7.8.10

Music has no boundaries

If you are a harmonica lover,And regular visitor to YouTube then you must have listened to the renditions of a person with the ID-zafarsgallery”. Most of us wonder who this mesmerizing harmonica player is? Today, we are publishing about Mr Zafar Ahmad, from Lahore Pakistan in his own words…




HARMONICA --- The magical instrument.

The chromatic harmonica (commonly known in our world as the " Button wala Baja") is perhaps the world's smallest complete musical intrument. Difficult to play because you cannot see the notes, you only play them with the feel of your mouth position. Whereas, playing simple songs can be learnt comparatively easily, songs with a classical touch and much use of the slide are quite complicated. Being a reed instrument, creating the "meend" and "murkani" needs much practice and skill.

I started playing a simple mouth organ (not a chromatic one) at the age of ten. It took me a few months to play the simple song "lara lappa lara lappa laaee rakhda". I have played harmonica for more than 50 years, and the magic of it has not diminished, in fact, its still on the rise. To advance my skill in playing, I also learnt to customise my harmonicas so that they are better tuned, are more airtight and have a better tone. To be able to play minor and subtle notes and "murkanis" I have also had training in basic classical singing. The most difficult songs are the most challenging for me. Playing songs like "Mohe bhool gaye saanwaria", "Rasik balama" and "Jyoti kalash chhalke" give me great pleasure. In fact, most of the old indian songs are my favourites. I have a small recording setup in my home where I make most of the song tracks. I use keyboard , acoutic tabla, dholak, violin and flute usually.

Though music is my passion, I am a professional photographer specialising in landscape, portrait and promotional photography. I also run a printing press wherein I print calendars (based on my photography) for my various clients.

I am based in Lahore.

ZAFAR AHMAD, ARPS
(Associate of the Royal Photographic Society of Britain).

zafarsgallery@hotmail.com




HaLoH thanks Mr Zafar Ahmad for giving this opportunity to introduce him to all the harmonica lovers who visit this blog.



3 comments:

Ramana said...

Dear Ramana,
My gratitude and thanks to you for the very good introduction on your blog. Also kindly forward my good wishes to all your HaLoH members. You are really doing a lot to save this amazing instrument. I wish you success in your endeavours.
Warm regards,
Zafar Ahmad.

Ramana said...

Ramana Ji,
It was good to see your site.I know Zaffar sahib personally. I met him through a chance meeting in year 2000 and became good friends. He is not only one of the best Harmonica players but also a great humanbeing. Zaffar Sahib is basically a very humble person, who does not believe in show off and that is why I do not see any mention of his meetings with great musician Noshad in the write up. One comes to know about this gentleman gradually who definitely deserves recognition in and out side Pakistan.
Thanks for introducing Zaffar Sahib on your web.
Asim Mahmood
USA

Keyur Shah said...

Awesome playing Zafarji !! Thanks Anna for the detail about Sh. Zafarji.