Music on Aspi's Drift

The fastest rising singers in Bollywood today are...surprise!

Aspi — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 03:02:00 -0700

Competition among vocalists in Bollywood is rife. But there are two singers who are enjoying a career surge. In taking a closer look at them, you get insights into how Bollywood music has been changing. Zoom out, and you can derive some facts on the larger transformation in the film industry itself.

I've had the pleasure of listening to both these singers chalk up bravura singing on noteworthy songs. They have been hired by big composers, yet they seem to be flying under the radar. But there is no mistaking that their careers as vocalists are now red hot.

Vishal Dadlani

We all know Vishal composes music with Shekhar Ravjiani (no slouch himself on vocals). We all know he sings songs. But late last year something really interesting happened. Confined to singing stuff that required a Western / Rock / Dhaasu slant (unless he cast himself), Vishal worked the microphone for two songs of such breezy, delicate beauty (Jaane Kyun, Khabar Nahi) on Dostana - that it stunned everyone, especially me. (More on this from Vishal in this interview)

Dostana was a smash, the music really worked and everyone saw Vishal the vocalist in a completely new light. This year Vishal followed up with three standouts.

Working for Salim-Suleiman, he rasped his way through the unsettling and delicious Nazaara Hai (8x10 Tasveer). This song highlights why Vishal has broken into the scene. His work as lead singer for Pentagram positions him well when a rock song is being cast. Vishal has the accent, the attitude, the ability to hold straight rock notes and the gruffness that goes with this genre.

Later on he paired up with Sukhwinder Singh on the delirious Dhan Te Nan (Kaminey) for composer Vishal Bhardwaj. Dhan Te Nan is full of Vishal's trademark energy - when he sings the chorus, you can feel the reckless abandon he brings to a song.

Finally with his work on the ballad You May Be (Aladin) he made everyone connect with unconditional love and everlasting devotion. It was a reminder of the fact that his voice, despite everything else it brings to the table, remains a very mainstream voice. It's not marginal at all, it works across a variety of genres.

Vishal's voice is not gorgeous by any means. It's not clear and ringing and full of sargam. But this is an advantage. As Indian cinema comes to grips with realism in movies, there is room for a voice that sounds more ordinary than ethereal, but can still convey extraordinary emotion.

Vishal's definitive song list as vocalist
Boss Kaun Tha (with Amit Kumar), Jo Gaya Vo Gaya (with KK), Ruk Ruk - Jhankaar Beats, 2003
Popcorn Khao! Mast Ho Jao - Popcorn Khao! Mast Ho Jao, 2003
Tere Ishq Mein (with Mahalaxmi Iyer), Chand Chahiye (with Sunidhi Chauhan) - Supari
Le Jaa (with Harshdeep) - Karam, 2005
Gyan Guru - Home Delivery, 2005
Sholon Si (with Sunidhi Chauhan) - Shabd, 2005
Ek Ajnabee (with Sukhwinder Singh, Sunidhi Chauhan) - Ek Ajnabee, 2005
Golmaal (with Anushka Manchanda), Mast Malang (with Kunal Ganjawala) - Golmaal, 2006
Dhoom Again (with Dominique Cerejo) - Dhoom 2, 2006
Albela (with Shankar Mahadevan) - Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Limited, 2007
Cash, (with Sunidhi Chauhan, Shekhar Ravjiani), Na Puchho (with Sunidhi Chauhan), Rehem Kare (with Sunidhi Chauhan) - Cash, 2007
Saaiyaan - Ta Ra Rum Pum, 2007
Jame Raho - Tare Zameen Par, 2008
Break Free - Krazzy 4, 2008
Tashan Mein (with Master Saleem) - Tashan, 2008
Jaane Kyun, Khabar Nahin (with Shreya Ghoshal) - Dostana, 2008
Nazaara Hain - 8x10 Tasveer, 2009
Dhan Te Nan (with Sukhwinder Singh) - Kaminey, 2009
Barson Yaaron (with Roop Kumar Rathod) - London Dreams, 2009
You May Be - Aladin, 2009
Bachke O Bachke (with Shankar Mahadevan, Shaan, Sunidhi Chauhan) - Aladin, 2009

Also: Vishal and Shekhar's official web presence, Vishal's band Pentagram

Photo of Vishal by the super talented Kanika Nagpal. More of her work on Sleepy Maggie Photography.

Anushka Manchanda

Given a break on the monster hit Golmaal by Vishal himself, Anushka has transformed her career from band member of the all-girl band Viva to MTV VJ to Tollywood songs to Bollywood playback. She's done this with a stream of hugely entertaining songs.

Her performance on the raucous Bad Girls (Chak De! India) for Salim-Suleiman got her wide spread notice. Later Vishal and Shekhar cast her against type on the delicate and seductive Hone Lagi (De Taali). Last year she sang the title track for Chandni Chowk to China for Shankar Ehsaan Loy.

In the last 12 months, her career has achieved near warp speed.

So what is unique about Anushka? (Sure she's hot, but this is a post about music so let's focus!) Two things: she has a voice that sounds great at lower octaves. Its husky, its sensual. Importantly its in tune with the current zeitgeist in Bollywood music that eschews squeaky 'innocent' girly voices and embraces full throated singing.

Anushka also brings a balls to the wall type of attitude to her vocals that translates into a unique bindaas chick energy in the songs. Its fairly valuable to a composer who wants to cast a fresh, young voice that can sing in Hindi and English with equal proficiency and make the song pop.

