Songs and full credits at the end (thanks to Soubin Nath for helping with the latter).
After years of playing guitar in movies and outside Guitarist Sumesh Parameswar makes his debut as composer, scoring scores five of the seven songs of Kismath (not his debut, milliblog tells me; that was Idhu Thaanda Police). First of those five is an adaptation of 19th century maappilappaattu exponent Moinkutty Vaidyar’s Aane Madanappoo. The original melody is retained, and the composer gives it a neat Middle-Eastern flavoured arrangement that is, staying to the composer’s primary trade, highlighted by some excellent guitars from the man himself (the bass!) and ethnic strings. Kabeer Nallalam leads the vocals in fitting fashion, with good support from Sandra Parameswaran and Ajay Sen. Sumesh employs his guitars in even better manner in the serene lullaby Vinnu Churanna that is Neesa M P’s solo act, one that she delivers well. Biju’s veena phrases add to the beauty of the piece in its second half. Another solo track is the short, humming-based piece called Loneliness. Melancholic as the title suggests, featuring some fab violins from Cochin Strings and Shreya Raghav behind the mic. Shreya’s singing isn’t as effective in her other track however, Nilamanal Tharikalil. Harishankar K S does a good job at the other end, though the song is largely defined by Sumesh’s melody and Rafeeq Ahammed’s lines.
Sumesh Parameswar’s final offering is the Kismath Theme, a short Middle-Eastern flavoured track that sort of draws from Aane Madanappoo’s arrangement, with the occasional reference to Nilamanal. Decent thematic piece. Chilathu Naam introduces another debutant composer, Shamej Sreedhar. A pleasant track, albeit with a familiar filmy qawwali disposition, and features some amazing singing particularly from Madhushree Narayan (supported by Anoop G Krishnan, Gakul Joseph, Nihil Mathew and Shamej himself). The man who delivers the Mukkathe Penne of this year though, is composer no. 3 – Sushin Shyam! Keyboardist/vocalist of metal band The Down Troddence is a familiar name in movies by now, having sung a bunch of songs, composed background scores, programmed songs, even acted (remember the “screw” scene from Thattathin Marayathu?), but this is the man’s debut as song composer. What a debut Kisa Paathiyil is! A gorgeously soulful tune (faint shades of charukeshi raga) that Sachin Balu delivers with such tenderness it makes your heart ache. Coming after his powerful lyrics in songs like Puzhu Pulikal from Kammattipaadam, Anwar Ali produces some fab lines here too (loved the use of kisa, which is essentially the urdu word kissa/qissa). Sushin’s ambient arrangement complements the song beautifully – from the rain sounds to Vishnu Vijay’s flute to the brief qawwali interlude led by Suchith Suresan and Sushin – leaving you wishing that the song had been longer as the instruments fade away.
Kismath. All three composers deliver well including the two debutants, but Sushin Shyam shines above the rest.
Music Aloud Rating: 8.5/10
Top Recos: Kisa Paathiyil, Vinnu Churanna, Aane Madanappoo
Full Credits
Aane Madanapoo
Music Tune – Traditional
Music Arranged– Sumesh Parameshwar
Lyrics – Mahakavi Moinkutty Vaidyar
Singer – Kabeer Nallalam
Female voice – Sandra Parameswaran
Male chorus – Ajay Sen , Joju Sebastian
Tabla & Dolak- Anand
Guitars & Bass – Sumesh Parameswar
Recording & Pre mix Engineer – Binil Eldhose (NHQ)
Mixing Engineer – Vijay V.V (NHQ)
Mastering Engineer – Kiran Lal (NHQ)
Recorded , Mixed & Mastered at NHQ STUDIOS
Nilamanaltharikalil
Music – Sumesh Parameshwar
Lyrics – Rafeek Ahammed
Male solo – Harishankar K.S
Female solo – Shreya Raghav
Flute – Josy Alleppey
Tabla & Dolak – Anand
Strings – Francis Xavier , Francis Sebastian , Herald, Jossukutty ( Cochin strings)
Guitars & Bass – Sumesh Parameswar
Recording & Pre mix Engineer – Binil Eldhose ( NHQ)
Mixing Engineer – Vijay V.V ( NHQ)
Mastering Engineer – Kiran Lal ( NHQ)
Recorded , Mixed & Mastered at NHQ Studios
Vinnu Churanna
Music – Sumesh Parameshwar
Lyrics – Anwar Ali
Female Solo – Neesa M.P
Veena – Biju
Guitars & Bass – Sumesh Parameswar
Recording & Pre mix Engineer – Binil Eldhose ( NHQ)
Mixing Engineer – Vijay V.V ( NHQ)
Mastering Engineer – Kiran Lal ( NHQ)
Recorded , Mixed & Mastered at NHQ STUDIOS
Loneliness
Music – Sumesh Parameshwar
Singer – Shreya Raghav
Strings – Francis Xavier, Francis Sebastian, Herald,Jussutty (Cochin strings)
Programmed – Sumesh Parameshwar
Recording & Pre mix Engineer – Binil Eldhose ( NHQ)
Mixing Engineer – Vijay V.V ( NHQ)
Mastering Engineer – Kiran Lal ( NHQ)
Recorded , Mixed & Mastered at NHQ STUDIOS
Title Theme Music– Kismath
Music – Sumesh Parameswar
Singer – Shreya Raghav
Chorus – Ajay Sen, Joju Sebastian
Guitar, Bass & Programmed – Sumesh Parameshwar
Recording & Pre mix Engineer – Binil Eldhose ( NHQ)
Mixing Engineer – Vijay V.V ( NHQ)
Mastering Engineer – Kiran Lal ( NHQ)
Recorded , Mixed & Mastered at NHQ STUDIOS
Chilathunaam
Music – Shamej Sreedhar
Lyrics – Anwar Ali
Singer – Madhushree
Additional Voice: Anoop G Krishnan And Shamej Sreedhar
Chorus-Gakul Joseph And Nihil Mathew
Keyboard-Nihil Mathew
Guitar And Bass Guitar-Sumesh Parameswar
Tabla-Anand
Recordist-Manu Vargheese
Premixing And Mastering Engineer-Dawn Vincent
Recorded, Mixed And Mastered At Collective Phase One
Kisa paathiyil
Music – Sushin Shyam
Lyrics – Anwar Ali
Singer – Sachin Balu
Backing vocals – Suchith Suresan / Sushin Shyam
Tabla/Dholak – Ramakrishnan
Flute – Vishnu Vijay
Song mixing – Abin Paul
Song Mastering – Shadab Rayeen
