The noted ghazal and film singer did have a harmonium and he was supported by 4 artists , one in sArangi, one in harmOnium , one in guitar and the omniprescent tabla(the names were announced quite fast at the end I did not write them). Pure HM concerts is some what quite interesting to me .There are few ghazal recordings that I have heard and to me this was my first live ghazal concert .The pull was more for the hariharan's deep voice . They say in ghazal you have to understand the lyrics too to really appreciate , since I have no chance to do that , i was little at sea most of the time that too when Vijay left half way thru in his born voyage to listen to a piano-vocal concert.
I have to put a disclaimer that I am going to make million mistakes in this review.
The start by hariharan was in one of the most frequent rAgas of HM or ghazal . It was yaman . yaman came in as first two numbers for the first 30 minutes(found it strange as to why they sing the same rAgas in immediate sequence crib #1 ). I liked the second one little better , certainly hariharan's voice settled well.
1. bahudh bechung hE dhil(R,S) - yaman - ??
2. murE apnE hE rang - yaman
The next 2 was perhaps two lovely rAgas one at the cross roads of CM-HM(keervAni) and the other more skewed towards HM (suddha sArang). Both were very good, the suddh sArang was little razy and the keervani was more emotive .
3. ranj ke jabah guft kE hOne lagi - keervAni - ???
4. patta pattA bhootA bhootA - suddhsArang -??
HarihAran made a passing mention earlier that in ghazal that we have a tradition to sing ghazals in one rAg and sometimes we will sing with all notes some ghazals. This singing in all notes possibly is more of a chinese restaurant mixed veg soup feeling to me , it was not the best experience for me. So overall there was no stickiness in the next 2 numbers (crib #2),
5. yunati mujhe - ???(all notes I guess) - ???
6. hathO mE Apne jAmnA - shankarabharanam(as per vijay) or kalyAni - ???
I dont collect how the 7th number is
7. kyu hamE mOth kE - ?? -???
The next was a rAga that is so lovely in CM , despite coming more from north. Hariharan sang well with a good alAp and a nice rendition in jaijAvanthi , but certainly no match to our any day dwijAvanti by any carnatic musician.
8. tazaa hawA - jaijAvanti
I forgot how the next 2 are , but the 11th no was excellent and sung very well and it was a very good impressions of hariharan's magical voice and his range in different octaves.
9. kesE chupA -???
10. dil sE hal guzare -??
11. tujhe kasam he -???
The next no was vert good and the last was in pahadi which was a great finish
12. shararE tAra - ?? - ???
13. moorA jooban - pahadi -??
The accompanist were all possibly playing just good , but to me I felt the guitar and sArangi combination was not to my liking, there was also an occasional harp , overall there is far better sangamam of the accompanists in CM (crib #3). I just think the tabla player just played ok. Overall the voice of hariharan was the major pull . On an interesting note for ghazals I had to pay Rs 100/- , I wish I pay more for carnatic musicians too...