Anushka's definitive song list as vocalist
Golmaal (with Vishal Dadlani) - Golmaal, 2006
Zindaggi Rocks - Zindaggi Rocks, 2006
Bad Girls - Chak De! India, 2007
Naughty Naughty, Zara Bachke - Cash, 2007
Akh Lad Gayi - Ek Chalis Ki Last Local, 2007
Karle Gunaah (with Ishq Bector) - Ugly Aur Pagli, 2008
Hone Lagi (with Shekhar Ravjiani), Everybody put your hands together (with Sunidhi Chauhan, Shaan) - De Taali, 2008
Money Money (with Krishna) - Victory, 2008
Tu Saala - Golmaal Returns, 2008
Apni Dum Bhi Oonchi Ho (with Kunal Ganjawala, Earl, Salim Merchant, Jugal Hansraj) - Roadside Romeo, 2008
Nobody like you (with Neeraj Shridhar, Ishq Bector) - Mission Istaanbul, 2008
Sexy Mama (with Baba Sehgal) - 13B
Chandni Chowk to China (with Neeraj Shridhar, Shankar Mahadevan) - CC2C, 2009
Welcome to Hollywood - Kambakkht Ishq, 2009
Kabhi Kabhi - Mere Khwabon Mein Jo Aaye, 2009
Lagaa Le - Luck, 2009
We are the Queens (with Mahua Kamat, Pratichee) - Aamras, 2009
Akiro Kurasawa - Chintuji, 2009
Do Knot Disturb (with T. K. Karthik), Bebo (with Neeraj Shridhar) - Do Knot Disturb, 2009
Genie Rap (with Amitabh Bachchan) - Aladin, 2009

Also: Anushka's official web presence, her band Shkabang on MySpace

My thanks to Anushka for helping me with her song list

The music of Blue (A. R. Rahman)

Aspi — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:01:00 -0700

Before we talk about the music, a note about how a review will be structured on the Drift. Bollywood music gets more sophisticated with each passing CD (well, a lot of it). It's passé to review songs - its more important to see if the composer has succeeded in developing a mood, a theme. I'll point out if there is one, how it's been implemented, use some songs as an example. There'll be segues to discuss vocal performances just because I like to do that. I'll try my best keep it short. Then I'll bail. Hope that works.

So what is A. R. Rahman trying to do on the Akshay Kumar, Lara Dutta starrer Blue? He creates an immersive, seductive sound. He combines elements of ambient, nu jazz and techno and overlays them over mid-tempo and DNB percussion. He uses primarily Western arrangements.

It allows him to create a sexy vibe with enough pace to indicate a propulsive movie. It's like watching eye candy, but with hooded eyes. It works quite well in my opinion (although if you dislike the songs, I won't be surprised).

Let's get that high profile Kylie Minogue song Chiggy Wiggy out of the way first, shall we? Rahman creates a standard issue low slung dance monster. Kylie's voice is a bit too thin to really kick the song into gear, but thankfully Sonu Niigaam is around to rescue the song with a bhangra bit. But in keeping with the vibe of the score, Rahman keys even this down - his choice of a softer voice like Sonu being particularly indicative of his intentions.

Aaj Dil Gustakh Hai is along the same lines, but this time Rahman gambles with Shreya Ghoshal - who surprised me by delivering in spades. Aaj Dil is a rather traipsy song in Nu Jazz clothing. Periodically Rahman shows the ability that makes him special - instead of constructing tight tunes (like he did on his overrated - by his standards - Slumdog Millionnaire soundtrack) he allows the music breathe and develop. In doing so, he creates hugely interesting changes of pace and diversions. The song feels mature and the melody feels lasting.

Where Rahman falls short is in infusing his songs with a sense of danger. It's not like he doesn't try. He uses several off-kilter chants in his songs - I suppose they are meant to provide a sense of disjointedness that might be interpreted as peril. On the Blue Theme (Blaaze, Sonu Kakkar, Neha Kakkar, Jaspreet Singh, Dilshad, Raqeeb Alam) he attempts this trick accompanied by a grinding guitar. It falls short - which isn't to say that the song still isn't fun to listen to.

In the simmering Soul of Rehnuma (Sonu Niigam, Shreya Ghoshal) he comes close to pulling a dangerous vibe off. He adds a thick guitar riff over sumptuous string arrangements. Because Rahman's ideas are bold and result in catchy music, you more than forgive this shortcoming.

Something interesting happens on the bubbly Yaar Mila Tha. Rahman starts the song with R&B stylings. He then brings in Udit Narayan and Madhushree, instructs them to sing in Hindustani notes and then surrounds them with 80s Bollywood musical arrangements. Later he tweaks the vocals - he has Udit sing a near-rap and Madhushree coo around a bit. It elevates what could have been a tiresome track.

There are two more tracks on this CD: Fikrana (Vijay Prakash, Shreya Ghoshal) and Bhoola Tujhe (Rashid Ali). You should explore those using the links I've provided.

You can listen to the Blue soundtrack on Hummaa.com

The underrated gems of A. R. Rahman - a guest post by Woot

Aspi — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:01:00 -0700

Guest blogger Woot is torn up about A. R. Rahman. Here is why.

Being a hardcore Rahmaniac, it hurts when there are existent gems in his work that are underrated and don't get as much play as his big hits. So I'm going to focus on a list of underrated compositions by Rahman. Hopefully you'll either discover these for the first time or remember them enough to revisit them.

I've dug deep so if you know most of these songs you should pat yourself on the back.

