Milliblog Weeklies – India’s only multilingual, weekly, new music playlist.
Week 253: YouTube | Spotify
Bheed – Dastaan (Ashish Zachariah) – Hindi/Indipop: The new album by Ashish Zachariah, overall, is a good listen, and the one song that stood out for me was Bheed. The guitar-based backdrop steadily heads towards a wonderfully throbbing rhythm and keeps up that vibrant sound till the end even as the melody traverses through Coldplay’ish phases.
Kanavugal Kanden, Nila – 100,000 Dreams (Amrit Ramnath) – Tamil/Indipop: Amrit’s new album ‘100,000 Dreams’ made me consider how the musical styles of parents influence children. For instance, the music of Sai Abhyankkar (and Sai Smriti, though I don’t think I have heard her music composition) falls perfectly in the zone of what we have heard from Harini and Tippu (though they did not compose the songs they have sung). Similarly, Amrit’s music compositions fall beautifully in the zone of what we have heard from Bombay Jayashri, even in his film debut, Varshangalkku Shesham. But this short album is more evocative of his mother’s musical body of work. I was a bit disappointed that the album did not retain a Tamil name — ‘Nooraayiram Kanavugal’ — that appears in the song Kanavugal Kanden, written by Mathuranthaki. The composition is lovely, though – a soft rock melody with splendid singing by Amrit. Bombay Jayashri joins Amrit in the other song, Nila, a song that she herself wrote (a sheet with her writing is shown in the music video of Kanavugal Kanden, incidentally) at the hospital shortly after recovering from a brain hemorrhage while on tour in the U.K. Nila is even more introspective than Kanavugal Kanden, with a free-flowing melody that gets a fillip from the two singers.
Manasuna Manasu Nuvve – Dhoom Dhaam (Gopi Sundar) – Telugu: Gopi dips into his super-successful ‘Inkem Inkem’ formula and derives another highly listenable song! The singers do a lovely job too – Vijay Yesudas and Harini Ivaturi.
I Love You Kane – Bheema (Charanraj MR) – Kannada: I do recall hearing this song back in December 2023 when it released, but I also remember not being entirely convinced with what Charan Raj had done. Considering Bheema released recently, I went back to listening to all the songs in the album and believe that I may have dismissed this song unfairly earlier. There are parts (the English lyrics) that continue to not work for me, but the underlying raaga (PanthuvaraLi, I’m guessing) keeps the melody consistently enjoyable, besides the excellent singing by Charanraj himself and Vaish. In particular, when the Pallavi repeats in the end (starting 2:55 in the YouTube video), the strings that play in the background beautifully complement the core melody even as they become more pronounced as the song reaches the end!
Gaali Geethe – Sapta Sagaradaache Ello—Side B (Charanraj MR) – Kannada: Charanraj gets Job Kurian to the honors for this sweeping melody and the man does a terrific job (pun unintended!) as usual. While the melody itself is beaitiful, the way the composer layers the strings in the background truly elevates it. At times, the overall sound reminded me of Ilayaraja’s musical flourish.
Helu Gelathi – Ibbani Tabbida Ileyali (Gagan Baderiya) – Kannada: Gagan constructs Helu Gelathi classical Hindustani music-based ghazal (though the lyrical construct is not that of ghazal-like couplets) and Charanraj handles the vocals wonderfully. The music video pauses tantalizingly after the word ‘Hridhaya’ towards the end (with a visual cue for the reason) but the Spotify version does not include the pause – check both versions to observe how the pauses accentuate the mood of the song.
Naane Krishna Naane Shaam – Royal (Charanraj MR) – Kannada: Charanraj strikes again (and so many of his songs in this Weeklies!). A very, very catchy song, with Sanjith Hegde’s singing. There’s a repetitive musical piece using the fangled sound of what sounds like Shehnai that is particularly well used!
Kaadadeye Hegirali – Krishnam Pranaya Sakhi (Arjun Janya) – Kannada: Arjun’s melody took me to Rahman’s Pukar number ‘Sunta Hai Mera Khuda’ – possible Bhairav/Mayamalagowlai raaga influence? Prithwi Bhat sings it really well.
Ghungroo (Hassrat, ft. Adnan Dhool) – Punjabi: Adnan Dhool of Soch – the band fame has a new single and while his singing is impeccably good, the melody made for more interesting listening. Hassrat’s composition alludes to both the classic Rajasthani folk number ‘Pallo Latke Re Mhaaro’ (made memorable by the RD Burman version in Nauker) and the Piloo raaga based C Ramachandra number from Albela – Dheere Se Aaja Ri Ankhiyan!
