You can listen to the soundtrack here (Link courtesy, the regular, @prabshoney)

The Hindi lyrics of Khwabon Khwabon would take some getting used to after the hajaar listens of Uyirin Uyire over the years, but that apart, Harris Jayaraj’s composition from Kaakka Kaakka still carries enough spunk to have you hooked even to the Hindi avatar. HJ even uses the same singers – KK and Suchitra. Quite surprisingly the rest of the soundtrack is not a reproduction of the Tamil original. Chahoon Bhi has the composer’s favourite Bombay Jayashree crooning with Karthik. The guitar-led arrangement is signature Harris Jayaraj, thankfully without appearing to reference any of his older works. Continuing on his guest composer role from Dabangg is Lalit Pandit with his single song called Dum Hai To Aaja by ex-Viva girl Mahua Kamat. But performance-wise he almost goes to the other extreme, creating a totally avoidable mess of a track here.

HJ returns with another fabulously arranged piece called Main Chali, Shreya Ghoshal and Naresh Iyer doing the honours behind the mic. The antara of the song is a rehash of the corresponding portion of his song Mudhal Mazhai from Bheema though (thanks to @_viju I now know that the song as such is a richer edition of Manasa from the Telugu movie Munna). And rounds off the soundtrack with another song that is interesting in parts, but just about average overall. Vijay Prakash, Shalini Singh and Neha Bhasin’s singing happens to be one of those interesting components of the song.

Harris Jayaraj’s second encounter with Bollywood is certainly not comparable with the scintillating debut that RHTDM was (or with the original Kaakka Kaakka score), but is an entertaining listen nevertheless. Not that the debut had done him any good in the industry, hope this one at least gets him more opportunities. He deserves them.

Music Aloud Rating – 7.25/10

Top Recos – Main Chali, Khwabon Khwabon, Chahoon Bhi

Despite a standard electronic arrangement, Music Bandh Na Karo has an addictive groove to it, the folksy tune of the title hook is an especially nice touch. Abhishek Nainwal, Palash Sen and Anushka Manchanda do their job quite well. It is gladdening to see Palash Sen get more into film music (though in this case I would have preferred a song that utilized his singing better), he has easily got more range and versatility than other singers who took a similar route like Neeraj Shridhar, Mohit Chauhan et al. Barring a temporary tempo change in between and a couple of additional orchestral elements the remix isn’t very different from the original. Hey Na Na Na is immensely catchy with its hummable tune and breezy youthful arrangement. Raghav (Sachar I suppose) does justice to the arrangement with a peppy rendition. Didn’t really like the Party Map Remix.

Mika totally nails the fun-filled Thank You Mr. DJ which exudes a Hey Ganpat sort of feel with its daaru song air. Very imaginatively arranged, I already sense a hit in this one once the visuals are out. Suzanne gives backing vocals. The high point of the soundtrack though, happens next, with Piya Kesariyo. The composers get Anushka Manchanda (Jigar Saraiya also pitching in with the processed backing vocals) to sing the sensuous-flavored folk-rock fusion track. After that high point the soundtrack ends on an anticlimax though, Tochi Rainaa singing a mediocrely orchestrated techno-Punjabi piece Kaari Kaari.

Sachin-Jigar continue in top form, and this time too it looks like their work is going to get noticed, thankfully.

Music Aloud Rating: 7.75/10

Top Recos: Piya Kesariyo, Hey Na Na, Thank You Mr. DJ

Click on the song title to watch the song on youtube.

The reggae-ish base of Pranayanila gives it a very heard-before feel(songs like Dont Worry Be Happy invariably come to mind). But that said, wonderful song, the light-heartedness of the composition is quite infectious, and Shaan Rahman does a fabulous job of singing it too. Deepak Dev gets Vijay Yesudas to sing a remix of the song his dad sang in 1984 for Kaanaamarayathu, Oru Madhurakkinaavin. Vijay renders it quite well, and the remix is done in a tastefully retro-ish manner by the composer. It is the visuals you will need to be wary of though. The third and final track of the soundtrack gives off all wrong signals right from its “profound” title, Thillana Rock Your Body. And the song lives up to (or should I say down to?) the expectations from the name, very middling dance music arrangement. Haven’t been able to find out the source of the female voice accompanying Benny Dayal.

