Weekly Earworm - Week 14 (26/07/2020)

French Biryani (Kannada): Vasuki Vaibhav: Bengaluru Song: Vasuki Vaibhav who surprises now and then comes up with the rap song dedicating to Bengaluru. The lyrics by the composer himself along with Avinash Balekkala are definitely top-notch which brings in Bengaluru's unique Silkboard traffic, EMI babbles, and much more. Kavaludari fame Aditi Sagar aces the vocal portions. The only grouse is the relatively less catchy tune.

Doctor (Tamil): Anirudh: Chellamma: Anirudh ensures that the song makes enough attention by dropping in the Tiktok ban and Sivakarthikeyan's colloquial lyrics make it loop worthy despite the hackneyed tune from the composer. The only solace is Jonita Gandhi's refreshing rendition and definitely, Anirudh should utilize other male singers.

Ghibran Spiritual Series: Ghibran: Tandanana Ahi: The bowli Raga based Annamaacharya's son innate beauty gets amplified with Ghibran's stupendous arrangements.  This raga is mainly associated with the calm and pious quality but Ghibran gave the dark orchestric sounds in the background with the brilliant violin solos and lush strings. Sowmya Mahadevan is top-notch with her rendition. Till now this is the best one from this series.

Amazon Prime music Hyderabad gig (Telugu): Gopi Sundar: Chilippi Choopu: Chilippi Choopu is a trademark Gopi Sundar track and neat arrangements from the composer remind us of the composer's numerous songs. Though the track is not great, the tune gets relatively better with the Charanam portions and one wishes that someone else could have sung this song.

Uma Mageshwara Ugra Roopasya (Telugu): Bijibal: Aanaandam, Repavalu: Bijibal wonderfully adapted composer's own Mounanagal but churned out totally delectable different song which fits beautifully in Telugu movie with Rehman's lyrics. Gowtham Bharadwaj and especially Soumya Ramakrishnan's classical tinged singing elevates the song further. Bijibal adorns the tune with the lovely assortment of instruments lead by Rajesh Cherthala's flute and Shruthiraj's percussions. Theliveyil comes as Repavalu with slight tweaks in tune as well as arrangements but the sweetness of the tune lingers after the song ends also.

Shakuntala Devi (Hindi): Sachin-Jigar: Pass Nahi Toh Fail Nahi, Rani Hindustani, Jhilmil Piya, Paheli: Sachin-Jigar creates the wonderful short album for Shakuntala Devi and that too with all-female singers which is rare in Bollywood these days. Sunidhi Chauhan easily wins the soundtrack with the retro Rani Hindustani and punchy Pass Nahi Toh Fail Nahi while Monali Thakur sizzles in the jazzy Jhilmil Piya. Paheli is comparatively simple and restrained, however, Shreya aces the song with her saccharine coated voice.

Soorarai Pottru (Tamil): GV Prakash Kumar: Kaattu Payale: Kaattu Payale is an interesting as well as kind of odd tune but it sounds much better with Dhee's rustic vocals as well as Snehan's intriguing choice of words. The lovely tune in En Mundhiyila sorugi Vacha makes listeners to loop this song further.

Yaara (Hindi): Ankit Tiwari: Bhedi: The dark and mystical flow of the tune possibly Revathi Raga definitely gels well with the Rock core base conceived by Ankit Tiwari. Ankit Tiwari and Aishwarya Majmudar singing definitely help the song. Apart from the screeching guitars, the lovely classical twist in the arrangements is a delight.

Pick of the Week: Kaattu Payale, Shakuntala Devi Full Album, Bhedi

 

Music Review (Hindi): Dil Bechara

Music Review (Hindi): Dil Bechara

Music Composer: Rahman

In the title track, Rahman packs a wonderful carefree relaxed title song under three minutes backed by more informal guitar strums by Keba Jeremiah and Rahman infuses more liveliness to Amitabh Bhattacharya's colloquial lines while slight techno detour in the interlude sounds out of place. However, the tone of the track makes it for a lovely listen. Composer churns out more punchy Friendzone track out of Dil Bechara and it fails to impress except for the listenable variations in the interludes. The more awesomeness follows in Taare Gin starts with the whispery vocals of Shreya Goshal and along with Mohit Chauhan, Rahman takes the listeners to the musical high. The lush strings followed by the violin solos in the interlude give the song dreamy tone. Rahman throws in lovely piano cues in the Antara and the thoroughly endearing second half where Shreya Goshal follows the string sections while Mohit Chauhan effortlessly reaches the pitch.

Rahman once again flourishes with the assortment of sounds for Khulke Jeene Ka and the glossy tune comes as a lovely listen. Composer wonderfully overlayed Shashaa Tripati and Arijit Singh vocals almost throughout the track and it gets better especially with the title hook. The sweeping lush arrangements with the steady conga rhythm and the occasional peekaboo by flutes make it another winning track in the album. In Main Tumhara, Rahman builds up the track beautifully with the calm hymnal tone backed by Hriday Gittani who returns to Hindi song in Rahman's album after the stunning debut with the composer in Lekar Hum Deewana Dil. The atmospheric track mainly relies on the lead singer's effectual vocals and Rahman accentuates their voices with the lovely piano keys in the background.

