‘RANG KA DARIYA’ IS WHAT YOU GET WHEN A BUREAUCRAT SINGS

Ghazal singer and bureaucrat Dr Hari Om is coming out with a series of singles which will form his fourth album Rang Ka Dariya.

G hazal singer and bureaucrat Dr Hari Om is coming out with a series of singles which will form his fourth album Rang Ka Dariya. The video of his first ghazal will be digitally released on the singer’s YouTube channel this Sunday.

Retired bureaucrat Anis Ansari has penned the ghazal ‘Ro chuke jinke liye rona tha, khatm ashkon ko bhi kabhi hona tha…’ The video has been shot at Ansari’s home and will also feature the lyricist, young Lucknowites Anand Kaushal and Shivangi Yadav besides the singer-composer.

His last album Roshni Ke Pankh was released in 2015 which had famous ghazals ‘Sikandar ho magar hara hua hoon’ and ‘Muskurati hui subah ho tum’.

“It has been nearly three years since then and I have been working on this album. Musically, times have changed so this time according to the trend Rang Ka Dariya will be focused towards digital space and social media. Since CDs and DVDs are passé, the first ghazal will be released as a single on my channel and in subsequent months remaining five ghazals will be released along with the video within a year,” says Hari Om, who has written remaining of the ghazals besides composing all of them.

TURNING GHAZAL SINGER

Hari Om developed interest in ghazals after his schooling. “During graduation, I got fascinated with Gulam Ali saheb and hooked to his singing. Then, I started listening to Mehdi Hasan saheb and was soon introduced to writings of Faiz, Meer and Faraz. Then I came to know Ahmed Hussain-Mohammad Hussain and just loved their ghazals. In fact, my first album Rang Pehran had four ghazals of Mehdi Hasan and four of Hussain brothers,” he says.

This turned out to be a turning point for him. “I was district magistrate Gorakhpur (2006) then and I requested them to release my album. He came and after listening to my composition suggested that I take singing seriously. I took the advice and today I treat them as gurus,” says Hari Om.

“I have great respect of Jagjit Singh saheb too and have learnt a lot from all of them,” he says. His second album Intesaab had ghazals of Faiz Ahmed Faiz

CLASSICAL RAGAS

The singer has not taken a formal training but has learned from trained gurus. “Wherever I was posted I kept on learning. Knowledge of classical musical and ragas is important for singing. For ghazals it’s a must. Riyaaz is also very important and I try to find two hours for that every day.”

FILM SONGS

I made two songs which I have written, composed and sung. Unfortunately, that film could not be made but the good thing that happened was that the songs were prepared. So, the songs are with me and will go to some suitable project. I prepared them for films which needs different treatment and style. Though, I can release them as singles too but they deserve to be in films. He has performed at most of the mahotsav’s in Uttar Pradesh. “I don’t get time to do shows but will I will now try to find time for them. I also went in Trivandrum to perform,” the singer reveals.

Dr Hari Om in a still from his upcoming ghazal Rang Ka Dariya