Welcome to a unique selection, one-of-a-kind in the world, harmoniums from the BiBa Harmonium Museum that are being offered for sale in support of the museum’s continued upkeep. 

The harmonium instrument having classic origins in Europe, standing upright and foot pedaled, was introduced into India by the British when Christianity was being evangelized during colonization in the 1800s.  The original reconfigured Indian harmonium, as we know it today, was small, simple and humble.Different venues within India adapted the harmonium sound,from the original European reed organ overtones, as it was transformed for playing classical Indian Rags, devotional kirtan, temple chants and Sufi mystical outpourings.   The craft of making the Indian style harmonium may have reached its zenith in the 1970’s -80’s.  First second even third generation craftsmen were dying out and the underlying skills that knew the subtletiesof creating this wonderful musical instrument was being lost. 

I personally had been searching for a wonderful playing dulcitina since the 1970’s and was frustrated at what was available from India. In the late 1990’s when in India I made the acquaintance of Ricky Singh of BiBa Music Emporium and together have been collaborating for the past 25 yearsdeveloping truly some the finest harmoniums in the world today; to breathe new life, a harmonium renaissance, for a wonderful instrument and fledgling art. We spent early years evaluating air flow dynamics, and elements of the harmonium that contribute to resonance and sound quality. 

Some of these harmoniums being offered for sale today are built with old European German and French reeds and others with the finest contemporary Indian Palitana reeds. Air dynamics engineered for a quick response while retaining a long comfortable sustain. Each harmonium individually conceived and created with sounds, overtones and voicing producingbeautiful and unique expression. 

India has long been renowned for their beautiful handmade crafts and exquisite devotional expression. For these special harmoniums we imbued them with wood carvings, inlaid marquetry, stone and Mother-of-Pearl adornments as well as using exotic select hard woods from India and from around the world. Keys of real mother-of-pearl, bone and nylon. 

The time and effort invested in the iterative process of buildingthese one-of-a-kind instruments was to learn how to generally improve on salient harmonium features to make them more easily understood, appreciated and accessible to devotees all over the world. Just as importantly these unique harmoniums were conceived and created to inculcate a sense of pride in the harmonium craft community. What we learned from this effort was rolled into a vast array of production harmonium models offered for sale commercially.

I invite you to enjoy this unique private offering. Please come and play any of these harmoniums that are being offered for sale as well as experience the many others that are part of the BiBaHarmonium Museum. I am more than happy to chat, discuss and demonstrate any of these instruments.