MUMBAI: Singer and musician Hariharan wears many hats. The exponent of Indian Classical music- notably Carnatic, Hindustani Music and Ghazals- is also a pioneer in the country’s pop music industry forming the hit ‘Colonial Cousins’ with fellow musician Lesle Lewis.

A traditionalist at heart, the versatile Hariharan can effortlessly incorporate technology and contemporary sounds and styles in his work. While he can serenade audiences with soulful ghazals, he can also sing a film track in the studio the next day. In fact, his forte is playback singing and he has scored for Tamil, Hindi, Bhojpuri, Kannada, Malaylam, Telegu and Marathi films. 

“I enjoy both- singing live and recording. Creating and recording has its own kick. On the other hand, a good audience, a good sound system and you are in the right mood. Boom!!!!!! It’s magic,” he informs Radioandmusic.com.

A pioneer in fusion music, Hariharan is one of few artists in the industry who understands the intricacies of Western and Indian music, and who has the ability to fuse them with making them sound ‘forced’ or ‘jaded’. His experiments with fusing different styles of music have led him to ‘invent’ the ‘Urdu Blues’- that incorporates the depth of Urdu and the poignant simplicity of the American Blues music.

“I was recording ‘Kaash’ (ghazal Album), and I felt that the music and rendering of a ghazal was very much like the Blues. World renowned Pakistani singer Nusrat Ali has fused Quawali with Rock and Soul that sounds amazingly seamless,” he says.

Although Hariharan achieved critical and commercial success as part of Colonial Cousins in the late 90s, the duo had to cool their amps as the Bollywood juggernaut took over Indi pop for the next decade. The duo is set to launch a new album- their first since 2001’s ‘Aatma’.

“Non film music was non- existent for the past 10 years.  How, why and where do we release our albums?  Things are better and the media companies seem to be getting their musical sensibilities back,” he reiterates but refusing to divulge details of their upcoming album.

“There is lot of music being shared, downloaded, and heard but most of it illegally and being a musician, it hurts. Artists used to be promoted heavily in the yester- years. These days music is made in a box, gets shared in boxes and remains in the boxes, The grandeur has gone. In the next decade things will be same or worse since in India, there is no accountability.” 

Responding to critics and fans expectations and whether the band and their music would be relevant in the 21st century, Hariharan says, “Colonial Cousins pioneered fusion music in India. We have the same soul sounding 2012. They will love it (the album) for, it is youthful and simple.”