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Album Reviews |
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Tum Paas Aao
Mohabbat Ho Gayee
Bhoomi
Duur
Khoya Khoya Chand
Aisa Bhi Kabhi Hota Hai
Album: Tum Paas Aao
Artist: Pallavi Laxman
Label: Times Music
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The title song, Tum paas aao, jaana suno na, phir na hoga yeh sama has a lilting tune. Pallavi sings with certain hesitancy, but there is a welcome softness, delicacy and individuality in her high-pitched thin voice, which is very different from the determined passion with which most Indipop female singers sing. Her voice flows as easily as a chunni on a breezy evening by the beach. Jaspal Moni's compositions are not unmelodious. Some of them like Kabhi na socha and Kaise jaane are well-tuned.
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Pallavi uses humming and plain speak effectively to heighten melody. Like the lines Shaam dhalti hai to mujhe kyon kuch hota hai in Kaise jaane are both recited and sung. Karenge hey-hey, a fast-paced number, expressing the commitment of young people to have fun, is also rather well tuned. Suddenly, you hear the tabla in this number. It is refreshing. Lyrics by Dhruv Khanna are largely puerile. No new nuances of love are expressed in the album. At the end of the album, you suddenly get Ghoomer, a traditional, folksy number, laced with rap, and a true hotch-potch. Pallavi has sung it in a style heavily reminiscent of Falguni Phatak. Traditional songs seem to suit Pallavi's voice. All in all, you can respond to this invitation, Tum paas aao without the fear of a major letdown.
Album: Mohabbat Ho gayee
Artists: Roopkumar and Sonali Rathod
Label: Venus
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Mohabbat ho gayee is fluffy as candy and unfortunately not really effective. An obvious sell-out to the modern Indipop craze, it fails to charm me. The mood of casual love does not suit either Roop or
Sonali. The highlights of the album remain the two songs - Woh sapna nahin tha and Dhadkanon mein
basakar, the former composed by Roop and the latter by Jay Vijay. Both are lilting numbers and have a lovely sway to them, which makes listening to them as pleasurable as swinging in a
breeze- caressed garden.
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The rest of the songs do not bear much crowing about. Sonali weaves in alaaps and Roop incorporates sargams in many of the songs like Chala teer ankhon to give them depth. Yes, you can see, the lyrics, albeit light, have been chosen with a lot of care and make some relevant points and interesting analogies. Like the song Who sapna nahin tha, khuli barishon mein, tumhari yeh zulfein ghata ban gayee thi.., saba ban gayee thi, nasha ban gayee penned by Hameed Iqbal. Or take the Wada karo song penned by Shahid Hamdani, which has lines like Jindagi ke safar mein mile ho to phir, zindagi banke aane ka wada karo. However, in the ultimate analysis, this album disappoints me probably because Roop and Sonali are capable of doing much better.
Album: Bhoomi
Artists: Various
Label: Virgin Records
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This is a laudatory effort to tap the vast musical riches of India. Bhoomi (The Earth) brings together eight folk songs, culled from different regions of India. The original lyrics and compositions have been retained. The album opens with Sultan Khan’s rendition of his own composition Kate nahin
raat, moulded along the lines of the traditional folk melodies of Uttar
Pradesh. His nasal distinctive voice does eminent justice to the song.
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Kate nahin raat is followed by five traditional songs, one each from
Maharashtra, Bengal, Assam, Gujarat and Jammu, evoking the fragrances of their varied soils.
The Assamese song Khuno khuno, wherein a monkey tells Ravana that Lord Rama is on his way to kill him with his army of monkeys, is poignant. Singer Zubin’s voice has sincerity, delicacy, polish and a wealth of sadness in it that makes his rendition particularly touching. The sounds of the santoor stand out beautifully in the song Mandi naiyo from Jammu, sung by Seema Anil Saigal. The santoor hails from Kashmir and the usage of the instrument greatly adds to the appeal of the song. The last song on this album is a Rajasthani lullaby composed and written by Sultan Khan and sung by the inimitable Shubha Mudgal. Her voice is as earthy as it gets and the rhythm-free song has a soothing effect. The entire album emanates a sense of thehrao (stillness) and reveals the peace there is in folk music, which is born out of living in close contact with nature. For us urbanites, the album tells us, there is peace in revisiting one’s roots.
