By Devasheesh Pandey

Copyright republicworld

Two-time National Award winner and Padma Shri recipient Hariharan enjoys a prolific career in the music industry. He is best for singing timeless classics like Tu Hi Re from Bombay, Chhod Aaye Hum from Maachis, Kitni Baatein from Lakshya and many more, but his work with composer Leslee Lewis as part of the fusion music duo Colonial Cousins holds a special place in the hearts of fans. Leslee and Hariharan formed their band in the mid 90s, and over the years, left a major impact on the indie music scene in the country. Colonial Cousins were the first Asians and the only Indians to be invited to perform on MTV Unplugged in 1996. The same year, they also won the prestigious MTV Asia Viewers’ Choice Award and the US Billboard’s Viewers’ Award. Appearing on Republic Media Network’s Legends, Hariharan recalled how a delay in recording a jingle led to them jamming inside a music studio and eventually forming Colonial Cousins, India’s leading Indo-Western fusion band.Also read: Jolly LLB 3 Collection Day 2 (Early Estimates): Major Boost In Biz”It was in Flora Fountain. There is a studio. I used to sing jingles for Leslee. This was in the 90s. We were waiting for a script to come from an ad agency in New Delhi. It was not ready yet, you know how things are. Half an hour had gone by. Leslee’s guitar was kept there and he started playing a riff or something. I couldn’t keep quiet and started humming with him. He was playing the chords. I was singing a melody. He went into blues and I followed him. Then he went into jazz and played some sargams. It was just 15-20 minutes and 5-6 people were there sitting in a semi-cirle and they were all listening to us. They asked us, ‘What is this. Its amazing’. I said we don’t know, we are just singing,” Hariharan recalled about the origins of Colonial Cousins.Also read: Shocking! Zubeen’s Final Moments Show Him Jumping Into The SeaHe shared that the labels initially had difficulty in marketing their music, given the sounds were not what the usual Indian listeners were accustomed to listening to. But they eventually cracked it.”We realised that we have a common essence of music in us which we could share. A concept of music. The melody aspect of it and we said lets do it. Later on, we did three songs as a scratch recording. We did some other songs as well. It was a new genre. It took a while. It took them two years to understand how to market this stuff. The songs went on the album then we got a billboard at MTV Awards and then it was picked up by MTV UK and we performed there,” Hariharan said.