It is surprising that there aren’t many reviews on Hariom Sharan - one of India’s greatest exponents of Bhakti Sangeet and Bhajans. I grew up listening to his bhajan’s rendered in the purest of voices which always instilled in me a deep sense of reverence for our rich traditions and culture.
Hariom Sharan never tried to decorate his bhajans with ornate twists of complicated’gayaki’. Unlike Anup Jalota who is more known for his dramatic renditions, Hariom Sharan’s songs are straight from the heart, sung without any exaggeration and simplicity that it unfailingly touches the chords of the heart in a most charming manner. His pronunciation of sanskrit verses is excellent and the phonetics comes out distinctly. Apart from being a musician of immense charm and humility, Hariom Sharan is a writer and a painter too. There are more than 50 cassettes/CDs from this humble genious and he has sung over 2500 bhajans that are a treasure fro the generations to come.
Let me sum up with some of his most notable bhajans:
1. Daata Ek Raam
2. Maili Chadar Odhke Kaise
3. Aarti Kunj Bihari ki
4. Aisa Pyar Bahaa De Maiyya
5. Shree Radhey Govind
Here’s a link to a useful website
https://emusic.com/artist/Hari-Om-Sharan-MP3-Download/11575440.html
You can hear some of his bhajans on this site.
The next time you visit your music shoppe, please ask for a CD of Hariom Sharan’s divine bhajans.