HariharanHariharan Anantha Subramani is an Indian playback, bhajan, and ghazal singer. He sings primarily in Tamil, Hindi, and Telugu. Additionally, he is a prominent vocalist of more than 15,000 songs in ten languages, including Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi, Sinhala, Bhojpuri, and Odia. He is a well-known ghazal performer and one of the forerunners of Indian fusion music. He is the recipient of two National Awards and was bestowed with the Padma Shri by the Indian government in 2004. Hariharan started the two-piece band Colonial Cousins after getting along with Lesle Lewis. They have composed music for a few Tamil and Hindi feature films in addition to cutting numerous private CDs. The first devotional song in history, Hanuman Chalisa by Hariharan and the late Gulshan Kumar, released under the T-Series label, reached three billion views on YouTube in 2023. Personal Life
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Early LifeHariharan holds bachelor's degrees in science and law. He was raised in Mumbai, India, in the Tamil Brahmin Iyer family. Hariharan, the late H.A.S. Mani, and the well-known Carnatic vocalist Shrimati Alamelu inherited his parents' musical prowess. The first guru of Hariharan was Alamelu. He learned Carnatic music. Hindustani music was also introduced to him at an early age. Hariharan became passionate about ghazals in his teens after hearing songs by Mehdi Hassan and Jagjit Singh. He also began studying Hindustani music with Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan. He used to practice singing for nine hours every day. When he decided to pursue a career as a ghazal singer, the dedicated Hariharan also gave studying Urdu his all. Even audiences in Lucknow, the Urdu language's birthplace, have been impressed by his flawless command of the language. After Hariharan won the All-India Sur Singaar competition in 1977, the late music director Jaidev quickly hired her to sing in the Hindi movie Gaman. Following the success of his breakthrough song "Ajeeb Saaneha Mujh Par Guzar Gaya Yaaron" in that film, Hariharan's playback singing career took off, and he was nominated for a Best Singer National Award in addition to receiving an Uttar Pradesh state award. Personal Life and EducationThe classical musicians H A S Mani and Alamelu Mani are the parents of Hariharan. In Mumbai, H.A.S. Mani, well known by his loving moniker Chellamani, trained several Carnatic vocalists before passing away in 1963 from cardiac arrest in his early 40s. After a lengthy career as a Carnatic vocalist and renowned instructor, his mother, Alamelu Mani, was bestowed with the title Sangeeta Pracharya in 2019. After completing his education at Don Bosco High School in Matunga, Hariharan earned his degree from SIES College of Arts, Science & Commerce in Mumbai. He then continued his education at Mumbai's St. Xavier's College. CareerFilm CareerIn the early years of his career, Hariharan appeared on T.V. as well as the concert circuit. For several T.V. series, he provided vocals. After placing first in the "All India Sur Singaar Competition" in 1977, the late music director Jaidev quickly signed him to sing in his next Hindi movie, Gaman (1978). That film featured his breakthrough song, "Ajeeb Sa neha Mujh Par Guzar gaya yaaron," which became so popular that it nominated him for a National Award and earned him an Uttar Pradesh State Film Award. In 1992, A.R. Rahman, a young music director, made Hariharan's film début in Tamil with the patriotic song "Thamizha Thamizha" from Maniratnam's Roja. In 1995, the Tamil Nadu State Government Film Awards awarded him the Best Male Playback Singer title for his moving performance of "Uyire Uyire," which was also directed by A.R. Rahman in Maniratnam's Bombay. Hariharan has been one of Rahman's most reliable singers. He has performed numerous songs for him in a long list of films, including Sivaji, Alaipayuthey, Kannathil Muthamittal, Guru, Enthiran, Indian, Mudhalvan, Taal, Rangeela, Indira, Anbe Aaruyire, Kangalal Kaithu Sei, and Minsara Kanavu. He wrote the music for the Indo-Polish motion picture No Means No. Hariharan received the 1998 National Award for Best Playback Singer for his emotional performance of the Anu Malik-composed song "Mere Dushman Mere Bhai" from the Hindi film Border. The Marathi song "Jiv Rangla" from Jogwa, which Ajay