaign involved specially designed T-shirts, wrist band, socks, keychain, mugs etc.

"I have not been playing harmonica for almost an year," he said when I asked him which were the latest numbers he played. I requested him to play a number which he has yet to upload on youtube. Here is the number:

Hai Apna Dil To Awara - Solva saal ( 1958 )

During my recent visit to New Delhi, I met our dear friend Mr. Ashok Bhandariji. It was a business trip and I was accompanied by my very close friend Rajendra, an NID student and a product designer by profession.

We have been talking over the phone for quite a long time, but this was the first occasion, to experience his magical playing with mesmerizing effects.

Nachiketa Desai and Ashokji shared the same room, during their college days. They used to play Harmonica in those days.

During the Harmonica Satsang ( with a chilled beer ), we actually experienced the emotions that he adds to his playing. Unfortunately none of us was carrying a camera.

During the meeting he appreciated the way Sabnaveesji plays. Surprisingly I got this unique Saaz aur Avaaz video from our senior member Sabnaveesji, which I would like to dedicate to Ashokji.

Long Live our friendship and let us keep the harmonica flag fly high...........

The magical moments

This photographs were taken during my visit to the crocodile breeding centre, Chennai.

I have used a harmonica tune played by Shri Ashok Bhandari. Both the tune and the baby that I am holding fascinate me. I wanted to ckeck the pressure of baby crocodile by putting my hand in its mouth, of course covered with a thick jute cloth. Unfortunately, i was not allowed to do that.

Behti Hai Ganga Vahan Mera Dhaam

Ashok Bhandari and I met in Banaras in 1974. We were studying in the same class in the Banaras Hindu University (BHU). He was staying in a hostel, while I lived with my parents. I had been playing harmonica since I was 7-year-old. Ashok had just started learning harmonica. He was particularly fascinated by my playing the Jewel Thief song, 'Yeh Dil Na Hota Bechara', which involved changing scales quite frequently.

Since then, a lot of water has flown down the Ganga river. Ashok not just learned harmonica but became a maestro. He became a professional magician and used to always end his magic shows with a few numbers from Hindi film on the harmonica.

Here is a song from the film 'Jis Des Mein Ganga Behti Hai':

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.

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:

Jana tha Japan, Pahunch gaye Cheen, Samajhgaye na

Harmonica maestro He Jiayi was in India to perform in Delhi, Kolkata, Pune, Bangalore and Cochin. While in Delhi, he performed at the Chinese embassy. Abe Thomas, who runs the Harmonica India Yahoo group, introduced Jiayi to Ashok Bhandari, the magician turned mouth organ player. The Chinese Ambassador grabbed the opportunity to hold their joint performance. The following letter reflects the spirit:

Dear Mr. Bhandari,

Attached are a few pictures taken at the April 2 gathering at the Cultural Office of the Chinese Embassy.

The performances by Mr. He Jiayi and yourself were highly appreciated and enjoyed by the audience including H.E. Ambassador Zhang Yan and other members of the Embassy. I wish to thank you again for your participation and look forward to more contact and interactions with you and indeed with muscial circles of India in the future for the further enhancement of cultural exchange and cooperation between our two countries.

with high regard,
Xie Fei

Cultural Counsellor

Embassy of the People's Republic of China

Guru Draun from Delhi Shishya Eklavya from Ahmedabad : E learning !!!!

Ashokji, there are students who follow your playing. I am one of them. This is an effort to learn and reproduce. Do guide me.

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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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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