The group has 65 active harmonica or “mouth organ” players, among them several women, as members. “Our only aim is to spread awareness about this dying instrument and have fun while playing it,” said founding member Ajitsinh Gaekwad. “Every Saturday evening, at least 50 of us get together and improvise and compose new tunes using this simple yet mellifluous instrument,” he said.

With the youngest member being only nine years old and the oldest, Yusuf Shaikh, 85, this group has been serenading, albeit quietly, a large number of people in the city. They play mostly for the old people and patients in the hospitals. “We play at special gatherings for old people and recently we performed for a group of cancer patients, who found it very easy to connect to a harmonica, especially when we played old tunes like yaad kiya dil kahan ho tum,” Gaekwad said.

First started as an informal group sometime in the 1960s, the Harmonica Players have a galaxy of accomplished players. “Apurva Bhatt and Prabhakar Bhatt, who are very accomplished and well known among the circuit of harmonica players in India, are members of the Baroda Harmonica Players,” Gaekwad said.

The group meets every Saturday from seven to 10 pm and jam together at Gaekwad's home at Pashabhai Park, Race Course.

For Gaekwad, it was Colonel Bogey's tune from the Hollywood classic Bridge On The River Kwai that brought him into the limelight. “One of my friends from the Rosary School gave me a harmonica that he bought from Europe and I started mastering the Colonel Bogey tune,” Gaekwad said. He was playing the instrument secretly at school when one of his teachers identified his talent and asked him to perform with the choir.

Although he is a businessman, that doesn't stop Gaekwad from composing a tune everyday, even when he is stuck in traffic. “It is so easy to carry this instrument, as it fits in your pocket and doesn't need power or electricity. Whenever I feel like playing, I just need to check my pockets and the music starts,” he said.

On the other hand, for Amjad Khan, it took just six months to master the instrument. “When Amjad came for a party, six months ago, someone told him he should try his hands on the instrument and he took it upon himself to learn it within six months… and now he is one of the best players in the group," Gaekwad said.