You can watch the song here. To buy the album at just Rs. 40, click here. And for our review of the soundtrack, click here.

(Em)…(C)…(G)…(D)
(Em)…(C)…(G)…(D)

(Em)Hoon (C)khudi sey laapa(G)ta(D)
(Em)hmmmm (C)hmmm (G)hmmmm (D)hmmm
(Em)Hoon (C)khudi sey laapa(G)ta(D)
(Em)cheek(C)ti meri (G)khamosheyaa (D)yahan
(Em)Bay.. (C)khuwab se khuwab hain (G)khuwabo mein (D)mere

(Em)Kur (C)deray saanaton (G)mein..(D)
(Em)Kahein (C)toh qaid meri (G)aaahat (D)hain
(Em)Bay..(C)sahta iss dard se (G)ab le ja (D)churaaa key

(C)Le jaaa tu (D)mujhey, Khuley aasmaa mein
(C)Le jaaa tu (D)mujhey, Apne jahaan mein
(C)Le jaaa tu (D)mujhey, Kar ke Rehaa tu
(C)Le jaa ab (Am)le jaa tu (D)le jaa (G)mujhey le (C)jaa

(Em)…(C)…(G)…(D)
(Em)…(C)…(G)…(D)

(Em)Oo..(C)abdabi dabi (G)awaaz hai(D)
(Em)Kho..(C)ye sabi (G)alfaaz hain(D)
(Em)Na..(C)raaz kyun saaz hain (G)gaano se (D)mere

(Em)Chub (C)rahi hain wo (G)shekayetein(D)
(Em)she(C)kyatein na jaaney kyun (G)apni (D)chaahtein
(Em)Bay..(C)sahta iss dard se, (G)ab le ja (D)churaaa key

(C)Le jaaa tu (D)mujhey, Khuley aasmaa mein
(C)Le jaaa tu (D)mujhey, Apne jahaan mein
(C)Le jaaa tu (D)mujhey, Kar ke Rehaa tu
(C)Le jaa ab (Am)le jaa tu (D)le jaa (G)mujhey le (C)jaa

(G)Pal, toota (Em)toota hai, Bheega (C)bheega hai khuwabon ka (D)nishaan
Ooo (G)mann rutha (Em)rutha hai, ab (C)akela hai yaadon ka (D)jahaan
O Anjaa(C)ne logoo (Am)ki duniya (D)sey le (C)jaa

(A)Le jaaa tu (D)mujhey, Khuley aasmaa mein
(A)Le jaaa tu (D)mujhey, toh apne jahaan mein
(A)Le jaaa tu (D)mujhey, Khuley aaaa.. (A)ssss.. (D)maa.. (A)mein..

(A)Le jaaa tu (D)mujhey, le ja meri jaan leja
(A)Le jaaa tu (D)mujhey, tu le ja mujhe
(A)Le jaaa tu (D)mujhey, oh hoooo
(A)Le jaaa tu (D)mujhey, tu mujhe
(A)Karke reja tu, le ja (D)kar ke reha tu le ja
(A)Khule asmame (D)apne jahaan mein
(A)Kar ke reha, tu le ja (D)le ja, le ja

Chords courtesy: Guitar Chord World

Folk fusion singer Sona Mohapatra, as an International Women’s Day special, has released on youtube two videos from her performance in Mehrangarh Fort Jodhpur. The songs, called Shaam Piya and Mharo Pranam, pays tribute to the mystical poet Mirabai, using the lyrics from one of her own poems. The first song, like all Mirabai’s poems, pertains to love, and composer Ram Sampath beautifully captures the essence of the song with a simple folksy tune ensconced in a soft bluesy arrangement. With such talent why this man never made it big in movie composition shall always remain a mystery to me! Sona has already proven folk to be among her core competencies (in case of Bollywood music followers who do not know Sona, she sang the folk portion of Bahara from IHLS) and delivers this one to perfection. The second song has a more classical touch to it (raag Kalyan I am guessing) both in tune and arrangement. Another absorbing track this one, but this time primarily owing to the vocals. Sona promised a treat for Women’s day, and she gives one. My playlist for the day nevertheless shall feature more of Shaam Piya than Mharo Pranam. Below are the two videos. Enjoy! And Happy Women’s Day to all ladies out there! Below are the two videos.

Happened to listen to this tribute song to Sachin Tendulkar titled Apna Tendulkar. Divine Raaga, a Bangalore-based fusion-rock outfit, are the people behind the song which they called the “official Sachin Tendulkar tribute song”. The band apparently gifted the DVD to Sachin day before yesterday. All the Sachin sentiments apart, I am interested to know how this became “official”. The song has got an amateurish touch all about it, whether it be the video or the mixing or the arrangement. The vocalist has done a decent job, and the music is generally feel-good, but apart from that there is nothing special about the track. For a band that is supposed to be fusion rock, the song surprisingly lacks any element of fusion; or I am missing their definition of fusion. In all, a pretty ordinary attempt from Divine Raaga, which will be helped to a great extent by the subject it deals with, and the World Cup season. I hope they have got some stuff up their sleeves to sustain the audience they gain from this. You can watch the song here.

