Milliblog Weeklies – India’s only multilingual, weekly new music playlist.
Week 76: On | On
20 songs this week. YouTube has 19 of them and is missing only Padipoyanetho from Hippi. JioSaavn has 15 songs and is missing the 4 songs from Wind Of Change Season 5 and Jeevante Jeevanay, from Sameer. I have also embedded the original Bangla versions of the 4 Wind Of Change Season 5 songs listed below, for context. The newer versions are anyway in the YouTube playlist.
Vakratunda Mahakaaya – Flute Navin: From Think Music’s new line-up called Think Divine. What starts out as a pop song, given how versatile Ganesha is as a God when it comes to music, picks up pace when Navin introduces his flute.
Angrezi Luv Shuv – The Extraordinary Journey Of The Fakir (Amit Trivedi) – Hindi: A harmless melody that is so very Amit Trivedi. I didn’t like the Tamil version sung by Dhanush himself, as much as the Hindi one.
Nee Illama – 7UP Madras Gig (Ghibran) – Tamil: A surprisingly sobering melody, though punctuated by that lovely electronic musical phrase that plays almost contrastingly to the core melody. Considering other composers have largely produced fun, catchy songs in this series, it’s quite a surprise Ghibran picking this mild a melody. It does sound fantastic, in his own voice.
Nenja Unakaga – Sindhubaadh (Yuvan Shankar Raja) – Tamil: What starts out as a by-the-numbers melody by Yuvan breaks out beautifully in the ‘Othanela KeNikulla’ line by Haricharan. From then on, the song takes a life of its own and easily stands out.
Hey Zara – Ben Human (Tamil): After a couple of cover songs (incl. Ed Sheeran’s Shape of You and Bruno Mars’ That’s What I Like), and a couple of originals that had more of Harris Jayaraj’s influence (Konjam Kovatha Koraiamma and Meendum Thedi Vanthaen), Ben Human hits the big time, moving away from his own release of music to Sony Music! The production and video are bigger and better now, and the song, with a catchy ‘Hey Zara’ hook, is a nice listen too, sounding a bit like Rahman’s early music.
Padipoyanetho – Hippi (Nivas K Prasanna) – Telugu: Now that the film has released and is a certified turkey, I feel bad for Nivas’s Telugu debut. The film’s decent-enough music could be washed away by the film’s commercial prospects, or the lack of it. Padipoyanetho is a good song too, and joins Hey Yela (both versions) and Yevathive, to round off the good work by Nivas. There are a lot of lyrics-less phrases and Haricharan handles his part superbly.
Jeevante Jeevanay – Sameer (Sudeep Palanad) – Malayalam: If I had no seen the composer’s name, I’d guess Shaan Rahman in a heartbeat! Delightful, harmonious melody lifted by Karthik, Sithara Krishnakumar and chorus singers’ singing.
Kaanumbol Ninne – Thamaasha (Rex Vijayan) – Malayalam: Trust Rex to deliver! After the first single by Shahabaz Aman, Rex composes the 2nd song in the Malayalam remake of the Kannada film Ondu Motteya Kathe. The real hero of the song is the singer – Ashajeevan, with a unique texture in his voice that lifts the song significantly.
Orey Neel Dariya, Aaj Ei Brishtir Kanna Dekhe, Aamay Dekhona & Milon Hobe Koto Dine – Gaan Bangla’s Wind of Change (Kaushik Hossain Taposh) – Bangla: The Bangladeshi Coke Studio, called Gaan Bangla’s Wind of Change, produced by Kaushik Hossain Taposh is back for season 5. This season features a whole of Indian artists, including Sivamani, Mandolin U Rajesh, Kailash Kher, Papon, Aditi Singh Sharma among others. Of the 8 songs, my pick includes Orey Neel Dariya, with Papon holding sway with his incredible singing, offering a beautifully realized tribute to Abdul Jabbar’s original. The guitar and Jalal’s flute, in particular, are lovely. Papon does very well in Aaj Ei Brishtir Kanna Dekhe too, a closer-to-original tribute to Lucky Akhond’s tune sung by Ustad Niaz Md. Chowdhury. Aamay Dekhona, a flamboyant Latino melody by Lucky Akhond, gets a snazzy recreation featuring Aditi Singh Sharma, who completely owns the rendition, diva-style. Lalon Shah Fakir’s Milon Hobe Koto Dine is perfect for Kailash Kher’s singing style and he relishes the melody like only he can.
OREY NEEL DORIYA (ORIGINAL):
AAJ EI BRISHTIR KANNA DEKHEY (ORIGINAL):
AAMAY DEKONA (ORIGINAL):
MILON HOBEY KOTO DINEY (ORIGINAL):
One Less Day, I Love It, Breathe Out, Worst In Me, The Man To Hold The Water, Timeless, Early In The Morning & Tomorrow – Chip Tooth Smile (Rob Thomas): One Less Day (Dying Young) is a song about living, despite calling it ‘Dying Young’. Loaded with pulsating chorus and an anthemic interlude, this is vintage Rob. I Love It has a superb guitar layer and Rob contorting his voice a bit more. The mellow Breathe Out, Worst In Me and The Man To Hold The Water take a leaf out of George Michael’s ballads and that George Michael signature is accentuated in Timeless where Rob goes, ‘I’ll be your father figure, I’ll be your Major Tom…’, with a catchy tune and hook straight out of 80s rock. Early In The Morning, melodically, reminded me of (of all things!!) Nickelback’s Rockstar, while Tomorrow took me back to Phil Collins’ Another Day In Paradise. In all, an excellent follow-up to Cradle Song and North!
