Veteran musician Hariharan teams up with son, Akshay, for an Electronica-infused set. The father-son duo is all set to redefine Fusion at the Bollywood Music Project
Hariharan (left) rehearses with son, Akshay, at their home studio in Powai ahead of the Bollywood Music Project gig today. Pic/Bipin Kokate
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In suburban Powai — amidst an array of grocery stores and within the vicinity of plebeians — stands Sheldon Apartments. From the exterior, it is impossible to sense that stalwarts (AR Rahman, Shankar Mahadevan, Ustad Zakir Hussain to name a few) regularly take the elevator to the seventh floor. It houses a studio named In The Mix, owned by 61-year-old vocal maestro Hariharan. At present, the igloo — considering the manifold layers of glass walls to avoid sound leakage — is witnessing the making of an idiosyncratic partnership between the genius and his son, Akshay (30) who is into Electronic Dance Music (EDM). The father-son duo is all set to redefine Fusion at the Bollywood Music Project today.
“It is his work; I am just singing,” laughs Hariharan, talking about the collaboration. Akshay is the programmer and the man behind the overall sound. “Since he was in school, he wanted to blend and fuse. He grew up listening to Colonial Cousins. He wanted to listen to EDM in the ’90s,” he says.
The musician’s introduction to trance and EDM happened before it had reached Indian ears. “What they call EDM now is an adulterated version, Pop side of the story. My high school (in Bengaluru) had many international students. I absorbed good music from them,” says Akshay, who rearranged some of Hariharan’s popular tracks for the concert. Their set will be a mix of Semi-Classical and Classical with Trance on base.
Ready for the game
Hariharan confessed to being nervous when the two performed on stage together at the Enchanted Valley Carnival in Lonavala last year. “He would sing in a free environment with musicians backing him up, but for once, he had to sing with tracks,” laughs Akshay. “But it was also Akki’s first major gig, that worried me too. It is like when a doctor has a patient in his own family,” says the senior pro, also in the advisory panel behind the Bollywood event.
Over the years, different sounds and genres dissolved into Bollywood — basic traces of Rock, Hip-Hop, Reggae et al. Hence, Hariharan was keen to invest in the experimental plan. “There are so many youngsters performing. It is healthy because creative music is done on an independent platform. There are no producers telling them how a song should be. The freedom is huge,” reasons Hariharan as they duo break into an impromptu jam. “I will be using my console and playing a few tracks on my MIDI keyboard,” says the junior.
Stage interaction
They interact on stage through sign languages. “Whenever Akshay laughs, it means I have missed a cue,” admits Hariharan. “But I hope he doesn’t miss a cue. Even as a kid, I used to be his critic; I would tell him where he missed a note. You know it takes a lot to say that to him,” adds the junior, who sang with his father on his shows earlier. He learnt Hindustani Classical music initially before picking up the guitar.
However, Akshay is aware of the monster that resides in his father. “One of my first shows in Chennai, he wanted me to do a sargam with him and I was nodding my head saying ‘no, you can’t do this’; singing with him is harder than what I am doing now,” discloses Akshay, who made his debut as a music director in 2013 with the Marathi film, Kokanastha.
Working with youngsters
These days, Hariharan is mostly lending his voice to younger music directors. He recently sang the soulful Maa in Nil Batte Sannata for composers Rohan and Vinayak. “I think youngsters are more interested in working with me; they get a bit of old world as well as new because I am young at heart. There is no generation gap, I never had it,” says Hariharan, who has not sung for Rahman in a while. What’s stopping him? “Nothing, I am ready. You got to ask him,” he laughs.
Many artistes, ahead of the performance day, said they would choose their songs depending on the mood. But Hariharan and Akshay believe in a rehearsed, tight set. “Even if there is a gap at 5:03 seconds, it will be rehearsed,” says the junior.
However, through the new connection with his tech-friendly ward, the senior recollected his association with Lesle Lewis who believed in such experiments. Colonial Cousins completed 20 years recently but there won’t be any albums. “Even now, it takes Lesle and I 10 minutes to compose a song but people don’t listen to albums anymore. We can make singles,” he says. “I remember when we were composing Indian Rain, initially, I didn’t like what Lesle asked me to sing. I had told him give me something nice to sing. I also teased him that being a producer, he was being bossy,” shares Hariharan.
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