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Waft of soulful notes

Music lent a helping hand to famous musician Dr S. Hariharan Nair when destiny sapped him during his salad days.

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Sometimes real life appears to be more fictitious than a reel life plot. The profile of renowned Carnatic musician Dr S. Hariharan Nair has sufficient ‘dramatic’ element in it. It’s truly an inspiring story of determination. Despite losing his two hands in a freak hariharan nairmishap, destiny couldn’t snuff out his fighting spirit. Music was the elixir that helped him resuscitate. Hariharan Nair, of Kadungalloor, Aluva was a connoisseur of music since his childhood. After learning harmonium and tabla, he started learning music under Koonammavu Lonappa Bhagavathar. He began his musical journey by performing concerts at temples. In 1971, he joined Premier Tyres, Kalamassery as casual labourer. After three months, an accident in the company made him a disabled man. When he regained consciousness after a few days, he was shattered. Recalling those painful days, Hariharan Nair says, “I was heartbroken to realize it. I made attempts to commit suicide thrice as I was unable to cope with the reality.”

Turning point

After three months, Hariharan Nair was taken to Pune Military Hospital. “There I saw people without limbs and other defects. The scenes of suffering people changed my attitude. I made up my mind to fight and never give up,” he says. With artificial hands he joined again for the job at Premier Tyres. But he continued learning Carnatic music under gurus like Cherthala Govindankutty Bhagavathar, Palluruthy Natesan Bhagavathar, Mavelikkara Prabha Varma and Nedunkunnam Vasudevan. He retired from the company at the age of 45. And he did not get any compensation from the firm. Along with pursuing music, he mastered Sanskrit and Telugu. “I got married after the accident. The girl, Nirmala, was ready to marry me knowing all about me. She had attended my concerts before our marriage,” reminisces Dr S. Hariharan Nair. An ardent devotee of Mookambika, Hariharan Nair believes that it was his belief that has stood him in good stead through thick and thin.

hariharan nairMusic is my soul…

  • According to Dr Hariharan Nair, music gives positive energy to our cells. “Music is my soul. Without music I would have died after the accident,” says this 65-year-old musician who is also a practitioner of music therapy, Vedic therapy, yoga and Reiki. He got doctorate in Music Therapy from Calcutta University in 2003.
  • Established in 1984, Sariga Sangeetha Academy has 150-odd music students, including 5-year-old children and 60–year-old people. Dr Hariharan Nair set up a music hall adjacent to his house with the money raised through a concert by Dr K.J. Yesudas who performed it at the academy without accepting remuneration.
  • The academy conducts BA music course recognized by Gandharva University, Mumbai. Musicians Dr M. Balamuralikrishna, K.J. Yesudas, Kunnakkudi Vaidyanathan, Neyyattinkara Vasudevan, K.S. Gopalakrishnan, Sarath among others have performed concerts at the academy.

Why Dr S. Hariharan Nair is different?

  • Lack of authentic books on music made him an author. “Sangeetha Sagaram”, a book which provides meticulous information on music from the Vedic period to the present era, is his gift to the world of music. He used his plastic hands to write the book.  He has composed as many as 250 kritis too.
  • Writing with his artificial arms, he passed the music diploma course examination conducted by the Madras University.
  • He has composed “Srichakra navavarana kritis” based on the nine “avarana chakras”, in praise of Shri Maha Tripurasundari. “These kritis offer a peep into the Advaiti school of Hindu philosophy and elements of tantric rituals. The lyrics are loaded with the mystical symbolism of the Vedic tradition,” he explains.

Honours

  • Best vocalist award by Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Academi in 1994
  •  Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) selected him as cultural ambassador
  • Gana Ratna Award by Sri Lanka Government in 2003
  • Senior Fellowship in 1998 by the HRD, Government of India.

Wonders of Ragas

  • Sankarabharanam – for stomach ache
  • Saveri – for headache
  • Vasantharagam, Khamas – during pregnancy
  • Kalyani – provides enthusiasm
  • Arabhi – relieves tension
  • Adana – good for stutter
  • Ananda Bhairavi – effective for cold, blood pressure

My music

  • First guru – Koonammavu Lonappa Bhagavathar
  • Favourite musician – Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna
  • Favourite raga – Sankarabharanam
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Ashwin Bhaskar I Making Waves In The K-pop Universe

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The limelight is nothing new to the 27 year old Singer-Songwriter Malappuram native, Ashwin Bhaskar who went crazy viral last year for his insane dialogue remix – Perfect Ok. He is back and is making waves in the world acclaimed K-pop music universe as well.

Ashwin has released a cover collaboration of the Korean hit single Tattoo with the original singer herself – AleXa and is racking up raging views. The music video currently Trending #24 on YouTube Music is a huge shoutout to all the K-pop die hard fans right here in Kerala and we couldn’t be prouder!

Watch it here:

Checkout his music on Spotify and his latest single Story In A Nutshell.

