This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
Colonial Cousins | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Origin | Mumbai, India |
Genres | Pop, rock, soundtrack |
Years active | 1992–present |
Members | Hariharan Leslee Lewis |
Colonial Cousins is an Indian duo, formed by singer Hariharan and singer-composer Leslee Lewis, who also have successful solo careers. [1] Their eponymous first album hit platinum in sales in India and consistently headed the Indian music charts in 1996. The duo have received numerous awards, notably the MTV Asia Viewers' Choice Award, 1996, and the US Billboard's Viewers' Award, 1996. On 19 November 1998, the Colonial Cousins released their second album, The Way We Do It . They released their third album Aatma on 1 January 2001. They have scored two Tamil films, Modhi Vilayadu (2009), Chikku Bukku (2010). Their fourth album Once More was released in 2012.
It was during Lewis's career writing jingles that the idea of Colonial Cousins was conceived. Lewis had called in Hariharan to sing a jingle for him one evening in 1992. The lyrics for the jingle were late coming in, so the restless Lewis began crooning something while strumming on his guitar. Hari felt inspired to jam with an alaap.
Being a ghazal singer in the Indian music industry for over two decades, Hariharan is well versed in Carnatic and Hindustani music. Besides releasing several ghazal albums, Hariharan has also lent his voice to many Hindi and Tamil films, and ended up winning several awards including the National Award as Best Singer for his song "Mere Dushman Mere Bhai" from the film Border.
In October 1996, under Magnasound Label, the duo released their debut album self-titled Colonial Cousins . The album broke all records including hitting platinum sales in India. The duo also won the MTV Asia Viewer's Choice Award and then later on collected the US Billboard Viewer's Choice Award too. [2] The song "Krishna" won the Star Videocon Award for Best Music Video. [3]
The style is essentially fusion, with a lot of songs opening with recognisable Hindustani or Carnatic ragas and then segueing into a more pop style. The musicians who worked on it range from Vishwa Mohan Bhatt to sessions musicians who have worked with the likes of Madonna, Boy George, Annie Lennox, Vernon Reid, and other well-known Western musicians. It was the first Indian act to be featured on MTV Unplugged . [2]
On 19 November 1998, their second album, a sophomore effort, The Way We Do It , was a continuation of, and a departure from, that first effort.
The album was a continuation in musical terms to the extent that Lewis and Hariharan had done what they do best individually, and fused it into a format that enriches and complements each other. The album was also a departure sound-wise from their eponymous first album. While that has a softer sound to it, their second album was edgier and groovier.
The album has some singles such as the title track "Way We Do It With You". Srinivas playing on it, "Dekhoon Main Jahan" penned by lyricist Javed Akhtar, "No Longer Mine" and "Lady".
After two-and-a-half years in hibernation, Colonial Cousins, recorded their third album Aatma. Released in April 2001, on the Sony label, the nine-track album was a fusion of Indian vocals and contemporary instrumentation. Besides being busy in playback singing Hariharan had cut a ghazal album Kaash the previous year, while Lewis had been busy composing jingles and producing music.
There is also a song "I Love You Girl" which Hariharan has dedicated to his daughter Divya.
In 2012, 11 years after their previous album, the duo came together to release their brand new album Once More . To launch their latest album, the duo took to the jostling promenade of Carter Road in the busy suburb of Bandra, Mumbai, in a musical ensemble that worked its way from Otters Club to the amphitheater, all along performing music from their new album on top of a 40-foot canter. The event concluded with the official unveiling of the album Once More.
In 2009, the Colonial Cousins made a debut as music composers for Tamil film Modhi Vilayadu directed by Saran. The director of the film required a new trend of music and therefore brought in the Indipop duo, thus opening doors for them to the Tamil Film Industry. [4]
Colonial Cousins scored their second soundtrack for the film Chikku Bukku (2010). Its audio was released on 13 August. [5]
Hariharan Anantha Subramani is an Indian playback, bhajan and ghazal singer who predominantly sings in Tamil, Hindi and Telugu languages. He has also sung over 15,000 notable songs in 10 languages including Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi, Sinhala, Bhojpuri, Odia, Bengali, Sanskrit, Gujarati and English. He is an established ghazal singer and one of the pioneers of Indian fusion music.
Gentleman is a 1993 Indian Tamil-language action heist film co-written and directed by S. Shankar in his directorial debut, and produced by K. T. Kunjumon. The film stars Arjun, Madhubala and Subhashri, with M. N. Nambiar, Manorama, Goundamani, Senthil, Charan Raj, Vineeth, and Rajan P. Dev in supporting roles. It revolves around a respected Madras-based businessman who moonlights as a thief who steals from the rich and gives to the poor for their education.
Krishnakumar Kunnath, popularly known as KK, was an Indian playback singer. He recorded songs primarily in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada language. Noted for his versatility in a variety of music genres, KK is regarded among the greatest playback singers of India. He was a recipient of two Screen Awards, alongwith nominations for six Filmfare Awards.
The Wadali Brothers – Puranchand Wadali and Pyarelal Wadali – are Sufi singers and musicians from Guru Ki Wadali in the Amritsar District in Punjab, India. Pyarelal Wadali, the younger of the two died on 4 March 2018 at the age of 75 due to cardiac arrest at the Fortis Escorts Heart Institute, Amritsar.
