Hariharan remembers his association with Shiv-Hari

Singer Hariharan had the opportunity to work a number of times with Santoor player Shiv Kumar Sharma who passed away on 10 May, and flautist Hari Prasad Chaurasia. They teamed up as the music-composing duo Shiv-Hari.

Hariharan sang some exquisite songs for Shiv-Hari.

Recalling his association with the duo Hariharan says, “Shiv-Hari gave me a very big break in the films Lamhe, Sahibaan and Darr. It was so good to work with them. I did rehearsals prior to the recording day and the melody was ingrained in my mind .”

As music composers, Shiv-Hari were according to Hariharan, a class act. “All their songs had huge orchestras. I got to sing two duets with Lataji Kabhi main kahun kabhi tum kaho in Lamhe and Likha hai yeh in hawaon pe in Darr .”

Elaborating on Shiv-Hari’s composing style Hariharan says, “Most of their songs were melody-based. Simple at times, they had a lot of harmony in their orchestration. They used a lot of folk music in their film songs. A lot of folk music was worked into their compositions in Silsila and Sahibaan. Sahibaan was a marathon recording at Mehboob studio in Mumbai. Anuradha Paudwal and I were singing the song. Hariji came in the singers’ booth and said. ‘Everything is fine, just concentrate on expressions and sur,’ smiled and went away. That jolted us and the next take was perfect .”

Hariharan remembers his recordings with Lataji for Shiv-Hari. “Kabhi mai kahun in the film Lamhe was my first song with Lataji. I had rehearsed the song a couple of days before recording with Shiv-Hari. There was a huge orchestra and about fifty chorus voices. Shivji and Hariji were very supportive. They made me relax and I was able to give my best. My second duet Likha hai inn hawaon mein in Darr for Shiv-Hari was a breezy song. I enjoyed recording the song. There was a solo part of mine in the middle of the song and Lataji complimented me for it. Those were lovely days and I have such great memories for me.”