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A small hand-pumped reed organ adapted from its Western equivalent, often used to accompany khayal vocal music

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–Raga instruments (full list)–

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—Milind Kulkarni (Jansammohini)—

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“No foreign instrument has caused such a commotion as the harmonium, and none is used so extensively: be it in classical music, light-classical, filmi, or folk…Harmoniums was brought to India by Western traders or missionaries in the late 19th century, and spread all over the country…the Indian harmonium is not the heavy pedal instrument of Europe, but a small portable box. It consists of a set of free reeds, activated by a wind supply from hand-operated bellows, and controlled by a keyboard with a range of about three octaves. The reed is responsible for tone and pitch, whereas the air bellows is responsible for volume…On the harmonium, only straight notes can be played: there is no possibility of a slur, meend, or gamak…and the Indian concept of ‘swara’ does not relate to a specific pitch-point, but to a pitch-range with variegated possibilities…For these reasons, it was banned on All India Radio in March 1940…But its popularity led them to seriously review this question, and in October 1970, after an exile of over three decades, they issued a directive partially removing the ban…” (Suneera Kasliwal)

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—Harmonium Basics—

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(Appa Jalgaonkar supports vocalist Shrikant Deshpande)

 

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• Notable performers: Tanmay Deochake (1985-), Milind Kulkarni (1983-), Sudhir Nayak (1972-), Ravindra Katoti (1969-), Tulsidas Borkar (1934-2018), Manohar Chimote (1929-2013), Purushottam Walawalkar (1923-2014), Appa Jalgaonkar (1922-2009)

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—Ravindra Katoti (Todi)—

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• Get started with learning raga! •

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—Classifiers—

• Form: hand-pumped free-reed organ, pitch-controlled with a small keyboard
• Origin: adapted from European harmoniums from the late-19th century onwards
• Range: ~36 semitones (~3 oct.)
• Sa pitch: The harmonium’s chromatic flexibilities allow for the use of any note as Sa in principle (with a range of them required for accompanying duties) – however all the performers in my sample rooted in the C to D# range for their solo performances [see my Survey of Sa Tunings for more].

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—Setup—

• Tuning:

(Western note-name locations)

• More Info •

• The harmonium: t

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—Harmonium histories—

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Q

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• Hindustani Instruments: Anandi | Bansuri | Bass-Veena | Bazantar | Bulbul Tarang | Cello | Chaturangi | Dilruba | Electric Guitar | Esraj | Fretless Guitar | Harmonium | Jal Tarang | Jori | Mandolin | Mohan Veena | Nal Tarang | Pakhawaj | Piano | Rabab | Rudra Veena | Sagar Veena | Santoor | Sarangi | Sarod | Saxophone | Shehnai | Sitar | Surbahar | Sursagar | Sursingar | Swarmandal | Tabla | Tabla Tarang | Tanpura | Tar Shehnai | Taus | Vichtra Veena | Violin

–Survey of Sa tunings–