Hariharan

Hariharan Anantha Subramani – born in Trivandrum, Travancore-Cochin, India on April 3, 1955 – is a ghazal and playback singer and composer simply known as Hariharan. While he sings in several different languages – including Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, and Bengali - he is best-known for his work in Tamil cinema (Kollywood) and Hindi cinema (Bollywood). He began his musical career in 1977 by performing live concerts and appearing on several television shows. He transitioned to performing songs on TV serials before graduating to singing for films. His 1978 playback debut, “Ajeeb Sa neha Mujh Par Guzar gaya yaaron,” was featured in the Hindi film Gaman and became a hit, winning him a Uttar Pradesh State Film Award. Hariharan began working on Kollywood films in 1992 and collaborated with iconic music director A.R. Rahman many times. His work with Rahman resulted in many of his most popular recordings including “Thamizha Thamizha” (from 1992’s Roja), “Uyire Uyire” (from 1995’s Bombay), and many others. In 1998, Hariharan won the National Award for Best Playback Singer for “Mere Dushman Mere Bhai” (from Border). Although he has recorded over 1,000 songs for films, he has also carved out a career as a ghazal singer, performing music inspired by poetry. With over 30 solo albums – including live releases and compilations – his catalog includes Horizon (1983), Aabshshar-e-Ghazal (1985), Dil Ki Baat (1989), Shree Hanuman Chalisa (1992), Qaraar (1996), Halka Nasha (1996), Waqt Par Bolna (2007), and many more. In the early 1990s, Hariharan joined forces with Indian singer and composer Lesle Lewis to form Colonial Cousins, a duo that pioneered modern Indian pop music. They became the first Indian act to be featured on MTV Unplugged and won several awards including Best Asian Music Group at the Billboard Awards. Honored with many awards throughout his career – both as a playback singer and solo artist – Hariharan’s career reached a significant milestone when his 1992 recording of the devotional song “Shree Hanuman Chalisa” was acknowledged as being the first Indian song streamed over two billion times on popular social media platforms.

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