Suresh Peters is an Indian musician. He is a music producer, drummer, music director in five Indian languages and a playback singer in multiple Indian languages for feature films in India.
Leslee Peter Lewis, popularly known as Lezz Lewis, is an Indian singer and composer known for his work with Hariharan as the duo Colonial Cousins. They won the MTV Asia Viewer's Choice Award and then the U.S. Billboard Viewer's Choice Award for 'Colonial Cousins', their debut album. He conceived and created all the music for Coke Studio, MTV India debut season.
Modhi Vilayadu is a 2009 Indian Tamil-language action film directed by Saran and produced by Murali Manohar. It stars Vinay Rai and Kajal Aggarwal, while Kalabhavan Mani, Cochin Haneefa, Santhanam, and Yuva play supporting roles. The music was composed by Colonial Cousins with cinematography by A. D. Karun and editing by V. T. Vijayan. The film released on 24 July 2009 to mixed reviews and fared poorly at the box office. The film's plot involving the heroine is based on the Korean movie 100 Days with Mr. Arrogant.
Roja is the debut soundtrack album of music composer A. R. Rahman, featuring lyrics by Vairamuthu. It is the soundtrack to the 1992 Tamil film of the same name, directed by Mani Ratnam, and starring Aravind Swamy and Madhoo. The album features seven tracks in Tamil and Hindi, and six tracks in Malayalam, Telugu, Marathi and five tracks in the instrumental adaptation album.
Chikku Bhukku is a 2010 Tamil romance film written and directed by K. Manikandan and produced by Sunanda Murali Manohar, starring Arya, debutante Preetika and Shriya Saran, in the lead roles, with Santhanam and Anoop Kumar in supporting roles. The film was released on 3 December 2010. The movie is based on the 2003 South Korean movie The Classic. The name of the film is based on the song of the same name from Gentleman (1993).
Halka Nasha is a popular Hindi ghazal album of the Indian singer and Ghazal composer Hariharan. It was released on 1996 by Bayshore, and later re-released by the same label in 2004 for its popularity. The album consists of 8 songs composed by Utpal Biswas and sung by Hariharan. Hariharan's 3-year-old son Karan Hariharan faced the camera with him for popular track ‘Halka Nasha’ along with Dr Tinku Bali. The album was also simultaneously released in Punjabi of the same name and in Tamil of Kadhal Vedham.
Colonial Cousins is the debut studio album of Indian band Colonial Cousins, which is formed by Indian duo composed of singer Hariharan and singer-composer Lesle Lewis. It was released on 1 October 1996, under Magnasound Records.
Aatma is the third studio album of Colonial Cousins, an Indian duo composed of singer Hariharan and singer-composer Lesle Lewis. It was released on January 1, 2001 under the label Sony BMG.
This article includes the discography of Indian singer and composer Hariharan. Listed are all the albums and the notable film songs sung by him in order of their release. The discography consists of 27 studio albums, three live albums, five compilations, one film soundtrack and several film songs sung by him. Out of the 27 studio albums, 24 are solo albums and three are albums by the band Colonial Cousins, consisting Hariharan and Lesle Lewis.
Bombay is the soundtrack to the 1995 Indian film of the same name, with eight tracks composed by A. R. Rahman. The film was directed by Mani Ratnam, and stars Arvind Swamy and Manisha Koirala, while the soundtrack album was released on 24 December 1994 by Pyramid. The Indian film was originally a Tamil film dubbed into Hindi, Telugu and Malayalam. The soundtrack was thus released in multiple languages. The lyrics for the Tamil version were written by Vairamuthu, except for the song "Halla Gulla", which was written by Vaali. The lyrics for the Hindi and Telugu versions were written by Mehboob and Veturi, respectively.
Nandini Srikar is an Indian singer and performer. Her popular songs include Jo Bheji thi Duaa from the Bollywood movie, Shanghai, "Bhare Naina" from Ra.One and "Kannamma" from Rekka.
Suchith Suresan is an Indian playback singer in the Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada film industries.
Once More is the fourth studio album of Colonial Cousins, an Indian band formed by Indian duo composed of singer Hariharan and singer-composer Lesle Lewis. It was released on October 29, 2012, under the label Universal.
Power of Women is a 2005 Indian Tamil-language drama film, written and directed by P. Jayadevi. The film stars Khushbu, Hariharan and Riyaz Khan. Music for the film was composed by Vidyasagar and the film was released on 27 May 2005. The film won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Second Best Film, and Khan won for Best Villain.
Rajesh Johri was an Indian poet, Lyricist, Ad Film Maker, Voice Over Artist, and Anchor based in Mumbai.
Surmukhi Raman, born on 15 September 1983 in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu is an Indian playback singer from Tamil Nadu. She was brought up in Pune, Maharashtra. She occasionally writes lyrics. She is one of the emerging playback singers in South India. She has done playback for more than 150 film songs in four languages including Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada. In addition, she has recorded a number of devotionals. She has performed in numerous concerts in India and abroad.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link){{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link){{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)