Cham Cham is a beautiful composition by Shailendra Barve (who composed Mera Jahaan for Taare Zameen Par) ; amazing vocal arrangement forming the core. The rendition is delightful by Sonu Nigam and the multiple layers of vocals blend amazingly. Claps and Tabla form the rhythm section and Harmonium fills up well. In Aim Laga, Blaaze impresses as a composer, giving a catchy track, which should do well as part of the movie. The remix is also well arranged and the pace fits the song well. The normal version nevertheless is striking, the use of tabla notable. Amit Trivedi maintains the momentum from Dev D with Bombay Bombay. Siddharth does a decent job on the vocals and the Harmonium/Accordion piece is a highlight for the song. The rythm programming is also commendable, especially in the interlude just before the second verse. Haq Se, Yuvan Shankar Raja’s debut would have done better with another vocalist. The singing, especially on the intro verse, is disappointing. Swanand Kirkire’s Maula has a live performance feel to it, lacking in digital refinement, which is refreshing. The arrangement is basic and still captures interest. Pia Saanvra by Shailendra Barve is also a decent track, but probably will not sustain long term interest. The rendition cannot be described as soulful, which probably is what the track lacks. Yun Hua is a soothing melody, which doesn’t disappoint, just so, coming from the Gulzaar – Vishal Bharadwaj combo. A very interesting album, coming from a good mix of musicians, all of whom, we can look forward to in the future.

Music Aloud Rating: 7/10

Recommended tracks: Cham Cham, Bombay Bombay

The pronites at IIM Lucknow’s Manfest 2010 saw a lot of delays and cancellations because of the foggy weather. However, the one thing that did beat the weather right on the first day was the rocking concert by India’s most well known rock band – Parikrama. This was the 5^th Parikrama concert I was attending and so I really did not expect much since I expected a similar line-up of songs as I had heard before. However, to my delightful surprise Parikrama has come up with a lot of original songs and their performance has become much better.

The concert began with one of their new compositions, In the middle, which has a very AC/DC like sound. Vaporize has a much more original sound with a lot of violin built into it. Rhythm and Blues was a refreshingly new sound by Parikrama. Their website tells me that the original song was recorded with Usha Uthup. I would like to see them performing live together sometime. Then came the first cover of the evening. It was Iron Maiden’s Trooper which was done quite well. At this point a special mention must be given to the new drummer Srijan Mahajan, without whom Parikrama could not have performed such songs. When vocalist Nitin Malik picked up the acoustic guitar, I was quite sure they are going to play their favourite song “Yellow”. However, the surprise continued as they played another original – Am I Dreaming, a song dedicated to Lord of the Rings. No rock concert is complete without a bit of profanity. It struck when Nitin explained the true meaning of the words “Load up”. This was followed by another LOTR inspired song – Tears of the Wizard. Unlike most of their other songs, this song has much more heavy metal touch to it.

The age of classic rock was then brought back as Parikrama played a medley of Pink Floyd songs followed by the Zeppelin classic “Stairway to Heaven”. Although couple of other amateur bands played “Another Brick in the Wall” that evening, Parikrama showed why it has been India’s most popular rock band as it gave a spectacular rendition of the song. The crowd went bonkers when guitarist Sonam Sherpa broke into the tune of “Saare Jahaan Se Accha” in the middle of the song.

Parikrama’s signature songs “But it Rained” and “Open Skies” were also well received by the crowd. If there is one member of the band who was most loved by the crowd, it has to be the violinist Imran Khan, who makes “Open Skies” the song that it is. Another original “Whiskey Blues” saw an amazing jam between violinist Imran Khan and Subir Malik on the keyboards. Listening back to the original, I think we all missed Shambhu Nath on the tabla. After another one of their originals, Screaming Town, Nitin announced that the last song would be a metal version of the Clapton classic – “Wonderful Tonight”. As much as I would have liked to hear it, they did not disappoint us by playing their own rendition of the rock anthem “Smoke on the Water”. And before Nitin could even say anything more, the crowd was already cheering for AC/DC. So the evening ended on a very high note (quite literally) with the AC/DC song – Highway to Hell.

The band members that did not find a mention above did not really go unnoticed. Bassist Chintan Kalra with all his tattoos is the true rock-star of the band. Saurabh Chaudhary on the guitar was probably the quietest face of the group but nevertheless did his job quiet well. One of the reason’s Parikrama has remained the most favourite band for rock show’s in India is because of the amazing chemistry the band members share with each other which is quite evident on the stage.