Ishq Ada Hai (Ada… A Way of Life)

This CD was released among several other soundtracks in a banner year for Rahmaniacs. It was mostly overshadowed because Rahman delivered blockbuster scores on the other parallel releases. However one song on Ada (not that the others are not awesome!) that was hardly ever noticed was Ishq Ada Hai by Parul Mishra. This is the female version of the song which was on heavy rotation on B4U. Her beautiful alaaps and clear pure voice gave me the shivers, yet she sounds a lot like Shreya Ghoshal. I hope to hear more from this singer.

In Lamhon Ke Daaman Mein (Jodha Akbar)

Everytime people say Jashn-e-Bahaara is their favorite song of this album, I find myself vehemently disagreeing. Javed Ali has granted his mellifluous voice to that song and these silky vocals top it among the romance tracks.

Yet I like the tadaap, beauty and pain in In Lamhon Ke Daaman Mein. Rahman - the genius that he is - creates furor and intensity with percussion and vocal chants that nicely contrast with Sonu Nigaam’s melting voice and Madhushree just blows me away as well despite a small vocal part. I fall in love with this song every time I hear it.

Especially when Sonu slows down and starts singing these favorite lines of mine:

“Mere khaabon ke is gulistan mein,
Tumse he tho bahaar hi chahiye
Phoolon mein rang the lekin,
In mein khushboo tumhi se aayi hain”
All I can say is wah wah!

Ae Hairathe (Guru)

Another song that never got much attention was Ae Hairathe. I was quite surprised to see Tere Bina make it really big but then it was sung by Rahman himself and was picturized prominently on Abhiwarya. But Ae Hairathe carries on from where Tere Bina is off as it has the same basic tune but is more folksy. Sung by Hariharan and Alka Yagnik, it is star in its own right on this album. I love the accordion interludes and the tabla, another wah wah!

Shauq Hai (Guru)

Shauq Hai is an unreleased single from Guru picturized on Vidya Balan and Madhavan, and it spouted tears in my eyes after seeing the particular scene where they kiss and Madhavan proposes (extremely romantic). Anyways Sowmya Rao sings this song beautifully. Rahman cleverly keeps the piano as the other prominent instrument with some vocal humming, keeping the focus on the melody.

Dhuan Duan and Do Kadam (Meenaxi )

Yeh Rishta and Chillamma Chilakamma hit the big time on this soundtrack. But two songs that were beautiful compositions that never caught the imagination of the audience in the same way were Dhuan Dhuan and Do Kadam. Dhuan Dhuan is a peppy number song by Asha Bhonsle in her typical smoldering style with some casual yodeling thrown in. The percussion is excellent on this song.

Do Kadam sung by Sonu Nigaam remains one of his best songs in my opinion. The lyrics, the music, the aura created by this music are sooo beautiful. He gives it his all in this track. Don't miss this great review of this particular song.

Meherbaan Meherbaan (Tehzeeb)

Sadly this movie didn’t get really noticed. I actually kind of liked it. A track on this CD that I really liked - Meherbaan Meherbaan sung by Asha Bhonsle - got lost with the movie. Asha's usual pep and gusto are on play here on this song which has nice electronic beats and accompanying vocals by Sukhwinder Singh.

Warriors of Peace (Warriors of Heaven on Earth)

This was a Chinese movie for which Rahman was invited to compose. The song Warriors in Peace was done in Hindi by Sadhna Sargam, Jolin Tsai in Mandarain and in English by Sunitha Sarathy (another of my favorite singers). With beautiful lyrics, a full blown orchestra and even an Indian veena-like instrument. Its like a battle song with the basic melody lilting like lullaby (bad description but give it a listen and tell me what you think).

Hope you like these songs!

Bollywood Playback Face-off: Will Mohit Chauhan eat KK's lunch?

Aspi — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:09:00 -0700

In the sharply competitive, shifting sands of the world of Bollywood music, Mohit Chauhan is having a moment.

He's steadily wiggled himself into the mind space of several music composers - key to getting steady work in playback. He's delivered a few good hits. He now gets considered for A-list work, thus perpetuating more hits.

And in the middle of all this, as icing on the cake - he started off A. R. Rahman's highly acclaimed soundtrack to Delhi 6 with a tune so catchy, it stuck to the back of EVERYONE's ears. Not only was Masakali a huge hit, but it was a much beloved one. More importantly, it made people ask "Who is that singer?" and compelled them to remember the answer.

Increasingly the feeling I get is that KK's reign as the Bollywood King of Mainstream Playback might be under serious threat. And I'll tell you why.

At the outset Mohit and KK appear to be very different singers. Often because Mohit has sung a lot of ballads in his career - he is referred to as a singer with a silken voice. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Mohit's voice as a matter of fact, has more depth than that. It's a burr of a voice and carries a certain leaden weight, more like cloth woven with strands of washed denim. Its his strength - it allows Mohit to infuse his singing with a variety of emotions.

One other thing worth considering - in all the singing I've heard from Mohit, his singing leans towards more traditional Indian singing. It could be part of his training. He is most at ease when negotiating the wiggles in Indian notes. Often he'll sing straight pop numbers like a ghazal singer.

KK couldn't be a more different singer in some ways. Compared to Mohit, his voice is practically uni-dimensional. But KK has two things going for him - he possesses a breezy, stylish voice and he can hit those straight notes with an unforced ease. Both these bits combined make him an ideal singer for modern day songs. (You'll hear people say KK has tremendous range. What I think people really mean is that KK can sing a wide variety of songs available to singers in Bollywood today).

But the type of songs that will be made available to both - will be similar in the filmi music duniya. Most songs available to male singers today fall into well worn categories. There is (1) the rock song (2) the pop ballad (3) the dance dhamaka and (4) the comedy romp. Sure there are other genres of music in films today - but its a mere smattering.

