The name given by Alexandre-François Debain to a small Reed organ patented in 1842. This original instrument had a three-octave keyboard, one set of reeds and a single blowing pedal. The name was later extensively used in England and on the Continent to refer to all reed organs, of whatever size or construction. Larger instruments in Germany were sometimes called ‘Kunstharmonium’.
Such instruments were widely disseminated, especially by the colonial powers, in Africa and India, where they came to play an important role in local traditions. The harmonium was introduced into India by French missionaries, probably around the middle of the 19th century (Indian terms for it are hārmo niam, hārmoniā, ārmoniā). Though upright models are found, the most common is a small portable instrument set in a box. Models are made in various sizes with a range of stops and couplers. The instrument is usually played while sitting on the floor, the player fingering the keyboard with one hand and pumping a bellows at the back with the other. Its use is widespread in the provision of heterophonic contrapuntal texture for vocal music (where it is often played by the singer himself) in a wide range of classical and urban popular styles. It is less frequently found in village music contexts. It has for a long time been manufactured in India and Pakistan; Palitana, in Gujarat, is regarded as a centre of manufacture of the reeds.
As it is a fixed-pitch instrument, its use in Indian music has been criticized (and was banned on Indian radio for some years) on the grounds that it does not conform to the traditional flexible intonation.
N.A. Jairazbhoy: The Rags of North Indian Music (London and Middletown, CT, 1971/R)
B.C. Deva: Musical Instruments of India (Calcutta, 1978)
BARBARA OWEN, ALASTAIR DICK