Submitted by WBRi on Mon, 08/01/2011 - 17:43.
Washington, DC, August 1, 2011 (Washington Bangla Radio) In India, the musical instrument popularly called the "Harmonium"
refers to the hand-pumped (bellowed) version of the reed organ. In North
America and much of Europe, "Harmonium" is mostly associated with the
foot-operated version leaving both hands free for playing the keys.
Harmoniums were overtaken in the Western world around the 1930s by the
electronic organ, but remain hugely popular in India and entire South
Asia as the primary accompaniment instrument used by vocalists
themselves while performing. And Pakrashi is the name that pops up in
the minds of most Bengalis whenever the best of Indian harmoniums are
being discussed.
Interestingly, here is a description of a Pakrashi Harmonium on sale on Amazon.com (click here if you wish to order
): "Harmonium,
Pro, Folding by Pakrashi (Item Code: HRMPF-2) Harmonium Pakrashi &
Co., folding, Scale changer with Mechanical Coupler. 5 drones and 4
stops. It has 3 banks of 45 reeds each.and 6 drone reeds. Comes in its
own traveling case plus a nylon case too. Keyboard pops up, store in
locked-down position for travel. Mechanical coupler (plays 2 octaves
with one stroke). It is a 9-scale changer. The Keyboard slides to change
scale. Integral bellows, dozens of sound combinations. Finish color and
decoration style may vary from photo. The Harmoniums are not meant to
be played in concert like a mini organ. This is instrument was
introduced to India by the British. It has been embraced and is now a
truly Indian instrument used as accompaniment across many genres of
Indian music including Hindustani classical, light modern songs, Tagore
songs, folk and devotional songs. In the early days, Harmoniums were are
not in concert pitch and were not meant to be. As with many Indian
instruments the key for the music is selected to best suite the vocals,
or to set a mood. Traditionally, Harmoniums were usually higher pitched
if compared to the Western Scale, and Harmonium tuning did not reflect
the Western Scale and was not meant to. However, at present all Indian
musical instruments comply the international pitch standard of A=440Hz,
thus accepted in the western world.
Almost all singers and artistes from Kolkata are familiar with
Pakrashi & Co. store selling musical instruments from 82-A
Rashbehari Avenue. They are most renowned for their Harmoniums, and more
often than not artists from Kolkata are seen playing a Pakrashi
harmonium along while performing.

Suphal Pakrashi (right) and son Suvojit Pakrashi of Pakrashi & Company of Kolkata
The history of the Pakrashis goes back to 1922 when Sudhir Chandra
Pakrashi moved to Kolkata from what is now Bangladesh and established
the store. Arijit Chakraborty caught up with Suphal Pakrashi and Suvojit Pakrashi, representing the 2nd and 3rd generations running the business in this informal and intimate audio interview.

Suphal Pakrashi
The Harmonium was not really a popular instrument when the store was
established. Suphal Pakrashi tells us how his father and uncle involved
themselves with the leading singers of the time like Pankaj Kumar
Mullick and exponents of the still-new Rabindrasangeet songs to map the
notes of the Esraj to a keyboard instrument. Suphal dwells on the
remarkable efforts by many people from their musician-customer community
who worked with them to improve the instrument which over time has
reached it's modern form. Technologies like scale-changer harmoniums are
a labor of love of many dedicated artists working together with the
Pakrashis.

From left: Suvojit Pakrashi, Suphal Pakrashi, Rezwana Chowdhury Bonnya
Suphal took lessons in playing the Sitar as a young boy, thus
training his ears to music. Suphal would also watch his father
continually research and improve the harmonium and experiment with
delicate changes in physical measurements, angles, frequencies, airwaves,
weights and such characteristics to attain the desired qualities in the
sound.
Listen to the audio interview on Washington Bangla Radio.