Let us face a
hypothesis: What would be the fate of a boy who lost his father before he was
born and had to flee along with Mother and siblings during the nightmarish
period of partition at the tender age of four? Anybody with common sense would come
up with a very pessimistic answer. But wait. The ‘Boy’ mentioned here has gone
on to become Madankumar Sharma, the legendary Mouth Organ player of the country!
Madanji, as he
is popularly referred to, is highly
appreciated, respected and loved among the Mouth Organ lovers' fraternity all
over. At 73, he is leading a happy and healthy life in the city of Pune and is
still very active. He plays Mouth Organ regularly and also teaches youngsters
the very basics of how to play this instrument.
As I was
planning a visit to Pune, my friend Biren
Kothari, a noted writer, biographer and blogger suggested to me to conduct a
series of interviews with some accomplished instrumentalists of Pune. “You can/should upload such matter on
your blog”, he said. Though I was sure to meet Madankumarji this time, I would have never
thought of this. I was thrilled at the very idea and made up my mind to take up
the task.
********
Madankumarji is
familiar to ‘Harmonica Club of Gujarat’ Amdavad (of which I am a previlaged
member), as he makes it a point to visit us at our Sunday morning meet at Parimal Garden when he is in Amdavad. His visits to the city are not very infrequant as this is where his SASURAL is! Citing the reference of our club, I called him up
once I was in Pune. His response was very warm. “Are Bhai, just drop in. Will have good
time together. And let us do away with a formal interview. We will talk over
Chaay and Naasta, you decide what to include”, he said.
He also agreed
to allow me to record two clips of his playing live with my camera. He invited
me to his residence in the evening of Tuesday, 6th of this month. He
welcomed me with a warm smile and a warmer handshake. Made me comfortable and
then I wondered if the informal ‘interview’ may start. He agreed and Following is
what transpired over ‘Chaay and Naasta’.
********
Born on 10th
of October 1943 in Sindh (Now in Pakistan), Madankumar Sharma lost his father a
month and half prior to his birth. His mother and three siblings (who themselves
were very young) took care that the young boy would miss the father as little
as possible. But then yet another stroke of bad luck hit the family when he was
barely 4 years old. In the horrifying
times of partition, like millions, this family too had to leave behind everything
in Sindh and had to flee to save their lives. They came and tried to settle in
Pushkar near Ajmer. His uncle, elder brother to his late father was in Mumbai
and he provided all the support they would need. The family shifted to
Pune when Madanji was 7 and he has been living in the city ever after.
He saw a Mouth Organ
for the first time when his elder brother bought one at the cost of Rs. Four.
Madanji however found it impossible to
lay his hands (and mouth) to it as the ‘owner’ of ‘Hohner’ brand Mouth Organ
was very possessive about it. The lady luck smiled as Madanji found access
to it once when the elder brother was away! He realized instantaneously that this
was something specially made for him. While in school he made friends with one
Iqubal Shaikh who was a good singer. He promoted Madanji among school teachers
as being a good Mouth Organ player. His elder brother too was pleased with the
talent of his sibling and that was when Madanji acquired ownership of his first
Mouth Organ. Though it was a Hohner product, that particular Mouth Organ was a
Diatonic one which is believed to be incomplete as Indian music tunes cannot be
properly manoeuvred using it. One needs a
special variety known as Chromatic version. Those were the days when
Indian markets did not offer such sophisticated varieties. He could procure his first chromatic version
in 1960, when his friend Daulat Keshwani bought one for him. This added flavour
to his already accomplished playing.
He had become
fairly popular among the students of his school and a few more by then. It was
now that he got his first break. Manmohan Krishna, the famous actor used to
conduct a very popular radio programme ‘Cadbury ki Fulwaree’. Madanji got a chance to perform in this
programme at the tender age of 17. “I was so excited, I would have written more
than 100 postcards to friends and relatives to listen to that performance!” he
said. With this dose of success, Madanji realized he could do and accomplish much more with Mouth Organ. He acquired a few more Mouth Organs to add to his repertoire.
Next, he started
exploring opportunities. He knew he had to struggle hard but he also knew he
had the talent to make it to reach the top bracket. He started taking rounds to
the recording studios of Mumbai where film songs were recorded. Gradually his talent was recognized and he was among
the musicians who were regularly called for recording of the songs by the likes
of Laxmikant Pyarelal , Kalyanji Anandji and Khaiyam to name a few. He was
hardly 21 at that time.
( A young Madankmar Sharma in a recording session)
His experience
over there however, was not very encouraging. He said, “Though I was paid for a
full session every time I was summoned, I got to play very few pieces and quite
frequently even those pieces would be edited out. So I thought I had to find
some alternative”. He considered cutting
records of his Mouth Organ rendition with reputed His Master’s Voice, HMV.
It took three
years once he sent a spool of his recording to HMV that he got his first
call by the company. R.B.Lele and V.K. Dubey, the officers of the company finally
agreed to cut an EP (Extended Play) record with Madanji’s performance (two
songs) on one side and that of some other artist on the other. But then the
higher authorities thought better and ultimately an exclusive record of Madanji’s
performance on both sides arrived in the
market in February 1968.