Surprisingly short soundtrack, I had expected more songs from the general feel I got about the movie. Two out of three is pass marks anyways. Not bad, Deepak Dev.

Music Aloud Rating: 6.75/10

Top Recos: Pranayanila, Oru Madhurakkinaavin Remix

JT Performing Arts Center is organizing a World Music concert in Kochi tomorrow. The show, called Beyond Kipling – A Melharmonic Exploration (smart nod to the famous line from the author), will have Chitraveena Ravikiran, Brazilian veteran Jovino Santos Neto on the Grand piano, Fazal Qureshi on percussion, Charumathi Raghuraman on violin and Anantha Raman Krishnan on mridangam. The concert begins at 7 pm on Sunday, 28th of August, at the Choice Campus, Thrippunithura. The ensemble has already performed in Pune, Mumbai and Bangalore, and Kochi is supposedly the last stop of the tour. Given that such concerts are not a frequent phenomenon in Kochi, if you are a Kochi resident and a music lover I would advise you to immediately book the tickets. I have already booked mine! The tickets are priced at 250, 500, 750 and 1000. You can book them here. And if you want a general idea about the musicians, just click on the names above.

You can listen to the soundtrack here.

Sanjay Dutt might not be the most prolific of singers, but composers almost always manage to create entertaining songs with his vocals. Singh Singh is another one to add to the list, Sajid Wajid producing a smartly arranged cloak-and-dagger-ish tune with the actor. The dash of Arabic in the second interlude is a nice touch. The Arabic elements are accentuated in the remix. Dutt is joined by Wajid, Khurram Iqbal and Asif Ali Baig in the song. Chandni Chowk Se sung by the composers and Hard Kaur is a middling track though. So is Ishqan Da despite an energetic effort by Sonu Nigam and Shweta Pandit. The composers bounce back again with the item number Jungle Ki Heerni which bears a very Munni-ish feel about it (same or a close raga I think) except that Sunidhi Chauhan delivers this one. The remix is just so so. Murga Anda Dega that ends the soundtrack should make for a better onscreen experience (assuming it’s been shot in a genuinely funny way) than an audio one, with its Devang Patel-esque tongue-in-cheek lyrics and everything. Sanjay Dutt sings this one too with Suzanne D’Mello, but not with as much satisfactory results as with the opening track.

Sajid Wajid produce another passable score in Chatur Singh Two Star, like they have a major part of their repertoire. But after that song they did for No Problem, anything goes.

Music Aloud Rating: 5.5/10

Top Recos: Singh Singh, Jungle Ki Heerni

It is 75 years since Sampooran Singh Kalra, or Gulzar Deenvi, was born in Jhelum district. Over the close to 50 years that the man has been active in the film industry the man has not only given us a number of memorable songs in association with almost every music director, but also directed some splendid movies. As the maestro celebrates his birthday today, we express our appreciation in the form of this playlist. Hope you like it.

You can listen to the soundtrack here.

Listening to the twists and turns that Kalamozhikalaayi takes you through and the fact that Sharreth is rendering the song, one would think the track is a Sharreth product, famous as he is for his unorthodox tunes. Well it is not, this is the handiwork of M Jayachandran, doing his first score for Blessy, only second time the director has gone for a composer other than Mohan Sithara (first being Debojyoti Mishra for Calcutta News – Thanks much to Jithin Jacob for clearing my misconception that Pranayam was the first). Coming back to the song – lovely start to the soundtrack –addictive tune, and a smart arrangement. And Sharreth is as reliable as it gets on the vocals, its a pity he hasn’t got to sing many songs outside of his own compositions. The composer gets Vijay Yesudas and Shreya Ghoshal to deliver the dainty retro piece called Mazha Thulli. The first thing I got reminded of when I heard the clip clop beats was this classic from Naya Daur. Not accusing of plagiarism here, just saying that the feel is the same. Jayachandran has in fact done a very similar retro piece for the movie Orkkuka Vallappozhum, called Maampooppaadam. Very trippy orchestration, I loved the usage of harmonica, and the clever incorporation of Mozart’s Symphony No. 25 excerpt (more famous as the Titan watch theme) in the second interlude.

