Legendry Experience Shared by : Dr. Doordarshi Singh

Well, I don’t remember the exact age at which I started my harmonica journey, but I think I must be 6 or 7 years old when was I first introduced to harmonica. My father was very fond of collecting musical instruments, especially harmonica and he would always buy a harmonica whenever he was out for any tour. So we had a good collection of harmonicas at our home in my childhood (mainly tremolos) and that was the time I first came to know about this instrument. As a child I was very much fascinated about the sound of harmonica seeing my father playing songs and in the course of time I was able to replicate those songs without any formal training. So this was my first learning experience. In the mean time I also started playing Electronic Keyboard and Tabla as these were available in the home itself.

My first stage performance was in Feb 1997 during our college fresher’s party where I played ‘Hai Apna Dil’ and after that performed in many intercollege competitions and got many prizes. During my college days only, I came to know about a chromatic harmonica and got my first tower chromatic in 1998.

I never got a chance to take any formal education in music and after starting my job in 2001, I didn’t play for about 7-8 years. It was in the year 2008 when I came across harmonica groups on social platforms and the second harmonica journey started. By interacting with many senior players I got to know about minute things about this instrument. And then started the era of Harmonica meets. The first national level meet in Kolkata, in 2012, I could not attend due to my PhD submission, but then attended next five meets and learnt a lot from the legendary players. In order to help the beginners to overcome the difficulties that we people faced, I started a series of online YouTube tutorials in the year 2014. That was great experience to share all the tips and techniques at one platform.

I love to play live and have great support of my brother who is a great musician. I always had great support from my family especially my Father who always encouraged me for my passion.

Well, that was all about my small harmonica journey and I am thankful to almighty for his blessings and for a lovely harmonica family that he has gifted to me. May God bless all.

Dr. Doordarshi Singh