Hariharan (singer)

Hariharan

Hariharan in February 2014
Background information
Born 1955 (age 59–60)
Mumbai
Genres Ghazal, Hindustani classical music
Occupation(s) Playback singer
Years active 1977–present
Associated acts Colonial Cousins, Lesle Lewis
Website singerhariharan.com

Hariharan (born 1955) is an Indian playback singer who has sung for Malayalam, Tamil, Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Bhojpuri and Telugu films, an established ghazal singer, and one of the pioneers of Indian fusion music. In 2004, he was honoured with the Padma Shri by the Government of India and is a two-time National Award winner.

Hariharan, associating with Lesle Lewis, formed Colonial Cousins, a two-member band. They have cut many private music albums and also scored music for few feature films in Tamil cinema and Bollywood cinema.

Early life

Born in Mumbai to a Tamil Iyer family, he grew up in Mumbai and has bachelor degrees in science and law. He is fluent in speaking Malayalam, Tamil and Hindi. He did his collegiate studies from S.I.E.S. College. The son of renowned Carnatic vocalists, Shrimati Alamelu and the late H.A.S. Mani (full name:Anantha Subramani Iyer), he inherited his parents' musical talents. Alamelu was Hariharan's first guru (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 , Hariharan developed a passion for ghazals and started training in Hindustani music from Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan. He used to put in thirteen hours of singing practice everyday.

Career

Further information: Hariharan discography

Film career

Hariharan performing at A R Rahman's concert, Sydney (2010)

At the start of his career, Hariharan did the concert circuit and also performed on TV. He sang for a number of TV serials (e.g., Junoon). In 1977, he won the top prize in the "All India Sur Singaar Competition" and was promptly signed on by the late music director Jaidev to sing for his new Hindi film Gaman (1978). His debut song "Ajeeb Sa neha Mujh Par Guzar gaya yaaron" in that movie became such a hit that it won him an Uttar Pradesh State Film Award, as well as a National Award nomination.[1]

Hariharan entered the world of Tamil films in 1992 introduced by debutant music director A.R. Rahman with the patriotic song "Thamizha Thamizha" in Maniratnam's film Roja.[2] 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" also by music director A.R Rahman in Maniratnam's Bombay (Hariharan sang the song with K.S. Chithra). Hariharan has been one of the most trusted singers of Rahman and has sung many songs for him in long list of movies that includes Muthu, Minsara Kanavu, Jeans, Indian, Mudhalvan, Taal, Rangeela, Indira, Iruvar, Anbe Aaruyire, Kangalal Kaithu Sei, Sivaji, Alaipayuthey, Kannathil Muthamittal, Guru, Enthiran etc. In 1998, Hariharan won the national award for the best playback singer for the soulful rendition of the song "Mere Dushman Mere Bhai" from the Hindi movie Border, composed by Anu Malik. Hariharan got another National Award for the Marathi song "Jiv Rangla" from Jogwa, set to tune by Ajay Atul in the year 2009.[3]

He has sung more than 500 Tamil songs and nearly 200 Hindi songs. He has also sung hundreds of songs in Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi and Bengali languages.

Hariharan has acted in a Tamil film with Khushboo, Power of Women, and played cameo roles in the Tamil film Boys and the Malayalam film Millennium Stars.

Ghazals

Hariharan is one of the foremost Indian ghazal singers and composers with more than thirty albums to his credit.[4] In his early career, he cut several successful ghazal albums, writing most of the scores himself. One of Hariharan's first ghazal albums was Aabshar-e-Ghazal with Asha Bhosle, which went gold in sales.[4] 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 1995.[4] The other major ghazal albums by him are Hazir (1992), Jashn (1996), Halka Nasha (1996), Paigham (1997), Kaash (2000), Lahore Ke Rang Hari Ke Sang (2005), and Guftagoo.[4] His live concert recordings, Hariharan in Concert (1990), Saptarishi (1996) and Swar Utsav (2001) were run away successes. His latest ghazal album is Lafzz... (2008). Hariharan worked with tabla maestro Zakir Hussain on his album Hazir.[4] The album Lahore Ke Rang Hari Ke Sang with renowned ghazal composers from Pakistan won him rave reviews and critical acclaim inside and outside India. A.R. Rahman was an avid listener of his ghazals way before roping him in to sing his first song in Tamil film music, "Thamizha Thamizha", for the film Roja.

Colonial Cousins

The year 1996 was a career milestone; he formed the band Colonial Cousins with Mumbai-based composer and singer Lesle Lewis.[5] Their first album, Colonial Cousins was a fusion album and was the first Indian act to be featured on MTV Unplugged.[6] It won a string of awards including the MTV Indian Viewers' Choice award and Billboard Award for the Best Asian Music Group.[4][6] By this single album, Hariharan established himself as one of the pioneers of Indian fusion music. The next albums by this band were The Way We Do It (1998) and Aatma (2001) but were fairly noticed. Colonial Cousins released their fourth studio album "Once More" on 29 October 2012 under the label Universal. The 2009 Tamil film Modhi Vilayadu had score and soundtrack composed by Colonial Cousins.[7] They also scored the 2010 Tamil film Chikku Bukku.