Paattil is a lullaby-ish melody with a touch of melancholy, something of the genre of the classic Raari Raariram Raaro from Onnu Muthal Poojyam Vare. Coming in two versions, one by Shreya Ghoshal and the other by P Jayachandran, the song sees a wonderful interplay between piano and the strings section. There is also a brief segment in the second interlude where the composer hooks in Francis Lai’s Love Story Theme. And finally there is Lalettan singing the English I’m Your Man. Purely situational track, there is nothing very musically enjoyable about the song, just the fact that Lal conveys the decrepitude of his character quite effectively in the rendition.

Blessy’s musical sense continues to impress. Every movie of his so far has been a musical treat, ditto is the case with the Pranayam. Short and sweet soundtrack.

Music Aloud Rating – 7.5/10

Top Recos – First 3 tracks.

Over a year back when I first read about the initiative called Global Indian Music Awards by Wizcraft International Entertainment, I was really glad. For a change, here was a music award that would recognize the contributions of all levels of technicians in music, and some unique categories like the Best Anti-piracy initative and so on. And when the jury consisted of such veterans such as Dr. L. Subramaniam, Shubha Mudgal, Vishal Bhardwaj, Hariharan etc, it indeed looked as if the deserving would be recognized for a change. In fact in 2010 they did too, barring minor glitches like Tulsi Kumar winning the Best Debut in Non-Film Category.

But today I happened to go through the nominations for this year. Seriously, what is it that I missed in Dabangg‘s music?  It was OK when other commercial awards lauded it and even gave Munni Song of the Year (!), but the last thing I expected out of GIMA nominations was to see Dabangg in EVERY film-based category! I won’t comment much on the non-film section as a lot of albums there I have not heard, but it was gladdening to see Ranjit Barot (Bada Boom), Band Called Nine (Rewind), Akriti Kakar (Akriti) et al on the list. But the film category is a shocker. Not a mention of Aisha, Ishqiya or Lamhaa. Vasuda Sharma‘s debut in Shahrukh Bola.., Sohail and Simaab Sen’s work in Khele Hum.. all have been ignored. Instead, we have Sheila and Munni vying for Best Film Song, and Tees Maar Khan on the list of Best Album nominations. Udaan and Raavan have been given a consolation nod in the form of BGM nominations. I am pretty sure when the awards are announced a major chunk will go to Dabangg. Disappointed, very disappointed. In any case, you can see the nominee list here: film, non-film

Superheavy is out with their third single – Mahiya (thanks a lot to @shaneem for the info). Quite obviously this is also a work from A R Rahman, evident from the predominantly Hindi/Urdu-based lyrics rendered by ARR. The sinister Arabic-tinged arrangement also bears ARR elements. And to be frank, I like this song best of the three singles. But, I must add, as an Indian fan of ARR. The song is very Indian in its sound barring the brief cameos from Joss Stone and Damien Marley, so it is bound to appeal to us. I am not very sure how the Western audience will take it though. And no sign of Jagger, beginning to wonder if his role is primarily to add to the brand value. In any case, you can listen to the song here.

Woke up this morning to a link from a dear friend Nitin Jacob. And it was to this commendable initiative from Times Of India and SaReGaMa, an attempt to acquaint Indians with the full five-stanza version of our National Anthem which Rabindranath Tagore originally wrote. Composed by the Bengali pianist-vocalist duo of Soumyojit Das and Sourendro Mullick (together called You &I) the adaptation, titled  features 39 artists from across the country and across genres. Concurring with the Independence Day spirit and all that, I wont get into finding faults with this song. the arrangement is quite decent, and Harshwardhan Neotia‘s English narrative translating the lyrics just before the respective stanzas begin is also nice. More important is the spectacular lineup of singers that the song brings – there are classical veterans like Dr. Balamuralikrishna, Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, folk singers like Lakshmandas Baul, even the staple film lineup features some under-rated artistes like K S Chithra, Rekha Bharadwaj etc.

So here is once again wishing everyone a Happy 65th Independence Day! Enjoy the song.