Milliblog Weeklies – India’s only multilingual, weekly new music playlist. Week 34:
On | On | On
34 songs, this week. Saavn comes closest with 32 songs (it’s missing Sona and Ram’s Ghane Badra which is an Apple Music special for now, and Coke Studio Pakistan’s Hum Dekhenge which is only on YouTube for now. Please check the notes below to find what you are missing if you stick only to YouTube or Apple Music playlists
A note on the songs in the playlist.
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Ghane Badra (Sona Mohapatra & Ram Sampath, Indipop): The song took me back to Ram’s outstanding Let’s Talk soundtrack! Superb singing, and a delightfully ambient sound befitting the monsoon and rains!
Thenge Se, Khudara & Piya Samaye (Mulk, Hindi): The 3-song soundtrack is a surprise! Prasad Sashte’s 2 songs, the Kajra Mohobbat-wala style folk song (not qawali), Thenge Se shines with its lively lyrics and excellent singing, while Vishal Dadlani owns the Charukesi-raaga based Khudara. And Anurag Saikia, on the heels of his work in Karwaan, produces Piya Samaye, a very engaging qawali!
Aeroplane (Sarmad Qadeer, Pop): The Lahore-based singer strikes it rich with this Punjabi-pop song. Typically good production values, and a typically catchy sound associated with this genre, like the ones T-series produces regularly.
Gori Ghani (Fazilpuria & Jyotica Tangri, Pop): Composer Rossh doesn’t really strain to produce anything dramatically new. Within the commercial template of what T-series usually produces, this one offers instant catchiness. Fazilpuria’s rap is the icing on the cake.
Ishaare tere (Guru Randhawa, Punjabi pop): Guru has been having a great week – he had 2 releases in the last 10 days: Aaja Ni Aaja, not released by T-series, on July 19, and Ishaare Tere, by T-series, on July 24. The latter is an effortless ear-worm on his now-trademark style.
O Jaana (Pop, Hindi): Fits straight into a Karan Johar production! Composed by Sahir Ali Bagga, and sung by Hamza Malik and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. Easy-on-the-ear melody.
Neelakaayal, Onnaam Aanikku & Kaayal Olam (Oru Kaatil Oru Paykappal, Malayalam): Bijibal did have a great number in the recent film Uncle, but has been oddly silent this year! But this soundtrack has 3 songs that fit right within his style – beautifully native tunes from Kerala that are produced so well! Onnaam Aanikku, in particular, with its boat-song flavor, is lovely!
Mama Sa Bibo & Bum Bum Bum (Iblis, Malayalam): Malayalam composer Dawn Vincent, having been predominantly in the music arrangement/background music scene, and who made a tentative start scoring a couple of songs for Adventures of Omanakuttan, gets his chance at composing the soundtrack for the upcoming film Iblis (incidentally directed by Rohith.V., who directed Adventures of Omanakuttan). The pick of the listenable soundtrack is Bum Bum Bum, a lively, almost-whimsical calypso’ish song, featuring Sumesh Parameswar’s guitar and a stellar chorus. Naresh Iyer, dependably, rules over the vocals. Mama Sa Bibo, with its vocal harmony (Anoop G. Krishnan, Ramesh Murali, Gagul Joseph, Seby) and carnival’esque sound, is a lovely listen too.
Varum Varum, Ee Raavil & Nilapakshi Happy Version (Maradona, Malayalam): Full soundtrack review: http://bit.ly/2LEJIfS
Vennela O Vennela (Neevevaro, Telugu): Composed by Prasan with a very Harris Jayaraj’ish flair. Sid Sriram is perfect for the breezy vocals.
Brand Babu Okkadu & Inthe Prema (Brand Babu, Telugu): JB has 2 more winners in the soundtrack, besides Vennelamma. Ramya Behara sung title song is fantastic, rhythmic pop, while Lipsika’s Inthe Prema has a beautiful melody, and even more interesting, rather busy orchestration.
Chaluva Chengaluva (Happy Wedding, Telugu): The other song from Shakthikanth Karthick’s soundtrack that stands out, with its semi-classical, sweeping melody. Sinduri Vishal, however, for some reason, sounds oddly out of sync/place as she starts, but gets better as the song progresses.
Ekkada Nuvvunte, Ithadena Ithadena & Modalaudaam (Srinivasa Kalyanam, Telugu): Full soundtrack review: http://bit.ly/2LGOyZV
Yaayum & Aathadi (Sagaa, Tamil): Yaayum was released in 2016! Glad to see the rest of the soundtrack finally releasing this year! Besides the thoroughly enjoyable melody that is Yaayum, Aathadi, with its very D.Imman sound (Shabir even sounds like Imman!) is a good listen.
Thedadhey (Oorka, Tamil): After the star-composers, here’s the next song from the very promising 7UP Madras Gig platform, by Oorka. No, that’s not ‘pickle’. It’s supposed to be short for ‘Oorukkaaga’ (for the people)! Oorka is Bharath Sankar on Vocals & Keys, J.C on the Guitars, Pradeep Kumar on the Bass and Tapass Naresh on Drums. Thedadhey is punchy Tamil rock, done well, with neat lyrics to boot.
Mayakkuraane, Anjaa Nenjane, Maane Thene, Thaaru Maara & Satti Melatha (Annanukku Jey, Tamil): Full soundtrack review: http://bit.ly/2LG5qjr
Saadhi Madham (Vishwaroopam II, Tamil): Good old Ghibran template! Sprawling orchestration, and a brilliant ode to love, with Kamal Haasan’s own lyrics alluding to Aadhalinaan Kaadhal Seiveer! The combo of Andrea and Sathyaprakash is good!
Title song (Chumbak, Marathi): Singer Divya Kumar is usually summoned for high-pitched songs with soaring tunes, or to sing the higher-pitched notes in a song. So it is a pleasant surprise to see him getting to sing a significantly lower pitched, almost hush-hush title song for the Marathi film Chumbak. The song’s composer is Amar Mangrulkar, an ex-advertising professional, who pivoted to making music and is known for many ad jingles, besides the music of TVF Tripling. The song has a genial and good-natured lilt, along with the occasional comical sounds that add to the appeal.
Hinde Hinde Hogu (Ayogya, Kannada): Incredibly catchy Arjun Janya stuff, as usual. Sanjith Hegde is easily the hero of the song. The video, glorifying stalking and completely not understanding the concept of consent, is disgusting, though.
Hum Dekhenge (Coke Studio Pakistan, Season 11): After the Explorer series, Coke Studio 11 (Pakistan) launched the introductory song with a bang. Hum Dekhenge is a protest song, composed by Professor Asrar and made popular by Iqbal Bano’s rendition against General Zia ul-Haq’s military regime and its Islamicisation, in 1985. The song was written by Faiz Ahmed Faiz, a poet who was banned under the Zia ul-Haq regime. Using this song to launch the new season, amidst the general elections in Pakistan, is an intriguingly topical decision! The song, produced by this season’s leads, Zohaib Kazi and Ali Hamza, has a sprawling 70 singers, including the transgender duo Lucky and Naghma, who add to the inclusivity-mantra with ‘Joh mein bhi hoon, woh tum bhi ho’. Goosebumps-inducing introduction to the new season, this!