Of the four types of songs, strike out (4) for this simple reason: comedies operate on a smaller budget (unless its a rare sequel like Golmaal Returns). This implies a new-ish (read: economic) music director with a smaller budget. So singers like Mohit Chauhan and KK are a little out of the financial range of this genre in most cases.

KK plays in all three genres that are left. But Mohit's full throated voice is ideal for (1) the rock song and (2) the pop ballad. He'll end up scoring over KK in both these categories. So expect more work to go his way in these areas.

This leaves (3) the dance dhamaka. KK will still do well here because his voice bears the frothiness required to carry off this genre. Sure there is Neeraj Shridhar to contend with in this space, but Neeraj's voice isn't entirely convincing when matched up with some of the Bollywood superstars (they tend to look a little puny when they sing in Neeraj's voice). KK - on the other hand - sounds great when matched up with just about anyone.

Most fortuitously for us, the soundtrack of Sikandar gives us some fascinating data to play with. Both singers have sung essentially two songs with the same lyrics - a drink-of-life reflection called 'Gulon Mein'. Mohit takes a crack at the more ruminative version composed by Justin-Uday. KK renders the breezier version composed by Sandesh Shandilya.

It's a rare chance to listen to two competing singers bring their craft in compositions that play to their respective strengths. If you'll give each one a careful listen, you'll be able to understand both singers better. I recommend you do that before placing your bets.

Regardless of the outcome of this delicious match up, singers called Atif Aslam should definitely start praying.

KK's other most recent songs:
Chand Zameen Pe (42 kms)
Aisa To Socha Na Tha (Victory)
Mere Khuda (Sorry Bhai)

Mohit's other most recent songs:
Haafiz Khuda (8x10 Tasveer)
Kuchh Khaas - with Neha Bhasin (Fashion)
Is This Love - with Shreya Ghoshal (Kismet Konnection)

Jai Matadi Lets Rock! The Greatest Hits of Himesh Reshammiya

Aspi — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 17:03:00 -0700

Now that Sa Re Ga Ma Pa is off the air and my gujju brother is focusing on his acting career - opportunities to enjoy the music of Himesh Reshammiya have become limited. This has saddened me immensely because I remain a monster fan of Himanshu's music and an even bigger fan of his manic personality.

Sure Himesh gets a lot of flack from industry insiders and outsiders alike. But the fact that his ability to connect with the masses is held against him riles me to a certain degree. What!? The people who make money off the masses are too sophisticated to be liked by them now? Is Bollywood becoming so incestous that only insider taalis count?

At times like this, in order to deal with my Himesh withdrawal, I fall back on tried and tested play lists such as this one to tide me through until the next Himesh darshan.

12. O Soniya - Ishq Hai Tumse (2004)
Singers: Udit Narayan, Alka Yagnik
Bipasha Basu + Himanshu = Drift Heaven. I was so obsessed with House Music at the turn of the millennium that I stopped listening to Hindi music altogether. Years later, I picked up the soundtrack to Ishq Hai Tumse on a friend's recommendation. I heard this song. I was hooked! Bollywood had found its perfect cheesy match.

11. Aashiq Banaya Aapne - Aashiq Banaya Aapne (2005)
Singer: Himesh
A year later Himesh decides "Enough is enough!" and unleashes his unique sufi voice on an unsuspecting public. It was House Sufi well before music companies in India saw Harsdeep Kaur win Junoon and realized they were sitting on top of a largely untapped market.

10. Aapki Kashish - Aashiq Banaya Aapne (2005)
Singers: Himesh, Ahir
The first of many Himesh hits that Bollywood super starlet Tanushree gyrated to. A triumph for Himesh, Aashiq vaulted him into the play lists of anya clubs and into the hearts of rickshawallahs all over the nation.

9. Sarfaroshi Meri - Tom, Dick And Harry (2006)
Singer(s): Himesh, Tulsi Kumar
Quintessential Himesh - surrounded by women, hairline protected by his cap, funky faux-American accent, Tulsi somewhere nearby and a bunch of photogenic B-movie actors embroiled in a dance-drama.

8. Masha-allah - Karzzzz (2008)
Singer: Himesh
Often if you hear someone other than Himesh sing his compositions, you become acutely aware of their beauty. Masha-allah is one of those songs - delicately gorgeous and romantically reverent.

7. Yeh Tera Mera Milna - Aap Ka Surroor (2007)
Singer: Himesh, Shreya Ghoshal
Himesh stunned everyone with his debut film, which chomped through box office receipts like there was no tomorrow. Of his many hits from the movie - most of which leave me cold - this song never fails to get my attention. Himesh's formula of composing even ballads on top of mid-tempo beats works really well here. Himesh sings this romantic song essentially like an anthem to heart break - thus giving the song a unique sense of doom.

6. Prem Rog - Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya (2005)
Singers: Kamaal Khan, Alka Yagnik
Himesh keeps himself out of this song - but then goes and casts Alka Yagnik and Kamaal Khan. It's like sparing the rod but poisoning the child. Still, Prem Rog remains a terrific composition and its a great chance to watch Sushmita Sen mount a serious challenge to the title of Greatest Indian Overactor.

5. Meri Chandi Tu - Silsiilay (2005)
Singers: Sunidhi Chauhan, Suzanne Dmello, Kailash Kher
One of Mum's favorite songs - so it has to make the list. Himesh made one of his most foot tapping songs, but strangely gave it so little programming love that it's not complex enough to last in one's memory. Its Himesh's little song that could. Plus, I'm sure it probably features prominently on Kailash's resume.

