Bollywood music is in a constant state of flux where the kind of songs being made and consumed have changed greatly. Singer Hariharan, the voice behind several soulful melodies over the years – from the title track of Hum Saath Saath Hain to Yun Hi Chala Chal Rahi in Swades – says the purpose of songs in films have changed greatly. Vocals are used more like sound effects, he says, as newer composers look for different textures.
“Having been here for 40 years, I see every few years the sound keep changing. People are looking for different textures, high-pitched voices. Today, the voices are used as sound effects in most songs. It’s like a collage of instrumentations and vocals, and it’s very yuppy and young. So things have changed,” he tells News18 in an interview.
Another thing that he points out that has changed is the purpose of songs in a film. With the advent of OTT, filmmakers are relying more on background score to enhance storytelling than songs.
“After the OTT platforms came in, films no more have songs. If you are watching a film on Netflix and a song comes in, you feel it’s ridiculous, unless it is really required. Songs are no longer a part of the story, they are more like items. I don’t mean a woman clad in skimpy clothes and dancing. But you’ll have a club song, one where people are just dancing, stuff like that. Like you sell products with a jingle, they need a jingle for the film,” he explains.
“But there are a lot of young music directors, who are quite minimalistic in their compositions. There are some good lyricists too. So nothing is lost, we do have good songs today too,” he adds.
The other recent challenge for singers has been the pandemic, forcing them to connect with their fans virtually. He is performing live today on the short format video app – MX TakaTak for their initiative, TakaTak Manch.
“After the pandemic for the last year or so, I’ve been only doing online shows that has kept us engaged and also close to our fans. Getting a livelihood is one thing, but if you are unable to do what you do best, you feel dejected. So online was a savior. And MX Takatak has come up with this nice concept where you perform live for fans and talk to them. This is nearly a simulation of a concert on an OTT platform. I will be performing Roja Jaaneman, Baahon Ke Darmiyan, Ay Hairathe and Tu Hi Re,” the Padma Shri awardee says.
Then singer says keeping the audience engaged during a live performance is a different ballgame altogether. “You get a certain adrenaline, energy while performing live for an audience. When you are connecting virtually you have to sort of imagine the audience listening to you. Initially, when the pandemic hit, I didn’t miss performing live because I was happier to be at home or in my studio, where it was safer. But now things are getting better so I feel we should get on the road,” he says.
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