| 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! Flipkart |
| 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? iTunes US iTunes UK iTunes Canada |
| 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”. iTunes US iTunes UK iTunes Canada Flipkart |
| 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”. iTunes UK Flipkart |
| 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. iTunes US iTunes UK iTunes Canada Flipkart |
| 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. iTunes US iTunes UK iTunes Canada Flipkart |
| 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. iTunes US iTunes UK iTunes Canada Flipkart |
| 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). iTunes US iTunes UK iTunes Canada Flipkart |
| 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. iTunes US iTunes UK iTunes Canada Flipkart |
Comments
3 responses to “Freaky Friday Playlist Jun-10-2011”
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:-)
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 🙂
Glad you liked it!