In my series of articles on musical instruments starting from the grand piano I have gradually covered smaller instruments, the last being the flute. I end the series with a still smaller instrument. Harmonica is a pocket-sized most intimate instrument as you play sliding it over your lips and blow air into its holes. Behind each hole is at least one reed. The basic parts of a harmonica are the comb, reed plates and cover plates. The comb, because of its shape like a comb; the reed plates and cover plates make a sound chamber which creates melodious music depending on the skill of the player. Harmonica is also popularly known as the mouth organ. It comes in various types and is used in many genres of music. You can refer to Wikipedia for more technical details.READ THE FULL ARTICLE
Instruments in songs: Piano, Harmonium, Sitar, Flute, Harmonica
Krishna and Flute
Wishing everyone a very Happy Janmashtami with best songs on Krishna and the flute
Thanks to several TV serials, Amar Chitra Katha mythology comics, and other sources everyone knows Lord Krishna story by heart. The cruel King Kans marries off his dear sister Devki to his close friend Vasudev (वसुदेव), and decides to drive them in his chariot himself to her marital home, when he hears a prophecy from the sky, You fool! The eighth child of this couple would be the cause of your death. An enraged Kans takes out his sword to slay them when his sister Devki pleads with him, Brother! you need fear only the eighth child. Pregnancy cannot be hidden, just take away the eighth child, and please spare our lives. A worried Kans puts them in prison anyway under his guards. And not taking any chance that the eighth child may decide to be born randomly, kills each newborn by smashing its head on stone block.READ THE FULL ARTICLE
The Gravitas of Sitar in Songs
Sitar makes a very conspicuous presence on the screen due to its size. But it conveys an entirely different image from the piano or the harmonium. If piano is aristocracy, harmonium is plebeian. And what about the sitar? It is elegant classicism; it is not about the social, but musical status. There is gravitas in the sitar on the screen – either it is a classical raga-based song, or a song full of pathos. None of the frivolity you might see with the harmonium, such as in the film Padosan. Even piano has been a venue of some romantic love-play between the lovers.
Baaja that was Harmonium that was Music
From time to time the importance of music instruments in our film songs have come in for some serious discussion on SoY. Some years ago, a reader Rohit Kumar (who seems to have gone off-radar) mentioned the strong association of some music directors with specific instruments, such as Roshan and flute, OP Nayyar and sarangi, SD Burman and folk instruments and so on, and suggested if I could write a series on this theme. Independently, Subodh sent me a mail discussing those songs where vocal and instrumental parts are engaged in a kind of jugalbandi, and he specifically mentioned Naache man mora magan dhikna dhik dhik as an example of the unforgettable tabla with voice. Later, in the comments on another post some earnest discussion took place about the flute and ektara. Around the same time Ashok Vaishnavji sent me a link of an article on Shankar Jaikishan’s romance with the piano accordion. More recently piano came in for intense discussion on the Open House and I was commanded by the readers to write on it. I am musically illiterate – my knowledge is limited to recognising some musical instruments when I see them 🙂 , but in deference to the readers’ request I thought of writing a few posts on some instruments I love visually in the films. The result was my first article on the piano in the series, which the erudite readers very indulgently appreciated despite coming from a lay person. Harmonium is another instrument I find very interesting and appealing in a film.
The lost world of piano when it was more than a musical instrument
Do you remember when we last saw a piano song in Hindi movies? In my recollection, Parineeta (2005) was the last movie which had a piano song, Piyu bole, in the classic style. And there is a reason for that: the story is set in the early 20th century in which the hero was from an aristocratic family. But there was a time when piano songs were quite common in our films. The grand piano was the central feature of a large hall in a mansion. It was not merely a symbol of wealth, but of class and taste. Because of its conspicuous presence, and the way it was presented in songs, it was not only a musical instrument or a mise-en-scène, but a living personality, an important character in the film.