Harsha Thangirala’s childhood interest in music has blossomed into a fruitful career. The young music editor has not let anything get in the way of achieving his dreams.
Born in Hong Kong, Harsha headed to Berklee College of Music in the US after high school, where he was chosen as the winner of the 2017 Berklee Contemporary Symphony Orchestra Composition Competition. His winning piece, "Berlin, 1924", was performed by the orchestra live at the First Church in Cambridge.
Upon graduating from Berklee with a degree in Electronic Production and Design, Harsha Thangirala moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in audio post-production for film and television. He began working at Hans Zimmer’s prestigious music company Bleeding Fingers Music, where he now works as a Music Editor, helping realize scores for titles like Growing Up Animal, Eden: Untamed Planted, and Island of the Sea Wolves.
Recently, Thangirala assisted Zimmer on Frozen Planet II for the BBC.
“There are so many goals of mine that I have achieved so much earlier than I ever thought I'd be able to, which is an absolute blessing, but perhaps one that I have yet to accomplish is working on a big-budget major feature film—a goal that may be a bit lofty to obtain within the next 5 years, but hopefully the next 10,” Harsha told Connected to India.
Speaking about his interactions with the Indian community in the US, he said that in a city like LA and an industry like entertainment, Indians actually seem to be few and far between, which makes meeting them all the more unique and special.
“There is an almost instant connection formed, for example when I meet a fellow Indian film composer who is trying to make a name for themselves and we both understand the distinctive experience of being an Indian in Hollywood, and can advise each other based on a shared understanding,” Thangirala added.
He further said that the Indian community in general in the US is much more curious about someone from the community who is pursuing a nontraditional career path.
Outside of his work with Bleeding Fingers, Harsha has released a couple of singles and EPs on music streaming services, with the latest one coming out just this October, under the duo name "Liées".
This is a passion project he started with a friend during the pandemic.
“The genres are mostly pop and indie/alternative, but the project was created to explore both songwriting and production in a variety of styles, and over time we have started to release the songs we've put together in the hopes that people will enjoy listening to the music as much as we enjoyed making it,” Harsha said, signing off.