Coke Studio @ MTV, Season 3, Episode 8 (Music review) – Multiple producers

That Kutle Khan and Bismila Khan can infuse manic energy in their singing is a given, but it is Nancy Aren Ao who surprises with her fantastic support in the vocals here, in Anth Bahar! Aditya Bhasin’s vocals gets drowned, in comparison. The tune, though, despite all that work on the guitar by Func, is standard issue Rajasthan showcase.

Winit Tikoo, beyond all that earnest attempt across writing, singing and guitaring, sounds awkward, particularly in the singing department, in Paagal. The tune is propped heavily by the lovely sarangi by Shah Rukh Khan, sometimes even masking the poor vocals, and aiding beautifully during the extended ending.

That weak-vocal-syndrome doesn’t escape Adi and Suhail’s Qalandar either. It’s apparent (that is, looking at him perform) that he’s putting his life into it – he has his basics covered, but it’s the voice itself that hardly stands out or evokes a reaction – but together with the weaker tune (by Aditya Balani), this one just doesn’t work. Suhail does whip up with a mild frenzy in between while he picks up and plays the sarangi, though.

Orange Street’s Naash makes the cut, though! The track’s texture is interesting and so is the vocal combo of Anirban Chakraborty and Imran Khan. The backing vocalists too – Sharmishtha Chatterji and Sneha Suresh – make a big difference, as is the dhol usage (by Sajid Khawra). This is that one song that exudes a confident attitude, amongst other songs in this multi-artist set.

Vijay Prakash, the most accomplished of all composers in this multi-artist set, understandably, rules over them all with his Bagesri-based bandish, Vyakul jiyara, set to a lively, mod orchestration, complete with his Hindustani vocal shenanigans (which he aces, as always) and interlude’ish phrases in Tamil sung by Hamsika Iyer, not credited to Subramaniya Bharathi, for some reason.

But it is Sonam Kalra, who delivers the best song of the episode. She not only picks haunting sufi poetry as lyrics, but adorns it with a soulful and ghazal-like tranquil tune (composed by Sonam and Ahsan Ali) that goes perfectly in sync. Fantastic support from Ahsan Ali on the sarangi only makes it better. Man manam is simple and haunting, and the most confident package of this episode, among the newbies (barring Vijay Prakash, of course).

Overall, a rather weak set, this one, at least to me, personally. I have heard a lot of people say that music review about relative new artists should be ‘charitable’ and ‘encouraging’. I guess there are other blogs and reviewers out there who provide that sort of service. That’s a perfectly justifiable review too. I’m, on the other hand, more preoccupied with writing what I feel. If that includes saying that a song/artist doesn’t appeal to me, I will have to do so, I guess. Don’t take my word for it, though – make your own call after listening to them.

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