Freaky Friday Playlist Jun-10-2011

Song: Baangur
Album: I Am
Type: Bollywood
Singers: Mame Khan, Kavita Seth
Music Director: Amit Trivedi
Lyricist: Amitabh Bhattacharya
Rating: 4.8
Amit Trivedi gets better with every album and in the process has perfected the Sufi-Rock genre. Mame Khan (a singer from the famed Manganiar community in Rajasthan) is really good but I was hoping for Kavita Seth ("Iktara") to have a bigger part in the song (I nitpick). My favorite part - the almost minute long bridge between the two antaras with the acoustic and electric guitars, keyboards and the best part - the vocalization interlaced with the harmonium. Very cool!

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Song: Kalabham Tharaam
Album: Vadakkum Nathan
Type: Mollywood
Singers: Chitra
Music Director: Ravindran
Lyricist: Girish Puthencheri
Rating: 4.5
Nice tune. Awesome singing. Cool mridungam.
Song: Yeh Jeevan Hai
Album: Piya Ka Ghar
Type: Bollywood
Singers: Kishore Kumar
Music Director: Laxmikant-Pyarelal
Lyricist: Anand Bakshi
Rating: 4.7
A nice and simple melody. The lyrics are typical Anand Bakshi - a little cliched but easy to relate to. Prominent acoustic guitars on this - RDB's influence on LP?

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Song: Challa
Album: Crook
Type: Bollywood
Singers: Babbu Mann, Suzanne D'Mello
Music Director: Pritam
Lyricist:
Rating: 2.8
A Pritam bhangra spiffed up with pop elements. This track is apparently inspired by a Youtube video that has a few barely clad, drunk, Punjabi mundas singing the original song - posted a full 2 years before it was used in "Crook".

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Song: Chhap Tilak
Album: Jhoomo Re
Type: Indie
Artist: Kailasa
Rating: 4.6
As much as I love "Saiyyan", I blame it for killing the other songs in "Jhoomo Re". I discovered the rest of this fabulous album over a period of time after I moved on from "Saiyyan". "Chhap Tilak", a brilliant, fresh interpretation of Amir Khusrau's lovely poem, is mind-blowing (as are a few other songs in the album) and deserves as much love and attention as "Saiyyan".

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Song: My Father's Eyes
Album: Pilgrim
Type: Pop
Artist: Eric Clapton
Rating: 4.4
This song won Eric Clapton the Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. What? Clapton and Pop?! You might feel betrayed and so was I when I first heard the song….till I saw a Clapton interview where he says - and I paraphrase - "My music has changed with the times. But it has always been inspired by the Blues and even if no one else realizes it, I know I have stayed true to the path." While listening to the song, blank out everything else except the acoustic guitar and you'll know what he's talking about.

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Song: Haiyyo Pathikkichu
Album: Rhythm
Type: Koliwood
Singers: Udit Narayan, Vasundhara Das
Music Director: A.R. Rahman
Lyricist: Vairamuthu
Rating: 4.2
I am a little conflicted about the song. I like the rhythm and the composition and Vasundhara Das' sexy, husky vocals. What I don't like so much is Udit Narayan's lousy Tamil and constipated vocals.

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Song: She's Not There
Album: The Best of Santana
Type: Rock
Artist: Santana
Rating: 4.0
A cover of The Zombies' hit original. Pop verses connected by a solid, Latino-Rock bridge. And a nice guitar solo - it's Santana after all.

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Song: Bhoop
Album: Call of the Valley
Type: Hindustani
Artists: Hariprasad Chaurasia, Brij Bhushan Kabra, Shivkumar Sharma
Rating: 4.5
I discovered "Call Of The Valley" through iTunes Genius - one of the few Genius recommendations that worked despite it's utter randomness or perhaps because of it. This album fascinated me for a couple reasons - a) It has Shivkumar Sharma and Hariprasad Chaurasia collaborating many, many years before they became popular in 1981 as Shiv-Hari of "Silsila". This album was released way back in 1967. b) The album had a pretty big Western following. Perhaps because it took a "Hindustani Music for Dummies" approach. Kabra's guitar and light renditions without too much improvisation makes Hindustani music more accessible to newbies (myself included).

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Song: Chun Chun Ghunghroo Bole
Album: Phagun
Type: Bollywood
Singers: Asha Bhosle
Music Director: O.P. Nayar
Lyricist: Qamar Jalalabadi
Rating: 4.7
Phagun was probably one of Asha's earliest solo collaborations with O.P. Nayyar and "Chun Chun Ghinghroo" is one of the earliest songs where Asha used the light and playful singing style that would become her trademark in years to come.

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3 thoughts on “Freaky Friday Playlist Jun-10-2011

  1. Manju

    Yeh jee van from Piya ka ghar is indeed one of the best songs. I wud give it full marks without taking away any…on a side note, hard to imagine Anil Dhawan’s luck of being paired against Jaya B:-)

  2. Joe

    I heard Kalabham Tharam seeing on your rating. I agree awesome song. Would never have ‘discovered’ this one but for your list! Thanks
    Looking forward to more discoveries 🙂

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