KAASH ...

Tracks:

Audio clips and a video clip from this album can be viewed at the link to the publisher's website at: Magnasound

This album can be purchased online at: The Rediff On the Net Music Shop.

(Note: This link is provided merely as a service to Hariharan fans; neither Mr Hariharan nor the webmasters benefit financially or otherwise by providing this link.)

Hariharan says:

"Kaash" means "if". "If" means possibilities, chances, hopes and doubts ... to the extent that the completion of the album became a big IF! Jokes apart, I started this album more than a year ago, in the first week of January 1999. I have taken time to make this album, not because I didn't want to do a ghazal album but because I wanted to conceive and form a sound that was growing in my mind all these years. I would describe "Kaash" as a fusion between the old world of Urdu poetry and Indian gayaki and contemporary sounding instrumentation, all under a new genre called "Urdu blues".

Outstanding names in the world of music have contributed to this album, namely, Ustad Rais Khan on the sitar, Ustad Sultan Khan on the sarangi and Sivamani playing percussions. Hariharan elaborates on these associations:

"I met Ustad Rais Khansaab (right) and requested that he adorn my songs with the strains of his sitar, a request he kindly agreed to. We recorded the basic harmony and a track voice. Ustad Rais Khansaab then came in and caressed the songs with his sitar. We did three initial tracks of this nature and soon "Kaash" started taking shape. Ustad Sultan Khan adorned the ghazal "Jhoom le" with his sarangi.

For percussion, I wanted the tabla, drums and a variety of percussion effects. Enter Sivamani (far left). He played with a minimalistic and suggestive approach, tying the melodies to the girders of the beat. Sivamani has played a range of instruments such as ghatam and ganjira, apart from his signature drums. Rashid Mustafa (left) took over where Sivamani left off, his nimble fingers working the tabla.

Jolly Mukherjee (right), my longstanding partner in the capacity of music arranger, complemented "Kaash" with his sensitive arrangements."

The lyricists who have contributed to "Kaash" are: Tahir Faraz, Munnawar Massom, Muzaffar Warsi, Wali Arsi, Kaifi Bhopali, Shahryar and Kaisar Ul Jafri.

To give the album its true millennial sound, Magnasound, the publishers, and Hariharan took the album to the Real World Studies in the UK for mixing and Sound Masters, also in the UK, for mastering.

Hariharan sums up "Kaash" in one line: "Kaash is my millennium gift to my fans."