Some times you do not find right words to express your feelings. The same things happened to me today. It was my birthday yesterday, but we (Manohar Vaidya, Nachiketa Desai and I) had gone to Baroda to perform as amateur Harmonica players and so could not celebrate the birthday.
Today, the Harmonica players had gathered together as usual. I also joined them. The players came one by one. I was unaware of their sweet and secret conspiracy to celebrate my birthday. After about one and a half hour when most players had arrived and it was time to disperse, one of the players secretly took out a bouquet of fresh flowers and presented it to me. Another player took out a box of birthday cake and pushed a piece into my mouth. Three players took out their Harmonica and started playing HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU.
It was so overwhelming and so sudden that I did not know how to reciprocate. It was my 59th birthday. And, perhaps this was the first birthday that was celebrated like this with FRIENDS. I did not know how friends could be. In fact, I had no friends at all, being a typical judge that I was. Perhaps my nature was such that people did not like to come close to me. I had addressed them in this write up as Harmonica Players. But, now I will call them my friends. They are TAPAN BHATT, NACHIKETA DESAI, MANOHARBHAI VAIDYA, PIYUSH PANDYA, ALEX LOBO, KUMARPAL SHAH, MANOHARBHAI MAJITHIA. There are also other friends who could not come today but conveyed their good wishes to me. I thank them all.
MY FRIENDS, once again I am indebted to all of you, who have given me a different sight to look at the life which I was thinking as boring till now. I now have a new vision, am a student again at 59, many things to learn and all that without tension or stress.
Manohar Vaidya and Yogesh Bhatt were the star performers at the musical evening held in Baroda on Saturday in memory of legendary Hindi film playback singer Mohammed Rafi. (photo by Manish Vaidya)
Principal Judge Industrial Courts, Gujarat, Yogesh Bhatt celebrated his 59th birthday in Baroda by playing 'Suhani Raat Dhal Chuki, Na Jaane Tum Kab Aoge' to a thunderous applause from the music afficianados. Members of the Harmonica Club of Gujarat wished him a long musical life at their Sunday gathering at the Satyam Mall. There was pastry, flower and music. Here are some photographs:
Say 'Cheese everybody': Standing L-R Nachiketa and Tapan. Sitting: Chandramohan Bahadkar, Piyush Pandya, Yogesh Bhatt, Manohar Vaidya, Manohar Majithia and Alex Lobo
Alex Lobo presents a bouquet to Yogesh Bhatt, while Manohar Majithia looks on.
Yogesh Bhatt hands over a piece of cake to Tapan Bhatt.
It's your turn Nachiketa, forget about diabetes.
Eat it Lobo, I'm not looking.
Kumar Pal Shah stuffs a piece of cake in the birthday boy's mouth.
Professor Piyush Pandya gets his share from the birthday boy.
We were invited by Jayendra Shah to perform on stage with him in Baroda last night (Saturday) to pay tribute to legendary Hindi playback singer Late Mohammed Rafi. Four of us - Manohar Vaidya, Yogesh Bhatt, Devansh (the ten-year-old youngest member of the Harmonica Club) and I reached Baroda at around 6.30 p.m. It was Yogesh Bhatt's birthday too and so his wife and daughter were accompanying him. While Devansh had his parents with him.
We had decided to meet at the Bandstand of Kamati Baug, the central park in Baroda, where we had performed last month. On our arrival, Amjad Khan Pathan, popularly known as Babubhai, Chavan Sahab, Roopesh, Arvind Kumar and a few other players from Baroda soon arrived. They had brought some hot dal wada and cold drinking water for us. Apurva Bhatt arrived soon. He had come straight from his office on learning about our arrival.
While we were having the snacks, news arrived of the serial bomb blasts in Ahmedabad. It was shocking - 17 blasts within just about half an hour all across the Eastern Ahmedabad, killing 30 and injuring hundreds others. Baroda too is known as a communally sensitive city. We were in an utter state of confusion, not knowing if the evening's programme was still on or had been canceled.
"Not to worry, everything is going to be OK. Let's all play the song - Jahan Daal Daal Par Sone Ki Chidiya Karti Hai Basera, Yeh Bharat Desh Hai Mera," said Apurva Bhatt. Amjad, Roopesh and Chavan took the cue and began playing the song. A small crowd gathered and listened to them in rapt attention.
