Mumbai, Maharashtra: In an exclusive interview with IANS, playback singer Hariharan and singer-composer Leslee Lewis recently opened up about how Prime Minister Narendra Modi gifted the collector’s edition vinyl record of their album Colonial Cousins to Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Both artists spoke about their collaboration, their approach to making music, and the indie music scene of the 90s, calling it a “magical era.” They also shared their views on television as a medium for music. Leslee Lewis spoke about his love for food, his lockdown days, and how food and music go hand in hand. He also recalled working with Asha Bhosle and shared his fondest memories with her. The duo further discussed how music has evolved over the last 30 years.
#Hariharan #LesleeLewis #ColonialCousins #IANS #NarendraModi #AnthonyAlbanese #90sMusic #IndieMusic #IndianMusic #AshaBhosle #Music #BollywoodMusic#Hariharan #LesleeLewis #ColonialCousins #90sMusic #IndieMusic #NarendraModi #IANS #IndianMusic #AshaBhosle #Music #IANS
#Hariharan #LesleeLewis #ColonialCousins #IANS #NarendraModi #AnthonyAlbanese #90sMusic #IndieMusic #IndianMusic #AshaBhosle #Music #BollywoodMusic#Hariharan #LesleeLewis #ColonialCousins #90sMusic #IndieMusic #NarendraModi #IANS #IndianMusic #AshaBhosle #Music #IANS
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FunTranscript
00:00So hello sir, welcome to IMS and massive congratulations for Colonial Cuisance being awarded to
00:05the Venal being awarded to the Australian MPM. When you heard of the news making your art and
00:14then it becoming a cultural milestone you know resonating with so many people across the globe
00:19what was the feeling for you like for both of you? Yeah it was fantastic, he hasn't texted me
00:24He said, what happened? I said, wow this is like too good. So I just said, what is this? This
00:31is the most
00:32amazing piece of news that when we had music done, we never thought that this will happen and that will
00:37happen.
00:38We just did it because we loved it. And it was it was it became so popular we all know
00:44it. And then
00:45when Hariyan texted me I said, wow this is like too good. So we had a bit of a chat.
00:51Yeah I mean for it to be
00:53so relevant yeah even today after 30 years you know that gives you a real boost.
00:59Because your music has become the fabric of Indian culture. Because if your Prime Minister
01:05as a country is giving it to another country as a gift, then our culture is giving it.
01:11Yeah. So that's and the true essence of the word colonial cousins. Yes.
01:16And moving further sir, I want to know how does the collaboration between the two of you work?
01:21Uh you get an idea or you get an idea and then how do you see he speaks I hold
01:25the mic
01:29and sometimes you find me holding me. So it's it's just matter of might come up with a tune, some
01:35idea
01:36he will react to it or I will react to it.
01:57So that's how like building blocks. Yeah. Yeah. The song takes shape. But I think we always do it because
02:04it's good. And I think soulfulness is good. Yeah. It's like we make songs which makes
02:14us feel happy basically. And if we are happy I think it resonates with the other person who is listening
02:21to it also.
02:22Okay. And between the two of you who's the one who goes likes to go by the book and who's
02:27the one who likes to
02:28break all the boundaries and experiment. See first of all there's no book. So we don't know which book to
02:33go by.
02:33The only thing is he's a trained musician. I'm also a trained musician. So we have our art that we
02:41have learnt.
02:42But we like to break the rules and make it sound good.
02:46So basically the grammar of music has to be right. Yes. That is one thing. Yeah. And then it happens.
02:59It's like block building basically. He says he's got an idea. He says, sings a phrase or plays a phrase.
03:06I react to that. And then create something else. Which of reaction hota hai. So that phrase becomes like a
03:13newer sound.
03:14Then that song you react to it again. Yeah. And maybe add something. Then say oh wow that's great. Why
03:19not do something like this.
03:21So that's how we've created most of our music. And my next question is again for both of you.
03:27Making art in any form. Be it music, painting, anything. You know an artist reaches a trance state while making
03:34their art.
03:35But again you need to maintain your objectivity also. This is the right direction that I'm going in.
03:41While you're working both of you are working. How do you maintain that objectivity and still maintain that state of
03:47trance while working?
03:51Basically you have to let yourself go. You can't hold yourself. I mean when you are doing a song.
04:03The focus is only that. Yeah. There's nothing else to it. Nothing else to it matters.
04:10That is your objectivity is that only. Because there is no deadline. There is no kiske liye hum gana bana
04:15hai hai. It's not that.
04:20If it is a beautiful song. That song turns and looks at you and smiles. You feel it's smiling at
04:30you. And when the smile is not there.
04:34No. I'm not happy. Give it an example. Will you be my lady. Will you be my lady.
04:39Oh, I will give it an example. Will you be the woman. Always and forever.
