Tirupati Harinam

The Tirupati Harinam is a particularly small, light and sturdy harmonium with sharp and powerful sound. Its small bellows, however, give it very little sustain and limit its range of dynamic variation. Not recommended for beginners, but great for experienced musicians on the road, to accompany kirtans and group singing and for playing with strong rhythmic accents.

EU: 389 € (incl. bag)
incl. VAT, plus 16.10 € shipping within Germany / 31.10 € within Europe
Non-EU: 326.89 € (incl. bag)
plus 31.10 € shipping within Europe / overseas on request

Producing long and steady chords or playing with dynamic variations is difficult on the Tirupati Harinam and requires certain practice. The low weight and the small dimensions result from an intelligent construction without awkward folding mechanism. The slanting keyboard level when putting the Harinam on a flat surface needs some getting used to. However, the keyboard level gets horizontal when the player sits cross-legged and rests the harmonium's front side on his / her lap. Each note has two reeds in simple quality in middle and low register (male / bass), giving the Harinam a sharp and powerful sound. Male and bass reeds always play together, because there is no register separation. The external bellows at the back open to the top and fill up automatically when the latch is opened. For playing one has to pull them against a little resistence. The internal bellows are visible and open to the bottom. Their removable springs on both sides can be used to adjust the bellows tension and thus the volume and sustain. The tonal range is smaller than in full size harmoniums, but sufficient for all common mantras and kirtans. The Harinam harmonium can also be played standing by fixing a shoulder strap to the attached rings.

"BONUS: One month free online access to comprehensive harmonium teaching material at the Bhakti Breakfast Club with harmonium purchase!" - more info here!

Sound sample Tirupati Harinam
- complete melodic range
- three-note chords in middle range

Features

- 32 simple stick keys
- range of two and a half octaves from F to C
- two reeds in middle and low register for each note
- low range F2 - C5, middle range F3 - C6
- double fold external bellows with top opening and spring
- tension of internal bellows adjustable with removable springs
- cabinet made of pine wood
- cloth cover over the keyboard mechanism
- incl. shoulder strap
- incl. padded bag

Pine wood is the first choice for harmoniums around Delhi and in North Western India. It is much softer than teak wood, which is more common in Mumbai and Calcutta. Therefore pinewood harmoniums often get little dents or scratches during manufacturing, storage or transit to Europe. Such marks are a natural property of the wood and can not be seen as flaws or defects.

Manufacturer / Supplier

TIRUPATI is the international brand name for instruments from Sharma Musicals in Ghaziabad, a neighbouring city of Delhi. Sharma Musicals was founded in 1934 by Jagdish Prasad Sharma and is today one of the leading Indian harmonium makers. The current manager Mayank Sharma runs the business in the fourth generation. Thanks to solid infrastructure, long experience and good quality awareness, Sharma Musicals is a reliable supplier of all harmonium models typical of Delhi and North-West India. In 2014 and the following years, instruments from Sharma Musicals had temporarily been sold in the USA under the name Bhava Harmonium and were recommended by renowned kirtan teacher Daniel Tucker back then. Sharma Musicals is a partner of India Instruments since 2016.

Tuning

In India, our harmoniums are tuned in equal temperament to Western standard pitch with a = 440 hertz. However, due to lower average air temperatures, they often sound slightly higher at a = 441 to 442 hertz in Europe. The difference is so small, that even trained ears do not necessarily notice it. Nevertheless the difference may create problems in studio productions or when playing together with instruments with a tuning that can not easily be adjusted. Therefore we offer individual manual tuning to a = 440 hertz (or any other reference pitch close to that) on request without extra cost. We can also supply custom-made harmoniums with considerably different tunings (e.g. a = 432 hertz). Please contact us if you're interested in that.

Size

Measure: height 24 cm, width 42 cm, depth 33 cm, weight: 5 kg
Each instrument is individually hand-crafted and might differ from our description.