We, from Ahmedabad, were getting calls from our friends and relatives giving us accounts of the mayhem in the city. We were discussing whether to spend the night in Baroda or return to Ahmedabad. I being a journalist and Yogesh Bhatt being a senior member of the judiciary could easily get accommodation in the government circuit house.
"All of you please stay with me at my home. We have plenty of space to accommodate all of you," said Amjad Khan Pathan. "Though my place is small and is located in a troubl-prone locality, you all can stay with me too," said Apurva Bhatt. Manish Vaidya, a photographer with the Press Trust of India, too reassured us that we will be safe with him at his home.
We were still not sure if the evening's programme would be held, the town hall, where it was to be held, being close to the densely populated and violence-prone walled city. "The life around the town hall is absolutely normal. The programme will happen. Let's all go to the hall," said Apurva Bhatt.
We had about 2 hours before the program was to start and wanted to utilize the time in practising the songs we had chosen to play. We began practising in the green room of the hall, behind the stage. We were lucky to have the able guidance of Apurva Bhatt, who is an accomplished harmonica player. He immediately spotted the flaws and corrected us. This helped us gain confidence and we were all ready for the show.
The star performer was singer Jayendra Shah who sang all-time favourite songs of Mohammed Rafi. The harmonica players were to present songs between his numbers. The hall, with a capacity to seat over 500 people, was nearly full. The audience comprised of the elite of Baroda city - the mayor and two MLAs and some senior administrative officers being the main guests.
After a few songs rendered by Jayendra Shah, the turn of harmonica players came. The first performance was that by Manohar Vaidya and Yogesh Bhatt. They were greeted with a thunderous applause from the audience as soon as the first few notes of the classic 'Suhani Raat Dhal Chuki, Na Jaane Tum Kab Aoge' were played by Manohar Vaidya. For Yogesh Bhatt, this was his first ever experience on the stage and was obviously very nervous.
However, his nervousness did not get reflected in his performance which turned out to be excellent as was evident from the tumultous applause from the audience. Several people from the audience came backstage to greet them. Even the singers congratulated them for their grand performance.
Even while we were all looking forward to a wonderful evening, a posse of policemen arrived backstage to inform the organizers of the police commissioner's order to stop the function immediately in view of the tense situation prevailing in the city in the wake of the serial bomb blasts. And, the evening had to be wound up abruptly.
None of the players from Baroda was willing to let us return to Ahmedabad and insisted we spend the night at their place. However, we decided to return to Ahmedabad after we were reassured by some journalists that it was safe to travel.
The Harmonica Blog is fast becoming the favourite destination of Harmonica lovers all across the globe, if the red dots on today's visitor's map is any indication. The Blog had 15 clusters of visitors from North America - each cluster representing 1-09 visitors, 4 from South America, 10 from across Europe, two from North Africa, 14 from India, one from the Gulf countries, one from Vietnam, one from Indonesia and two from Australia.
While such an overwhelming response was heartening, one missed the opportunity of thanking each individual and connecting with them through their Blog and or email. We appeal to all the visitors to the blog not to just leave behind your comments but make contribution in terms of putting down in writing their personal experience with this lovely musical instrument. Let us all share our experience, video. audio, photographs, anecdotes, profiles.
Our blog is open to all harmonica lovers in the world. Let's have discussion forums, exchange of ideas, and even exchange of visits to each others' places. Music knows no boundaries.
The Harmonica Club of Gujarat performed its first charity show at the Cancer Hospital in Ahmedabad on July 24, 2008.
The show was sponsored by Intas Pharmaceuticals. Over 25 members from Ahmedabad and Baroda performed.
Visually challenged Piyushbhai, who is a music teacher, and Yusuf Chacha, in his 70s, by playing a few popular melodies expressed their solidarity with the cause.
We will be uploading photographs and videos of the show as soon as we get the recordings.
I'm a self-taught Creative Designer working for the web media since last 10 years.
You know, I feel lonely these days... there are so many words to say, so many tunes to play, so many music to listen to...