4. Tutiya - Shaadi Se Pehle (2006)
Singers: Daler Mehndi
Built entirely around Daler's bravura singing, Tutiya is the essential heart break song in any Himesh collection. Many of Himesh's weaknesses - too much synth, over-reliance on percussion break beats, spare production that drags at times - are plainly in sight. But because Himesh can put together a great tune, he creates a memorable song.

3. Jumme Raat - Phir Hera Phir (2006)
Singer: Himesh
Easily one of my favorite songs. Composed around delicate tablas, a sarangi lick and tambourine percussion - Jumme Raat is superbly infectious. It's propulsive melody took me entirely by surprise when I first heard it. It still continues to surprise me.

2. Shabe Firaq - Chup Chup Ke (2006)
Singers: Himesh, Tulsi Kumar
One of Himesh's defining songs, although it doesn't get enough recognition. Listen closely and you'll see how his uncanny ability to compose a lilting tune rescues him over the most mundane of beats. Also on display: his ability to use mix instruments with panache and drama. But then he had to go and sing it.

1. I Wanna Make Love - Aitraaz (2004)
Singer: Sunidhi Chauhan
Purely for entertainment value, nothing beats this song. Terrific tune, great musical arrangements and Priyanka wrapping herself alternately around Akshay Kumar and the floor in one uncut, whirling shot. And the fun began after that. Often performed on reality shows - much to the inexplicable chagrin of the judges - this song is known on the Drift as the Asha Bhonsle Mood Buster.

Also:
Pappu adds the following to Himesh's best
Aawan Akhiyan Jawan Akhiyan - Ahista Ahista
Ishq Ne Tere Ishq Ne - Ahista Ahista
Kitna Pyar Karte Hain - Banaras

Kamal says this song is probably's Himesh's best
Main Jahaan Rahoon - Namastey London

How Trickbaby got their sound (and broke into Bollywood): An exclusive Drift interview

Aspi — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 17:01:00 -0700

Formed around the creative partnership of Saira Hussain and Steve Ager, Trickbaby is one of the most unique acts to have broken into Bollywood.

Their first CD - Hanging Around - a delectable collection of amped down Punjabi and low key British house beats came out in 2004.

It was a year later that they broke big for fans in India when Rohan Sippy invited them to reboot Sabse Bada Rupaiiya for his movie Bluffmaster. In a CD full of highlights composed by Vishal and Shekhar, Trickbaby's composition was a standout. A few of their songs also made it into the soundtrack - Neelaa (which samples Silsila's "Sar Se Sarke"), Indi Yarn and Nine Parts of Desire .

One more year went by and Trickbaby did more Bollywood - composing the title track to the Fardeen-Vivek Oberoi-Esha Deol-Amrita Rao starrer Pyare Mohan .

Now, two years later, Trickbaby (which also includes Vikaash Sankadecha and Jeevan Rihal) have their sophomore CD - Chor Bazaar - out in India.

Steve, who is measured and reflective, and Saira, who has a gurgling, warm personality (she mentions she has read my review of their CD and brushes aside my apologies for not understanding music formally by saying 'your ears have no problem, let me tell you') were both wonderful enough to do this fun Q&A with me.

Saira Hussain, Lead Vocalist

Aspi: Saira and Steve, why on earth is your band called Trickbaby (see urban connotation here)?

Saira: We started making music in about 1996. I was reading a book by Iceberg Slim who used to be a pimp in the 1930s I think. The first book he wrote was Pimp: The Story of My Life, which really had me absorbed.

And I moved on to his second book which was called Trick Baby. And the central character in Trick Baby called White Face was albino black guy. He used his whiteness as an advantage in the black community and his blackness as an advantage in the white community. It was his way of utilizing both his identities to the max. And I thought that is what I want to do with my brownness and my whiteness.

Aspi: Ok that makes a lot of sense. Because I used to think: Hmm, Trickbaby – so who is the hooker in this and who would be the baby here. Steve you were ok with the name?

Steve: Its funny – that’s the long story. The short story was we had a tune everyone liked. We need a name quickly. We chose that name because of the story in the book. Not that much thought went into it initially

Saira: And once we used it, we stuck with it. The first song we did got us recognized very quickly and so we couldn’t really change the name after that.(laughs).

Aspi: I have to dodge questions from the kids about it: 'Well kids, it’s a really nice band but we’ll talk about the name later'.

Ok, when and where did you two meet for the first time?

Saira: I was working as a radio producer at Radio 1, which is a well known pop radio station in the UK. Steve was a plugger who used to work for record labels and would get music from them and come play them for me. There were some really bad records. We started to dissect them.

Steve: Can I just add here that I had some good ones as well.

Trickbaby, Mumbai bus stop (l-r)
Steve Ager, Vikaash Sankadecha, Saira Hussan, Jeevan Rihal

Saira: After a lifetime of picking brilliant records, Steve sold out and we started putting the musical world to light really. And as a result of that we both realized that we had extremely diverse, extremely different musical experiences but had a lot of shared passion and a shared desire to put the musical world right. And that’s really how it started.

Steve: I had the recording equipment. And when I heard her say 'I can do better than that', I challenged her to prove it. And here we are.

Aspi: At what point did you say 'Maybe we can do a band here'?

Saira: I never did say (something like) that. I still haven’t gotten around to the idea that its happening.

Steve: The reality was that a lot of my friends work in the media and we made one song which was Indi-Yarn. And just about everyone said 'that would be a hit, everyone will play that'. We just really had a go and it did really take off here.

