At a time when the coronavirus induced uncertainty kept extending from weeks to months, Harish Lakhmani aka DJ Harry gave himself a deadline. He took up the long-pending work of releasing his debut album, Udaan, along with Siddharth Pathak, frontman of the city-based band Wagah Road. It marked a new beginning in his career spanning over two decades as he discovered the lyricist in him. “I am someone who works seven days a week. So, I was not able to work on the album. With the world coming to a standstill from March-end, I decided to complete the album. I explored my writing skills seriously and sent the lyrics to Siddarth who would compose the music for the same. We fine-tuned the final product over several video calls and completed a few songs of the album at a friends’ studio as soon as the lockdown was relaxed,” tells Harry, who has played at many landmark events and venues including at the ICC World Cup 2011 in Eden Gardens.
Apart from launching the nine-track album, Harry also worked on a solo electronic music project, that he plans to release soon. He also ticked off learning ukelele and brushed his skills on the Arabic percussion instrument called daruka that he had picked up from Istanbul last year. Apart from new projects, Harry, who’s a huge fan of DJ Seven, kept himself busy on social media, by going live once every week and participating in live chats that included such engaging topics as the future of DJs among others.
There were challenges aplenty, though. “The main challenge was staying mentally strong since panic and general insecurity reigned supreme. With no earning, things were becoming tough. However, we had to move forward and finish the projects and to be honest, I felt the music was coming out really good with no other distraction,” reflects Harry, who also learnt a few life lessons from the ‘dark days’. His future plans include releasing a few more Indie tracks and coming up with a music production course. “The success of Udaan has made us even more determined to make good music and move up the Indie music radar,” concludes Harry.