Having a balle

Hari & Sukhmani are the flavour of Chandigarh's lounge bars

Hari & Sukhmani are the flavour of Chandigarh's lounge bars

THEY can do a Baisakhi-boy band mash-up like no other act up north right now. Hari & Sukhmani fortunately don't do just bhangra and sound like they would have fit right into the Dev.D soundtrack. Hari Singh and Sukhmani Malik, who have a fan in Mumbai singer/songwriter Suman Sridhar (of Sridhar Thayil), are not extraordinarily talented. Their production isn't the slickest. Years ago, Bally Sagoo and Instant Karma (Farhad Wadia-Ehsaan Noorani-Loy Mendonsa) had paved the road these two have now chosen.



Yet, even when they do a cover of an Umrao Jaan number (Inn aankhon ki masti mein) or an original like Gori diyaan, they turn it around into a hooky dance track that's perfect for those wild Punjabi theme parties. Kanak di rakhi is one of the tracks that has been arranged atypically combining a Bedouin sound on synth with RnB that seems to be Hari's forte, and Sukhmani's fiery vocals.

They have one of my favourite Delhi artists on their Top Friends list rapper Delhi Sultanate. If there was one wishlist on Hari & Sukhmani's playlist, it's a track featuring Taru Dalmia aka Delhi Sultanate.

www.myspace.com/harisukhmani
www.myspace.com/delhisultanate