Sanjay Divecha and Secret (Music review), Indipop – Sanjay Divecha

Ota, the Kannada opener of the album is a lovely song split by marked changes to the sound at the end of each utterance of ‘Saaguve na munde’ by Chandana Bala! After the first, there is a subtle percussion addition to what was till then primarily guitar-driven. After the second, the lively jazz’y backgrounds kick-in. After the third, the track acquires a beautifully divergent, free-form direction. At the fourth, the song ends! Tapas Roy’s almost-Middle Eastern Saaz/Bouzouki prelude paves way for Sanjay’s guitars and Raman Mahadevan and Chandana’s rendition of Swati Tirunal’s Thillana. The singing is flawless; the percussion and strings fusion, even more so!

Raman gets excellent backing from Naresh Kamath in the Assamese track Xiyaali ae, marked by fantastic guitar work from Sanjay, and acoustic bass by Ravi Knypstra, in a tune that flows serenely. Sanjay’s carnatic-style electric guitaring is the highlight of the Malayalam track Mani muthe, even as Chandana aces the vocals, most possibly alluding to Malayamarutham raaga during the aalaap in the middle. The Mira bhajan, Mhari preet nibhajo ji uses the gorgeous Rajasthani-style Maand-raaga melody by Pandit Govind Prasad Jaipurwale set to a Clapton’esque guitar backdrop that at places sounds almost like Wonderful Tonight!

Louiz Banks rolls like the rockstar he is, in Call that showcases its Oriya roots mid-way, flowing to a spritely aalaap till then. The album’s stupendous highlight is the Naattai raaga based Muthuswamy Dikshithar composition, Mahaganapathim! The sax, trumpet, veena… all join together to bring out a phenomenally swinging jazz’y adaptation of the familiar melody that Raman and Chandana handle wonderfully. Secret, the only instrumental track, ends the album on a flamboyant sound led by Shirish Malhotra’s sax and Sanjay’s guitar, with brilliant twists at 2:40 and 5:05! Sanjay Divecha and Secret is a shining example of fusion done right.

Keywords: Sanjay Divecha, Chandana Bala, Raman Mahadevan, Sonu Sangameswaran, Sanket Naik, 300, #300

Sanjay Divecha and Secret is,
Sanjay Divecha – acoustic & electric guitars, keyboards, programming & vocals.
Chandana Bala – vocals
Raman Mahadevan – vocals
Sonu Sangameswaran – bass
Sanket Naik – percussion & vocals

Listen to the songs, see the complete album credits and buy the album on OKlisten | iTunes | Saavn (may be geo-loacked depending where you are)

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