We really had only one song at that point. So when you asked us (earlier) why we took so long (between CDs), we were very successful with that one song.

So we took some time out. I hadn’t thought much about Indian music then, so I spent a lot of time learning it. At the same time I didn’t know much about producing records – I just had the equipment and that was it.

I learned how to use it by working with the group and producing and doing audio programs. The first album took its time as we wanted to develop into what we wanted to be. Once ‘Hanging Around’ came out, that was our official start.

Aspi: Let’s talk a bit about your sound. Saira, you grew up listening to ghazals. Steve, you grew up listening to punk and later reggae. How did the Trickbaby sound evolve?

Steve: It was combination of trial and error. It really helps to have a huge musical back catalog to cull from. We were quite specific with what we liked. Initially we sampled Indian rhythms, but once we found Vikaash (Trickbaby’s percussionist), we took off.

Saira, Mumbai Bicycle Shop

Aspi: Steve what do you listen to most of the time?

Steve: Its funny you should ask that because there is a side job I do in the UK which is that I program music for the Indian channels on Sky TV. Its only Bollywood but now Sky has expanded in India and I have to do all their stuff for them there – all Indian music. So my catalog is expanding and I’m just discovering stuff there too.

Saira: Normally Steve is more up knowledgeable about desi music than I am. I go to him to find out if some music is any good. So the white man fills in the desi girl about her own music.

Steve: In the UK in general, most white men I know more far more about it (desi music) than British Asian people.

Aspi: Saira, what about you?

Saira: Kings of Leon. Gaslight Anthem. At the moment I’m disillusioned with modern music. I’ve got my iPOD at 21,000 songs and I’ve pretty much covered my whole back catalog. I’ve given myself the opportunity to go listen: going from A to Z – stuff that I’ve been putting in my iPOD but not been listening to. Like my western music back catalog. And I’ll go ‘Wow I forgot about that’, like a Peter Gabriel song or an album. Revisiting Blondie ’s Parallel Lines which I hadn’t listened to in 20 years.

Aspi: You seem influenced by old Indian music. Do you feel more of a connection with the older Bollywood stuff. Do you not like the new stuff at all?

Saira: From the beat point of view, the new stuff just doesn’t quite do it for me. It tries too, but it tries too hard sometimes. Some of the modern voices are quite good and shaping up quite well. For me it’s about missing the old Lata Mangeshkar and others – I make some of my noises in homage to them rather than in imitation.

I want to create the mood, the authenticity, the atmosphere. I couldn’t ever dream to have a voice or make the kind of noises that Bollywood divas made. I can only make the noises I make and sort of tip my hat to them.

Aspi: Give me some idea of how one of your songs comes together.

Saira: Steve works on making noises. And when he has enough of them put together, he calls me in to do my “Lalala la lalala”

Steve: We are very critical of each other. I just like jamming away with myself or Vikaash or whoever and when we get to a point where Siara feels its good enough to sit in on it, she’ll come along with some ideas and when we think they’re good enough, we’ll record them.

Saira shoots the Chor Bazaar CD cover

Aspi: Saira, Steve mentioned his job on the side. Do you also do other work?

Saira: I work for MTV. I produce and write for them.

Steve: We don’t make enough money, Aspi if we just do Trickbaby.

Saira: That’s why it takes us so long to do Trickbaby albums.

Aspi: And the decision to invite Gogol Bordello to help out on the title track to Chor Bazaar and sing in Roma – what was behind that?

Steve: Its called Chor Bazaar because we felt it was stealing things from all kinds of music. It came about I know Eugene very well. And he’s fascinated by Indian rhythms especially

It was really good fun making that song

Aspi: So have you ever been to Chor Bazaar?

Saira: Definitely. Part of this story was about an incident on a particular trip to India. On that trips one of the things that happened was that I had my mobile phone stolen from me and our driver said to us: 'maam, if you want your phone back then Chor Bazaar chalte hai shaam ko, definitely it will be there.'

And I thought: how audacious but indeed convenient that you could lose your phone but you can go to Chor Bazaar and buy your phone back again by the evening.

And Chor Bazaar is full of rickety typewriters and broken cameras and spanners and things. Old knickety knacks and people’s own histories and everything tells a story. It reflects India’s entrepreneurial spirit. You can buy and sell anything and there is a market for everything.

Knickety Knacks at the Mumbai Chor Bazaar, photographed by Trickbaby's driver

Steve: Those pictures in our album sleeve you see are things from Chor Bazaar.

Those were taken by our driver - in Mumbai, he used to live on the streets when he was seven. We once got stuck in with him for about eight hours in the record Mumbai floods of about three years ago. Apart from telling us his life story, he told us about Chor Bazaar and then he took us there.

Aspi: What about the Bollywood opportunities? How did they come about?

Saira: God knows

Steve: I don’t know either! I met an Indian journalist who introduced us to the vice chairman of EMI who was based in Hong Kong at the time. So I reckon it must have come from Sameer Tandon who must have decided to use our song.

Then we were invited to play at the MTV style awards where there were an awful lot of Bollywood people in the audience. And that was the start of everything.

Aspi: So Bluffmaster came next. Did you work with Vishal Shekhar at all?

Steve: No, we dealt directly with Rohan Sippy.

Saira: When we did Sabse Bada Rupaiiya, the original had such dodgy vocals. We knew we were adamant that we wanted to use the vocals but they weren't quality vocals to work with. So we went back to Rohan and asked for new vocals. But by the time it came back, it had completely messed up the feeling of the song. So Steve married the two vocals – so we could have the quality of the new voice.

