This music shop has been making melody amid the din of Dadar for 100 years
“It is not just a musical instruments’ shop. Its mere mention is enough to make me nostalgic,” says legendary composer-flautist Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia. “Given the time I spent there I’d tell the owners this is my shop – and the name fits too.” Chaurasia walks down memory lane sitting in his Versova music school -- Vrindaban Gurukul – even as the countdown to Haribhau Vishwanath Company’s first outlet in Dadar turning 100 begins. “Once, before a performance at Chhabildas I went there to calm down; it helped that there was a maghai paanwala across the shop.”
That was his first concert at Chhabildas, which was attended by vocalists Ustad Aamir Khan and Begum Akhtar. “I still get goose bumps to think that I played for such tall legends who met and encouraged me later.”
The modest-looking music shop tucked in a corner under the Flower Market flyover, bang in the middle of the Dadar West bustle dates back to 1925; it steps into its centenarian year in the second week of May. “We do not know the exact date because we did not bother with such details back then. We only know it coincided with Vaishakh Purnima,” says Uday Diwane, the founder Haribhau’s nephew, who now manages the shop.
He reminisces how his music aficionado uncle Haribhau - who played both the organ and harmonium in the popular musical theatre productions of his era - “wandered” into this business. “He’d moonlight repairing gramophones, organs and harmoniums and became close friends with craftsmen adept at both repairing instruments and making bespoke ones from scratch,” recounts Diwane.
Haribhau’s close friendship with fellow musician, harmonium maestro, theatreperson and music composer Govindrao Tembe and harmonium and organ exponent Govindrao Patwardhan among others went a long way – he became their go-to person to set right technical issues with instruments. Soon word spread and work began to pour in, as did queries to buy new music instruments. He then started the current shop outside Dadar station. “The shop -- just a humble tin-roofed affair on the same spot where the Bismillah building came up in the ’50s, began getting lots of clientele.” So much so, Haribhau began a factory at Kumbharwada, near
Portuguese Church where over 100 workers put together harmoniums, organs, banjos and violins apart from repairing old ones.
Demand grew and a second outlet was opened in 1932 at Girgaum’s Servants of India Society’s Building opposite Harkisandas Hospital. “There was also an issue with the landlord who wanted Haribhau to vacate the Kumbharwada, Dadar plot,” recounts Diwane. “After Partition, many of the 100 skilled workers moved to either Punjab or Karachi and we were left with a vastly reduced workforce of 25, many of who were Sikhs. Kaka shut the Kumbharwada factory and shifted them all to the new large factory he set up with local workers in Ahmednagar.”
By the ’60s the second generation (Uday’s father, Vasantrao) managed the shop while Nageshwar (his uncle) was managing the factory.
Haribhau Vishwanath became a brand to reckon with as it increased its repertoire of instruments to include the santoor (under guidance from the late santoor maestro Pt Shivkumar Sharma), swar mandals (under Pt Ulhas Bapat’s guidance), electric banjos, sarangis, sitars and tanpuras.
Whether it was the Bharat Ratna classical vocalist Pt Bhimsen Joshi (who bought two tanpuras here which stayed with him for life) then or composersinger Shankar Mahadevan (who recently ordered two harmoniums) now, the shop remains musicians’ favourite not only here but abroad; for the latter, Diwane credits Pt Ravi Shankar.
Veteran composer Pyarelal says: “Any instrument bought from them, was the best. We worked with huge ensemble live orchestras. If a violin bridge or a tabla needed fixing urgently, we would just call from Famous Studio and someone came over promptly.”
By the ’80s this became the one-stop shop for musicians from both the classical and film music genres. Hemant Kumar (harmoniums), Manna Dey (tanpura and harmoniums), Mahindra Kapoor (harmoniums), Pt Jasraj (“He bought a two swarmandals and several harmoniums for himself and his disciples across the world here.”), Kishori Amonkar (swar mandal), Pt Ram Narayan (sarangi), legends Ustad Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan and Ustad Rais Khan (sitar), virtuoso Vinayak Vora (Dilruba and TarShehnai), Pt CR Vyas, Pt Vidhyadhar Vyas, Prabha Atre, Suresh Wadkar Hariharan Anuradha Paudwal, Devki Pandit (tanpura), lyricist Anand Bakshi (congo) have all been loyal clients.
Pune-based Pt Suhas Vyas has been visiting the shop since childhood, accompanying his father Pt C R Vyas. “Once you go there you stay loyal customers because they are sincere and trustworthy. I know many (including several Us-based musicians) who have commissioned instruments from them. Their tanpura wires are the best,” he says. “Cotton threads are typically put on the javari bridge beneath unfretted tanpura strings in order to accurately adjust the node’s position and height above the curved surface, refining the tanpura’s unique buzz of rich overtones. But Haribhau invented the javar without the threads making their tanpuras sturdier.”
Flute maestro Rupak Kulkarni recalls going to the shop with his musician father
Malhar Kulkarni as a little boy. “Vasantrao Diwane would be indulgent as we spent hours discussing music. They are a very generous family too and have on multiple occasions given instruments on credit to musicians, some of who never paid back. But that has not stopped them from helping artistes in need,” he says.
As we chat along, a young customer steps into the shop, asking to buy a guitar. “I want a shiny metallic blue finish,” he insists, when shown a good guitar; he leaves not finding one to his liking.
“People treat instruments like fashion accessories to look cool instead of making music,” laments Diwane, picking up the guitar to play a few chords. Trained to play the harmonium and tabla he recounts how his father wanted him to learn the violin too. “He had even spoken to Ram Prasadji, Pyarelalji’s father to teach me and the maestro had agreed to teach for free.” So, did he learn? “No,” chuckles Diwane. “When I heard he insists on 8-hour lessons I got cold feet.”
But that did not dampen this Mechanical Engineering graduate’s enthusiasm to run the family music business for several decades. When asked about the future of his business, he looks at the busy street outside and says, “The flyover ruined access to the shop. Hawkers have multiplied and the 24x7 din of traffic is making this place more and more about noise than music.”