04:45That's the only way. Now you will add something to it.
05:03This is a song called Lady. A lot of people have missed it. It's amazing songs. We've got some like
05:0940 songs and everybody has heard only 15 people.
05:12And after we do this tune, I said, yaar, Les, this is in, it's very near Raag Hansatwani.
05:21But we never thought of Hansatwani.
05:23Oh, this is that.
05:25It's there in the subconscious.
05:27Yeah.
05:27Because this do, we have to create it based on this, based on that.
05:31It's all based on the heart.
05:33Yeah.
05:34And I see a lot of fusion elements in your music as well.
05:38How would both of you define your music, your sound?
05:41That has defined an entire generation.
05:45It's our sound and then it got, I mean, the generation took it.
05:53That is their strength, I would say.
05:56And since you're saying it's fusion, see, it was the first, if you saw the posters at Karol Kahn's, the
06:02first ever indie pop album.
06:05There was no such thing as indie pop.
06:07Us zamanayami, 90s me, there was only Hindi pop.
06:11There was called, it was called, the genre was Hindi pop.
06:14So because in our songs, we had Tamil, we had Telugu, we had Rajasthani, we had Hindi, English.
06:21So they called it the first ever Indian pop, Indie pop.
06:28And after that, Indie pop became a slogan that everybody, it became a movement actually.
06:35So the fusion is there because the language fusion is there, the music fusion is there.
06:39And even after Colonial, there were a lot of songs in the mainstream film music also with this kind of
06:46a concept, which is very nice.
06:49And you mentioned Indie pop, now 90s is the most favorite era in terms of music for me, because I'm
06:56a millennial, very fresh sounds, the country was going through a lot of monumental changes back then, a lot of
07:03social and political changes in the country.
07:07To have that liberty to not make music within the boundaries, you know, and to make it as freely as
07:13possible, what was that for you that process like, and then to take it to a label and then distributing
07:17to a larger audience?
07:19In those days, you mostly didn't take a song to the label, the label came to you saying, hey, I
07:25know you compose a good song, I know you produce a song, we have this artist, can you produce and
07:30compose a song for this artist?
07:32So a pari hoon hai became like that, a janam samjha kar ho, so asha ji.
07:37So it came to be from the labels, we trust your musical judgment and we want this to be a
07:45commercial event.
07:46Obviously, everybody wants a commercial event, but it should suit the artist.
07:49So I think that work has been more about creating that artist into a star.
07:56It has to suit that artist.
07:59And that's, that's been why, you know, that's probably why you've loved all the songs because those artists sang from
08:05their heart because songs are composed for them in their style.
08:08So I think 90s was a magical era.
08:11Yeah, absolutely.
08:12Even for us, when we came in, colonial cousins, they heard.
08:17It was, it was basically a time when a lot of new things were happening.
08:25New sounds, new artists, new, especially in music, I would say.
08:29Yeah.
08:29And even, even I would say, the filmmaking also changed.
08:34Yeah.
08:35Totally.
08:36That 90s were, and it's still continuing.
08:39Yeah.
08:39Yeah.
08:40And there's a dilution of it somewhere in music, basically, but it's still continuing.
08:48Yeah.
08:49And continuing further on that in the 90s scene, currently like how mobile is to streaming, audio streaming or video
08:55streaming, you know, this, your art is in every pocket of every human being.
08:59Back in the 90s, it was television, you know, every household had television by the late 90s.
09:04So that's how the music or the content reached the Indian people at large.
09:09How do you view television as a device to your music?
09:12Video.
09:13Video becomes popular.
09:15Your song becomes popular.
09:16See, we have five albums.
09:18We have 40 songs.
09:20Correct.
09:20But the songs in which, for which we made the video, the three songs are the super hits.
09:27Krishna, Kaizala.
09:29And Sani Dappa.
09:29And Sani Dappa.
09:31They're super hits.
09:32So.
09:32But that is because it was featured on, like you said, in the videos.
09:36True.
09:36True.
09:37That was, because that was the media which was, and most accepted.
09:43Because of that, they missed all the other songs.
09:46The three videos are the same song.
09:48So till today, sir, Krishna, what are you doing?
09:51Oh, man.
09:5140 songs.
09:53Have you heard the other songs?
09:54Yes.
09:55Ab tak.
09:56We have, like you said, we have five albums.
09:58We have the Colonial.
10:00Colonial.
10:00Colonial Cousins album.
10:01The first one.
10:02Self-titled.
10:03And the way we do it.
10:04Then we did the MTV Unplugged album.
10:07Then we did Atma.
10:08And then we did Colonial Cousins once more.
10:11Kisi ko pata ni.
10:12But they're saying, sir, next album.
10:14I said, you've not heard that.
10:17Absolutely.
