Milliblog Weeklies – India’s only multilingual, weekly new music playlist.
Week 239: YouTube | Spotify
Le Le Pangey – Dange (Sanjith Hegde) – Hindi: A pop single last week and a film song this week – Sanjith Hegde seems to be truly going places, and definitely beyond his Karnataka roots! I’m mighty impressed with his music composition skills – he seems almost like an Arijit Singh in terms of the mix of both skills, singing and composing. Le Le Pangey is a solid track – punchy, catchy, an excellent mix of his solo phrases and the ebullient chorus, and his signature soaring falsetto! The Tamil version is a good listen too, thanks to Krithika Nelson’s lines.
Rehne De, Subah Ke Taare – Subah Ke Taare (Lucky Ali, Mikey McCleary) – Hindi/Indipop: I had earlier featured some of the songs from this album (that were released long ago): Mohabbat Zindagi, Sayyāh, and Intezaar. The full album has 8 songs – 5 new songs. Not all of them work as well as the earlier 3, though the title song is clearly the winner with its somber lilt. Rehne De took me back to Lucky’s earlier albums in terms of the simple sound and sing-along’ish feel. But the man’s vocal magic remains intact – his voice is extremely unique and it’s good to see his partnership with Mikey McCleary still going strong.
Santhosha Saaral Mazhai – Mr Zoo Keeper (Yuvan Shankar Raja) – Tamil: Yuvan’s music sense has always been superb, and I particularly love the way he brought it out in Pudhupettai (among many other albums). But the music in this song took me back to Pudhupettai’s soundscape – layered and captivating! The song credits both Yuvan and Adithya RK as singers, but I don’t hear Yuvan’s voice in the song at all!
Night in Paris – Ben Human (Tamil/Indipop): If I overlook the corny lyrics (“Yen Dark Nightula Shine Aagura”) that are clearly from a very different decade, the melody is low-key but very, very engaging. Ben’s vocals have always been impressive and this song is no different. Usually, his songs have a prominent hook, but this one, despite not having one explicitly, still manages to sound great!
Sindhuvaaram, Punnai – Chinnanjiru Paadalgal (Balamurali Balu, ft. Kabilan Vairamuthu’s verse) – Tamil/Indipop: To be entirely honest, I associate composer Balamurali Balu’s music with a certain range of sidey Tamil films… what the youth call ‘Matter Padam’, and this includes films like Hara Hara Mahadevaki, Pallu Padaama Pathukka, IruTTu ARayil MuRaTTu Kuthu, among others. I still remember liking ‘Naan Naanaga Illai’ from his debut in 2014, ‘Thagadu Thagadu’. So, it comes as a pleasant surprise to see him compose music out of Kabilan Vairamuthu’s poetry in the form of short songs (Chinnanjiru PaadalgaL). The lines get primacy here, of course, but Balamurali Balu’s music too makes its mark in songs like Punnai (sung by Shobika Murukesan) where the line, “Pandhayam alla vaazhvu, idhu payaNam endru puriyumbothu’ get a hook-like catchy tune. The music is particularly impressive in the album’s best song, Sindhuvaaram (sung by Balamurali Balu and Aditi Bhavaraju), where the composer intersperses the almost spoken ‘Mazha, andha mazhai’ line with energetic musical interludes to good effect.
Nandanandanaa – The Family Star (Gopi Sundar) – Telugu: Possibly owing to the trio involved—Gopi Sundar, Sid Sriram, and Vijay Devarakonda—the song seems like an attempt to recreate the chart-busting ‘Inkem Inkem’ from Geetha Govindam. And who directed Geetha Govindam? The Family Star’s director, Parasuram 🙂 But even if it was a conscious attempt, it’s a smashingly good song that draws you in instantly. It does seem a lot like Dil Se Re, of course, but Sid’s unique voice effortlessly carries it through.
Mini Maharani – Premalu (Vishnu Vijay) – Malayalam: Vishnu Vijay is clearly on a roll! He not only overprocesses Vagu Mazan’s (singer Vagadeeshwari) voice but also makes a Malayalam song sound like an amusing variant of a certain template of Bhojpuri songs with severely overmodulated/processed vocals! There’s a mix of languages as well, from Tamil, to Hindi, to Malayalam… and all this for 4 people traveling in a Mini Cooper with Delhi registration across Telangana! How’s that for national integration!
Manam Manam – Marivillin Gopurangal (Vidyasagar) – Malayalam: A wonderfully lush Hansadhwani from Vidyasagar, and that too, with Hariharan at the helm! For an otherwise semi-classical pop style, the use of Shenai, instead of Nadaswaram, was pretty unique! And the Hamsadhwani raaga exposition at 1:38 was a lovely touch!