Parikrama brings a perfect combination of original compositions and covers to the stage. With a lot of non-rock instruments such as violin, mouth organ, tabla – the sound of their original compositions is extremely refreshing. Although they may not be my most favourite Indian rock band, Parikrama proved it yet again why they remain the most popular rock band for college fests!

Happened to listen to Phir Mile Sur today, thanks to our dear friend Veena. At the outset, the lineup in this “refurbished” version of the 1980s iconic song is brilliant, at least from the musical perspective. Just to be listing down the ones we could identify both onscreen and playback, there’s A R Rahman (playing his now famous continuum fingerboard), SEL, Anoushka Shankar, Karthik(?), Shreya Ghoshal, Pt.Shivkumar and Rahul Sharma, Gurdas Mann, Zakir Hussain and Fazal and Taufiq Qureshi, Shaan, Bhupen Hazarika, Sivamani, L Subramaniam and family, Bhojpuri singer Kalpana, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and Amaan and Ayaan Ali Bangash, Yesudas and Vijay Yesudas, Louis and Gino Banks, and Sonu Nigam. Couple of conspicuous absentees were Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia and Ustad Sultan Khan. And while it is wonderful to listen to most of these artists’ individual segments in the song, when looked upon in its entirety the track has lost its way somewhere. And I say most of the artists, coz some of them are not really upto the mark. The Tamil part is no match to what Dr.Balamuralikrishna delivered in the actual one. The absence of Lata Mangeshkar could probably be attributed to her age, but Shreya Ghoshal has done a good job nevertheless. And with all due respect to the Bangash family, it would have been better had Amaan and Ayaan just played the Sarod instead of singing as well. While Shaan’s Bengali segment is nice to hear, his latter part for Aamir Khan, a seeming take on Bum Bum Bole from TZP or Aati Kya Khandala from Ghulam, isn’t at all savoury. Which brings us to Sonu’s part. While his classical part is spot on to the last note, it is where he brings in the Westernized twists that things get irritating. Honestly Mile Sur.. wasn’t made for such western tweakings. Or at least we have been so used to the actual one that such modifications don’t seem to work. Having said that, I loved Anoushka’s sitar improvs and Zakir Hussain playing Sindhubhairavi on tabla. Even the segment involving (as usual shirtless!) Salman Khan and the children was quite touching by its quiteness of instrumentation.

Coming to the other aspects of the song, apart from the musical lineup I didn’t feel that justice was done in any other aspect. The celebs shown were chosen more for their glam value I felt, than for their contributions to the industry. Just do a comparison and I think you would agree. The original version had actors like Mithun Chakraborthy, Waheeda Rahman, Sharmila Tagore, Shabana Azmi etc while the new one has “seasoned actors” such as Shahid Kapur, Deepika Padukone etc. The Khans and the Bachchans were certain to be there, but at least regarding the others Kailash Surendranath could have looked for artists more justly representative of the Indian film industry. And the sole director making an appearance is Karan Johar! And regarding the other fields, the lesser said the better. Barring Shobhana, Shiamak Dhawar, designer Rohit Bal and the Oriya sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik, I couldn’t spot a person from any other field of art. Zero literateurs, scientists, businessmen and politicians! The sportspeople have all been crammed into a barely 45 second clip towards the end by which time you would be too bemused to even take note of who it is. I was able to recognize Abhinav Bindra, Vijender, Sushil Kumar, Baichung Bhutia, Pullela Gopichand and Saina Nehwal. More surprises here, with no cricket star making an  appearance. Considering the cricketing “greats” such as Arun Lal whom the director had featured in the original, I would have expected him to make amends in the revisit at least!

The beauty of Mile Sur Mera Tumhara was that in under 6 minutes it did a concise and effective summarisation of the Indian culture. At 16 minutes, Arti and Kailash Surendranath’s improvised version of Mile Sur.. is tedious at best. Though it has its highlight moments, it does not compare with the original. People would definitely listen to Phir Mile.. for its novelty factor, but it shall slowly fade into oblivion as time passes, unlike its predecessor. To sum up, great on intentions, bad on execution! End of story. Below is the complete song in two parts.