I love my friends, who are pretty serious about their careers, shouting lovingly at a crazy boy they are talking to. What to do, I like to spell my own words... and there is no cause behind it.
I love to see... I love to read... I love to listen... I love to write songs... to take photographs... I love to do what ever I feel like... I love to find as many ways I can, to tell you my tale, to explore various languages to communicate with... I love to play the Harmonica...
Listen... Are you being able to hear my 'self' through the tunes?
1. Aa chal ke tujhe main le ke chalu: Film Door Gagan Ki Chhaon Main, Music Director and Singer Kishore Kumar.
Virtuoso musician Larry Adler has died aged 87, having elevated the humble harmonica from being a playground toy to a serious concert hall instrument.
Larry Adler was the best-known mouth organist in the world.
His music for the classic film Genevieve in 1953 made him a wealthy man - and famous in England, his adopted home.
His life was a who's who of celebrity associations. He played with everyone from Fred Astaire to Sir Elton John and counted kings and prime ministers among his friends.
Lawrence Cecil Adler was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on 10 February 1914, the son of Louis and Sadie Adler.
At the age of five, he was taken to a Rachmaninov concert and developed his own musical skills within the framework of the Adler family's orthodox Judaism.
He was the youngest cantor, singer in a synagogue, in Baltimore and made himself unpopular by chiding his schoolmates for their lack of religious piety.
Runaway
He was enrolled at the prestigious Peabody School of Music to study the piano.
Shortly afterwards he started playing the harmonica, which he always called a "mouth organ".
Still a teenager, he ran away to New York where, with his parents' eventual consent, he became a professional musician.
Adler's virtuosity was such that he could pick out a tune simply by hearing it once and he brought to the harmonica the musical richness which was once the reserve of purely classical soloists.
The Chicago Herald said Adler was able to produce "a tone reminiscent of many instruments, which tone is as varied as those that emerge from a symphony orchestra".
After seeing Adler play in New York in 1934, the English impresario C B Cochrane was so impressed that he immediately offered to sign the young man to star in his London review, Streamline.
Before long he was playing for, and being fêted by, the crowned heads of Europe as well as former monarchs like the Duke of Windsor.
Respectable
In the 30s and 40s he worked with everyone from big bands to George Gershwin and the British composer Vaughan Williams, who wrote a work especially for him.
To many he was the man who made the mouth organ respectable - though he never meant to.
He once admitted, "All I wanted to do was to get the hell out of Baltimore, which I hated. I wanted to go on the stage, which I was magnetically drawn to."
A friend of the stars, Charlie Chaplin was a personal friend and he romanced such screen goddesses as Greta Garbo and Ingrid Bergman.
The war years saw Larry Adler entertaining Allied troops. It ended with him personally liberating the Hohner harmonica factory in Germany.
The company rewarded him with a crateful of the instruments.
But Adler's life changed forever in 1949. While on a tour of Britain, he was called to testify to the McCarthyite House Un-American Activities Committee. Refusing to do so, he stayed and made his home in England.
Gershwin
Branded a communist in his homeland where he was blacklisted, Larry Adler re-built his life.
A friend of The Duke of Edinburgh, he belonged to theThursday Club, whose members, including the actors David Niven and Peter Ustinov, enjoyed long, boozy, lunches at Wheeler's restaurant in London's Soho.
Like his hero George Gershwin, Larry Adler understood both jazz and classical music. He introduced Gershwin's music to classical stars like the violinist Yitzhak Perlman.
Gershwin produced a piano-roll accompaniment for perhaps his most famous work, Rhapsody in Blue, for Larry Adler to play to.
Right into his late 80s, he would delight audiences with the haunting spectacle of the playerless piano backing his music, an echo through the ages which never failed to spellbind.
Celebrity
In recent years, Larry Adler had become known to a younger audience through The Glory of Gershwin, the platinum-selling album of critically-acclaimed duets with modern stars like Sting, Lisa Stansfield and Meatloaf.
Tom Jones, whom he knew but did not perform with, held him in great affection, as did Sir Elton John who once remarked, "Larry Adler is a genius and the greatest player of his instrument ever."
Most recently, he recorded a version of Tony Bennett's The Autumn Leaves, with the Catatonia singer, Cerys Matthews.