Changing pretty much everything except the title hook and the female chorus of the 1986 original it borrows from, Pritam creates a techno-Punjabicized remix of Pyaar Do Pyaar Lo to kick off Thank You, thereby diluting the Arabic feel that so formed the soul of the original. Even Mika’s vocals, in all his exuberance, are a weak replacement for Sapna. Abhijit Vaghani’s remix, though a seemingly redundant exercise at the onset, in fact conforms more to the original, Vaghani nicely incorporating an Arabic flavor to the proceedings, but the techno elements still make it a pale shadow of the original. Master Saleem and Ritu Pathak’s Razia is another techno-soaked remix-like track showing potential of being a hit at dance floors. On the musical front though, there is only the quality of the vocalists that goes for it. The song might have worked better in an un-electronic form. In this case Vaghani’s remix is truly a superfluous track. Full Volume has a reduced percentage of electronics in it, though ends up sounding a rehashed version of Chor Bazaari coz of the arrangement and Neeraj Shridhar. Richa Sharma is pretty much wasted in her attempt to sound retro by being nasal. The remix by Harry Anand is a pretty lame job.

Sonu Nigam does a brilliant mimicry of Shabbir Kumar’s voice in the title track (My Heart Is Beating), but that is pretty much the only interesting part of the (once again) techno-infused track. Harry Anand does another absolutely unnecessary remix for the song. It is only in the closing track that the composer reassumes his usual self. The arrangement of Pyaar Mein, though Latino in a definitively Pritam-esque manner, is haunting nevertheless, and comes as a welcome change after the techno orgy! And Javed Ali and Neeraj Shridhar do a clean job of the vocals as well. Thankfully, no remix for this one.

Director Aneez Bazmee seems to have drawn inspiration from some flick like Housefull (which also featured a classic-remix and a Shabbir Kumar track incidentally!) in getting Pritam to create this electronic-dominated soundtrack for Thank You. Bad idea, as it turns out.

Music Aloud Rating – 6/10

Recommended Tracks – Pyaar Mein, Pyaar Do Pyaar Lo

- Ajay Parasuraman

I know I’ve been away for an awfully long time. I’ve been extremely busy trying to get a(ny) company convinced that I’m fit to work for them, with varied results. Ok, enough said about that. On to today’s post.
Arguably one of the most popular ragas alongside Hamsadwani, Mohanam etc, Naattai is the janya of the 36th Melakartha raaga Chalanatta. The Arohana and Avarohana of Naattai are as follows:
Arohana: S R3 G2 M1 P N1 S
Avarohana: S N2 P M1 G2 M1 R2 S

There are disputes over the Arohana and the Avarohana — some use Daivatha while ascending (arohana). There’s also the case where Rishabha is not used in the Arohana.

Some of the common prayogas are: G M~ R. , N S R S R, G M P N P

The jeeva swara(s) are R, M and G. To a large extent it’s the Rishabha that gives this raga its identity more than the Gandhara or the Madhyama.

I had written about the association of ragas and the expression each one evokes. Nattai evokes the Veera Rasa. The essence of the raga is in how its sung — generally fast paced and hence, acts like a wake up call for the listeners — and this is why Nattai is generally used to begin a concert to set the tone for the rest of the kutcheri to follow. As is required by other ragas, Nattai requires strong lung power at the lower notes — lower Nishadha and Rishabha are quite common in its prayogas. And hence, it is a Ghana (lit. strong/heavy) raga. This is the reason why Thyagaraja chose Nattai as the first of his five Ghana Ragas to compose the Pancharatnas (lit. Five Pearls). The others, ofcourse, being Gowla, Arabhi, Varali and Sri.

Some of the more familiar songs in this raga are:-

1. Remember the scene in Anniyan when the family goes to Thiruvaiyyar to attend the Thyagaraja Aradhana? The shot shows Sudha Raghunathan and a host of other singers singing Jagadananda karaka in, you guessed it, Nattai. This song, as you may know, forms a part of the famous Pancharatna Kritis composed by Thyagaraja. Thyagaraja was a devout follower of Lord Rama and most of his compositions are in praise of Rama. In this particular kriti, Thyagaraja eulogizes Rama as one who is the cause of all bliss in the universe. This is the only pancharatna kriti that was composed in Sanskrit. All the other kritis were composed in Telugu, which was used in the court of the Maratha king Sarabhoji who ruled this area in the 18th century.

Thyagaraja uses S R G in the Arohana in this composition. If you have a look at the Chittai Swaram(s) of the kriti you can for yourself verify the usage of S R G.

You can watch the entire song here and here

2. Swaminatha Paripalaya – Muthuswamy Dikshitar. In this song, the composer praises the lord Muruga and his 2 wives Valli and Devayani.
Muthuswamy Dikshitar School does not use Rishabha while ascending in this raga. However, in this particular kriti, the chittai swaram has a Rishabha being used between S and G, which is quite uncommon when it comes to Dikshitar’s kritis. It is, however, not known if Dikshitar himself added the R there or someone else modified the swarams this way. The latter is believed to be the case.

3. Saraseeruhasana Priye — Muthuswamy Dikshitar

4. Maha Ganapathim — Dikshitar, again. Probably the most sung Carnatic song in the world!

There have been umpteen compositions that were made for movies. Some of the most famous ones are:

Dil Se Re
Movie: Dil Se
Composer: A. R.  Rahman

Chale Chalo
Movie: Lagaan
Composer: A. R. Rahman

Iyengar Veettu Azhage
Movie: Anniyan
Singers: Hariharan, Harini
Composer: Harris Jayaraj

Gopangane Aathmavile (Malayalam)
Movie: Bharatham
Singers: K.J.Yesudas, K.S.Chitra
Composer: Raveendran

Maha Ganapathim
Movie: Morning Raga
Singer: Bombay Jayashri
Music Director: Amit Heri/Mani Sharma
Year: 2004

Until next time.
And, keep singing/listening!