The Hindu Business Line : Versatility is his forte

Be it through his ghazals, Hindustani or Carnatic music, Hariharan is always trying to build a rapport with his audience, because for him, they are a vital part of his music.

At 48, he is more fashionable than a 25-year-old, complete with a ponytail and a lot of jewellery to match his trendy clothes. "I like to wear jewellery. A couple of years ago, I even went on a silver spree," says playback and ghazal singer Hariharan.

It is not just jewellery where he seeks variety. In music too he has made his mark in different forms — Carnatic, Hindustani, ghazals and fusion.

How was this possible?

"Being in Mumbai in a cosmopolitan culture helped me understand various forms of music. And my parents, musically talented themselves, encouraged me to learn Hindustani music from Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan, who was a great maestro. That way, I got the best of both the worlds. And it's melody to the power of two," he says.

This and the creative efforts of Hariharan and Leslie Lewis — the duo perform as a band called Colonial Cousins — resulted, in 1996, in one of the most popular albums, also named Colonial Cousins.

On whether they had expected the album to achieve the kind of success it did, he says, "Nobody has a winning formula. There is always a different perspective on what people want. When the first album of Colonial Cousins was released, the newness of the sound hit. People liked the simple way in which we presented fusion, which is usually explained in a complicated way."

But why haven't the other two albums from the Colonial Cousins struck a chord with the audience?

"There are numbers from the albums that were successful. And it could have also been due to the fact that there is too much of music doing the rounds today, with a lot of people cutting albums, and remix albums being released everyday." He feels that there is a lot of "visual and noise clutter and there is no market for sensible music today".

That brings us to the most critical issue that music companies are facing today — the decline in audio sales. He agrees that FM channels have cut into the audio market — be it films or non-films. "But you cannot singularly blame them. The advances in technology such as MP3s and Web downloads have also affected the sales by a great margin. Today, you get songs for a song," he says.

As a singer who has worked with many music directors, spanning different languages, he feels the current trend in film music has changed dramatically in the last two years.

"The industry is more youth-oriented, today. There is a lot of energy and only energetic and rhythmic music sells these days," he says.

Speaking of the current generation it is but natural to ask him about his children. "My elder son is into learning to play the guitar and the younger one is a rapper," he smiles.

On the kind of songs that would satisfy the musician in him, Hariharan says that whatever one sings, it's important to bring out the right kind of emotion. But melody is very important. "Not just classically-oriented music, even if it's a dappanguthu (Tamil folk music), but is interesting, I would like to sing it," he says.

In an era where `new' talent is being discovered almost everyday, Hariharan says he has managed to hold his ground because "I have learnt music for so many years. Initially, it was the newness that I had in my singing. And I am into a creative space. I believe that you can create a space for yourself, if you know what you are doing. If you sing well, you can sustain your place". Among the current crop of singers, he feels that some of them are good. His advice to budding and aspiring singers: It's important to be classically trained and they should be ready to practise a lot. "Riyaz is very important," he says.

Does he practise regularly? "Now, more than ever," he says.

Hariharan is more than just a singer.. A great film buff, he is debuting as an actor in Power of Women, which is due to hit screens very soon. He enjoyed his acting stint and wants to "do good films... films with good scripts. And I want to act as an anti-hero in a lot of films. I don't want to do the good-man-running-around-tree kind of roles. Negative characters give a lot more scope for variation."

With so much on his hands, how does he manage his time, one wonders. To which, he has this to say, "In fact, it is the other way round. In my case, time manages me. And I like to live my life each day and as it comes."

As for his future, ghazals and classical music top his priority list. "I am very passionate about ghazals. I do a lot of ghazal concerts and want to continue doing so. And I want to teach some promising kids and do some social service too," he adds. This was amply evident from his recent concert at Chennai, in aid of Vidya Sagar (formerly the Spastics Society of India, Chennai).

Quiz him on his most memorable concert, and he talks about his first concert in London... an "out-and-out Tamil concert, attended by a record 10,000 South Indians".

On the stage, you can't help but notice the way Hariharan tries to keep the audience enthralled not just with his music, but also by breaking into a step or two at every possible opportunity, always trying to strike a rapport with the audience by making them a part of his music.

Picture by Bijoy Ghosh

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