Harmonica Competition 2015 | Kolkata Harmonica Association

The KOLKATA HARMONICA ASSOCIATION, also known as KHA (Reg. No.- S/12/8783, under the West Bengal Societies Registration Act, 1961), is an association of a number of harmonica (mouth organ) players and harmonica & music lovers. Its aim is to promote harmonica in India as well as work for the betterment of the players.

KHA was formerly established as Indian Harmonica Association (IHA) in 1995. Since its inception, the organization has been organizing an annual harmonica competition, the most recent edition of which was held on 1^st February, 2015 (Sunday) at Tapan Theatre, Kolkata. KHA was delighted to have 25+ participants from in and outside Kolkata, accompanied by their encouraging family and friends.

The event comprised of three categories, namely RABINDRA SANGEET, WESTERN MUSIC and MODERN BENGALI / HINDI.  Participants were free to take part in any of these categories or even all. A moderate standard of performance was observed and a few played considerably well. In its attempt to ensure a neutral and balanced judgment, three renowned professional musicians from the music industry oversaw the competition as judges. KHA is thankful to all of them for their kind co-operation, diligence and patience.

The honorable judges were –

1. Sri Subhash Mondal, a student of Louis Banks, a Grammy award-nominated film composer, record producer, jazzmusician-keyboardist and singer.
2. Sri Saroj Barua, renowned mandolinist and a judge at All India Radio.
3. Sri Subrata Banerjee, a well-known guitarist in Kolkata music industry.

The winners in different categories were –

RABINDRA SANGEET –

1^st – Ms. Aparajita Roy

2^nd – Mr. Asitbaran Sarkar

3^rd – Mr. Alokeranjan Ghoshal & Mr. Aditya Banerjee

WESTERN MUSIC –

1^st – Mr. Alokeranjan Ghoshal

2^nd – Mr. Asitbaran Sarkar

3^rd – Mr. Abhirup Ghosh & Ms. Ritika Sen Gupta

MODERN BENGALI / HINDI

1^st – Mr. Asitbaran Sarkar

2^nd – Sudip Das

3^rd – Mr. Kaustav Mukherjee

N.B. KHA will also be celebrating their 21^st annual cultural programme on 1^st March 2015. The venue is Birla Academy, Kolkata. It’s an open event and the celebration begins at 5:00 pm! Everyone is cordially invited to join us on the evening! Also on this day, the winners of this year’s competition will get a chance to perform in front of the audience. The evening will also see performances by other harmonica players and members of the association.

Report by – Tuhin Bhaumik, Kolkata