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Melbourne, March 28 Hariharan, a prolific singer, was born in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, on April 3, 1955. But he was brought up in Mumbai in a Tamil Brahmin family. His schooling was accomplished at Don Bosco High School in Matunga. He has a distinguished academic career behind him with a bachelor's degree in science and a law degree from St. Xavier's College in Mumbai. He learned his Carnatic music skills from his parents who were deeply into this form and made quite a name for themselves in the same field. His mother was the noted vocalist ShrimatiAlamelu, and his father was late AnanthaSubramani. Both his mother and father became his music mentors. However, as it so happens in Indian culture, in an earlier interview to a news magazine, Hariharan had credited his mother for all the success he possesses today.In fact, according to him, the quality of versatility in music in him came from his mother who loved good music irrespective of genre. Her teaching was that true music touches one’s soul.

The inspirational part of his career is of course paying heed to the call of his heart, which is often ignored or compelled to ignore in India, when it comes to choosing a career option for the youngsters. Hariharan pursued his academics seriously and completed his degrees inscienceandlaw. But his heart’s calling was for music, and it was so loud and clear that he decided to make a career in music. The commitment he made to himself was fulfilled through sheer hard work and passion. Taking lessons in Hindustani music from the renowned UstadGhulam Mustafa Khan, learning ghazal-singing skills, even learning Urdu for a year, shows his unflinching commitment to music. In fact, his determination to pursue singing made him dedicate nine hours of his everyday routine to singing.

In 1977, Hariharan had won the winner's trophy in the singing reality show, All-India Sur Singaar. This win brought him to limelight as he was offered a singing assignment for the Hindi film, Gaman by music director Jaidev. Hariharan’s debut song was AjeebSaanehaMujh Par Guzar Gaya Yaaron in that movie. The song became a hit and he was given an Uttar Pradesh state award for his endeavour in singing the song. Besides, he also bagged the Best Singer National Award nomination.

Hariharan has also given many hits to Bollywood, and he attributes much of the credit for that to maestro AR Rahman. Hariharan has sung many songs for AR Rahman, which have been hits. The movies he has sung for are Roja, MinsaraKanavu, Jeans, Indian, Mudhalvan, Taal, Bombay, Rangeela, Indira, Iruvar, AnbeAaruyire, KangalalKaithuSei, Sivaji, Alaipayuthey, KannathilMuthamittal, Guru, and many others.

He has been awarded the Padma Shri for his contribution to music. Hariharan has sung 500 Tamil, 200 Hindi songs, and nearly 30 ghazal albums till now.

Melbourne, March 28 Hariharan’s name evokes memories of his soulful songs across genres. He has proved himself to be wellverse with a diversity of genres, from classical, semi-classical to fusion. The effortless ease with which he unleashes the best of songs in his mellifluous voice, reverberates in the hearts of his audience. But his tryst with ghazal has been the most interesting one, and very much close to his heart, as he has told many of his interviewers. He feels the charm of ghazal is undeniable. While learning khayalgayaki from Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan saab, Hariharan was inspired by Pakistani legendary singer Mehdi Hasan’s style of music around 1976. His natural urge was to follow his style because he used the khayalang beautifully in his singing. And in one of the interviews done in 2022 with The Times of India, Hariharan said that Mehdi Hasan became his ruhaani guru then, and he started learning from him in 1985. In fact, Hariharan reminisces, that Mehdi Hasan taught him a lot of things, and being conversational in style, listening to Mehdi would feel as if he was only singing for you. Praising Mehdi HasanHariharan says the maestro was like a university, and he learned a lot from him in terms of the gharana and his style. And it is not just about singing alone. Hariharan paid attention to every detail, language in particular, that ought to be impeccable if he were to scale the heights of ghazal singing. That’s why he learned Urdu for one year before he sang for Jaidev, a great music composer of yesteryears. In one of the newspaper interviews published earlier, Hariharan says that Jaidev was his friend philosopher and guide. He sang his first Hindi song for Jaidev, which was the ghazal Ajeeb sane ha mujh par ghuzar gaya yaaron/

Maine apne saaye se kal raat darr gaya yaaron for Muzaffar Ali’s film Gaman. Since the Urdu lyrics by Shahryar were complex, Jaidev made him learn Urdu for one full year. Hariharan feels that one year of Urdu coaching has made him a professional ghazal singer. Though he is one of the most famous classical singers of his time and continues to entertain audiences, he is not averse to contemporary music, and feels it cannot be avoided. He is of the view that the music of today has followers, and hence, whatever genre it belongs to, it will remain. However, he believes that while performing on stage, there ought to be a balance between all forms of music. All he asks for is that the music, whatever it may be, should have a soul. He opines that if the rhythm of traditional Indian music mixes well with the beats of the contemporary, then the charm, timelessness and beauty of the oldsong and music shall remain undisturbed. Though originally he was trained in Carnatic as well as Hindustani classical music, Hariharan, in collaboration with Leslie Lewis, created his pop-rock bandColonial Cousinssuccessfully in the ’90s. For Bollywood he has given outstanding songs like ‘Tu hi re’ (Bombay; 1995) and ‘Baahon ke darmiyan’ (Khamoshi: The Musical; 1996). However, he has repeatedly maintained that his forte is ghazals.

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