Steve: We found a program that could match the vocals together. It took hours – it was like a jigsaw puzzle. Putting the vocals on top of the other one.

Saira: There was a controversy over whether it was the original vocal or a recent one. But it was actually a combination of the two.

Aspi: So are Trickbaby doing anything in Bollywood?

Steve: We just continue to write. We are working on our new project.

Saira: The latest film I tried to butt in on, it didn’t happen, was Slumdog Millionnaire. I tried really hard. I knew the screenplay writer – Simon Beaufoy. So I got in touch with him and forwarded our stuff to him. He then forwarded it to Danny Boyle. I think Danny Boyle had already hired AR Rahman to do the soundtrack by then. Not that we could ever have done what he did. But we were just a little bit late for that project. But that would have been amazing.

We don’t do the kind of music that goes with mainstream Bollywood. We don’t make the kind of videos where I’m running around in a bikini. Makes us quite a difficult bunch of eggs to deal with really. But the kind of promotion and recognition we get from the movie stuff is really good for us.

Aspi: Did you watch Pyare Mohan and Bluffmaster?

Saira: I started to watch Pyare Mohan recently and I thought 'What a pile of junk'. I turned it off. Its such a shame because the song we did was actually pretty good .

Steve: Saira, you were going to be in the video till the last minute weren’t you?

Saira: I was glad I wasn’t! Can you imagine given a brief like 'we want you to write a song about a deaf man and a blind man.' And we were both like 'ok that’s not going to be too easy then'

Bluffmaster I quite liked. I thought it was clever.

Saira with 'The Big B', photographed by Abhishek Bachchan

Aspi: Ok, I’m going to play a little game with you. Its multiple choice questions – you have to make a choice and it has to be the closest one.

Your reaction when you met Amitabh Bachchan. (a) Ohmygod, it’s not really happening (b) Is it really him? He looks much older (c) Is that a hairpiece that he is wearing?

Saira: Hahaha! It was definitely (a) because I was on stage with Abhishek Bachchan and we were twirling around for this video we were doing for Nine Parts of Desire .

And suddenly there is a look of panic on his face and Abhishek goes ‘Oh my god, it’s the Big B!’ He called his own father The Big B! I looked to the corner of the room and there was this apparition. It was the most bizarre, almost cinematic moment.

Then I realized I had to check the hair as well and I got up close.

Priyanka performs Neelaa, MTV Style Awards

Aspi: Your reaction when you saw Priyanka shaking a leg to your song Neelaa. (a) Ohmygod, it can’t be happening (in a good way) (b) Ohmygod, it can’t be happening (in a bad way) (c) Priyanka really looks hot

Steve: All three, actually

Saira: Its one of those moments when you feel like you’ve really made it. Bollywood had embraced us!

Aspi: A test of your Bollywood knowledge: Who is older? (a) Salman Khan (b) Shah Rukh Khan

Saira: Salman! Isn’t he?

Aspi: That was a trick question. They are both the same age!

If we asked your fans ‘Do you ever make out to Trickbaby?’ Do you think they would say (a) All the time! (b) Nope, we break too much stuff while doing it or (c) I haven’t gotten laid since (the first CD) Hanging Around came out anyway

Saira: Its got to be (c)!

Steve: Probably. All of our fans I’m aware of are either very young or very old!

Aspi: Final question: can either of you fold a fitted bed sheet?

Saira: Yes I can. I iron everything! I’m a compulsive ironer!

Steve: I don’t even make the bed, Aspi. I just roll it up.

If you are interested, more music from Trickbaby's label SaReGaMa here

Copyright Note:
All pictures are Copyright Trickbaby. Please don't use without permission. Open season on rest of the content - you know what the deal is.

And very importantly - Tulika, Sneha, Thanks!

The music of Trickbaby's Chor Bazaar

Aspi — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 16:01:00 -0800

On their second - highly awaited (by me) - CD, Chor Bazaar, Trickbaby's lead vocalist Saira Hussain starts by telling us a story. She's watching a late night caper movie. She's mouthing off a bit while watching. One thing leads to another and all of a sudden she's in the middle of an argument. Later she mentions an addiction to bidding at auctions simply because she has a competitive streak. She finishes the song by mock arguing with a lover.

The song is called "Fighter" - and its emblematic of several things that are worth noting about Trickbaby.

Foremost, Trickbaby markets itself as an Asian fusion band - they sound primarily like a mid tempo techno act. If you had to pick a genre, you'd call them Tribal Lounge House although that wouldn't do justice to the breakout sound they've refined on this CD.

So where does the Asian aspect of Trickbaby come from? Several places. Saira - who appears to have listened to a lot of old filmi music - will often sing in Hindi or Punjabi, although she sings everything primarily with Western straight notes and influences. Still because its a different language, it sounds exotic.

Occasionally Steve Ager, who founded Trickbaby with Saira, and who programs their songs, will throw in a delicious lick or two of Bollywood pop. But its the percussion that gives Trickbaby its fusion mojo. There's dhols, tablas and drums - and they all blend seamlessly together in the songs. Ager layers it with one more trick, but more on that later.

You'll see a great example of this on "Baja", a song about a series of observations that hang around Mexican landscapes. Saira sings this with seductive shortness of breath - the songs reaches a crescendo with drums and dhols, but at no point do they overwhelm the nifty spanish guitar licks or synth hooks.

There is a slightly jangly version of this signature sound on "Broken Dreams", a Punjabi-English song with a mellow flute and faded backup vocals that recall a radio in the background playing old Bollywood songs. Its an affectionate, charming tribute to what an entire generation grew up listening to.