He had a parallel career as a celebrity, a raconteur and funnyman. He wrote endless letters to the satirical magazine Private Eye.
But Larry Adler's real achievement was to take the harmonica, until then thought of as a children's toy, onto the concert stages of the world.
One man struggles to keep alive the dying art of playing the harmonica
Small enough to fit into your back pocket, big enough to bring a party to life. That was the quaint musical instrument, the mouth organ or the harmonica. Boys glued it to their lips, girls danced to its tune and revellers loved it. But for Phiroze Damri, 83, founder of the Hohner Harmonica Club in Mumbai, the mouth organ is more than just a picnic toy. For six decades now, it has been Damri's only means of livelihood. The passion remains strong even today -- as a recent concert in Mumbai proved.
It was a moment steeped in nostalgia last November when greying men and young boys gathered at St Xavier's School in Mumbai for the grand finale of the Hohner Harmonica Club's diamond jubilee celebration. Conducted by Damri, the 35-member band gave rousing renditions of old favourites, and the encores followed loud and clear. Says the beaming conductor: "It was a success primarily because of my 'big boys' (his earliest pupils and fellow musicians)." Says Rusi Mulla, Damri's compatriot and one of the oldest members of the band: "I felt like jumping on to the stage for a medley of La Paloma, Pack up Your Troubles and Shirley Temple's Polly Wolly Doodle. It was just like old times."
Speak about old times and Damri becomes excited. It all started in 1937. He was eking out a living as a part-time violinist when he was introduced to a representative of Matth Hohner, a leading German harmonica manufacturer. "I knew nothing about the instrument then," he recalls. "They just thrust a step-by-step guide -- How to Play Harmonica: The Easy Way -- in my hands and asked me to teach the children!" Undaunted, he took up the challenge for a fee of Rs 80 a month.
In 1938, Damri held his first class in his alma mater, St Xavier's. Within a year, his students had progressed enough for him to organise a concert of the Hohner Harmonica Band at Regal Theatre. But the sunny days did not last long. With the outbreak of World War II, Damri's ties with Hohner in Germany were severed. With his honorarium gone, he was forced to accept fees from his students. He began by charging his students eight annas per month; today, his fee stands at Rs 60. Says his wife and former student, Piloo: "Those days were rough, but the band also thrived by playing for a number of charities."
In the 1950s, Damri renewed his relationship with the Hohner company, which invited him to the first ever World Harmonica Festival in Germany as a guest player. He recalls in amusement: "There I was, dressed in a Parsi dagli playing Indian tunes with world-class harmonicas." But in 1955, the government banned the import of musical instruments. There were no harmonicas to pass on to the students. But that didn't deter the dedicated teacher, who continued his work with cheap instruments collected from street corners and grey markets. Occasionally, the harmonicas would be supplemented by "gift parcels" from fellow musicians abroad, or rejects from the likes of Larry Adler, renowned performer "who threw away his harmonica after each concert". Adler also sent Damri harmonicas regularly. Damri is thus the proud possessor of the rare harmonicas like the tiny Song Bird, Puck and West Pocket as well as bass instruments like the 64 Chromonica and the Acromatic.
But Damri's memories are tinged with sadness at the growing apathy to the instrument and the consequent decline in the number of pupils. Damri once taught in more than 14 schools in Mumbai, but today his students number just 25. The club members meet "once a while", but no one's keen to carry on the trade. "This is not paying enough," laments the octogenarian. It's been a long haul from the 1920s, when, as a pesky child, Damri was entranced by Parsi wedding bands. "I only knew then that I wanted to be a part of the bands." Despite the setbacks, the music plays on because Damri remains determined: "I will teach till I have breath in my lungs."
Lion BabanRao Pawar has been playing the harmonica since 45 years. Engaged in the activities of construction and interior designing is also involved in the social service. ' This is just like a Harmonica festival taking place for the first time in Vadodara, and never enjoyed playing like this before ....' Said Mr.Pawar in the Kamati Baug, Vadodara.
Rupesh a very talented player of Vadodara teaches Harmonica in a few schools , plays Ye shaam mastani. Cloudy and crowdy evening in the Kamati Baug was real mastani.
