The Sunday Read: The accordionist

The Sunday Read: The accordionist
MB Prakash has been playing the accordion professionally for 17 years now
By R Prashanth Vidyasagar

Musician who is among the few to play novel instrument tells us about his enchanting journey


It is quite rare to come across someone with an enchanting life story that revolves around music. Making it even rarer is the fact that the person plays a novel instrument and has done so professionally for over 17 years. We spoke to the accordion legend MB Prakash (73), one of the few in the city and country about his amazing journey, being self-taught, and his tryst with the accordion.


Excerpts from the interview.

The beauty of Basavanagudi
I lived in Ranga Rao Road, Shankarapura at Basavanagudi that had four accordionists just in the first section of that road. Hearing them play as I returned from school was a common occurrence. More so during my summer vacations, when we would return home late after playing. Late in those days means 7 pm unlike today. Bangalore was quiet and the weather pleasant, so windows were usually kept open. While walking back home, I could hear people play and some even played near their windows. The music and the instrument left a great impression on me and this could be considered the starting point of it all.

A Rs-3,000 accordion when petrol cost 70 paise!
I started playing harmonica and due to my migraine, I was asked to give it up so my father asked me if I was interested in playing anything else, that is when I picked accordion. My father wasn’t happy with the price and make of accordions here.
That is when I learnt that my father’s cousin was coming from England. I used the cheapest means of communication called Aerogram (would take nine days for a mail to be sent) back then and wrote to the only German company I knew of who were making accordions, they in turn handed this over to their counterpart in England. After asking me for some details they suggested an accordion that was suitable for a beginner like me. So, my uncle got it to India. This is how I came to own my first accordion when I was about 16. My parents never told me how much it cost; I’m guessing it could have been around Rs 3,000 all inclusive. Just to put things into perspective, petrol was about 70 paise a litre then.

Rs 10 per programme
I couldn’t find a teacher to teach me the accordion. My father got me a piano tutor, through whom I learnt the basics of musical notations (from a book as well), based on that I learnt to read music and play. I represented my college later in fests and emerged as a shield winner. Back then there was something called the youth programme on All India Radio (AIR), I wanted to play for them. I requested an audition asking them to let me only if they deemed me fit to play in their programme.
A month later I got a letter from AIR on behalf of the President of India asking me to play. I played about 10 programmes and for each, I was paid Rs 10 on an RBI cheque.

The first show
Post that I had to take up a profession because of which I couldn’t play for about eight years. Somewhere around this time interest shifted to piano but lots of my friends put their children in my tutelage to learn piano. Teaching took away all my time and I had to dismantle the piano. But things got me back to accordion. I got a request from Bangalore School of Music to play for French Bastille day at Alliance, so I asked a friend of mine to join me and that was my first arrangement. That was my first exposure and experience. And then I decided that once a year I have to play to keep this going at any kind of event. One such programme actually led to the formation of the accordion band Tremolos (Bangalore) with Benne Ravi and Rajeev Das Mohopatra, the only accordion trio in India. Our common interest was European folk dances, we didn’t venture to play Hindi music etc. I wanted to play the music that was meant for the instrument rather than play what I wanted to.

Instruments over time start giving trouble too; the standard accordion I carry uses 450 reeds and weighs 11 kilos. I don’t get some material and some of it is very expensive. I had no one to help me out either

–MB Prakash, musician

Hit by reality
Dev used to play at the erstwhile hotel Ashoka in a band, they wouldn’t always be employed and would run short of funds etc. Being a friend, I supported him but things started falling apart from him, he finally found a gig in Mangalore. He asked for bus charge to go there on a Saturday morning and left. But the bus he was travelling was involved in a tragic accident where about 40 people passed away. This incident affected me a lot.

The leap of faith
My children were still studying, uncertain income and all that was going on in my mind. I was a Tribologist and would make cutting oils.
That is when the chance to play at the Sunday Brunch in Windsor came up. I took a leap of faith and took it up. The brunch became popular and Saturday brunch was introduced. For all the foreigners there this became a nostalgic sound. The gig was a successful one and they asked me to play for another day. The VP of the then Taj Regency (now Vivanta) heard me and wanted to play there, so I ended up playing regularly. But the gig at Taj stopped later owing to the dwindling crowd, courtesy recession. In 2017 there was an accordion competition in France. They wanted me to represent India and be part of the Jury for the international bench. For the first time ever in the history of the festival Indians took part.


From an era when walking home included passing by at least 4 accordionists in a lane in Basavanagudi, to a time when the instrument is played just by a few in the city and even the country

—Prakash has seen it all


What instrument is that?
I had to be self-sufficient in maintaining the accordion and fine tuning it. Instruments over time start giving trouble too; the standard accordion I carry uses 450 reeds and weighs 11 kilos. I don’t get some material and some of it is very expensive. I had no one to help me out either. So, I had to make my own substitutions. Legendary artist José Feliciano, who I had a chance to play for, recognised this. He even sang as I played, when I later went to thank him, he reached out to me (he was visually challenged) and asked me what instrument do you play? I told him it was the accordion and he said it was just wonderful.

The pandemic pause

I kept myself busy by restoring my accordions and practising my craft. Many artists faced challenging times during this period. Artists have no government support, PF or other benefits. The day you play, you earn. I was lucky enough as I had support from my family and my kids are grown up now. I recently played at the Windsor as part of their 40th year celebrations and hope to get back to playing regularly soon.

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