Haroon
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Haroon
FAVOURITE BOOK: Restaurant At The End Of The Universe
FAVOURITE SINGER: The Beatles and John Lennon
FAVOURITE MOVIE: School of Rock
Shanaz Ramzi
Looking at the young pop singer, Haroon, one would never guess that he is an avid reader, let alone of unusual books. But, a prolific reader he is, and his taste in books varies from classics to sci-fi novels to biographies and autobiographies.
Says he, “I have a voracious appetite for reading and love scouring the internet for information. I read at night and because I travel so much, I do a lot of reading on flight or while waiting at airports. I always make sure I have a great book as a companion before embarking on a journey, and often read while sitting at a cosy coffee shop when on tour.”
One of the singer’s favourite books is Pride and Prejudice. He says, “I re-read it about a year ago so it’s fresh in my mind. It is a very touching and powerful story, and very well written. I also love reading the Harry Potter series too, and have read all six books, at least twice over. I’m also a huge fan of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series and the trilogy ranks as my all-time favourite books, though the second book - Restaurant at the End of the Universe is actually the best. They are really thought provoking and funny, and I would advice anyone interested in reading sci-fi to try this trilogy.”
An author Haroon raves about is Terry Pratchett, who “Has a tongue-in-cheek style of writing and has a crazy sense of humour. He writes about a mad fantasy world and introduces some really creative and incredible concepts. Pratchett makes for light reading but not everybody gets it as he has a quirky British sense of humour.”
Haroon says he also enjoys reading Isaac Isomof, and non-fiction books. He mentions A Short History of Nearly Everything as another book he has enjoyed a lot and adds, “It is a must-read for everybody. It goes into absolute detail about the science behind everything and is an eye-opening book. It tells you how science has progressed, and makes you think of the bigger picture.”
Since Haroon is also a recording engineer, he says he reads a lot of technical books on engineering too. Says he, “I’ve set up and designed my own recording studio and for that I had to read a lot of books on music and recording engineering. When I bought various equipments for the studio, I had to do a lot of research to get them to function properly, as there is no good studio designer available in Pakistan. So, I enjoy reading such books.”
Among the biographies he has read, Haroon mentions particularly books on the lives of musicians, such as The Sting, Elton John and the Beatles. About the last he says, “As a teenager I read many books on them and in fact, was inspired to become a musician because of them.”
As a kid, Haroon says he had read a lot of classics and enjoyed Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and was also a Charles Dickens fan. He used to also read a lot of poetry too and loved the works of William Blake. He recalls writing poetry himself during school days. More recently, he says he has been re-reading Oscar Wilde and says he has his complete works.
Not surprisingly, Haroon is completely into music as well and listens to it while in the car or when exercising. He raves about the Beatles, which is his all-time favourite band. He says, “I was nine when I first heard their cassette and every song was so inspirational and evoked so many different emotions and energy inside me that I realized this is something I really have a passion for.
That’s when I got the craze to play the guitar and finally got it when I was 13 and began to compose songs. I formed a school band and we started performing in school functions. Apart from them, I also enjoy Queen, Electrolyte Orchestra, Supertramp, The Police, Sting, and Freddy Murphy.”
About Sting, Haroon says, “I think he is a fantastic lyricist and one of the few whose lyrics are meaningful and clever. He isn’t just a lyricist but a poet.” As for Freddy Murphy, Haroon finds his, “Voice and stage antics simply great.” Among the other singers that Haroon grew up listening to are Prince and Michael Jackson. Haroon is also a big fan of John Lennon as a solo artiste.
Haroon says he listens to all kinds of music, including classical. Says he, “I enjoy Beethoven and Mozart. I am also fond of listening to classical raags and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. When I was younger, I enjoyed Alamgir too. Now I like Shafqat, Ahmed Jehanzeb and Najam – I think they have excellent voices.”
Intriguingly enough, although Haroon enjoys watching movies he finds action movies “Boring”. He says he only watches them “If they have incredible special effects, for just action movies have no thought process behind them. I like interesting looking aliens and monsters, and am a huge fan of The Lord of the Rings movies. I enjoy fantasy movies and animated ones like Shrek 1and 2.”
Another movie that Haroon is impressed by is The Internal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which he found thought-provoking. “It is about a company that can erase unpleasant memories from one’s mind. It was really interesting.” His most favourite movie, though, is School of Rock, by Jack Black, which reminds him of the time when he and his friends were young with dreams of becoming musicians. Jerry Maguire is another favourite.
Very occasionally – once or twice a year – Haroon watches Indian movies if they are highly recommended by friends. Says he, “They are too long for me to be able to sit through them, so I generally avoid them. But, some are admittedly excellent. I saw Devdas on the big screen and the whole visual experience along with the soundtrack was a treat.”
