Hariharan (singer)
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Hariharan (born 3 April, in Puthan Theruvu (Thiruvananthapuram), Kerala in 1955) is an Indian playback singer in Hindi, Telugu, & [Tamil movie]]s, an established ghazal singer, and one of the pioneers of Indian fusion music.
Hariharan grew up in Bombay (Mumbai) and has bachelor degrees in science and law. The son of renowned Carnatic vocalists, Shrimati Alamelu and the late H.A.S. Mani, Hariharan inherited his parents' musical talents. Alamelu was Hariharan's first guruji (mentor). From her he picked up Carnatic music skills. He was also exposed to Hindustani music from a young age. In his teens, inspired by the songs of Mehdi Hassan and Jagjit Singh, Hariharan developed a passion for ghazals and started training in Hindustani music from Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan. He used to put in nine hours of singing practice everyday. The committed Hariharan also put heart and soul into learning Urdu when he decided to become a ghazal singer. He has perfected his Urdu diction to such standards that even his audiences in Lucknow, the heartland of the language, have been wowed over.
In 1977, Hariharan bagged the top prize in the All-India Sur Singaar competition and was promptly signed on by the late music director Jaidev to sing for the Hindi film "Gaman". His ghazal "Ajeeb Saane He Mujh Par Qarar" in that movie became such a hit that it won Hariharan an Uttar Pradesh state award, and Hariharan's playback singing career took off.
In his early years, Hariharan did the concert circuit and also performed on TV. He sang for a number of TV serials (e.g., "Junoon") and has sung with many Pakistani musicians (e.g., in "Strings"). In addition, he cut several successful ghazal albums, writing most of the scores himself. One of Hariharan's first ghazal albums was "Abshaar-e-Ghazal" with Asha Bhonsle, which went gold in sales. Another outstanding ghazal album was "Gulfam", which not only hit double platinum in sales but also fetched Hariharan the Diva Award for the Best Album of the Year in 1994.
Hariharan entered the Tamil filmdom in 1992 with the patriotic song Thamizha Thamizha in Maniratnam's film Roja. He was judged best male playback singer in the 1995 Tamil Nadu State Government Film Awards for his soulful rendition of the song Uyire Uyire in Maniratnam's Bombay (Hariharan sung Uyire Uyire with Chitra). Uyire Uyire is better known as Tu Hi Re in its Hindi version. In the Hindi version he sang the song with Kavita Krishnamurthy. Krishnamurthy was judged best Hindi female playback singer for Tu Hi Re. Hariharan won the national award for the best playback singer for the soulful rendition of the song "mere dost mere bhai" from the hindi movie Border, composed by Anu Malik'.
The year 1996 was a career milestone; he released the fusion album Colonial Cousins with Bombay-based composer/singer Leslie Lewis. This was the first Indian act to be featured on MTV Unplugged. It won a string of awards including the MTV Indian Viewers' Choice award.
Best known for his soothing voice, many are surprised at Hariharan's age after listening to one of his songs. Over 50 years old, and still going strong, Hariharan is a force to be reckoned with in the world of music.Despite being an admirer of Mohd Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Yesudas and S.P. Balasubramaniam, Hariharan has developed a distinctive style of his own; one that will live on for many generations.
In 2004, he was awarded the prestigious Padma Shri and Yesudas Award for his outstanding performance in music.
Hariharan also collaborated with pakistan based band Strings for a track called "bolo bolo". Hariharan released an album called destiny with punjabi / bhangra artiste Daler Mehndi. His newest Ghazal album "Lahore ke rang, Hari ke sang" with renowned ghazal composers from pakistan won him rave reviews and critical acclaim inside and outside india. He also coined the terminology "Urdu Blues" with his immensely successful album "kaash" which featured musicians like [Anandan Sivamani]] the percussion maestro, Ustaad Rashid mustafa on tabla, Ustad Liyaqat Ali Khan on Sitar & Ustad Sultan Khan on Sarangi. Hariharan also worked with tabla maestro Zakir Hussain on his ghazal album Haazir.
