Father, son and a music mix! Hariharan teams up with son Akshay

Hariharan left rehearses with son Akshay at their home studio in Powai ahead of the Bollywood Music Project gig today PicBipin KokateIn suburban Powai mdash amidst an array of grocery stores and within the vicinity of plebeians mdash stands Sheldon Apartments From the exterior it is impossible to sense that stalwarts AR Rahman Shankar Mahadevan Ustad Zakir Hussain to name a few regularly take the elevator to the seventh floor It houses a studio named In The Mix owned by 61yearold vocal maestro Hariharan At present the igloo mdash considering the manifold layers of glass walls to avoid sound leakage mdash is witnessing the making of an idiosyncratic partnership between the genius and his son Akshay 30 who is into Electronic Dance Music EDM The fatherson duo is all set to redefine Fusion at the Bollywood Music Project todayldquoIt is his work I am just singingrdquo laughs Hariharan talking about the collaboration Akshay is the programmer and the man behind the overall sound ldquoSince he was in school he wanted to blend and fuse He grew up listening to Colonial Cousins He wanted to listen to EDM in the rsquo90srdquo he saysThe musicianrsquos introduction to trance and EDM happened before it had reached Indian ears ldquoWhat they call EDM now is an adulterated version Pop side of the story My high school in Bengaluru had many international students I absorbed good music from themrdquo says Akshay who rearranged some of Hariharanrsquos popular tracks for the concert Their set will be a mix of SemiClassical and Classical with Trance on baseReady for the gameHariharan confessed to being nervous when the two performed on stage together at the Enchanted Valley Carnival in Lonavala last year ldquoHe would sing in a free environment with musicians backing him up but for once he had to sing with tracksrdquo laughs Akshay ldquoBut it was also Akkirsquos first major gig that worried me too It is like when a doctor has a patient in his own familyrdquo says the senior pro also in the advisory panel behind the Bollywood eventOver the years different sounds and genres dissolved into Bollywood mdash basic traces of Rock HipHop Reggae et al Hence Hariharan was keen to invest in the experimental plan ldquoThere are so many youngsters performing It is healthy because creative music is done on an independent platform There are no producers telling them how a song should be The freedom is hugerdquo reasons Hariharan as they duo break into an impromptu jam ldquoI will be using my console and playing a few tracks on my MIDI keyboardrdquo says the juniorStage interactionThey interact on stage through sign languages ldquoWhenever Akshay laughs it means I have missed a cuerdquo admits Hariharan ldquoBut I hope he doesnrsquot miss a cue Even as a kid I used to be his critic I would tell him where he missed a note You know it takes a lot to say that to himrdquo adds the junior who sang with his father on his shows earlier He learnt Hindustani Classical music initially before picking up the guitarHowever Akshay is aware of the monster that resides in his father ldquoOne of my first shows in Chennai he wanted me to do a sargam with him and I was nodding my head saying lsquono you canrsquot do thisrsquo singing with him is harder than what I am doing nowrdquo discloses Akshay who made his debut as a music director in 2013 with the Marathi film KokanasthaWorking with youngstersThese days Hariharan is mostly lending his voice to younger music directors He recently sang the soulful Maa in Nil Batte Sannata for composers Rohan and Vinayak ldquoI think youngsters are more interested in working with me they get a bit of old world as well as new because I am young at heart There is no generation gap I never had itrdquo says Hariharan who has not sung for Rahman in a while Whatrsquos stopping him ldquoNothing I am ready You got to ask himrdquo he laughsMany artistes ahead of the performance day said they would choose their songs depending on the mood But Hariharan and Akshay believe in a rehearsed tight set ldquoEven if there is a gap at 503 seconds it will be rehearsedrdquo says the juniorHowever through the new connection with his techfriendly ward the senior recollected his association with Lesle Lewis who believed in such experiments Colonial Cousins completed 20 years recently but there wonrsquot be any albums ldquoEven now it takes Lesle and I 10 minutes to compose a song but people donrsquot listen to albums anymore We can make singlesrdquo he says ldquoI remember when we were composing Indian Rain initially I didnrsquot like what Lesle asked me to sing I had told him give me something nice to sing I also teased him that being a producer he was being bossyrdquo shares Hariharan On Today 2 pm onwardsAt Jio Garden CWING Bharat Nagar Road G Block Bandra ELog on to inbookmyshowcomCost Rs 999 onwards