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Music

The Upcoming and Released Album Calendar

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It’s nearly impossible to keep up of everything that’s coming out each year, with more music being released every year. The options are seemingly unlimited, ranging from pop to hip-hop to alternative to K-pop to country, not to mention vinyl, re-releases, and collectible editions.

Check out these upcoming and released Albums-

Sept 3-

Drake, Certified Lover boy

Sept 10-

Diana Rose, Thank You

September 17-

Daughtery, Dearly Beloved

September 24-

Diddy, Off the grid Vol 1

October 1 –

Lady Gaga and Tony Bennet, Love for sale

October 8-

Lala Lala, I Want the Door to Open

 

Words by: Malavika Venugopalan

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The Musical Journey of Adheef Muhamed

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The 15-year-old boy, who won first in Urdu recitation at the 47th Kerala State Kalolsavam from Trivandrum, is now waiting for his upcoming Tamil movie track release, mesmerizing many.

Playback singer, Adheef Muhamed with his new release ‘Vidhooram’, found his passion at a very tender age through various school curricular programs like singing Mappila pattu and Urdu recitations. Later the baby steps he took as part of having fun during school days, turned to a passion driven career with his magical voice behind many songs mumbling on many lips.

Adheef came into limelight with his viral cover of ‘Mukkathe Penne’ which was released in the year 2014. The friendship bond between the friends and culmination of talents has made the cover happen along with the band ‘Elayappam’ featuring Nipin, Vishnu, Ebi, Sanu, Ramkumar. ‘Pazhamthamizh paattu’ was the first cover from the band, with an entirely different mood with Arabic arrangement. Their cover songs were more captivating to the audience during that time, and that paved the way for many other opportunities for them.

“During break times, we used to go to a nearby tea-shop to enjoy our tea break in between the jamming sessions along with discussions, and ‘Elayappam’ was the snack we all used to order unanimously which later became the name of our band. It was also a realization of how food and music were connected,” he said, reminiscing the initial days.

Adheef being the first person to suggest this name for the band had a genuine connection to the title, as it was closely knitted to their friendship and life.

His last independent work named ‘Goodman’ was an experimental track which was released before the pandemic as a visual treat. He gives the credit to the amazing crew which consisted of the lyricist Vinayak Sasikumar, DOP Venu Sasidharan Lekha and the wavelength they have in terms of unique output of the track.

Talking about his works he says “The future is all about independent music, which I knew right from the beginning, and I was always interested in collaborating with different talents and that’s how the beginning of my official YouTube channel happened. ‘Muthu Nava Ratnam’ is a song which is closely gelled with my family since it was the song my mother used to sing for me to sleep. And I always wanted to do a cover version of the song as it’s very much relatable to us”.

“I don’t compromise on video as I believe it’s an important element in every track of mine and I give 50-50 efforts to both audio and video. I strongly believe that the visual element was one of the main reasons the song has got its reach, although the song itself has its essence of magic no matter what the visual was.” he added.

‘Maraigirai’, a Tamil track released in the year 2019, is a familiar track with 12 million views in YouTube trending even now with a huge fan base. When asked about the success of the song Adheef says.

“For me success is the impact the songs have on people who listen to them. I happened to talk to a person who was a survivor in life, who told me once that ‘Maraigirai’ helped him throughout his healing process which made me happy, and I think responses like these are the true definition of success for me.”

He says, the places or people surrounding him were not into a professional music career and he is grateful to himself and to the evolving process along with the band, in trying out new things and this drive was the push for stepping onto the next opportunity.

“I never dreamed about becoming a playback singer and I’m very content with whatever I have right now and I’m grateful for all these opportunities I got, and the path I have come across.

I have seen both the phases of Malayalam cinema, where becoming a playback singer was a difficult opportunity, and the current scenario where many talents are finding opportunities in movies and they are growing through different digital platforms in the social media.”

Adheef has sung in many different languages. “The pulse of Malayali audiences are different from other industries in terms of acceptance” he remarks.

The fast phase of the growing Malayalam music industry with upcoming talents can be seen everyday with many drastic changes. As time goes by, I think there might not be typical song sequences in the Malayalam movies. As a drift comes in the making of the movie the growth of independent music can also be seen evidently” he says.

Sharing about ‘Vidhooram’ and its happiness

 

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A post shared by Adheef Muhamed (@adheef_muhamed)

“This is the first time I’m approaching something like this track which is very much ambient, and I’m experimenting with a low base tone in my singing. I’m getting many positive responses for this track” he said while talking about his recently released Independent track ‘Vidhooram’ by Ryan Biju Sam and mixed by Abin Paul.

Out of the box thinking and understanding the pulse of the audience is what makes Adheef Muhamed different, and drives him to go ahead with his passion.

Check out his new Tamil track from the movie ‘Lift’ named ‘Hey Bro’ starring Kavin and Amrita Iyer, Music by Britto Micheal.

Words by: Anjali Ram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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