Recent years

Hariharan

In 2004, he was awarded the prestigious Padma Shri and Yesudas Award for his outstanding performance in music.[8][9]

Hariharan collaborated with Pakistan based band Strings for a track called "Bolo Bolo".[10] He released an album called Destiny with Punjabi / bhangra artist Daler Mehndi.[11] He also coined the terminology "Urdu Blues" with his fairly successful album Kaash which featured musicians like Anandan Sivamani the percussion maestro, Ustad Rashid Mustafa on tabla, Ustad Liyaqat Ali Khan on sitar and Ustad Sultan Khan on sarangi. He also performed the Swagatham song in the 2010 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony held in New Delhi on 3 October.[12]

In 2014 he launched his official website.[13] He is also now active on Social Media with his facebook page garnering more than 1.7 million likes. He tweets often with latest tweet count reaching more than 2300[14][15]

He is currently appearing in a music show in Jaya TV named Hari Yudan Naan which is aired every Thursday, Friday and Saturdays at 9:00 pm.[16]

Hariharan collaborated with Sarangan Sriranganathan for "Sruthi" at the Sydney Hill Centre and the Melbourne Robert Blackwood Hall Australia in 2011[17] Hariharan also unofficially released ghazal singer Adithya Srinivasan's first international single 'Gham e Duniya' at the Gateway Hotel, Bangalore.[18] Hariharan has been selected as judge for Asianet Star Singer Season 6 programme, a very popular music contest television show for upcoming singers in Malayalam.

New Marathi movie "Shyamche Vadil" was released on 12 December 2012 which was a major success. "Saare Punha Athave" song was sung by Hariharan.

Major awards

Civilian Awards
National Film Awards
Kerala State Film Awards
Swaralaya-Kairali-Yesudas Award
Tamil Nadu State Film Awards
Nandi Awards
Asianet Film Awards
Kalakar Awards-
Filmfare Awards South-

Discography

Main article: Hariharan discography
Albums by Colonial Cousins

Featured albums

Main article: Hariharan discography
  • JAN GAN MAN – by AR Rahman
  • 1995 Meghutam – The Cloud Messenger (Pt. Vishwamohan Bhatt)
  • 2000 Sartaj
  • 2002 Tum Aaye
  • 2004 Dhaani
  • 2008 Tum Jo Mile
  • 2009 Lajwaab – Tribute to Medi Hasan
  • Asha wali Dhoop
  • Chand Ke Saath
  • 2011 Hasrat
  • 2011 Sarhadein: Music Beyond Boundaries
  • 2014 JIL (Just In Love): Music By Dr. Kelvin Jeyakanth

Filmography

For his of major film songs, see Hariharan discography.

References

  1. ↑ Although he made his debut a long time ago, Hariharan was first noticed in a duet with Kavita Krishnamurthy in "Hai Mubarak Aaj ka Din" from Boxer (1984), which was composed by R D Burman. Hariharan. Hummaa.com. Retrieved on 1 January 2012.
  2. ↑ "Life at 50". The Hindu. Retrieved 11 April 2005.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "56th National Film Awards, 2008" (PDF). pib.nic.in.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 "Artist biography: Hariharan". Indianmusicinfo.com. Retrieved 28 January 2011
  5. ↑ "Harmonious synthesis". The Hindu. 23 January 2003.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Colonial Cousins to regale Bangaloreans". The Hindu. 23 September 2004.
  7. ↑ "Colonial Cousins' debut in Tamil". The Hindu. 25 July 2009.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Padma Shri Award recipients list". India.gov.in. Retrieved on 1 January 2012.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Swaralaya award for Hariharan". The Hindu. 26 October 2004.
  10. ↑ "Gee, STRINGS!". The Hindu. 19 June 2004.
  11. ↑ "Chords and notes: Destiny". The Hindu. 16 November 2005.
  12. ↑ "Children welcome CWG guests with Namaste; Hariharan performs". Hindustan Times. 3 October 2010.
  13. ↑ http://www.singerhariharan.com
  14. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hariharan-A/199734650113948?ref=hl
  15. ↑ https://twitter.com/singerhariharan
  16. ↑ "Hari Yudan Nan". Jayanetwork.in. Retrieved on 1 January 2012.
  17. ↑ "Sruthi Melbourne. Keep Your Night Free". Retrieved on 1 January 2012.
  18. ↑ "Bangalore Mirror / Music : Singers Bond". Bangalore Mirror. 2 April 2013. Retrieved 4 August 2013.
  19. ↑ "Mammootty, Mohanlal bag Asianet film awards yet again". Indo-Asian News Service. NDTV. 1 January 2011.

External links

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