Hey ya feels good; the phrase itself really catchy and sweet. Electronic sounds used in the back ground are thankfully done in moderation, contributing to the feel of the track set by the vocals including the harmonies. Kaisi Hai yeh Udaasi flatteres to deceive, with Kailash Kher sing and interesting beginning with the Ganjira, the tune however is ordinary and is not powerful enough for what it attempts to convey. Alyssa Mendosa, eventhough singing only the repetitive line throughout Uff Teri Adaa impresses leaving one wanting for more. Shankar Mahadevan delivers as usual in this track and the arrangement is typical of the composers, but catchy.  Jaane yeh kya hua is standard issue, with the ever reliable vocals of KK backing it. The title track by SEL has a mysterious air about it, aptly paced, with a good mix of vocals and effects. The title track by Midival Punditz and Karsh Kale is catchy in spite of sounding familiar, with a good mix of effects patches and makes an impact right from the start. The album, though not outstanding lives up to expectations.

Rating: 6/10

Recommended Tracks: Hey Ya, Uff Teri Ada, Title track

Omanappenne is magical, in one word! The music part that is, I could not make much sense of the lyrics, the Malayalam part at least. Rahman crafts a dream sequence effect with the arrangement, something he had done in the past in Kangalal Kaidhusei. And the faint naadaswaram strains playing in the background off and on are just brilliant.The only thing that could have been done without is the processing of the voices of Benny Dayal and Kalyani Menon. The part that goes “Nee Pogum Vazhiyil..” sounds especially annoying owing to the effect. Devan and Chinmayi step in with the bouncy Anbil Avan which again sees South Indian percussion like thavil and mridangam playing on in between the electronic-dominated instrumentation. The highlight of the song is the fusion of Mendelssohn’s Wedding March and the South Indian Hindu Wedding song, indicative of the Hindu-Christian setting that Simbu and Trisha play in the movie.
The title track is a very rich song with soulful rendering from Karthik on a simple base of guitars, light strings on the back ground and minimal fillers. The song uses minor scales to great effect moving in and out of the same beautifully and the tune imperceptibly drifts into a 6 beat cycle and back (to the 8 beat cycle) towards the end all defining the feel of this song which is satisfying. Hosanna is something that has been reviewed in the past, and I don’t have much to add to that now, except that a superior lineup of the other songs has brought down the value of the song a bit! Nevertheless the song is pretty engaging, Vijay Prakash, Suzanne and Blaaze doing their parts well. Kannukkul starts off with an absolutely addictive hook on strings (which I have been playing on and on for the past 15 minutes!) and then unfolds into a proper dance floor-friendly track, sung well by Naresh Iyer.
Things move on in such top notch fashion until Mannippaaya. The arrangement is spot on even here, Rahman making no mistake. However the tune of the song is what I couldn’t get a hold of. It seemed to go through quite a few complex nuances to be appealing to the lay ear. Shreya Ghoshal and Rahman do a fab job of the vocals, but I somehow could not assimilate the song that well. One of the few rare occasions where Rahman does not sing the best song of his album. But all that stands forgotten come Aaromale. WHAT A SONG! This is one of those songs that would make a Malayali music fan envious of the fact that Rahman isn’t into Malayalam music, and make bands like Avial thank their stars that Rahman isn’t into a lot of this kind of music, coz he would definitely be giving them a run for their money! The kind of fusion that Rahman presents in Aaromale is at an entirely different level altogether, there is rock, there is folk, and the occasional classical snippets, all melded together in a way only the man can. And Alphonse, what a fantastic job he has done on the vocals! In fact he sounded totally different from the way he usually does so I had difficulty believing it was indeed Alphonse. And the kind of octave range he displays in the song makes one wonder what the hell he was doing all this while, especially when he had such immense opportunities, having composed so many Malayalam songs himself.
To sum up, it is refreshing to hear a set of totally new tunes from a Gautam Menon flick. Rahman has started off his 2010 campaign in style. And in Aaromale, he has once again shown why he is a league apart from other music directors of his time.
Music Aloud rating: 8.5/10
Recommended tracks: In fact we would love to recommend almost the entire album, but for the want of listing three, we recommend Aaromale, Kannukkul and Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaaya.

