Friday, the 7th of March witnessed one of the most melodious Ghazal concerts by an Indian personality in a long while. A rare event, that saw Padmashree Hariharan, the renowned Bollywood singer, perform a full-fledged three-hour Ghazal concert, was a complete treat for any connoisseur of Indian music, where one could indulge in intoxicating melodies by the whiz, and get tipsy and spellbound by the magic he wove through his voice.
At 7 pm, the ambience at Nehru Centre was set perfectly, with the enthusiastic
audience crowding into the auditorium quite early, but the concert started according to Indian standards, and only by 7:50 did the eager audience get to hear the soothing voice of Hariharan. The star of the evening started the musical journey with his most famous ghazals – Kaash and Jhoom Le, from the same album. With his third ghazal, the mood was being set gradually, and with the humming in his next ghazal, Aks Chehre Pe, Hariharan made the audience remember the legend, Ghulam Ali himself.
Rendering an unconventional composition, Hariharan proved his capabilities as an accomplished singer, with the improvisations in the oeuvre. After his next rendition, Mareez-e-Ishq, the wizard was on a roll. With jazz shoobi-doops, he had the audience clapping to the next Geet – Jab Kabhi Bolona, where he sang of relationships and philosophy.
The musicians accompanying Hariharan on the musical journey were par excellence. The gentlemen on the Tabla and the Harmonium were outstanding, and gelled wonderfully with the melody and the ambience. But the ones to watch out for were the Keyboardist – Stephen, and the Guitarist – Chintoo Singh.
One could see the hard work Stephen had put in to prepare the chord patterns, and understanding the progressions of the ghazals and the compositions.
But, of all the accompanists, Chintoo Singh took the cake. His timely fillers, his walks on the guitar, his lead-ins and not to forget, his solos were far better than what anyone would have expected of a guitarist, in a ghazal concert. For a hardcore guitarist, it is very difficult to understand the psyche of a ghazal singer, and Chintoo Singh seemed to be a master at it.
The post interval session was as musically satisfying, but slightly more entertaining than the previous session with Hari taking requests from the audience.
The session commenced with an Arabic sort of composition Badan Mein Aag Si. After impressing the audience with his pyrotechnics, the Padmashree moved on to a rendition of Amir Khusrao’s Mohe Apne Hi Rang Mein Rang De, from his album Lahore ke rang Hari ke sang. Here Hari again successfully did lots of acrobatic singing, but probably due to the fast tempo of the composition, there were quite a few instances, where a listener understood why probably Hariharan is a Hariharan, and not a Rashid Khan.
After a couple more fantastic ghazals, the maestro threw it open to the audience, performing ghazals and compositions that the audience requested. He first performed a song from the movie 1947 The Earth – ‘Bheeni bheeni’. Once the listeners were spaced out by the gentle calming voice, the ghazal expert switched to another very famous ghazal by him, ‘Mai Qade’. With compositions like this and ‘Yeh Aaine’, he explained, Hari has become the pioneer of a whole new genre of music – Urdu Blues. The magician then performed only by public demand. With poignant ghazals like ‘Dard ke rishtey’, and ‘Kab tak yun hi’ he moved on to two more filmy compositions – the first one being the all time hit ‘Tu hi re’, and the other being Naushad Saab’s last film Taj Mahal’s composition in raag Lalit.
With a couple of ghazals more, Hariharan ended the concert with his famous composition with Leslie Lewis – ‘Krishnani Begani’ and had the audience chanting Govind bolo Hari Gopal bolo with him. Thus, with a strong social message of one religion, one humanity, Hariharan chose to conclude the concert with the audience only craving for more.
