Echoing in Different Genres

In a telephonic conversation, the multi-genre singer, Hariharan, speaks to Society about music, songs and life.

- Rahul Paul

People usually say their voices don’t sound very good on the phone, but that’s not the case with veteran singer Hariharan. Just hearing his hello over the phone will have you convinced that this is the voice behind melodious songs like Bahon Ke Darmiyan, Tu Hi Re, Ay Hairathe…

“No, no, no, that’s not true,” he stops me as I ask him about his birth down south. “I was born in Mumbai, I don’t know why people are under the impression that I was born in Trivandrum, that’s my parents’ birth place, not mine,” he adds. I tell him in an appalled tone that I got it from his Wikipedia page, to which he politely asks, “Yes, I know. Can you tell me how to change it?” I assure him that I will do the needful and actually did it!

So, born in Mumbai (now confirmed) to renowned Carnatic vocalists, Shrimati Alamelu and the late HAS Mani, he inherited the knowledge of Carnatic  classical music from them, but went on to get influenced by other music forms as he grew up. “Kerala has a purist kind of music culture, whereas Bombay was a melting pot in those days and I got a lot of exposure being here.”