Hari + Hara

Bala's blog without the word Hariharan is deemed incomplete. All those who know me well, will already know this. I can probably be accused of conversion, since I know a few who have become big fans of Hariharan, after I have spoken about him.By the way, I was converted by my sister. Another importance of siblings ;-)

If God exists, especially in two forms, Hari and Hara, they will both be more than pleased to hear Hariharan sing. I have been an ardent devotee of Hariharan for quite sometime now. I have only relished, thus far the nuances he brings into the film hits he has been singing all these years and a little bit in his Ghazals. But, the Star Vijay concert he did for Diwali 2007 ( I think ) blew my brains. I watched the video recently, and payed more attention this time. These were the songs:

1) Bahut bechen hai dil - Ghazal in Kalyani ( Yaman )

2) Ehde masti hai - Ghazal in Jog (I think )

3) Suttrum Vizhi Chudartdaan - A tamil poem by Bharati, also in the album Kandukonden Kandukonden, 'tuned' by ARR

4) Krishna nee begane baaro - Kannada Devara naama ( Yaman )

5) Nila Kaigiradu - A song he sung for ARR in Indira

The post's purpose is to just voice my opinion on each of these. I had to write about it, since it has been an addictive concert:

1) Kalyani, the raaga ( a collection of notes in music ) which can be sung at any time of the day and in any part of the concert. This is what Hariharan starts off with. The name of the show in Star Vijay is called Sangeetha Sangamam, which means the merger of (forms of) music. The Ghazal was rendered in ( not so typical ) carnatic style. He started of with an Aalaap, which is an introduction of the raaga and it's notes. It was made very evident that it was Kalyani , very quickly (very typical of carnatic). After the demonstration of climbing octaves and ranges, he rendered the notes of the raaga explicitly. Again, this is not typical of a carnatic concert. That's probably Hariharan's style, of clarifying the Raaga, very enjoyable, especially for amateurs of music like me. He would stop at the note Ma, to show you that it was one of the important notes. The highlight of all this was his voice quality and ability to stay at a single note for as long as 10-15 seconds, absolutely still, without an iota of variation. A result of pure hardwork. What followed was the Ghazal itself , rendered typically. At the end , just as we have kalpanaa (imaginative) swaraas(notes) sung at the end of a carnatic song, Hariharan did the same, but at his will,  for singing the swaras and ending it at Bahut bechen or Suhani Raat

There was a conversation between the two songs where he expresses his glee about lot of people being present. The accent is a litlle funny , Iyer tamil from the mouth of a Ghazal guru who mastered the Urdu dialect.

2) Ehde masti hai is one of Hariharan's popular Ghazal numbers. Very typical of Hariharan , the rendition this time was very different. He started like a Classical Rock Star (Ironic ?) . He used the notes Ga Ga Ni Ga Ni Sa (there are two Ga's in the Raaga, don't know about the numbers) and made the crowd sing along with him. A very innovative beginning. He was  literally showing off his capabilities in this song , which could probably be rated the best song of this Ghazal. He was spontaneously experimenting a lot in this Ghazal and it did come out very well. He did go off beat at some places , but he was experimenting :-) "Maut sasti hai" is something nobody else can sing like him. "Kya kare mehavashon se pyar adham" was sung so any times , so differently that I lost count. The expressions were jaw dropping. The best song in the concert , but not by far :-)

Another conversation with the audience , about the importance and profundity of classical music. There is a baby crying in the audience and Hariharan just mimics the cry in such a manner that it sounds like the baby was singing Yaman.

3) Suttrum Vizhi , a Bharatiyar poem was to follow. No rythm , no beats , just Hariharan and some chords. It was as beautiful as the original song he recorded for ARR for the film Kanukonden Kandukonden. The only different aspect was the hindustani flavor he gave for the line   "Saathiram pesugiraai Kannamma, Saathiram yeDukkadi ".

4) Krishna nee begane baaro , a kannada devarnaama in the raaga Yaman. Not the best of pronunciations , but one of the best renditions I have ever heard. He said before in the concert that if you strike the right chords while singing, the language becomes irrelavent ( I don't quite agree  with that ). But nevertheless, it was still the best rendition I heard. There are a lot of reasons I could possibly feel this:

a) I have heard Krishna nee begane baaro rendered so many times , by so many people, mostly in the typical carnatic style. There might have been minor variations , but this one was mostly in a hindustani style and was hence a good change.

b) I am just biased towards Hariharan

Don't tell me it's just b) :-)

5) Nila Kaigiradhu in the album was far better. The tabala should not have come into the picture , Hariharan should have just sung at his own pace. This probably was by far the worst song in the concert, by Hariharan's standards. I am sure he will agree too :-)

PS:- I found the picture at www.giftofvision.org , due credit to them.

Bottomline: Breathtaking concert.

Hariharan ge Jai !!