Milliblog Weeklies – India’s only multilingual, weekly new music playlist.
Week 187: On Spotify | On
10 songs this week! All the songs are available on YouTube and Spotify.
Rangisari – JugJugg Jeeyo (Traditional/Kanishk Seth) – Hindi: Kavita Seth and her son Kanishk first released this ‘instant’ version of the Mishra Pahadi raaga-based bandish back in 2020. It’s good to see Dharma pick it up as-is instead of handing it over to Tanishq or DJ Chetas/Lijo, etc. Reducing a lavishly beautiful and expressive bandish to a short, bouncy version may seem odd, but we are in the era of 10-minute grocery deliveries, remember.
Kavita and Kanish’s version is not bad by any stretch – it has a dreamy and hypnotic vibe, and if it leads more new listeners to the original bandish has been covered by many (Kaushiki Chakrabarty’s is particularly brilliant!), then this is a great move!
Kaayam, Bejara, Kannethire & Paavam Seiyathiru – Iravin Nizhal (A R Rahman) – Tamil: Kaayam seems to echo Madura Marikozhundhae’s (Chekka Chivantha Vaanam) musical approach in the sense that it is primarily driven by a female chorus. But tonally, both songs are completely different – Madura was an elegy/Oppaari of sorts, rendered with a modern touch (and vastly different from the superior ‘Karuppi’ from Pariyerum Perumal that released—I mean the music—in the same month and year: September 2018!), while Kaayam sounds more like hymnal storytelling in Parthiban’s thoroughly intriguing spoken poetry (“virpanai aanavan virpannan aagidum… veeNaa ponavane”)! It makes for a haunting listen as the vocal flow is incredibly nuanced, with some delightful intonations by the singers – Khatija Rahman, Deepthi Suresh, Soundarya Bala Nandakumar, Sowmiya, and Veena Murali. The song makes a sharp turn towards the end with the ‘KaNNethire’ portion that extends to a separate song too, sung by Sarthak Kalyani and Hiral Viradia, though lyrically, the tone and feel are completely different.
Bejara is a really interesting song in concept – a heart-break song that is treated with the liveliness of Padayappa’s Oho Kicku Yeruthey 🙂 Deva had mastered this genre at a point in Tamil cinema and it is good to see Rahman’s version here. Haricharan’s wonderful singing, particularly that ‘paalaarum thenaarum odumunnu paarthen’ extension, brings back memories of Shahul Hameed, while Bamba Bakya offers him excellent support all through. The lyrics (by Parthiban), mainly in the anupallavi, are made of delightful wordplay that involves each word’s 2nd meaning linking it to the next phrase – so ‘paaya’ leads to ‘paai’, the hiccup ‘vikkal’ leads to sales ‘vikkudhunga’, and the dual use of the word ‘muL’.
Paavam Seiyathiru was a pleasant surprise! It seemed to be set to either Syama or Sahana raaga (to my untrained self/ears), but the austere rendition, sung by Niranjana Ramanan and Keerthana Vaidyanathan, was a uniquely different expression to KaduveLi Siddhar’s (more famously known for being the author of ‘Nandavanathil Or Aandi’) verse. The melody is also referred in the instrumental piece, Shadow of the Night, played in flute.
Iravin Nizhal is an interesting soundtrack from Rahman that doesn’t demand anything overtly commercial from him. But he has made sure the songs’ appeal is broadly accessible despite the novelty of experimentation.
PS: I had written about Maayava Thooyava in an .
Thandanaanandha – Ante Sundaraniki (Vivek Sagar) – Telugu: A delightfully catchy promo song from the film! The choice of singers is perfect – Shankar Mahadevan and Swetha Mohan. Even as the tune is functional, the backgrounds are where the magic happens – the music in the background is so very Vivek – whimsical and hugely imaginative.
Kannu – Vishuddha Mejo (Justin Varghese) – Malayalam: A very simple, but utterly charming song built on the word ‘KaNNu’. Adheef Muhamed’s singing elevates the melody significantly, particularly the way he elaborates the ‘kaNNu’ at the end of the pallavi (before the chorus joins).
Neraane – Priyan Ottathilanu (Lijin Bambino) – Malayalam: I would have mistaken this to be a Shaan Rahman song 🙂 The ebullience and sound are something I associate with Shaan. But not to take anything away from Lijin, he has a superb anupallavi stretch that truly gains from an experienced singer like Benny Dayal.
Na Maralabeku – Thurthu Nirgamana (Dossmode) – Kannada: I remember writing about the song ‘Joru Joraagi’ from this film way back in February 2020! Considering the film’s finally releasing later this month, here’s another new song! Dheerendra Doss (a.k.a Dossmode) doesn’t disappoint again, like Joru Joraagi, though both songs offer dramatically different payoffs. This one rests on Supriyaa Ram and Chaitra H G’s vocals and Dheerendra’s captivating electronic sounds.
Ka Pahije – Medium Spicy (Hrishikesh, Saurabh, Jasraj) – Marathi: Another lovely song from the film, after last week’s Chaal Ka Badalaleli. This one is wonderfully serene, with Jasraj’s soulful voice guiding the melody gently. And those horns… oof, beautiful!