Album: Duur
Artist: Strings
Label: Magnasound
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The once-popular music group Strings makes a comeback with this album Duur, a collection of 10 mellow, romantic numbers. There is a warm langour in the tunes as much as in the voices of the singers Faisal Kapadia and Bilal
Maqsood, the languor of balmy summer afternoons. The unhurried pace of the songs comes as relief in these times of frenzied living and frenzied music. The album projects the spirit of uncorrupted, pure youth, lambent with noble ambitions, expressed in lines like Dil mein ek khwab hum
sajaye, sachche vaadon ka diya jalaye. |
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The album begins with the known number Sar kiye yeh pahar, which impresses chiefly by its dramatic, tempo-building background music. Faisal Kapadia impresses by his ability to unflinchingly hold a high swara (musical note) for some time. The title song Duur of is musically soothing; it has sparkling phrases like Uske bina mera jeena jaise koie soona gaon... suraj ki kirnon se banta hai chehra tumhara. The more energetic version of the song on Side B is as enjoyable. Indeed, written by Anwar Maqsood, the lyrics of this album show a beautiful sensitivity and lightness of touch. Like the song Khirki is lit with passages like Koi apna hai ya to sapna hai. And Pairon tale sookhe patton ki jhankar. The songs are all about seeking, expecting, and waiting for love. The last song Aankhen has a fast tempo, but thankfully retains the album’s average quotient of melody. Compositions by Bilal Maqsood are pleasant; more effective is the background music. All in all, Duur belongs to the Lucky Ali brand of music, a kind of music that goes with blue sky, lazy clouds, lemonades, holidays and hope. The result - Duur is deeply relaxing.
Album: Khoya Khoya Chand
Artist: Alka Yagnik and Babul Supriyo
Label: Tips
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Babul Supriyo’s sponging off Kumar Sanu apart, Khoya Khoya Chand is another answer to the billet-doux block of the lovelorn.
Sajid-Wajid, who would be best remembered for their romp in the lilt with Sonu Nigam’s
Deewana, still possess their old magic wand. Khoya Khoya
Chand, is, in parts, inspirational and refreshing. |
It is not quite a breath of fresh air, but one does not get too much of it anyway. Room freshener will do, and in this case, it does not gag you. We put the blessing at the end - Alka Yagnik, who slowly, but surely, looks all set to fill in Lata Mangeshkar’s shoes. Babul and Alka partake generously of the title solo, Khoya khoya chand. Oh yes, how can we banish memories of the debonair Dev Anand, beautifully voiced by Mohammed Rafi for his Khoya khoya chand? Well, the contemporary version is mellow, and there is an unconscious ardour to it, which gets under your skin. Alka, as usual, executes her bit with aplomb. You cannot shake off the eerie feeling that Babul sounds very much like Kumar Sanu, down to his nasal twang. But you forgive him for three reasons - he has Kaho Naa..Pyaar Hai behind him, he does a good job of the song, and Tagore’s Law states that one Bengali has to sound like another. The composers have added a touch of the classical to Ab raat din meri, and this is the first duet in the album. Khoya khoya chand is in parts meandering and in parts racy. The balance is achieved, almost. Babul and Alka manage to infuse life into the music and the lyrics. Of course, lyricist Sameer has safely taken the beaten path, and seldom tries something different from the pyaar-kasam-aankhen rigmarole.
Album: Aisa Bhi Kabhi Hota Hai
Artist: Sairam aur Sairam
Label: BMG-Crescendo
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Sairam's album is different. The singer sings with equal proficiency in both the male and female voices. In fact if we aren't informed about the gender-bending aspirations we wouldn't know it's the same person doing both the male and female turns in the 6 tracks. Besides possessing this rare gift of changing his voice at the drop of a note, Sairam also seems to be a trained singer. The compositions are a mélange of pop and raga-tinged excursions into romantic lanes. |
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In Barse nayan, Sairam goes through a whole classical routine sounding like a melodious mixture of Alka Yagnik and Kavita Krishnamurthy. Pleasantly dulcet the compositions by Santosh Nair showcase Sairam's unique talent without making it sound like a street smart gimmick The album impresses both for its novelty value and for its ability to stretch the outer limits of non-film music beyond programmed gimmicks. I wish the music company had demonstrated more faith in the album by marketing it more aggressively. At a time when singers are romancing re-mixes Sairam sings original compositions in both male and female voices without embarrassing us with his aural cross-dressing.
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