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Instruments of history: Stories from old Delhi's music shops

The music shops in the labyrinthine bylanes of Old Delhi, some with histories spanning a century, are not just carrying on a musical legacy but also exporting it to foreign shores. They provide fodder for old music lore too, says Amrita Madhukalya

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It's a clammy summer afternoon in Daryaganj, the neighbourhood that makes way for Old Delhi, or the walled city. A family of four - mother, father and two sons - are shop-hopping in the several musical shops in the area, looking for the right guitar for the older boy who's just joined a music class while the younger one is on the brink of a tantrum; he wants one, too. They enter Lahore Music House and owner Jaspal Singh Sachdeva helps them settle on a Gibson Sunburst.

The confused parents, who've gone to every shop in the stretch, are thankful. Not too sure what they should buy, and not very willing to part with a huge sum, they are finally at ease at the end of the hour-long trudge from their home in Rohini."The difference between us and the others (shops) is that we are musicians," says Jaspal before demonstrating his tabla and harmonium skills. "We know what a musician is looking for in an instrument."

Lahore Music House has been in the area for more than seven decades – ever since its founder Harcharan Singh Sachdeva moved the shop from Anarkali Market in Lahore during Partition. They manufacture, retail and export musical instruments in more than 12 countries. Lahori qawwals still swear by trademark Lahore Flute harmoniums. They have two manufacturing units, one in Chandigarh, and the other in the outskirts of Delhi.

"Our father was a musician. There was never a dearth of customers, because all the All India Radio artistes would come here," says Jaspal, who runs the shop with elder brother Randhir.

The shop was established in Delhi in 1947, but with its Anarkali market roots, it has a history of 110 years. "Ghulam Ali Khan saab was a regular customer, so was Begum Akhtar," says Jaspal. Pakistani legends Mehdi Hassan and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, too, have graced their shop over the years.

Their most famous visitors, however, were four mop-headed musicians, who once took over the world like a storm. In 1966, when they took a short detour to India on their way from Australia to London, The Beatles dropped by at Lahore Music House, apart from Rikhiram Music Shop, located in nearby Connaught Place.

"I was a child then, and I remember my father and uncle attending to them. Unlike the Rikhirams, we did not have a camera, and so we don't have a picture. We had not a clue as to who these guys were," says Jaspal. The Beatles' visit attracted a lot of foreign visitors. "Till the 1980s, we had a lot of clients in the UK. Today, most of our foreign clients are from Mauritius, Fiji, Australia and New Zealand."

Rikhiram, being musicians and musical innovators, would charge a lot more than the shops in Daryaganj. And so, many students would come looking for the odd sitar here. Nowadays, a lot of Indians, usually those from gurdwaras in London, Vancouver and Toronto order instruments. "Dholak, tabla, naal are usually what they order," says Jaspal. "Here in India, only the foreign tourist wants a sitar or a harmonium. Indians only want a guitar."

Lahore Music House is not the only one. There are several music shops in Daryaganj, most of which opened up somewhere around the mid 1980s, and elsewhere in the walled city, including the labyrinthine bylanes of Chandni Chowk and Jama Masjid. They not just carry on a musical legacy but also export instruments to countries like the US, Canada and Britain.

As if on cue, the first people you encounter as you step inside New Modern Musical Shop, deep inside Chandni Chowk , is owner Rakesh Nigam tending to a young customer looking for a guitar while a foreign tourist comes looking for a sitar with a guide. As both prospective customers help each other tune the instruments, an impromptu gig of sorts starts to take shape. Passersby peep for a moment before they move on.

"Our shop was earlier just behind Jama Masjid, which was then home to a lot of musical shops," says Nigam. The present shop is at Dariba Kalan. Before that, was the Modern Music Shop established in 1939. They also had a branch in Gaffar Market in 1958, but that shut shop in 2008. "A lot of tourists drop by, because many visit Old Delhi. But few are as good as our visitor here," he says as the foreign tourist tries his hand at the sitar. "It invokes this old-world nostalgia in them."

Nigam says that renowned artistes like Pandit Birju Maharaj, Ustaad Shaad Khan and Ram Narayan Sarangiwaale were his regular customers.

It's not just a shop, but manufacturers as well who export to countries like Canada, England and the US. "There is a lot of demand from Italy and Germany," says Nigam.

The legendary Rattiram Music Shop was located in the vicinity once. The shop downed its shutters after the founder's sons got into the garment business.

The last stop is Bina, situated in Chandni Chowk's Nayi Sadak. The shop is located on the first floor of a building, at the end of steep flight of colourful stairs. Owner J.P. Singh is taking stock at the end of a long day. The shop, famous for its harmoniums, was established in 1935. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and his group of qawwals swore by their harmoniums. Ghulam Ali Khan, Amjad Ali Khan and Asad Ali Khan were their patrons too.

"We had a bigger shop, but today this shop fronts as our wholesale space," says Singh. His father Avtar Singh, and brother Daljit, too, help him run the family business. To attract more buyers, they now have another outlet in Lajpat Nagar, apart from a dealer in London.

"We export to Canada, USA, UK, Germany, etc," says J.P. Singh. "The Bhakti movement and the resurgence of yoga has helped drive harmonium sales."

Singh, who has been in the business for 20 years, says that in the mid-60s, demand was at its peak. "We would send containers of sitars, but who will come here today?" he rues.

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