Photos: Meerut’s brass instrument makers contend with time’s changing tune

Updated On Mar 20, 2018 09:51 am IST

A small, nondescript neighbourhood in Meerut provides 95% of brass instruments to wedding bands across the country — from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. However, this decades-old business has been on a downward trend as almost half of the 100 units that were operating in Meerut's Jali Kothi neighbourhood have closed down in recent years and those still around rue a lack of government aid in preserving the industry along with dwindling demand from a changing clientele.

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Sabir Ali, a brass instrument maker, poses at his shop in Meerut. Of the city famous for its sports and publishing industry, not many know that 95% of wind instruments — trumpets, euphoniums, bugles, cornets and clarinets used by wedding bands from Kashmir to Kanyakumari — are made in Meerut. An aspiration among musicians, the country’s top brass bands come here to source their instruments. (Sanchit Khanna / HT Photo)

Updated on Mar 20, 2018 09:51 am IST

Sabir Ali, a brass instrument maker, poses at his shop in Meerut. Of the city famous for its sports and publishing industry, not many know that 95% of wind instruments — trumpets, euphoniums, bugles, cornets and clarinets used by wedding bands from Kashmir to Kanyakumari — are made in Meerut. An aspiration among musicians, the country’s top brass bands come here to source their instruments. (Sanchit Khanna / HT Photo)

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Nadir Ali & Co. began as a wedding band in 1885 when Nadir Ali, a band leader in the British Army raised his own company with his cousin Imam Buksh and began making instruments in 1911. “As our popularity grew and bands flocked to Meerut to buy instruments, some of our former employees saw an opportunity. They quit their jobs to start their own small factories,” said Aftab Ahmad, Buksh’s great-grandson. (Sanchit Khanna / HT Photo)

Updated on Mar 20, 2018 09:51 am IST

Nadir Ali & Co. began as a wedding band in 1885 when Nadir Ali, a band leader in the British Army raised his own company with his cousin Imam Buksh and began making instruments in 1911. “As our popularity grew and bands flocked to Meerut to buy instruments, some of our former employees saw an opportunity. They quit their jobs to start their own small factories,” said Aftab Ahmad, Buksh’s great-grandson. (Sanchit Khanna / HT Photo)

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By the 1950s, the Jali Kothi neighbourhood had become a musical instruments manufacturing hub. Its busy main street, where rickshaws, cars and carts honk and jostle for space is lined with music shops, their fronts festooned with drums and a range of gleaming trumpets and euphoniums. (Sanchit Khanna / HT Photo)

Updated on Mar 20, 2018 09:51 am IST

By the 1950s, the Jali Kothi neighbourhood had become a musical instruments manufacturing hub. Its busy main street, where rickshaws, cars and carts honk and jostle for space is lined with music shops, their fronts festooned with drums and a range of gleaming trumpets and euphoniums. (Sanchit Khanna / HT Photo)

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A worker gives finishing touches to a trumpet. Aftab Ahmad, the grand old man of Meerut’s brass instruments industry is now retired and family members look after the business. A living encyclopedia on wind instruments, Ahmad is credited with many innovations in the industry. From apprenticing at the Zildjian factory in Turkey to Dineley Rehearsals Studios on Baker Street, he has travelled the world to learn new technology, processes, and machinery. (Sanchit Khanna / HT Photo)

Updated on Mar 20, 2018 09:51 am IST

A worker gives finishing touches to a trumpet. Aftab Ahmad, the grand old man of Meerut’s brass instruments industry is now retired and family members look after the business. A living encyclopedia on wind instruments, Ahmad is credited with many innovations in the industry. From apprenticing at the Zildjian factory in Turkey to Dineley Rehearsals Studios on Baker Street, he has travelled the world to learn new technology, processes, and machinery. (Sanchit Khanna / HT Photo)

