Milliblog Weeklies – MAR31.2019

Milliblog Weeklies – India’s only multilingual, weekly new music playlist.
Week 66: On | On
18 songs, this week. And a range of languages from across the country – Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Punjabi, Bengali. No Tamil songs worth the listen this week, though. Both the JioSaavn playlist and the YouTube playlist have 17 songs, but not the same 17. The former is missing the one song from Lakshmi’s NTR (only on YouTube), while the latter is missing Nenena Nenena from Suryakantam (that’s inside a playlist).

Also, if you are wondering about Kalank’s title song that released yesterday (after a day late), it is yet to be out in its full version on the streaming platforms. The YouTube version seems truncated to fit the video. Will wait for the full version to release and them add it perhaps next week.

Haaye Oye – QARAN ft. Ash King: QARAN’s music here is very similar to his Tareefan from Veere Di Wedding. I do understand that it is his perhaps his signature style, and it actually works – no doubt on that. Ash King’s vocals add to the song’s effortless charm.

Nee Uniki – Lakshmi’s NTR (Kalyani Malik) – Telugu: A Malik completely unrelated to the Bollywood list of Malik/Malliks (Anu, Armaan, Amaal etc.) is Kalyani Malik, brother of M.M.Keeravani. He’s one of the most under-rated composers in Telugu, and it’s possible that it’s because he keeps changing his name so often that when a producer wants to reach out to him, his name has changed and he has no way of connecting 🙂 His music in Ram Gopal Varma’s Lakshmi’s NTR is a surprise because, lately, RGV has only been working with out-of-work and rather pointless composers, almost relegating their work even behind his lacklustre filmmaking. The one song that really appealed to me in this film is Nee Uniki. S.P.Balasubrahmanyam’s voice and the tune’s almost Raja’esque 80s feel reminded me of Saagara Sangamam’s Thakita Thadimi!

Choti Choti Baatein – Maharshi (Devi Sri Prasad) – Telugu: DSP magic 🙂 No other way to explain this incredibly simple and painfully-familiar tune and music combo. It’s catchy and breezy and all you can do is nod along!

Glassmates – Chitralahari (Devi Sri Prasad) – Telugu: DSP again! 🙂 The same formula, but with swinging brass that adds to the already-tipsy fun!

Po Pove & Nenena Nenena – Suryakantam (Mark K Robin) – Telugu: Po Pove’s hugely involving pathos tune gets a brilliant expression from Karthik’s singing. Mark really lays out the feels in this one. Nenena Nenena is Shakthisree Gopalan’s show. The song’s original version, Inthena Inthena itself was a stupendous listen, and this new variant is equally good. And that prelude, for 13 seconds, took me back to Kandukondain Kandukondain’s title song’s prelude 🙂 Lovely stuff!!

Khaali Khaali Aniso – Kavaludaari (Charanraj M.R) – Kannada: After the 3 songs, Charanraj comes out all guns blazing again, in Khaali Khaali. He has superb support from Sharanya Gopinath’s fantastic, diva-style vocals. His tune is flamboyant, Bond-style. The song’s swinging horns, by Trumpet Babu, deserve a special mention.

Gamyave – 99 (Arjun Janya) – Kannada: The texture of the music Arjun has offered (so far in the 3 songs) for the Kannada version of 96 is vastly different from Govind Vasantha’s sensibilities. But, it is also highly enjoyable in a very different way. I was worried it may seem , but it has turned out pretty good. Gamyave, with its steady thrumming rhythm and Armaan Malik’s breezy vocals, joins that list.

Multan – Nadhoo Khan (Gurmeet Singh) – Punjabi: This is that combination – composed by Gurmeet Singh and sung by Mannat Noor. Like Laung Lachi, that that was desecrated by T-series recently in Lukka Chuppi. Multan is a fantastic listen too – not Laung Lachi level, and a bit too animated too (in a way that helps the leading lady Wamiqa Gabbi dance a bit too forcefully, but with typical Punjabi fervor).

Tappe – Rabb Da Radio 2 (Desi Crew) – Punjabi: This is one heck of an ebullient Punjabi bhangra number. Not that there is any dearth of such song from Punjab, but, for an outsider like me for whom all Punjabi songs sound similar, this one stood out with its frenetic liveliness! Incidentally, this song stars Wamiqa Gabbi too! What’s particularly interesting is how she navigates multiple language film industries with complete ease – she is acting in Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films! Her multilingual ease is just like a Milliblog playlist 🙂

Teri Meri Meri Teri Aashiqui & Samjhe Kya (A Capella) – Ashi Hi Aashiqui (Sachin Pilgaonkar) – Marathi: Actor Sachin Pilgaonkar is almost a permanent fixture in Marathi films, besides his sojourn into Hindi films. The 67-year old actor makes his debut as music composer (for a full soundtrack; he has composed singles in the past) with the film he is directing now, Ashi Hi Aashiqui! It’s not a bad debut at all – his music sense is definitely noteworthy. I didn’t quite like Rakamma, the kuthu song (too familiar with nothing really standing out), but the Sonu Nigam dominated soundtrack (6 out of 8 songs featuring Sonu!) has a very catchy and nice song in Teri Meri Meri Teri Aashiqui. The song’s punchy rhythm reminded me of the kind used in reggaeton songs. The A Capella, Samjhe Kya is another fantastic song! The music is nuanced and highly enjoyable, and so is the singing by Shanmukhpriya, and Sonu Nigam. The melody of the song reminded me of Frenesi, composed originally by Alberto Domínguez for the marimba that later became a jazz standard. It was famously adapted into the Tamil song, Palinginal Oru Maligai from the film Vallavan Oruvan (1966).

Konya Re – Ke Tumi Nandini (Amlaan) – Bengali: That ‘Dhumpichakdhum’ rhythm is straight out of Anu Malik’s Duplicate, but composer Amlaan adds several other catchy elements to this foot-tapping song. It could have easily been mistaken for a Pritam song in Hindi too!

Africa Is The Future – Major Lazer: The 4 songs in the album were all released across 2018. In one compilation as a 4-song set they continue to sound phenomenally good. All My Life featuring Burna Boy and is a fantastic dancehall mix.Orkant/Balance Pon It, featuring Taranchyla, the South African Babes Wodumo who ruled the Black Panther soundtrack, goes one step ahead in the smoking hot dancehall mix. Tied Up is low key, in comparison, but is equally punchy with the dancehall rhythm, while featuring vocals by Jake Gosling, Raye and Mr Eazi. And Loyal is the 4th song of the compilation, with a smooth R&B groove, featuring Kranium and Kizz Daniel.

Hustle – Pink: An upbeat, country-style song that gets tremendously more exciting because of the superb chorus. Brilliant song!

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