‘Folk Marley’ Anthony Daasan’s spirited rendition lifts Tagaru banthu tagaru as much as Charan’s highly infectious sound that effortlessly descends into pulsating kuthu at times. Mental ho jawa is a curiously interesting concoction! Charan blends a lot of things into a heady mix – Ananya Bhat’s Mental ho jawa hook, a semi-classical or faux-classical anupallavi and a steadily catchy and funky disco’ish background! It all works quite well in Charan’s confident direction. Balma is even better! It starts almost like a prayer, with a mesmerizing backdrop and a constantly disorienting sound before segueing into the captivating ‘Balma’ hook amidst sedate electronica. It eventually scales so beautifully when Siddharth Belmannu starts his classical parts to end the song on a high. Badukina bannave is good old Charan, handing over a lush melody to Siddharth Belmannu while he, in the background, produces an ambient cocktail to wrap the whole thing, complete with a heady folk outro. Hold On, featuring a cornucopia of Rajasthani folk sounds is a lot more conventional, in comparison, but the music is highly layered and interesting, like a Ghibran composition. Charan’s lone, outright commercial attempt in 2017—Dalapathi—barely worked. In Tagaru, he experiments a lot and produces stellar results!
Keywords: Tagaru, Charan Raj, Charanraj, 200, #200
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