Veteran singer Hariharan completes 50 years in the music industry next year, and while he reflects on this fruitful journey with gratitude and pride, he does lament the state that the current Indian music scene is in. With 15-second hooks, viral Reels and algorithms dictating the kind of music being made, the veteran believes that somewhere that has cost the soul of creative music.
Giving his opinion on the current state of music in India, Hariharan says, “If you’re going to do music with all these values like algorithms and data in mind, what kind of music are you making? You don’t do music then. You do something, which I don’t even know what it is, but it’s not music for sure. And there will be a weakness in that because your thought process is not towards music. We aren’t making music anymore, we are making Reels.”
Check out the entire chat with Hariharan and Leslee Lewis here:
The singer also feels that the convenience of streaming services has taken away from the experience of listening to music. The personal investment in music has gone way down due to the easy accessibility of all kinds of music that is around. Having been part of the iconic ’90s duo Colonial Cousins with Leslee Lewis, Hariharan says, “It was easier for us to do creative music than what it is today. There was an ownership also for the music as a listener as you would buy an album. Today you are buying subscriptions of streaming platforms, you are not investing in one song or an album. Then, one would invest money in something they liked, but now with streaming, it isn’t the case. Experience has suffered due to convenience. Listening to music on your phone is so sad. It’s appalling.”
The recent times have seen a resurgence of senior singers in mainstream music with artistes like Sonu Nigam, Shaan, Udit Narayan, Shreya Ghoshal and more getting more film songs to sing, something which had dwindled in the middle. Ask him why he thinks this change has happened and Hariharan says, “If there is a drastic change in style and it is thrown on the listeners, they absorb it initially because they have to, but only for some time. And then they revolt. The only time they don’t change is when they have a good melody.” He adds, “We are relevant to each generation because our music is very youthful, and every new generation understands that and vibes with it. That is a gift for us.”