Sajda provides a marvellous opening to the proceedings of My Name Is Khan, Richa Sharma and Rahat Fateh Ali at their classical best in rendering this song that falls in the league of SEL’s Mitwa et al. Of late I generally get turned off when those telltale dholak/tabla beats come up in SEL songs but in this case the instruments sound so beautifully part of the song!I am totally caught on to that “Ab jaan loot jaaye.. Ye Jahaan loot jaaye” hook. Rahat seems to have turned over a new leaf (rather turned over to his older leaf!!) in 2010, with twowonderful songs totally befitting his style in the first week itself. Richa Sharma sounds solike Rekha Bharadwaj in terms of voice and rendition. Rather unfortunate that she hasn’t got her due as yet in Bollywood. And I am glad they didn’t go for a remix version of this one. Would have totally spoilt the beauty. What follows is an even better song called Noor-e-Khuda. While we were doing our 2009 musical roundup me and Anirudh had noticed that songs featuring acoustic guitars have a general tendency to be pleasant experiences. This song further cements our hypothesis, though it moves on to more than just acoustic guitars as it progresses, the occasional drone of the sarangi in the background being one of the highlight factors adding to the longing feeling conveyed by the song.  Shankar Mahadevan, Shreya Ghoshal and Adnan Sami impart a sort of fusion element to the vocals, the former two going about in a classical-tinged manner while Adnan follows his usual Westernized style. Good return for Adnan after a very quiet 2009, barring that forgettable composing work for Chance Pe Dance.

The dholak-tabla template returns with Tere Naina, the tune also quite suggestive of the SEL handiwork. The song appeals nevertheless, mainly due to Shafqat Amanat Ali’s prayer-like rendition. Ustad Rashid Khan debuts for SEL with the sufi Allah Hi Rahem. Compared to the songs so far though this one does not impress much, sounding pretty bland. If you are a fan of Rashid Khan’s singing you may want to listen to this, otherwise there is nothing much to the song. The guitar template for Rang De, sung by Shankar Mahadevan and Suraj Jagan, sounds straight off the Rock On rack, only a tad slower. But the trio add a twist in the tale with a sarangi springing up in the middle and another percussion instrument that sounded South Indian, to accompany Shankar’s sargam at the end. In spite of all this, I didn’t find this song very impressive, either because of that overpowering sense of deja vu in the arrangement or that in Shankar’s singing. Finally there is an instrumental theme, SEL building up to a grand orchestral mood starting with a piano loop. Having said that, the track sounds sort of forced, not something that will have you spellbound or anything. In my list it would rate below SEL’s previous themes for DCH and TZP.

Like I had said in my annual roundup of 2009, I was not quite looking forward to this SEL album, being a Karan Johar movie and all that. But SEL have really sprung a surprise with three wonderful compositions, and three other average songs, not quite the effect they might have wanted to produce after such a wonderful start.  Nevertheless, I would give My Name Is Khan a rating of 7.5/10, for those three songs.
Recommended tracks: (Quite obviously!) Noor-e-Khuda, Sajda, Tere Naina

First decade of the third millennium is drawing to a close. The 2000’s have been momentous in all walks of life. One of the most remarkable things that happened during the last decade is the dissemination of information through the medium of internet. Entertainment, especially music, in terms of reaching out to listeners has gone through a revolution. Youtube, file sharing and digital download, proved to be a boon to the music fan, music became really accessible. Writing about impact of music during the last decade is beyond my pay grade, I will rather concentrate here on the last year, 2009.

2009 in music will most probably remembered as the year when Michael Jackson died. The King of Pop was mourned all over the globe with his hits topping the charts everywhere. Musically 2009 was a very vibrant year too, lots of new music was released. One of the major releases of the year was U2’s No Line on the Horizon. The CD was a bold experiment, U2 consciously trying to move away from their comfort zone and the result was an album with Brian Eno as a co-creator, but it did not achieve the kind of success it’s predecessors could boast of, nevertheless the band showed that they still have the creativity and guts to go where not many had dared to go. Bono and Edge had reportedly spent a considerable amount time setting music for the Spiderman musical which is something to watch out for in 2010. U2 also embarked on a world tour with a custom made stage in biblical proportions and performed before sell out crowds. I wonder when they will come to India.

Talking about pleasant surprises, it can’t get better than what happened on Britain’s got talent on 11 April 2009, when Susan Boyle sang I Dreamed a Dream from Les Misérables. The event went on to become one of the most watched events in 2009.

In the world of pop it was the year of Lady Gaga. She  became the first artist in nearly ten years (after Christina Aguilera in 1999 and 2000) to reach the top of the Billboard Hot 100 with their first two chart entries (Just Dance and Poker Face). Green Day released 21st Century Breakdown, the punk rockers delivered a first class album. Their previous release American Idiot had raised the expectations of the fans and the band definitely met it, if not exceeded it.

