Musical tribute

And the crown of his collection is a 47-string concert harp that was part of Michael Jackson’s Mumbai concert in 1996. The harp,made of oakwood,was bought from an antique dealer in 2007 and restored by Jigar and his father Deepak Shah. It has a 23-carat gold decoration from pedestal to crown. “It’s simply majestic. I remember seeing its picture in a newspaper when MJ auctioned it after his concert. I had also seen it with an acquaintance of mine later,but never knew I would buy it someday,” says Jigar who runs an event management company.

An MJ fan,he feels special to possess a musical instrument that was part of the entourage of the King of Pop. “Absolutely,I’m a big fan of MJ. In fact,I’ve organised around 20 shows on his songs… When we got the harp,it could not be played; the strings were damaged,some parts were missing. Then I got in touch with its makers in Italy. They were delighted that the harp made 28 years ago had owners who wanted to restore it; their experts came here and repaired it free of cost.”

The Minerva-model harp was made by Savli Harps Inc in 1982.

Thanks to his father — a sangeet visharad from Bhatkhande University,Lucknow — and mother,a disciple of Purshottam Das Jalota,Jigar’s connection with music and musical instruments began very early in life. He started learning harmonium at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan,Chowpatty,when he was eight. Later he went to Trinity College of Music,UK,for a music major course,followed by sound engineering.

“At Bhavan,they do not take students below 18 years of age and I was only eight then; they refused to enrol me. My mother requested them to listen to what I play. And after that,they said I played better than their batch of students.”

He plays harmonium,keyboard,piano,flute,violin and saxophone now; and is taking lessons in accordion.

For him,music has always been acoustic. Even in shows that he organises,he stresses more on acoustic instruments. “You see a lot of people learning the keyboard,guitars and even drums,but you never see someone going to learn harmonica,or even violins nowadays. I am learning accordion,saxophone,violin¿ these instruments are not those many go for.”

And the concert harp,a delicate and cumbersome-to-transport instrument,is now being used by artists from across the world visiting Mumbai for shows,courtesy Jigar.