Hitman – May 2, 2015

Originally published in The Hindu.

‘Paesi Paesi’
Vaa Deal (Tamil)
Music: Thaman. S

This has Thaman’s trademark all the way (though there’s a generous dose of Yuvan Shankar Raja too — remember ‘Thuli Thuli’ from Paiyaa?). A short chorus that repeats multiple times, an ambient background sound that gels well with the minimal orchestration and Haricharan in dependably great form (he’s been on a roll).

‘Mohabbat Buri Bimari’
Bombay Velvet (Hindi)
Music: Amit Trivedi

This song has three versions in Bombay Velvet. Shefali Alvares’ version is the pick of the soundtrack, with a tune that, when you remove the captivating jazz coating, sounds like a good old Piyush Mishra track from Anurag Kashyap’s Gulal. But Amit’s sound makes a big difference — the flamboyant, expansive sound spectacularly picks up steam mid-way when the piano that accompanied the ‘Mohabbat Buri’ line paves way for the brass band to offer similar, even more engaging accompaniment.

‘Amidine’
Music: Bombino (Tamashek)

This is a song in a language called Tamashek, spoken in Tuareg, Niger (Western Africa), but when has language stopped us from enjoying a piece of music? Bombino is Omara Mochtar, who plays Saharan blues on acoustic guitar as a form of protest against the oppressive local regime and was exiled for it (he’s back now, after a Government change!). The melody is very folk — thoroughly engaging and addictive, and the music is blisteringly catchy — it’s bluesy and psychedelic.

‘Naavaadai’
Mosagallaku Mosagadu (Telugu)
Music: Manikanth Kadri

Kadri Gopalnath’s son, Manikanth Kadri has been gradually making a mark in all four South Indian languages, though big-time success (aka commercial success) has been eluding him. For Mosagallaku Mosagadu (not to be confused with the 1971 ‘cowboy’ Telugu film of the same name starring Krishna), he produces a breezy melody in Naavaadai, featuring the voices of Chinmayi and Nakul Abhyankar. Manikanth adorns it with an alluring viola’ish sound that persistently stays all through the song and does so, in your mind, long after the song is over!

‘Ambaazham Thanalitta’
Oru Second Class Yathra (Malayalam)
Music: Gopi Sunder

As Vineeth Srinivasan sings and then soars with the tune, I’m reminded of something very, very familiar. Then I place it — the iconic ‘Yeh Zameen Yeh Aasmaan’ jingle of (Hamara) Bajaj! Similar use of raaga Pilu (that S.P. Balasubramaniam popularised in Tamil with ‘Vannam Konda Vennilave’ in his own music in Sigaram), perhaps… and similar progression that moves on to soar (‘Buland bharat ki buland tasveer’). Gopi is a master of such immersive melodies and with Vineeth singing it, the song just cannot go wrong.

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