The Beatles, arguably the world’s greatest band ever, continued to exert their influence over us, but this time in a slightly different manner, through the Beatles’ version of Rock Band video game series.  Liverpool Hope University also did their bit in honouring the local heroes by introducing a Master of Arts in The Beatles, Popular Music and Society!

I had the fortune to listen to a lot of new music during 2009. One of those bands who caught my attention was Blackbud. This indie group have generated lots of interest and they have already been compared to some of the greats of the olden days. Blackbud released an eponymous album last year,its a superb album and I recommend you to check it out on youtube.

Early last year the dance rockers Franz Ferdinand had released their third album, Tonight. The single Ulysses is one of the best songs of last year. Pearl Jam’s Backspacer too was a good effort with Just Breathe standing out, the song has the potential to enter any greatest hit list, given the size of Pearl Jam canon, I guess I am taking too much liberty. Kasabian is another group from the 2000’s whom I feel will, go a long way (actually lots of others also have the same feeling). Just listen to Fire from their 2009 album West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum, you will get hooked. The pyrotechnic rocksters Muse released The Resistance the album was noted for it’s classic musical influences, these guys might well be the Queen of our age. Other releases of note are supergroup Monsters of Folk’s self titled debut album, Modest Mouse’s No One’s first and You’re Next, Rammstein’s Liebe ist für alle da (German: “Love is there for everyone“) and Porcupine Tree’s Incident.And Our lady Madonna released her third Greatest Hits album titled Celebrations. I am sure there are many more, but right now this is all I can recollect.

Nine Inch Nails, the alter super ego of Trent Rezner was dissolved this year. Talking about band splits Oasis’s nasty break-up and Aerosmith’s reported split are what caught my attention last year.

In India the scene is emerging, bands like Lounge Piranhas, Avial, Motherjane, TAAQ and Themclones to name a few are getting more and more popular. Last few years have seen major international acts touring our country, this Mr Big chose India as the first stop for their re-union gig. Another high point will be Porcupine Tree headlining Mood Indigo. 2009 had been a very vibrant year for Indian bands, they had a busy time traveling across the country, many bands released CD’s, many like Indian Ocean and Raghu Dixit toured even abroad. And lots of clubs have started playing live music and it has helped bring the bands closer to their listeners.

So 2010 will be interesting. There is too much to wish for. Indian music had arrived on international scene when Beatles released Norwegian Wood, but its been a long time, waiting for a full fledged Indian outfit making a mark on the international scene. Lets hope that will be one the surprises 2010 will throw at us.

Although 2009 was a good year for music with a lot of revolutionary albums such as Dev.D and Gulaal coming out in Hindi movies and lot of international artists such as U2 and Bruce Springsteen also coming up with some great albums, the year was also marred by the deaths of some of the most legendary artists from the world of music. While welcoming the new year and expecting a lot from it, we would like to take some time out and pay homage to artists whom we would be missing for the years to come.

Michael Jackson

Though his final days were marked by controversies of various sorts, the fact remains that to most people alive today, Michael Jackson still remains the embodiment of pop music. The day was December 1, 1982 when his path-breaking album Thriller was released, the album that topped the US charts for 37 weeks, the album that sold over 104 million copies worldwide, the album that forced MTV to abandon its white rock-oriented scheduling. The man has ruled our hearts ever since. The year also saw the posthumous release of his album and the documentary film by the same name “This is it”.

Les Paul

The man who “made the sound of rock and roll possible” passed away in August this year. Les Paul will be most remembered for his contribution in developing the solid body electric guitar. Besides, he is also popular for developing a lot of other sound effects such as tape delays, phase effects etc. Although majorly known for his sound engineering skills, Les Paul was also an accomplished guitarist. While playing for numerous well-known jazz and blues artists such as Georgia White and Django Reinhardt, Paul found himself unsatisfied with the sound of acoustic guitars and hence created several versions of his own that were later also used by some of the greatest names in Rock’n’Roll.

Asheem Chakravarty (Indian Ocean)

Christmas did not bring much joy to Indian Ocean – one of India’s most pioneering fusion bands as their percussionist and singer Asheem Chakravarty passed away of a cardiac arrest in Delhi. Asheem had shown his musical prowess at a very early age when he surprised musicians with his proficiency in the table without any formal training. As a member of Indian Ocean he played the tabla, tarang and various other percussion instruments. Without Asheem, the band will miss a major Indian element in their music.

