By NEHA SARIN
Hariharan is an Indian playback and ghazal singer, whose songs have been featured mainly in Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi, Bhojpuri and Telugu films. He is an established ghazal singer and one of the pioneers of Indian fusion music and a Padma Shree and a two-time National Award winner.
Hariharan is an Indian playback and ghazal singer, whose songs have been featured mainly in Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi, Bhojpuri and Telugu films. He is an established ghazal singer and one of the pioneers of Indian fusion music and a Padma Shree and a two-time National Award winner.
In an exclusive interview with India Journal, he talks about the current music scene, his band and his upcoming concert in SoCal.
You have been a musician for decades. What about the aspect of music intrigued you?
I come from a musical family. My parent were both Carnatic vocalists. It was like an osmosis. I started my initial training with my mother and later did my training in khayal gayaki with Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan.
It was a default mode because there was always music at home but I was interested in music myself and maybe they saw some talent in me.
You have won so many prestigious awards; when you are singing, do you instinctively know that a particular song is special?
I don’t think about awards but I see whether a song is going to stick with people. There are good songs that one performs, but sometimes you know something will create a fervor.
I expected from the songs that won national and state awards that they had something but sometimes it’s the other way too, you expect something from a song, and it doesn’t get you anything.
Your band Colonial Cousins was such a breath of fresh air. Why did you feel the need to form a band at that time?
It just happened. I used to do jingles for Leslie and one day we were just waiting for some script to come and we had time to kill. So he started playing the guitar and 10 mins into it, I started to sing, he changed harmonies and styles and I followed him.
After half an hour, we realized that we had a musical link, and that’s how Colonial Cousins was born by chance.
Besides your parents, who else have been the main musical influences in your life?
Ustad Ghulam Mustafat Khan Saab and music director Jaidevji, who gave me my first break in the film Gaman in 1978. He was a friend, philosopher, guide and guru.
He told me to learn Urdu and introduced me to this world of music.
Mehndi Hassan also inspired me a lot to take ghazals seriously. I mostly draw my inspiration from classical and semi classical music- Mehndi Hasan, Barkat Ali Khan sahab, Bhimsen Joshi, Amir Khan.
How is it performing with family?
My son Akshay is a musician and in fact, he is travelling with me for this US tour and we are doing this segment called ‘Edm’, with a lot of my popular songs. He is actually an economics graduate, but left everything and said that he wants to be a musician.
It’s so nice performing with my family. My younger one also joins us sometime. My younger son is an actor but he does music for fun.
I’m really thrilled about performing and meeting all my fans in the US. I didn’t come last year, so I think its time I come back and meet everybody.
How has the scene changed in terms of music in the last few decades?
The scene has become more rhythmic and fast paced now.
The Indian melody is there but the orchestration is more foot tapping. There are slow tracks but unfortunately doesn’t get played much by the media. What rules the roost are all western tracks.
Non-filmy music doesn’t really have a place as film music is prevalent. Bands have taken a backseat as there no big bands or ghazal singers in the limelight.
‘Pardanasheen ho gaya sab!’
Who are your current favorite musicians?
Arijit is good, and of course there is Shreya and Shankar. Shankar is not new but I love his music.
After a long hard day, how do you unwind?
I don’t listen to music after a concert, maybe watch a movie to unwind.
You have been a musician for decades. What about the aspect of music intrigued you?
I come from a musical family. My parent were both Carnatic vocalists. It was like an osmosis. I started my initial training with my mother and later did my training in khayal gayaki with Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan.
It was a default mode because there was always music at home but I was interested in music myself and maybe they saw some talent in me.
You have won so many prestigious awards; when you are singing, do you instinctively know that a particular song is special?
I don’t think about awards but I see whether a song is going to stick with people. There are good songs that one performs, but sometimes you know something will create a fervor.
I expected from the songs that won national and state awards that they had something but sometimes it’s the other way too, you expect something from a song, and it doesn’t get you anything.
Your band Colonial Cousins was such a breath of fresh air. Why did you feel the need to form a band at that time?
It just happened. I used to do jingles for Leslie and one day we were just waiting for some script to come and we had time to kill. So he started playing the guitar and 10 mins into it, I started to sing, he changed harmonies and styles and I followed him.
After half an hour, we realized that we had a musical link, and that’s how Colonial Cousins was born by chance.
Besides your parents, who else have been the main musical influences in your life?
Ustad Ghulam Mustafat Khan Saab and music director Jaidevji, who gave me my first break in the film Gaman in 1978. He was a friend, philosopher, guide and guru.
He told me to learn Urdu and introduced me to this world of music.
Mehndi Hassan also inspired me a lot to take ghazals seriously. I mostly draw my inspiration from classical and semi classical music- Mehndi Hasan, Barkat Ali Khan sahab, Bhimsen Joshi, Amir Khan.
How is it performing with family?
My son Akshay is a musician and in fact, he is travelling with me for this US tour and we are doing this segment called ‘Edm’, with a lot of my popular songs. He is actually an economics graduate, but left everything and said that he wants to be a musician.
It’s so nice performing with my family. My younger one also joins us sometime. My younger son is an actor but he does music for fun.
I’m really thrilled about performing and meeting all my fans in the US. I didn’t come last year, so I think its time I come back and meet everybody.
How has the scene changed in terms of music in the last few decades?
The scene has become more rhythmic and fast paced now.
The Indian melody is there but the orchestration is more foot tapping. There are slow tracks but unfortunately doesn’t get played much by the media. What rules the roost are all western tracks.
Non-filmy music doesn’t really have a place as film music is prevalent. Bands have taken a backseat as there no big bands or ghazal singers in the limelight.
‘Pardanasheen ho gaya sab!’
Who are your current favorite musicians?
Arijit is good, and of course there is Shreya and Shankar. Shankar is not new but I love his music.
After a long hard day, how do you unwind?
I don’t listen to music after a concert, maybe watch a movie to unwind.
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