Harmonica virtuoso Rohan Singhal has earned the respect of serious composers and music lovers across the world with his performances at various festivals. Those who attended the Mahindra Blues Special 2022 in Mumbai last month, would’ve surely seen his knockout performance with Soulmate. In February, he was part of Padma Shri winner Usha Uthup’s new Blues single Wokay where he played a blues solo. “I grab every opportunity I get when it arises,” states the bespectacled 16-year-old, who recently completed his 10th grade.
Rohan has participated and won at various harmonica competitions like National Harmonica League Bristol, UK 2017 and Asia Pacific Harmonica Festival 2018, Beijing China. He has been awarded the prestigious Preservation and Advancement of Harmonica (SPAH), USA Youth Scholarship for 2020 and 2021, which is America’s biggest Society for the Preservation and Advancement of the Harmonica which brings the best Harmonica players in the world together for musical exchange and learning. He also won The 4th Blues Acoustic Blues contest in India in the year 2020.
The Indore-based lad has been playing the harmonica (also known as the mouth organ) for the last 12 years in almost all genres — from Blues, Jazz, Funk, Rock and Fusion of Western and Indian classical music. “My musical journey began at the age of four when my grandfather Dillep Naik who lives in Goa gifted me a 10 hole diatonic harmonica. My grandfather is a self-taught musician and plays the harmonica, flute, and tenor saxophone as a hobby. I used to listen to him play when I used to visit Goa for my holidays. My parents decided to introduce me to Indian Classical singing with my guru Shri Madan Kumar. Since then I have been taking singing training, which has really helped me in understanding notes and scales. Also to promote my harp playing and increase my inner stamina my father Vivek introduced me to swimming. For six years, I used to go to school around 5.30 am in the morning for advance swimming lessons which really helped my lung capacity."
It was his presence at a workshop by renowned diatonic harmonica player Ben Hewlett in Pune in 2014 that really started the ball rolling for him to take up the instrument. “Yes this was a turning point in my career at the age of nine. My grandfather flew from Goa to Indore to pick me up and take me to attend a workshop in Pune. After the workshop and listening to my playing, Helwett, who was staying in the same hotel as I was, the next day came to our room and told my grandfather that he wanted to teach me more techniques. We sat on the bed facing each other and started playing. After some time he suggested to my grandfather that if I continue with the practice with world renowned teacher and two-time Grammy award-winner Howard Levy, things would be different. Since then I pursued my training in a video exchange programme with Levy and attended the World Harmonica Festival and National Harmonica League as proposed by Ben Helwett where I won in the senior category in 2017,” says Rohan proudly.
Rohan is keen to promote Indian classical music on the western Blues instrument Diatonic Harmonica. He will be appearing for his fifth year exam from Akhil Bharatiya Gandharva Mahavidhyala. It is this training in Indian Classical Music that has helped him to perform Raag on the Daitonic harmonica.
At the young age of 13, he released an album, Blues @13. The CD has 13 blues songs and hence the name. Some of them were composed by Rohan, which he performed for competitions in UK and Germany. He performed a Bluesy Hanuman Chalissa titled The Power of Hanuman and Raag Multani, which made him one the youngest winners at the World Harmonica Festival in Germany.
Like any kid his age, Rohan loves sports like football, boxing, swimming, table tennis and during the lockdown, he took to learning other instruments like guitar, ukulele and saxophone. Rohan has once again been offered a scholarship by SPAH to visit Tulsa, Oklahoma, but due to visa issues, he would be joining it online. However, that hasn’t dampened his spirit. He’s all set to fly out to Shillong to take a workshop on Diatonic harmonica and Blues styles in early August.
Unlike other instruments, learning the harmonica isn’t an expensive affair says the youngster. Rohan states that the smallest harp can be put in a string around your neck and can be played anywhere.
For those who may not know, the harmonica can be used as a medicinal tool for patients for breathing exercise. Rohan realised this when he contracted Covid during the second wave. “My recovery was faster as I kept doing breathing exercises,” he says. “Playing the harmonica is much like pursed lip breathing due to the resistance to airflow (keeping positive pressure in the airways). Harmonica is a low-impact exercise that maintains good oxygen levels. Also, playing the harmonica well does not require a lot of airflow, though when using diaphragmatic breathing, it is evident that more air is available to you for playing. Playing the harmonica is a great exercise for this essential breathing technique.As your playing gets better, your lungs (diaphragm and costal muscles) become stronger and more flexible,” explains Rohan, who until recently was the youngest Hohner Harmonica endorser in the world.
Rohan recalls his favourite moment when at National Harmonica League, Bristol 2017, he gave his first solo performance to an international audience. “I opened a sold out show that evening where I played Indian Classical Raag Bihag, which was highly appreciated as these notes were new to the international audience. There were artistes from the US, Japan, Chile, UK and myself from India, who were invited to showcase their traditional music,” he signs off.
