Took me by surprise and awe

It so happens to many people that they suddenly come across a track that captures their attention completely. The beauty is that the track would have been rendered by their favorite singer or music director and they would have so long claimed that there is not a song of that person that they've missed.

Hariharan is one singer who has fascinated me right from his Thamizha Thamizha. I've loved each and every song he had sung, composed or whatever.

Back during my school days (11th std I guess), during summer vacation, I was running through the channels one by one. However, there was nothing that interested me. Finally I settled with K TV (a Tamil channel, for those who don't know) which had a movie called Ooty. I'd heard about the movie a lot of times but the cast was not that appealing for me to sit and watch it properly.

As the movie was playing there was a song that did not impress me much. So, naturally my expectations of the music did not stay that high.

The next song caught me by awe. It was a patriotic song called India. When I heard Hariji's voice it caught my attention. I listened keenly. By the time, the song played fully I was all in goosebumps.

The song is a traditional South Indian number. The use of instruments is awesome, especially the portions supported by the mridhangam and kerala Chenda. Though there is nothing new or fresh in the song, the patriotism and chillness has been maintained with the wonderful rendition by Hariji.

The way the words "Vande Matram" is sang in the first stanza is the first catch. I definitely can't take the privilege of reviewing the way Hariji has sung a song. But, the way he has sung this song is just one example why he is a genius. The chorus has also been well organized in the song.

Inspired by the song, I got it recorded the next day itself. I heard it many times, passed it to my friends and for the Independence Day celebrations in my 12th std we performed this on stage. In a boys school where choir is generally woo-hooed, we received standing ovasion when we almost reached the end. I had to mention the chorus specially because organizing that was the toughest of all tasks we had. However, the chorus we used was full of boys between 6th and 8th std.

Listen to the song and enjoy! Will be back with more.

PS: Liking and not liking a song is completely personal. These posts are to fill in for the people who would not like to miss out on such songs.

Listen to the song here