In Maskhari, Hriday Gittani is joined by the stupendous Sunidhi Chauhan after Tu Kuja in Highway. The boisterous song once again features the myriad lovely plucked instruments and composer throws in a surprise with the delightful mix of Kanjira. The folk melody gets a lovely twist, especially when both the lead singers join to sing the title hook. Rahman brings in his exotic world music in Alfreeda where he ropes in Palestinian Singer Sana Moussa who collaborated with the composer for Muhammed Messenger of God. Raja Kumari ably supports Sana with her rap portions while the composer does his magic in the arrangements to conjure the sensational Middle Eastern rhythms.

Rahman turns into retro Jazz mood for Mera Naam Kizie and with the ample oboe cues thrown throughout the track, it will hardly fail. Poorvi Koutish who featured in Rahman's 99 easily scores with her feeble vocals and aces when the verse goes as Kizie. Rahman weaves his magic with the musical nuggets in the interlude and ends the track in a stunning manner with the one-minute long oboe/clarinet solo. Rahman ends the soundtrack fittingly with the instrumental track Horizon of Saudade brimming with melancholy musical cues akin to the title and the magical violin ends the lovely album.

Verdict: After 99, Rahman produces another cracker of an album in Hindi. The diverse soundtrack has joyful easily listenable melodies and the musical surprises peppered throughout the soundtrack. The decisive lightness in the tone of the soundtrack aside, Rahman's brilliance is in full display with respect to the arrangements.

My rating: 9/10

Pick of the Album: Taare Gin, Khulke Jeena Ka, Maskhari, Mera Naam Kizie

Weekly Earworm - Week 13 (06/07/2020)

After a long time continuing the music column in the blog. I couldn't post it because got stuck in the village area with very less network connectivity and also very fewer music releases nowadays. But since the independent music by many composers and movies getting released directly in OTT results in the new music frequently. It's definitely good news albeit with fewer disappointments because Ghibran and Amit Trivedi's recent independent singles fare tad lower than their prolific movie scores/albums.

AR Rahman's Thumbi Thullal and M Jayachandran's beautiful poetic melodies for Sufiyum Sujatayum soar high this week along with Arivu's effective Hashtag Justice.

Cobra (Tamil): A R Rahman: Thumbi Thullalo: The celebratory wedding song starts with the myriad classical sounds with Asad Khan's Sitar paves way for the percussion sounds. The complex tune easily trumps the arrangements and Shreya Goshal aces the tune effortlessly and her vocals added more beauty to the tune with the improvisations when the lyrics flow as Thaniye or Thumbi Thullalo bit. Vivek's lyrics fall flat compared to the beautiful tune Rahman envisages while Nakul Abhyankar ably supports Shreya.

Sufiyum Sujatayum (Malayalam): M Jayachandran: Vathikkalu Vellaripravu: Jayachandran churn out a mind-bogglingly beautiful tune accompanied by a lovely assortment of exotic sounds. Nithya Mammen aces the tune and the second interlude played with Duduk is an absolute stunner. The Sufi tune undeniably adds another dimension to the overall soundscape. Sudeep Palanad composes Alhamdullilah and the lovely chant-like melody is peppered with once again middle Eastern arrangements which work to the song's favour.

Hashtag Justice (Tamil): Arivu: Arivu is one of the independent singers whose songs reflect the social injustice happening around us and questions them effectually with his lyrics. The mix of rap and hip-hop ensures that the song reverberates along with the youth listeners. Hashtag justice is also one of the song which talks about police brutality.

Ghibran Spiritual Series: Muthai Tharu, Om Namachivaya Om: Among the 4 singles released by Ghibran on the Spiritual series, Om Namachivaya Om and Muthai Tharu stand out. Ghibran is phenomenal with the Budapest Orchestra and though it can easily serve as a separate standalone track, punchy singing of the Muthai Tharu's tune by Ananthu make it a good listen. This track makes me revisit Pradeep Kumar's exemplary work in the Arunagiri Perumale album. In Om Namachivaya Om, the powerful tune rendered by Gold Devaraj and Ghibran is once again spot on with respect to the arrangements.

Bhanumathi and Ramakrishna (Telugu): Shravan Bharadwaj: Love-O Ishq-o Mix, Alavate Ledhemo: Shravan Bharadwaj is one of the few composers in Telugu who consistently delivers minimum guarantee soundtrack and this new OTT release also belongs to the same category. Though nothing extraordinary, cheerful vibe accompanied by lovely guitar solos in Love-O Ishq-O mix and hypnotic mix in Alavate Ledhemo works perfectly. Especially Hemachandra is splendid with respect to the vocals in the former song.

Chowki (Kannada): Shakeel Ahmed: Rangina Mane, Kavithe Kavithe:  Rangina Mane carries the brooding atmosphere throughout the track and the rock flavoured arrangement blends well with the dark theme of the song. Priya Yadav easily aces the tune while Kavithe Kavithe's retro-sounding tune benefits a lot from Rajesh Krishnan's pitch-perfect vocals.

Friendship (Tamil): DM Udhayakumar: Superstar Anthem: The debut song for DM Udhayakumar has everything in the list to garner enough attention. Superstar anthem, Harbhajan Singh debut, Simbu to croon the anthem and Gowtham R's lyrics which is a mishmash of Rajini's iconic dialogues and film persona. Despite the questionable tune, these factors warrant a complete listen and the rock base to clasp the listener till the end.