Ustad Ali Akbar Khan

Held by violinist Yehudi Menuhin as ‘The Greatest Musician in the world’, this sarod maestro was instrumental in taking Indian music to the west. He was most known for his collaborations with Sitar Maestro Ravi Shankar. In his career the Ustad travelled across the globe and also established music schools in California and Bern. During his career he was nominated for 5 Grammys and was also accorded with Padmavibhushan in 1989.

Gangubai Hangal

Born in Dharwad in 1913, Gangubai got trained under the tutelage of the renowned Sawai Gandharva in the Kirana Gharana. A strict purist, she always believed in the classical tradition of music. In one of the rarest instances of recording for a movie, she sang a song in the Marathi movie Vijachi Lagan. Gangubai was awarded with the Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award at different stages of her life, for her outstanding contribution to the world of Hindustani music.

D.K. Pattammal

With the demise of the Carnatic doyenne in July we lost the last remaining member of the famed female trinity of Carnatic music, M S Subbulakshmi and M L Vasanthakumari already dead. Overcoming the oppositions imposed on her by the orthodox traditions of her family, Damal Krishnasamy Pattammal made it big in the then male-dominated carnatic world. She was known as an authority on Muthuswamy Dikshitar’s compositions. She also dabbled in film music, though only for patriotic and devotional songs. She was part of the A R Rahman-Bharat Bala project Jana Gana Mana which featured over 35 top artistes in Indian music.

The wait is finally looking to get over! One of the biggest albums that music fans down south have been looking forward to since the fag end of last year was the A R Rahman-Gautam Menon romantic flick Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaaya. And the appetizers to the musical treat are out for the taking with one song from the movie, Hosanna, already doing the rounds on the internet. The song is an absolute beauty, a breezy pop-ish melody sung by Vijay Prakash and Suzanne D’Mello, spruced up with Blaaze’s rap. It was promo’ed on BBC World early last week alongside an interview with Rahman about his post-Oscar days. Gautam has done a fab job of the picturization as well (at least in the 30 seconds that were shown on TV), Trisha especially looking ravishing.

Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaaya’s lineup consists of seven tracks in all, two of them featuring Malayalam lyrics. This is the first time Rahman is composing for Gautam, the director so far having stuck to Harris Jayaraj. And if Hosanna is any indication, I doubt if Gautam will revert from Rahman after this! You may listen to the song online on youtube, but kindly buy the original CD once the album releases.

With its Sufi elements, the mellow retro-styled Dil to Bachcha Hai will have you hooked right from the start, Vishal doing a magnificent job with the instruments, the claps, the accordion (or harmonium, I am not quite sure!) et al. And Rahat Fateh Ali sounds so beautifully at home rendering this track as compared to the songs he sang last year. The remix also has an alluring arrangement, but doesn’t quite capture the magic of the original. The English part sung by Clinton Cerejo doesn’t gel in with the actual lyrics. Ibn-E-Batuta starts off exuding a heady feel akin to Raat Ke Dhai Baje, Dil Haara and the likes. But somewhere along the course of the song the effect starts wearing off, in spite of the high energy vocals by Mika and Sukhwinder. The two remixes can be steered clear of, totally lacking the class or the charm that was there in the Dil To Bachcha Hai remix. The first remix in fact sounds more of a travesty with its annoying chipmunkish processing of Ibn-E-Batuta.
Rekha Bharadwaj gets behind the microphone to deliver Ab Mujhe Koi, a conventional ghazal set to a rather unconventional background consisting of guitars, keyboard and drums. Needless to say Rekha does a wonderful job of rendering the song. She returns to sing the last track of the album, Badi Dheere Jali, a track set to raag Miya Ki Todi I think. The arrangement sees a wonderful fusion of western and eastern instruments.
After giving a very massy soundtrack in Kaminey, Vishal this time opts for a mix of the massy and the esoteric. For that reason Ishqiya’s soundtrack is not going to enjoy the widespread acceptance that Kaminey’s did, barring the first two songs. Nevertheless Ishqiya once again demonstrates the class act that Vishal Bharadwaj is. And in Dil To Bachcha Hai I already have my first entry for the top 15 tracks of 2010!

Music Aloud rating: 7.5/10

Recommended tracks: Dil To Bachcha Hai, Badi Dheere Jali, Ibn-E-Batuta