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Noor Alam tests a freshly minted trumpet at Nadir Ali & Co. in Meerut. Not happy with the pitch Alam changes position and blows harder, playing a popular Kishore Kumar tune. “We don’t have a testing laboratory here but I can instantly recognize a false note,” the instrument tester said. (Sanchit Khanna / HT Photo)

Updated on Mar 20, 2018 09:51 am IST

Noor Alam tests a freshly minted trumpet at Nadir Ali & Co. in Meerut. Not happy with the pitch Alam changes position and blows harder, playing a popular Kishore Kumar tune. “We don’t have a testing laboratory here but I can instantly recognize a false note,” the instrument tester said. (Sanchit Khanna / HT Photo)

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While Nadir Ali & Co. is known for trumpets and euphoniums, other manufacturers such as ‘Bashir bhai’ and Sabir Ali in Jali Kothi are known for sousaphones. Sabir Ali, 55, who has been making the instrument for 40 years in a small workshop, says creating instruments out of metal sheets, rods and tubes may look like a mechanical process, but is more of an ‘art’. (Sanchit Khanna / HT Photo)

Updated on Mar 20, 2018 09:51 am IST

While Nadir Ali & Co. is known for trumpets and euphoniums, other manufacturers such as ‘Bashir bhai’ and Sabir Ali in Jali Kothi are known for sousaphones. Sabir Ali, 55, who has been making the instrument for 40 years in a small workshop, says creating instruments out of metal sheets, rods and tubes may look like a mechanical process, but is more of an ‘art’. (Sanchit Khanna / HT Photo)

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However, this decades-old industry has been dwindling with almost half of the 100 units that operated in the area closing down in recent years. “Bands from Punjab and Haryana have almost stopped buying from us. A lot of bands use Casio and synthesizers during the marriage processions instead,” said Ali. The 40-odd traders in Jali Kothi who sell and export instruments have similar tales to tell. (Sanchit Khanna / HT Photo)

Updated on Mar 20, 2018 09:51 am IST

However, this decades-old industry has been dwindling with almost half of the 100 units that operated in the area closing down in recent years. “Bands from Punjab and Haryana have almost stopped buying from us. A lot of bands use Casio and synthesizers during the marriage processions instead,” said Ali. The 40-odd traders in Jali Kothi who sell and export instruments have similar tales to tell. (Sanchit Khanna / HT Photo)

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In an attempt to prevent the ongoing decline, many traders are now trying to survive by selling on e-marketplaces to customers abroad. “On the one hand, the government talks about skill development and start-up India, on the other it is allowing the music instrument industry here to die a slow death,” said Md Rahman, 24, an MBA who runs Rose Band Co. (Sanchit Khanna / HT Photo)

Updated on Mar 20, 2018 09:51 am IST

In an attempt to prevent the ongoing decline, many traders are now trying to survive by selling on e-marketplaces to customers abroad. “On the one hand, the government talks about skill development and start-up India, on the other it is allowing the music instrument industry here to die a slow death,” said Md Rahman, 24, an MBA who runs Rose Band Co. (Sanchit Khanna / HT Photo)

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Back at Nadir Ali and Co.-- the factory housed in a heritage building with a magnificent fort-like facade has been a must-visit place for people with a passion for music. “Naushad, Dilip Kumar, Saira Banu, BR Chopra, Muzaffar Ali all have visited our factory,” said a proud Farhat Masud, a supevisor at the company. (Sanchit Khanna / HT Photo)

Updated on Mar 20, 2018 09:51 am IST

Back at Nadir Ali and Co.-- the factory housed in a heritage building with a magnificent fort-like facade has been a must-visit place for people with a passion for music. “Naushad, Dilip Kumar, Saira Banu, BR Chopra, Muzaffar Ali all have visited our factory,” said a proud Farhat Masud, a supevisor at the company. (Sanchit Khanna / HT Photo)

News / Photos / News / Photos: Meerut’s brass instrument makers contend with time’s changing tune

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