Indian harmonium
The Indian harmonium is still widely used today by Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims and Buddhists for devotional genres like qawwali, ghazal, kirtan and bhajan.
[5] Indian craftsmen soon created a much smaller instrument based on the European designs, which was made to rest on the floor with bellows that were pumped with the left hand.
By the early 20th century, however, in the context of Indian nationalist movements that sought to depict India as separate from the West, the harmonium was portrayed as an unwanted foreign interloper.
From the point of view of Indian classical music, there were also technical concerns with the harmonium, including its inability to produce slurs, gamaka (playing semi-tone between notes) and meend (slides between notes) which can be done in instruments like sitar and sarod,[2] and the fact that, as a keyboard instrument, it is set to specific pitches.
The inability to slide between notes prevents it from articulating the subtle inflections (such as andolan, gentle oscillation) so crucial to many of the ragas of Indian classical music.
[2] On the other hand, many of the harmonium's qualities suited it very well for the newly reformed classical music of the early 20th century: it is easy for amateurs to learn; it supports group singing and large voice classes; it provides a template for standardized raga grammar; it is loud enough to provide a drone in a concert hall.
[6] The harmonium is still disliked by some connoisseurs of Indian music, who prefer the sarangi as an accompanying instrument for khyal singing.
One of these attempts is the work of Bhishmadev Vedi who is said to have been the first to contemplate improving the harmonium by augmenting it with a swarmandal (harp-like string box) attached to the top of the instrument.
[8][6] Bhishmadev Vedi is also said to have been among the first to contemplate and design compositions specifically for the harmonium, styled along the lines of "tantakari"—performance of music on stringed instruments.
These compositions tend to have a lot of cut notes and high-speed passages, creating an effect similar to that of a string being plucked.
In 1954, Late Jogesh Chandra Biswas first modified the then-existing harmoniums, so it folds down into a much thinner space for easier maneuverability.
Another modification of the instrument is that by musicologist Vidyadhar Oke, who developed a 22-microtone harmonium, which can play 22 microtones as required in Indian classical music.
The basic components of an Indian harmonium include: a wooden body with two metal handles for carrying, banks of brass reeds (often 1, 2, or 3) set on a wooden reed board, a pumping apparatus (bellows), air stops (including stops for drones), and a keyboard (which is similar to a piano keyboard but with a smaller number of keys).
These differences makes Kolkata style harmoniums more expensive, but their sound is significantly fuller and their range is larger.
[11][12] In most genres, the Indian harmonium is commonly accompanied by some percussion instrument which provides the tala to the music, such as the tabla, dholak, taal, or mridangam.
[13] It has received international exposure as the genre of Qawwali music has been popularized by renowned Pakistani musicians, including Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (1948–1997) and Aziz Mian (1942–2000).
[15] Western kirtan singers like Krishna Das, Jai Uttal, and Snatam Kaur have become well known harmonium players, especially in the new age and yoga subcultures.