10:18So I would urge them to go and listen to all the Colonial Cousins songs they've missed.
10:23And of course, new will come at its own time.
10:26Okay.
10:27And continuing further on this bit, when something you make, which is so loved by the audience at large, but
10:33then it overshadows your other parts of work.
10:36So, how do you react to that?
10:39I think we are blessed.
10:42We have other parts of our work.
10:44Other people have only one work.
10:46He gets to be Harir.
10:48I get to be Leslie Lewis.
10:50And together we get to be Colonial Cousins.
10:52I mean, how much more magical can it be?
10:54Absolutely.
10:54It's very nice.
10:55I mean, it keeps us fresh.
10:58Yes.
10:59Correct.
10:59We are not on each other's face every day or throughout the year, you know.
11:04We meet, then we hang out, create, you know.
11:09It's a very nice feeling, you know.
11:12And I'm told that both of your minds are rewired in a certain way.
11:16You may be different as individual personalities, but when you come together, your mind works perfectly in sync.
11:21Yeah, it's a default.
11:24Yeah.
11:26I think the default being his music and my music.
11:30Whatever we come from, it's one of its soulfulness.
11:34So, we see the common ground immediately.
11:37We understand each other.
11:38Like you were saying, the aesthetics of our music is so, you know, individually, it's so similar that when we
11:45become Kalwal Kazan,
11:46that's what we do.
11:46Yeah.
11:47So, we don't have a hard time trying to adjust to one another in that sense.
11:51Okay.
11:51Okay.
11:52And beyond music, I'm told that you are a huge foodie.
11:56You love food.
11:58First, sir, I would want to know from you, like how he loves food, what is it about you that
12:02you really love?
12:03And for you, having a good-
12:05Actually, he dreams about food.
12:07No?
12:09Yeah, I mean, you can say that because I, during the lockdown, I used to have, I just used to
12:15have this,
12:16Khud banav, khud khav.
12:17Yeah.
12:18Yeah.
12:19So, I make my lunch, I make my dinner.
12:21I love cooking.
12:22I travel all over the world.
12:24So, I eat all over the world.
12:25And when I miss it, I make it here.
12:28And how does having a good meal impact your creative process?
12:32I think, you listen to all the biggest artists from Zakir Bhai, to everyone, to all the good artists, Shankar
12:40Bahadir.
12:40You can also talk about food after eating.
12:42Yeah.
12:45So, food is the key.
12:47Okay.
12:47And for you, sir?
12:49Yeah.
12:49I mean, I am a foodie.
12:50I like, I like good food.
12:52He is a little sophisticated foodie.
12:54Why do you say that?
12:55Because just food, because just food.
12:56It doesn't taste like this.
13:00But I don't cook.
13:01I don't have time.
13:03No, no.
13:03He is a connoisseur.
13:04When it comes to the food.
13:05Yes.
13:05And many other things.
13:07Yeah.
13:08Okay.
13:08And you spoke about Janam Sanjay Garo, one of my all-time favorite songs.
13:13Very jazz music driven kind of sound.
13:17If you could help me understand the process behind your fondest memories of working with Asha ji.
13:24Every memory is fond.
13:26You know, whether it was her birthday, which we cut her cake in the studio.
13:32And to work with a legend at that level, we are nobody.
13:38In that sense.
13:39Toh humko seekhne ko hii with that.
13:41But we don't go there sitting humko seekhne ko.
13:43Nahin.
13:44What is she saying?
13:45Say, Leslie, aaj mood dahi.
13:48Udiya gao hai.
13:49Ahri, studio is good.
13:50Nahin.
13:51Aaj mood dahi to nahin gaane ka.
13:52Jab mood aega jab gahenge.
13:54Yeah.
13:54I think that is the.
13:55So what you hear afterwards is that Asha mostly in the mood.
13:59Yeah.
13:59That's the actual magic of her.
14:01True.
14:01So I think you learn so many things.
14:04And you know, I call her I.
14:06So with her, it, it, they were all special moments.
14:09Yes.
14:11And she really gave me a kind of platform as an independent producer.
14:17Jab channel V ka awards.
14:19I mean, she came up on the stage.
14:20She won the awards.
14:21She said, one minute.
14:22Where is Leslie?
14:24Usko vla stage bhe hai.
14:25Uske vena hai hai.
14:27You know.
14:27So sweet.
14:28That is huge.
14:29Yeah, absolutely.
14:29For a young artist to, you know, be.
14:31Very encouraging.
14:32Yeah, absolutely.
14:33And so he uses one word legend for Asha.
14:36Now, both of you are also legends.
14:37You have tremendous power to influence people's mind through your art.
14:41When you have such power, artistic power, how do you view that power?
14:45And how do you balance it with the responsibility as an artist?
