In the right hands, the strident twangs of the mouth organ can be tamed into a riveting melody. In the 1980s, the harmonica, as it is also called, started losing ground to guitars and keyboards in popular culture. But the instrument is once again being patronised by the Kannada film industry. In the last five years, nearly 50 songs in more than a dozen films have relied on the mouth organ for its distinctive sound.

The latest to join the ranks will be Jessie — expected to be released later this month — where music director Anoop Seelin has generously relied on the harmonica for the song ‘Male Bantu’. Some music directors like Sameer Kulkarni have used the harmonica not just in individual compositions, but also in the background score to convey a range of emotions. Kireeta (2015) is one such film. In Munjaane(2012), director S. Narayan used the harmonica for some inventive compositions.

“The harmonica, just as the santoor, sarangi and the shehnai lost ground to the keyboard and guitar,” says Mr. Seelin whose passion for the mouth organ can be traced to his childhood. “I grew up appreciating the ingenuity of the renowned Naushad, Hamsalekha, Rajan Nagendra and Upendra Kumar, and the way they creatively merged the harmonica in their compositions. I believe in live orchestras with different time-honoured instruments, not in keyboard simulations,” says Mr. Seelin who has 16 films to his credit.

One of the reasons for this resurgence is that an increasing number of youth in Bengaluru is rediscovering the twangy depths of the mouth organ. The city is home to nearly 500 amateur and professionals who experiment with the mouth organ in different genres as rock, blues, jazz, gospel and Carnatic.

Riding on this wave of popularity, Carnatic musician Saitejas Chandrashekar and professional organist Avinash Kulkarni recently published a book ‘The Joy of Harmonica Playing’ to guide young musicians. “The intention was to see people getting lessons in Indian swaras so that the harmonica gets a push,” said Saitejas.

But the shift from a hobby to recording for films involves a huge leap. It is tricky to be a recording artiste as the reflexes to follow the music director with notations have to be instantaneous, points out multi-instrument concert and record artiste S.J. Prasanna. “Only trained musical ears can bring them all.”

He’s one of a handful of professional harmonica recording artistes in Bengaluru and has played the harmonica for Anoop Seelin’s song Ellello Oduva Manase in the 2012 drama Sidlingu and Male Haniyein the film Madarangi, among other recent hits.

For now, the harmonica’s reassertion in Sandalwood is a pleasant change from the usual offerings, but only time will tell if its a comeback or a passing fad.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bengaluru / by Ranjani Govind /Bengaluru – March 13th, 2016