Milliblog Weeklies – India’s only multilingual, weekly new music playlist.
Week 139: On Spotify | On YouTube
9 songs this week. YouTube has all 8, and Spotify is missing just one – the Carvaan Lounge Tamil song that is usually sent late to the streamers.
Charkhe – Nyasa (Indipop/Hindi): What started like a Rabbi Shergill song suddenly takes off with that ‘Bolo bolo’ hook… and what a take-off it is!! The lyrics offer little hope though – desolate and asking us to struggle along, from whatever little I could comprehend, but the energy in the tune makes it a riveting listen!
Mera Hai Tu – Vasuda Sharma (Indipop/Hindi): A wonderfully soothing ballad composed and sung by Vasuda. The extended lines built around ‘Tu’ and the ‘Ooooo’ sounds accentuate the song’s charm considerably. Wonderful backing by Andrija Gavrilovic on the horn/trumpet, and Karan Sajnani on the guitar.
Dhakka Laga Bukka – Tandav (A R Rahman) – Hindi: A lot has happened since Tandav went live on Amazon Prime, but that’s a different tangent. I was surprised to see Rahman himself sort of remixing/recreating his Yuva number and I read that he made an exception for this (and perhaps not let anyone else do it, which he has said in the past is not something he appreciates/likes/prefers). The embellishments don’t sound particularly appealing, but the original song still sounds fantastic! The music has a verve that is hard to shake off!
Kaalai Adhikaalai – Naduvan (Dharan Kumar) – Tamil: One of those songs that seem specifically composed for Sid Sriram! Dharan’s melody is soft and easy-on-the-ear, layering a very soft melody with the racy rhythm at places. The swaram-based vocal interlude, though, seems a bit jarring for the song.
Thangamey – Paava Kadhaigal (Justin Prabhakaran) – Tamil: At last, the full audio jukebox of Paava Kadhaigal is out! Justin’s Thangamey is easily the pick of the soundtrack. Murugavel’s voice carries so much warmth that is so essential for the song – it reminded me of the late Shahul Hameed’s singing range/style.
Mannavanaanalum – Ghibran (Indipop/Tamil): Whoa! It’s great to see Ghibran expand his genre repertoire, adding electronic music to it. The lead hook, though, reminded me instantly of the incredibly famous and catchy song, “Rivara Riva” that I’m still trying to find the singer/band after finding that Tamil composer Vijay Ebenezer had sought generous inspiration from it for his 2012 song ‘Mokka Manusha’ from the film Kalakalappu (Masala Cafe). Still, Ghibran’s song is fairly different and could be similar from a genre point of view only. His mixing of the folk element, referring to a dialog from M.R.Radha’s Ratha Kanneer is a smart move and adds to the song’s appeal. There’s a manic energy in the song that is at once hypnotic and unnerving!
Aayiram Nilave Vaa – K.V.Mahadevan & C. Sathya, ft. Sooraj Santhosh and Saindhavi (Tamil): The 4th song from Carvaan Lounge Tamil is a winner too, picking the first (released) song by S.P.Balasubrahmanyam (that he sang along with P.Susheela). Both Sooraj Santhosh and Saindhavi do complete justice to the original melody that Sathya recreates with a reduced tempo to great effect. The little touches he adds, like swapping the 2nd anupallavi (sung by P.Susheela – “Mannavanin ThoL IranDai”) as the first (sung by Saindhavi) and then the actual song’s first anupallavi (NaLLiravu ThuNaiyiruka), plus adding a second vocal layer to “Indha Mayakam Ezhil Mugam” and “Illai Urakam Orae Manam”, while also flattening the tune of the latter (Sooraj is particularly fantastic here!) make the recreation so much more inventive and enjoyable!
Do listen to the original and then this recreation to appreciate the effort Sathya has put in.
Rusvaaiyaan – Amit Trivedi (Indipop/Punjabi): The song could have easily been a part of Amit’s Dev.D soundtrack! The ‘Yaariyaan tut gayee’ callout, and Shilpa Rao adding, “Ho gayee dil de rusvaaiyaan” is straight out of Amit’s style from a decade back. And it is thoroughly welcome! Shilpa Rao and Shahid Mallya, are, like always, superb with their vocals – and a fantastic pair to sing together!
Dil Da Khayal – Goldie Sohel (Indipop/Punjabi): A gorgeous ghazal in Punjabi! Goldie’s voice handles the soft, poignant melody beautifully, ably supported by Dilshad Khan and Sanjiv Sen’s tabla, among others. The simplicity of the song is its biggest strength!