“Singing is an art in itself. It means performance from the heart… as you really have to feel the words, to deliver the magic that captures the audience.”- Hariharan
Everyone at Whistling Woods International (WWI) was blown away by the 5th VEDA concert that took place on March 26, 2015. Renowned Indian musician Hariharan performed live at this event, which was entirely devoted to Classical Music.
The evening started with an audio-visual on ‘Spiritual Reality – A Journey Within’. The presentation highlighted how everyone can achieve happiness and peace through meditation. And, the other audio-visual presentation on Classical Music described the intricacies and evolution of music from the Renaissance Age to Contemporary and Fusion. The aim of the event was to enlighten the students about Hindustani Classical and Carnatic music.
At the event, Hariharan performed from his album ‘Ghazal Blues’, where he synchronised blues with Urdu poetry along with the singer and Voice of India winner, Aishwarya Majumdar. His performance revealed the depth of the piece along with capturing their multi-layered elaborations, echoes and reflections. The chorus support was equally detailed and just as viscerally exciting.
Hariharan mesmerised the audience with his all-time hit, ‘Tu Hi Re’, which he sang in both Hindi and Tamil. He also sang a song from the film Yaadein. Interestingly, Indian Cinema’s Showman and Founder & Chairman of WWI, Subhash Ghai (who also made the movie), originally voiced the initial lines of this song.
As the evening progressed, the National Film Award winner delved on the lost art of lip sync and the inability of today’s actors to put life into songs. He said, “Only around 35% of actors today do justice to the lyrics and the songs or ‘mukh mudra’, which is disappointing.”
Later, Hariharan and Subhash Ghai discussed their musical affiliations of decades followed by a Q & A session with the students. The musical concert had a grand climax where a blend of Western and Classical musical was shown through a song from Subhash Ghai’s creation, ‘Yuvraaj.’
The evening ended with Meghna Ghai Puri, President, WWI, extending her gratitude to the artists. She also announced Editing Scholarships to the prestigious filmmaking programme at Whistling Woods International in association with the MPA for two young boys from the NGO, ‘SALAAM BAALAK TRUST’.
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