14:47Both of you.
14:47See, basically, there are two people.
14:51One is Hariharan.
14:53One is Leslie.
14:54And one is the artist Hariharan and the artist Leslie.
14:57Correct.
14:58So what happens, what adds on to us is the music talent.
15:04Yeah.
15:04So leave it there, no?
15:05Don't get it home.
15:06Yeah.
15:07Because you'll feel heavy here.
15:12You'll feel here.
15:14You'll feel heavy here.
15:15Don't think about it.
15:17It's, it's art.
15:18Yeah.
15:19So just keep yourself as a student of art and keep doing that and enjoy it and rest.
15:25Let it takes place.
15:27Don't take it seriously.
15:28Yeah.
15:28Yeah.
15:29I mean, at the end, responsibility is, you can't sit here saying,
15:35let's say, I'm an artist, I'm very responsible, so I can sing this one.
15:39No, it's not.
15:41It's not.
15:41It's not.
15:42It's not in art.
15:43It's not in art.
15:44It's not in art.
15:46It's not in art.
16:03No, it's not in art.
16:06Yeah.
16:07I mean, that's not in art.
16:07No, it's not in art, but it's not in art.
16:07I mean, it's not in art.
16:08And this is art.
16:10friend of mine who met you years ago. He was a kid back then, like 18, 19, 20. There was
16:15some event and you called him up on the stage and you were like asking him questions. What do you
16:19know about music? Do you want to play guitar? This and that. I want to know about, dwell deeper into
16:23this trait of yours, this quality of yours to connect with young people to a younger generation. How do you
16:29do that and what's the thought process behind that?
16:32So for one, I feel India is very talented. There's lots of young talent. I can promote some, I can't
16:39promote all, but I can encourage anybody who needs that encouragement. Toh jab encouragement lagta hai ki mujeh dena hai
16:46or they want to hear, sure, I give them the honest truth. I don't, I don't, I'm very blunt. But
16:52if you look at whether all the young artists, there was a Suni Tarao, KK, Bandok, they're all young artists.
16:59So I have somewhere tried to uplift them because of their talent. So India has got so much talent. I'm
17:06saying, but you have to be passionate and you have to love what you do. That is the most difficult
17:15part to stick to it.
17:19Correct. And sir, for you, between your collaborations, which is one, one of your most favorite tracks. I'm sure it's
17:27very hard to name one because that's your baby. But again, if you have to name one, what would be
17:31that one?
17:31I think Krishna. Krishna is one, it's got its own magic.
17:37And I also recommend people to go and listen to his album called Hazir with Zakir Bhai.
17:45Zakir Bhai.
17:45The first one. Yeah.
17:47There is magic there. Because there's two people who have come into the room, both seriously talented press record. Yeah.
17:55I think that has got some. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Magic.
17:59And for my final question, you know, from the 90s to now, in these 30 years, how has the music,
18:06Indian music or mainstream music has largely changed in your opinion?
18:10If you could help me understand the perspective of an artist. As an audience, I know, but from the perspective
18:15of an artist, how has it changed largely?
18:17It's very much the same as what you understood. Why would you say that?
18:23Because it has changed a lot. When you say music, which music you are referring to? I'm asking you.
18:32The indie music, the independent or more democratized form of music.
18:36Independent music. Yeah, independent music, of course, people are trying out. See, to do independent music, you have to learn
18:46music.
18:46Any one stream of music, maybe Western or an instrument, you have to know the grammar of music.
18:56It's very important. So, I would say this generation, the generation before this, they all have to go through the
19:12grind.
19:12You have to study your craft. You have to study your craft. Otherwise, it's, it's, it's very half-hearted.
19:21And then it's very momentarily, that's what's happening. You'll get a hit. You might use all the technology, AI, all
19:29that is great. But if the fundamentals you don't know.
19:32Yeah. Like, like he said, if you don't know your art, you're hoping AI is going to make you a
19:37star. You're hoping,
19:38you're hoping that, if I say anything, you'll get a good track. If you understand it, then you know, it's
19:43okay.
19:43You can find units.
19:44You can find units.
19:44You can say, you know, the song hit. Either it was the public or you.
19:53Perfect. So, with that, we have reached the end of this conversation. If there's anything that I mayhem is asking
19:57as a question, or something that you would have loved to talk about. So please feel free.
20:01I think one very important thing is what I brought up earlier, which is we have three songs that everybody
20:07knows.
20:08Yeah. There are 30 plus 40 songs that nobody knows. I would, through your channel, request you to get your
20:16listeners to go and listen to Colonial Cousins.
20:19Why would Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji, why would Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji,
20:30experience, experience, all the songs. Yes. Perfect. So, on that note, thank you so much sir. It was a pleasure
20:36and an honor having this conversation. Peace.