Bengaluru Ganesha Fest 2

Day 2-Hariharan in Concert

Day 2 started with a fusion concert which didn't impress me much. The mammoth crowd that turned out for the concert was a stark contrast with day 1, when we could run around and sit where we wished. This was testimony to the fact that popular music pulls in crowd anytime of the year whereas classical will only appeal to a niche audience. Hariharan was felicitated before the concert and we had to bear with some stupid speeches. The concert started off by 8 O clock. Hariharan had the bangalore crowd in his hands with his first song, the kannada version of 'nyaabagam varuthe' from the tamil movie 'Autograph'. Next came up Rahman's classic 'Roja Jaaneman'. It was a dream come true for me to see one of my favourite singers singing one of my favourite songs. The Dasaavatharam song 'kallai mattum' came next. This Himesh song is worthy only because of Hariharan's vocals. The Rahman songs like 'Kurukku siruthavale' from 'Mudhalvan' and 'Vaaji Vaaji' from 'Sivaji' had the whole crowd singing and dancing.

Half way through the concert, Hariharan introduced his 2 sons. The 1st one sang 'Krishna Nee', the Colonial Cousins track, alongwith his father. This guy sang adequately but with his weird hairdo and dressing, almost looked like a lady. Hariharan on the contrary was style personified. He changed his costumes about 3 times during the concert. His 2nd son played guitar and sang Oasis's evergreen number 'Wonderwall'. But the local crowd didn't like it and many were booing ferociously. Sad state of affairs indeed considering the fact that he was doing a good job with the song. Hariharan rocked on with some more Kannada numbers. Though I haven't heard those songs before, I loved it. The two female vocalists were doing extremely good. Special mention has to be made of the instrumentalists. My favourite of the day was the rendition of 'Aye Hairathe' from 'Guru'. It was pure heaven to say the least. In most of the songs, Hariharan did his trademark improvisation and that made it all the more sweeter. Another nice one was 'chande re' from 'sapnay'. It was replete with improvised vocals. 'Yaadein' title song struck a chord with the audience. I've always wondered how the mediocre Anu Malik managed to compose such a beautiful song. The concert went on with songs like 'Nila Kaagiradhu', 'Mudhal Mazhai , 'Telephone Manipol' etc. Atlast, my friend dragged me out at about 11 O Clock saying that we won't get any food if we stay one more minute. So, while Hariharan started to sing 'Chappa Chappa' from Maachis, I started my bike and headed home. One great thing I missed in the concert are 2 of my all time favourite Hariharan songs-'Uyire' from 'Bombay' and 'Tamizha Tamizha' from 'Roja'. Barring this, it was an awesome night of great music for me.


PS-Will miss Wednesday's Sivamani and U.rajesh concert and saturday's and Balamuralikrishna concert as am going home for onam tomorrow. Wish you all a very happy onam. Enjoy maadi.

your crusader Praveen