While most musical instruments require time and effort to learn, the rudimentary harmonica (mouth organ) is an easy pick-me-up plaything that relies moderately on lung power. Bits of the harmonica sound were a common feature in Bollywood songs of old — remember Dev Anand in ‘Hai apna dil to awara’ (Solva Saal) and Dharmendra in ‘Yeh dosti…’ (Sholay). Then the disco era dawned, electronic sound followed and the harmonica was forgotten.City-based Nandu Belvalkar, who picked up the harmonica when barely 8, felt that the instrument deserved revival. In 2007, he started India’s first harmonica club in Pune and the response was heartening. Today, most major cities across the country and even places in Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan have styled harmonica clubs on the Pune chapter.Belvalkar, now 73, strives to not just make the harmonica popular but trains one to play in a structured manner. People played instinctively in the days of old, minus the grammar or organised training, he points out.With time on his hands after retirement, Belvalkar began conducting harmonica programmes in city auditoriums from 2000. In February this year, he organised Mumbai’s first-ever full-fledged harmonica show which drew an audience of 300. And, on Narak Chaturdashi each year, his group plays at the city’s old age home, Niwara.The fare on offer during these programmes is purely Bollywood songs. No blues, folk or jazz sounds here, which artistes like Bob Dylan and Stevie Wonder produced on their harmonicas. “Blues and the like are popular abroad, not here. Personally, I find blues to be unrecognisable music. You hear blues and recollect nothing about it an hour later,” he says wryly.Affinities for musical genres aside, the harmonica provides a medical remedy too. One of Belvalkar’s students, Mandar Gadre (52), had developed a black patch on his lung after inhaling cement dust while working at a construction site seven years ago. The civil engineer, who cycles around 25km every morning, found his pedal power grudgingly taking him up to only 4km.Belvalkar had the solution: a pulmonary harmonica or pulmonica, which has frequencies that are different from the regular instrument. Gadre has been playing the pulmonica for the past six months, for 10 minutes first thing in the morning, and is back on track with his morning workout.Belvalkar explains that the pulmonica is a medically-authenticated instrument in the West for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) cases. Devised by a Canadian doctor, notes played on it induce vibrations that increase the elasticity of the diaphragm, break the viscosity of fluids in the chest and help clear them. The instrument does not have a scale as such; it has chords. The pulmonicas used for chronic COPD cases have a partition in between the holes to allow for higher- and lower-pitched notes.The harmonica is all about judgment and feel, says Deepak Vaidya (63), who teaches the instrument as well as keyboards at Dhayari. He says it is easier to learn the keyboards as one can see the keys, unlike the harmonica. He has a collection of 12 harmonicas, the costliest being a Sydel-make at Rs 25,000.Sydel, along with Hohner and Suzuki, are the top three harmonica makers in the world, while cheaper Chinese versions are available a dime a dozen. Vaidya says there are basically two types of harmonicas — diatonic and chromatic. The chromatic instrument has a slider to offer more notes — a 12-hole harmonica will give you 48 notes using the slider. The chromatic harmonica, which doesn’t have a slider, is best for Bollywood songs, he says.Madan Kumar Sharma (76), who came to Pune as a four-year-old during Partition, has been playing the harmonica for as long as he can remember. In his vast collection of harmonicas, his favourite one is the top-of-the-line Hohner silver concerto chromatic which he bought in Spain in 1974. This particular instrument costs around Rs 5 lakh today.In his early days, Sharma worked as a building supervisor but, on the side, would provide sound systems to orchestras and even drama shows like the popular ‘Teen Paishacha Tamasha’. He cut the first extended play (EP) record of his harmonica renditions in 1968 before going on to cut one super long playing (LP) record, 9 CDs and 8 audio-cassettes. His harmonica recordings have been played on All India Radio and Radio Ceylon (now Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation).The blow-draw concept of the harmonica is stimulant for the lungs, says Belvalkar. He believes the pulmonica will catch momentum quickly because of the prevailing air pollution. “Pollution causes the lungs and diaphragm to lose elasticity. Haemoglobin formation reduces and immunity, oxygen and energy levels in the body drop. Playing the harmonica is like doing pranayam. It is the only instrument in the world which plays both ways — breathing in and out. Baba Ramdev gives you kapalbhati while the harmonica gives you musical kapalbhati,” he says.

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