Milliblog Weeklies – India’s only multilingual, weekly new music playlist.
Week 67: On | On
11 songs this week. 10 each in JioSaavn and YouTube, but not the same 10 🙂 The YouTube playlist is missing Nee from , while the JioSaavn playlist is missing & Ee Thazhvara from the same film. Apparently, Manorama Music completely bungled it on JioSaavn. ‘Nee
Kalank Title Song – Kalank (Pritam) – Hindi: Kalank’s title song was out on YouTube last Friday, and I waited all of Saturday and some of Sunday for the full, actual song on streaming platforms like JioSaavn. Reason? The YouTube version was a severely mauled 2:23 version of the actual song that plays for 5:11. When you listen to the full version, you see how beautifully and carefully Pritam has constructed it.
When the first ‘Kalank nahi ishq hai kaajal piya’ happens, Pritam lets Arijit taper that high with a set of ‘Piya piya’ and moves on to the antara. When the second ‘Kalank nahi ishq hai kaajal piya’ happens, 3/4ths into the song, then the sound reduces in the backdrop and after a second of complete silence at 3:47, Pritam mounts his pièce de résistance – that delightful sufi-style harmonious ‘Main Tera’ phrase.
In the YouTube version, there is no build-up to this brilliant part of the song – it just appears at the end of ‘one’ of the ‘Kalank nahi ishq hai kaajal piya’ and that’s a terrible injustice to the way the song was imagined by the composer.
I love the fact that Pritam resisted using this killer line at the end of the mukhda and retains it for the song’s end and let it slowly end the song. The single-use of the most catchy part of the song reminded me of A.R.Rahman’s decision to use just once in the entire song the ‘Kabhi kabhi jaane-jaana dil de dil le dil de dil lene ka socho to’ part in Rangeela’s Mangta Hai Kya. There was an opportunity to use it again in the 2nd paragraph, but he resists and let that one high remain special!
Channa – Gun Pe Done (Rimi Dhar) – Hindi: Another woman composer in Hindi… and that’s reason enough to celebrate! But, of the 3 songs in the soundtrack, only one is worth listening to. And it features Chinmayi’s vocals, besides Jasim Sharma! The song is easily something you’d expect in a Vishal-Shekhar album – very pleasing melody that sits easy on the ears. Jasim and Chinmayi sing it very, very well!
Rasaathi Nenja – 7UP Madras Gig, Season 2 (Dharan Kumar) – Tamil: Yuvan Shankar Raja continues to sound considerably better when he is called by other composers to sing for them, than he singing his own tune. This song is a fantastic example of that bizarre phenomenon even as he tries his best to go off-key… and Dharan valiantly ‘adjusts’ those parts with technology. Dharan tune works effortlessly, with a flashy and incredibly catchy hook. This Madras Gig is off to a super start in the 2nd season too!
BulReddy – Sita (Anup Rubens) – Telugu: Catchy, masala Telugu song that has a very, very identifiable hook in “Reddygari Kurrallua Etta,
Prema Vennela – Chitralahari (Devi Sri Prasad) – Telugu: DSP is good form yet again. Kishore’s sitar is a constant companion in the song, and that softly lilting rhythm keeps things endearing. Sudharshan Ashok’s gentle singing style adds to the song’s charm.
Lagliya Godi Tujhi – Kaagar (A.V.Prafullachandra) – Marathi: A.V.Prafullachandra made himself known undeniably with ‘Naal’ last year. He produces a fantastic encore with this song! The music and tune is as good and eclectic as Naal! The singing by Shashaa Tirupathi and Harshavardhan Wavre, in particular, is absolutely lovely, with both of them almost conversing in tune, sneaking up on each other stealthily. I loved that first interlude where after a ‘Tak tik tik’ phrase and a folk rhythm the shehnai’ish sound just vaporizes without a tune! And that ending, with ‘Agagaga ga’ and ‘Arrere nai nai’ is a brilliant touch 🙂
Kobe Ashbe – Mukherjee Dar Bou (Indraadip Dasgupta) – Bengali: Besides Indraadip’s wonderfully soft melody, Ishan Mitra’s singing truly elevates the song to a new high. The tune, for some reason, took me back to A.R.Rahman’s Tenali song, ‘Swasame’.
Ee Thazhvara –
Nee Mukilo – Uyare (Gopi Sundar) – Malayalam: Nee Mukilo possibly has a whiff of Vaaname Ellai’s Nee Aandavanaa. The melody has a spritely rhythm that took me back to Raja’s musical style too, particularly the interludes and anupallavi.
Punto G – Karol G: Slow and incredibly seductive! Colombian star Karol G seems unstoppable with such catchy music!
This Life – Vampire Weekend: A new single from Vampire Weekend’s upcoming album, Father of the Bride. A lovely guitar’y bounce that is a definite throwback to the classic rock/pop. Wonderful listen!