Haroon feels that Indian movies excel in comedies while the serious ones tend to get too dramatic. However, he says they are visually so strong that they are comparable to Western movies. He feels their strength is the music, something Western movies used to have but then abandoned. “Now, more and more the West is also beginning to make musicals, and whenever they do make a movie with song and dance in it, it is a spectacular success – like Chicago.”
Haroon II
Up close and personal with Haroon
By Shahzeb Shaikh
Haroon, the famous Asian pop singer, composer, musician, producer, recording engineer, and exhilarating live performer scored an array of record-selling albums from 2000’s smash hit Haroon Ki Awaz to 2002’s melodic Lagan. He returns to the music scene with his third solo album Haroon Ka Nasha. Of course, as an ex-member of one of the most superb boy bands, Awaz, it is his sixth mainstream release.
For someone who has been regarded as one of the most celebrated pop artists of the country, Haroon doesn’t, for an instant, make me feel that he is a pop star. This became crystal clear when he welcomed me into his studio that he likes to call, ‘Haroon’s turbo charged funky lil’ studio’. He says that he is a fair, friendly, honest, and passionate person. He is a wonderful host and made me feel quite at home.
About his childhood, he shares merrily, “I had a very happy childhood. From the age of eight till 14 I used to go camping and hiking with my best friend and his younger brother who was my younger brother’s best friend. The four of us were a team. We used to explore the forests of Islamabad, the Margalla hills and the mountains of Murree. We had many adventures.”
“I have two younger brothers and one little sister. My mother is from New Zealand, my father is of course a Pakistani and I was born in London on May 14, but I grew up mainly in Islamabad,” he enlightens about his family.
How did he start off his musical journey? I asked. “I started my first band when I was 14. I called the band the Idiosyncrasies. We used to perform at school functions. My first professional band was ‘Awaz’. I thought of the name ‘Awaz’ when I was president of the Pak Student Association in college. I launched a newsletter and I called it ‘Awaz’. At the time I thought it would be a brilliant name for a band.”
During their peak, ‘Awaz’ was the biggest band in the country, and went on to release three highly successful albums and two big singles such ‘Mr Fraudiay’, ‘Ay Jawan’, ‘Main Na Manoo Haar’, ‘Jadoo Ka Chiragh’ between 1993 and 1999, which have collectively sold more than 2,000,000 units worldwide.
So what brought about the break up of Awaz? “Ego clashes mainly,” he says firmly. So how has Haroon matured as a singer after going solo? “Working alone forced me to dig deeper into myself and really hone my talents and explore my creative and technical abilities. It was a really intense and exhilarating process,” he says happily.
Haroon ki Awaz was my first solo album. That had a lot of popular songs like ‘Milan’, ‘Yara’, ‘Pyareya’ and ‘Jee kay Dekha’. Songs such as ‘Fire Inside’ and ‘Paisa’ were biting tongue-in-cheek commentaries on the socio-economic-political situation in south Asia at the time. That album sold phenomenally well.”
“I followed that up with Lagan. That had the super hit ‘Mahbooba’. That song was a big hit with Pakistanis living abroad. So I toured every nook and cranny on earth where there was a Pakistani community. I toured all over Europe, UK, Canada, America and the Middle East,” he continues.
Elaborating on his new album, Haroon Ka Nasha, he says, “The album has recently been released and it is the top selling album right now. You can log on to www.haroon.com and hear clips of the songs from the album. It is very different from the last one. The album touches on a variety of interesting themes apart from the usual love songs. The song ‘Big Corporation Man’ is a satire on greedy large companies that only care about profit without regard to the effects on the environment or their customers.
The song ‘Jiya Jaye’ has a strong message extolling brotherhood and peace no matter what your religion or background. The song ‘Hum Hain’ is a positive uplifting aggressive rock song. The song ‘Oh Saqi’ is deep and dark and full of despair.
There are lighter songs like ‘Jua Khela’ which says that love is a gamble and you never know whether you are going to win or end up with a broken heart. ‘Nahin Hah Yeh Pyaar’ is my personal favourite. That has some really original and interesting chord progressions. ‘Yeh Raat’, is a straight forward rock with lush harmonies. I played blistering acoustic and electric guitars on that song. The song is basically about seizing the moment and being high on life and love.”
Haroon is not married and spends most of his time at his studio. He loves reading, surfing the Net for the latest news and information, and spending time with his family and friends. A pop star of Haroon’s calibre, he still awaits his biggest musical achievement.
His thoughts on his future are “Look out for more videos. There is one terrific video in the pipe-line for a song called ‘Ishq Nasha’. That stars Iraj the supermodel and Deepak the famous designer. It is an animation based video and the director and animator have really created something unique.”
His message for his fans: “I want to thank the fans for the thousands of emails of support that they sent me at haroon.com. I want to ask the fans to listen to the new album and give me feedback on my website and also tell me which video they think I should do next.”