(The photo of the jacket of the record)
“This turned out to be luckiest time of my life as release of my record coincided with my marriage in Feb.1968!” said a beaming Madanji. A few more records of his were subsequently released and sold lterally like hot Pakodas! They were LP (Long Play) type which carried as many as twelwe songs each. All India Radio and Radio Ceylon aired on regular basis, Madanji's recordings.
(The photo shows from left to right, Van Shipley, Madankumar and Enoch Denials.)
It was while he
was working with the two maestros that Madanji came in contact of Tarachand
Baratejiya who had produced ‘Dosti’ the film where Mouth Organ was the hero.
Looking at young Madanji and learning about his great command over Mouth Organ,
Tarachandji told Madanji that if he had spotted him earlier, ‘Dosti’ would have
had a real life hero! Anyway, the bygones were bygones and the life had to go
on.
Realizing that additional income had to be
generated, Madanji bought a state of art recording machine of those times. He
provided technical support to Minoo Katrak, the champion sound recording master
of hindi film industry.
(The photo shows Madanji handling a live recording session.)
He also brought up his orchestra and produced live
shows all over the country and abroad. In the process, his association with
Mouth Organ only grew stronger. He spent four years in Europe where his
orchestra became quite popular. While in Germany, he visited ‘Hohner’ campus,
leading manufacturers of a wide variety of musical instruments including (arguably)
the best Mouth Organs in the world. That is where he acquired a gem. The
company printed on one side of a rare piece of Mouth Organ, signature of
Madankumar Sharma!
(The photo of the self signed Mouth Organ of Madankumarji)
There are only five pieces of this variety and the
one in the possession of Madanji stands a very lucrative offer of
Rs.10,000,00/-!
For the live
recording, he played little portions of two songs which according to him are highly
popular with the youth. “Mouth Organ is a fantastic musical instrument. Do not
judge it by its size. It has tremendous potential,” said he. Before starting of the recording, I asked
Madanji if he wanted to add anything to our 90 odd minutes conversation. He
pondered for a while and said this: “ Tell you what, I have been very fortunate
in my journey with Mouth Organ. Believe me, I am in possession of more than 86
different varieties of Mouth Organ and I have got ALL of them as gifts! All my
life, I have never paid for a single of these!”
Here are the two songs I recorded in situ. Please listen carefully. Madanji has demonstrated
very effectively, the power of the tiny instrument he has been in love with for
last 66 years.
And the next.....
Following are some strongly recommanded clips.
For those interested, You tube has many more clips of Madanji’s
rendition. Several audio CDs and MP3s are also available in the market.
Like every good
thing, my meeting with Madanji had to come to end. As we were parting, he bid
me good bye with a warm smile, a warmer hand shake and a still warmer hug!
Thank you, Sir for what you are and for everything that transpired over that
pleasent evening of 6/09/2016.
(Videos courtsey You tube,
Photos courtsey Shri Madankumar Sharma.)
Unknown facts and rare photos of Madankumarji are a real treat, Piyushbhai! Hearty thanks to u and respect to the master player.
ReplyDeleteVery happy to learn about such a great artist of our times you also deserve Our compliment for sharing life sketch of madankumar ji
ReplyDeleteThanks Piyushbhai for sharing interesting & informative interview. Enjoyed wonderful music of Shree Madan Kumarji.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting and inspiring piece of work
ReplyDeleteVery good information about Madankumar . I had his Gramophone records when i was in my college days just loved his video clips
ReplyDeleteDuring 1950 and 1960 learning on their own was very tuff task.They mastered it.A guru for millions A big Salute to our Guruji
ReplyDeleteCan I have sir's contact number .I would like to learn mouth organ. I started playing harmonica and few songs . I would like to learn various techniques to express more like vibrato , vamping etc
ReplyDeleteI don't hv any words for the great player of Mouth organ of our country.He is really great & good human being when ever I talked to Jim from Surat, Gujarat. Warm regards.
ReplyDeleteGet me Ur Whatsapp No. I will send Sir's Mo.No. ok.
ReplyDeleteHello, I am Pranav Desai, I am sirs fan, I wanted to learn from him, but I didn't know that he lives in pune, I am also a Punekar,
ReplyDeleteCan I please get his contact number, I eagerly want to learn from him, my whatsApp number is +918605563154
I know Shri Madan Kumar Sharma since childhood as my father Shri Gopaldas Mirchandani was his school teacher and my uncle Arjan Vaswani was his class fellow. He was very famous for his mouth organ skill in his school days. I'm very glad for his achievments
ReplyDeleteThanks Dilip ji, for my school memories when you were child... your father SIR, Gopaldas was our best teacher I cant frigate him in my Life time ...
ReplyDeleteHe is an inspiration for those love this tiny but powerful instrument. He is a gem of person and good human being as good as musician May God bless him good health and happiness
ReplyDeleteउमरसे मै जरूर बडा हूं, लेकीन आप गुरु हो!
ReplyDelete- किशोर हिवाले