Tell us your story. How did the idea of Hari & Sukhmani the band come about?

It was quite organic. A common friend introduced us, we met up in my studio, where we jammed for a bit. As luck would have it, we managed to get a bunch of songs together and a gig  in two weeks.

Any reason why you chose to fuse punjabi folk with electronica?

We just followed our instincts. I guess we were just experimenting/working within our comfort zone. I produce music using electronics as a medium and punjabi folk is something both of us have grown up with.

Tell us about your latest single Promises.

Our latest singles are promises and chann. We decided early last year that we are going to be focussing on releasing more of our music independently. We wanted to put our evolution out there not only through our live performances, but our recorded music as well. Hence, we are putting out singles every month or so on our Soundcloud page

www.soundcloud.com/harisukhmani

Our music is downloadable for free.

You are singers, songwriters as well as producers. How do you manage to multitask yet making sure you do all of it right?

Well, everything requires work. There’s no substitute to that. But when you really enjoy doing something, then you do it a lot, then it’s not work, it’s a lifestyle. Our priorities are to focus on being better artists, on being better people. We strive towards evolving our sound. Everything else seems to organically follow.

You have performed in various stages. Which has been your best experience so far and why?

So many of them! We take pride in trying to create a homely, informal ambiance on stage, so people can enjoy our music without any inhibitions. It’s fun to see people at weddings and other private events breaking out of a formal zone and enjoying us singing funny tappas! Our music is more soulful and full of moods, and it’s always an amazing experience when people get it.

As artists, you may have someone you would like to work with. Who would it be and why?

We like to work with any artist who makes our music better. Any artist who helps us evolve, someone we can learn from. The experience of making a song with someone can be very powerful. We try in every song, to record or work with an artist. We have been fortunate enough to work with people like Arshad Khan (esraj), Ajay Prassana (flute), Thu Le (classical guitar), Chugge Khan ( singer, multi instrumentalist), Mandeep sethi (rapper), Noori (band from Pakistan), Fakhrouddin Ghaffari ( Iranian percussionist), Baldev Singh (sarangi), Shatrunjai Dewan (keyboardist, producer), Aman Nath ( pianist, producer), Elvis (guitarist), Bosco (drummer), Joe (bassist), Trilok Gurtu (percussionist). And many more.

What makes your music unique?

What makes anything unique: When you don’t try to copy some formula. All of us are unique. We seem to lose that along the way sometimes. I think both of us have an identity which we strive to maintain. In our music, in our stage presentation, in our actions, basically in our musical journey.

You have a very interesting band motto to leave behind cultural, religious, and racial divides. To transform the the community and the individual through happy soulful music.. Have you succeeded in keeping up with it?

We would like to think so. The key is happy soulful music. We can only try to honestly present, musically, who we are. Remaining true to our music is the only way we can speak to whoever listens to it. An artist once told me that getting on stage is a huge responsibility for any artist, as there are people who have opened themselves up to the artist, by coming and listen to them, can be influenced by them. We try to stay true to that in our own way.

Tell us about your upcoming/future projects

We are totally involved, at the moment, in releasing our tracks independently, new and old. You can expect a track from us every month or so.

Where do you guys draw inspiration from?

Inspiration can be drawn from anything as long as one has an open mind and heart. We are fortunate to be doing what we love to do, what we are passionate about. That helps us to be inspired all the time!

Listen to them:

www.soundcloud.com/harisukhmani

The music will speak for itself. Thanks a lot for listening!

This interview was featured in our July 2017 issue: http://bit.ly/2tlsJSH