Atul composed music in 2009, won Hariharan another National Award. He has sung close to 200 Hindi songs and over 500 Tamil songs. Additionally, he has hundreds of song performances in Bengali, Odia, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, and Marathi. In addition to acting in the Tamil film Power of Women (2005), costarring Khushbu, Hariharan also had cameo appearances in the Malayalam film Millennium Stars and the Tamil film Boys. GhazalsHariharan is one of the most prominent Indian ghazal singers and composers. He composed the majority of the scores for some of the popular ghazal albums he recorded in his early career. The gold-selling album Aabshar-e-Ghazal, featuring Asha Bhosle, was among Hariharan's initial ghazal releases.Gulfam was another excellent ghazal album. It went double platinum in sales and won Hariharan the 1995 Diva Award for Best Album of the Year. His other notable ghazal albums are Halka Nasha (1996), Paigham (1997), Kaash (2000), Jashn (1996), Hazir (1992), and Lahore Ke Rang Hari Ke Sang (2005). His live concert records of Saptarishi (1996), Swar Utsav (2001), and Hariharan in Concert (1990) were all enormous hits. The album Lafzz is his most recent ghazal. (2008). Hariharan collaborated with Zakir Hussain, a master of the tabla, on his album Hazir. Lahore Ke Rang Hari Ke Sang received positive reviews and praise from critics both inside and outside of India. Before enlisting him to sing "Thamizha Thamizha," his debut song in Tamil cinema music for the movie Roja, A.R. Rahman was a voracious listener of his ghazals. Colonial CousinsHis career took a significant turn in 1996 when he and singer-composer Lesle Lewis of Mumbai created the band Colonial Cousins. Their fusion debut album, Colonial Cousins, made them the first Indian act to appear on MTV Unplugged. It received numerous honors, including the Billboard Award for Best Asian Music Group and the MTV Indian Viewers' Choice Award. Hariharan became known as one of the forerunners of Indian fusion music with this one album. The Way We Do It (1998) and Aatma (2001) were the band's subsequent releases, both of which received some attention. On October 29, 2012, Colonial Cousins' fourth studio album, "Once More," was released by Universal Records. Colonial Cousins wrote both the score and music for the 2009 Tamil film Modhi Vilayadu. In 2010, they composed the music for the Tamil film Chikku Bukku. Recent YearsHe received the Yesudas Award and Padma Shri in 2004 for his exceptional musical performance.Hariharan worked on a song named "Bolo Bolo" with the Pakistani band Strings. Along with the Punjabi/bhangra musician Daler Mehndi, he released an album titled Destiny. He created the phrase "Urdu Blues" with his somewhat successful album Kaash, which included musicians such as the master percussionist Anandan Sivamani, the tabla player Ustad Rashid Mustafa, the sitarist Ustad Liyaqat Ali Khan, and the sarangi player Ustad Sultan Khan. At the 2010 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony, which took place in New Delhi on October 3, he also sang the Swagatham song. He performed on the Jaya TV music program Hariyudan Naan, which aired on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays between 2010 and 2011. Hariharan and Sarangan Sriranganathan worked together on "Sruthi" in 2011 at Melbourne's Robert Blackwood Hall and Sydney's Hill Centre in Australia. At Bangalore's Gateway Hotel, he unofficially released "Gham e Duniya," the debut worldwide song by ghazal vocalist Adithya Srinivasan. In a 2012 interview, he claimed that requests to sing for Bollywood had stopped coming in because the composers preferred to try out new singers from a younger age. He was selected to serve as a judge on the sixth season of Asianet Star Singer, a well-liked music competition for up-and-coming Malayalam singers. 'Royal Stag Barrel Select MTV Unplugged' featured Hariharan and aired in December 2015. ConclusionHariharan Anantha Subramani is an Indian playback, bhajan, and ghazal singer. He sings mostly in Telugu, Tamil, and Hindi. He is also well-known for being the vocalist of over 15,000 songs in 10 different languages, including Odia, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi, Sinhala, and Bhojpuri. Notable for his ghazal performances, he is among the pioneers of Indian fusion music. Next TopicDonald Trump |