I've heard Saira call Trickbaby eclectic - but they aren't so in the truest sense of the word. They have a well defined sound. They rarely deviate from it. On the aforementioned "Fighter" for example, Saira barely raises her voice.

"Crisis" about an imminent breakup, is entirely constructed around guitar riffs and a toned down balle balle beat. Saira channels her anguish at her lover in a voice that's quiet, somewhat sad and near apologetic.

By subverting the emotion in favor of the groove, Trickbaby is able to create their sound: creamy and drop dead sexy.

Indian percussion can tend to be loud. Take the dhol for instance - its got so much personality that it can easily dominate a melody (anyone else's head still hurt from the Singh is Kinng soundtrack?). Trickbaby's songs, when programmed, tend to amp down the percussion making the songs sound smooth and polished. Its one smart beat instead of a battle of instruments.

Last thing to note: Trickbaby are so catchy they'll stick to the back of your ears. They haven't made a song yet I don't absolutely love.

"Light up my life" is constructed around one hypnotic chant. There are periods of relentless vocals that run over Indian percussion. In between Trickbaby break their song into down tempo bits that create a great sense of hang and turn on a spurt of the tabla. Its simple catchy stuff, but the programming makes the song rich in texture.

There are more pleasures on the CD. Saira sings the seductive "Babu" in Hindi. Its a superbly kinetic song that gets its momentum from a clap driven percussion.There is an orgasmic hook and spoken vocals that finish off the song.

On the hugely surprising and innovative title track "Chor Bazaar", Trickbaby invite Gogol Bordello's Eugene Hutz (vocals), Sergey Ryabtzev (violin), and Yuri Lemeshev (accordion) to create a madcap, Roma flavored tribute to Mumbai's one of a kind, dubious-goods markets. I have no idea what Eugene is singing on that track, but clearly a swirling party is at hand where anything could happen.

Chor Bazaar also contains updates versions of two previous, defining singles: Nine Parts of Desire (which always reminds me of a Spaghetti Western) and the foot tapping Neelaa.

Now the question is: with SaReGaMa launching Trickbaby in India, can their sound find an audience in the desh? Its going to be a bit of a challenge - Trickbaby's music plays well in dance clubs and they could rock a show. But Indian music - as we all know - is dominated by Bollywood.

Ironically enough, the way to musical diversity will likely come from the 800 lb gorilla itself. There are enough music directors in the film industry who will take risks, break the norms and challenge Indian audiences out of their comfort zones. Happily the audiences seem to have signed up if not exactly opened up their wallets yet.

Trickbaby has broken into Bollywood before - hopefully we'll talk to them about it sometime soon. For now, I wish them success - they are more than deserving of it.

More if you're interested:

The video for Fighter
The video for Creamy
Abhishek Bachchan in Nine Parts of Desire
Priyanka Chopra shakes a leg on Neelaa
The Trickbaby story
Trickbaby's web site
Lyrics from Chor Bazaar

The Music of delhi-6

Aspi — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 17:07:00 -0800

musical, who hangs out at the Drift with us and has knowledge to match her interest in music takes an early listen of A. R. Rahman's much buzzed about soundtrack to Delhi-6.

Hello Drifters,

Aspi asked me to do a review for Delhi 6 music. And the album isn't even out, yet! But a quick search on the internet will reveal the mayajaal, the muzik is everywhere! Without knowing that the music wasn't officially available yet, and having looked up iTunes several times to no avail, curiosity won over (don't get me wrong, I haven't downloaded any songs) and I ended up listening to this marvelous soundtrack through that search. And again, and again and yet again.

A. R. Rahman opens 2009 with an album that easily is one of his more versatile scores. In his previous outing with Rakyesh Omprakash Mehra, he gave us the fun and fresh Rang de Basanti. They team up again for Delhi 6 and the result is a fairly enjoyable soundtrack. What's more is that you get to hear different genres and great new voices, which, for me is always a plus!

People are calling it Rahman's comeback score. (Wait a minute, that's wrong on so many levels. I don't think he ever went away, did he?). But I digress.

The album brings us two devotional numbers: a Devi aarti 'Tumre Bhavan Mein' and a Sufi prayer 'Arziyan'. The aarti, sung by Rekha Bharadwaj, Kishori Gowariker, Shraddha Pandit and Sujata Mazumdar is a simple aarti, set to minimal orchestra, and has a soothing effect.

Arziyan is a Sufi qawwali, most likely in a Dargah setting, and has good vocals by Javed Ali and Kailash Kher. Rahman has, in the past, given us some really great devotional songs: 'Roshan hui raat' (Sapne), 'Piya Haji Ali' (Fiza), 'O Palan Hare' (Lagaan) and 'Khwaja mere Khwaja' (Jodha-Akbar). Somehow, these two songs from Delhi 6 are not quite in the same league (but a good listen, nonetheless).

We then have Shreya Ghoshal facing the challenge of singing along with what has been eternalized by Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan saheb's vocals. 'Bhor Bhaye' is a beautiful morning song set to Gujari Todi, and it is refreshing to see a classical melody here. And while Shreya does a great job, the sing along concept sort of dampened the effect of this beautiful song. But based on the movie trailer (which showed Sonam singing along/doing Riyaaz), this possibly is a requirement of the movie.

Next comes a pleasant surprise in the form of Rekha Bhardwaj's voice in a wedding number 'Genda Phool', backed up by Sharddha Pandit and Sujata Mazumdar and packed with earthy, folksy flavor. Did I suddenly think 'Maa da ladla'?? Ah, the 'quack-quack' makes an appearance here. While it suited 'Maa da ladla' in keeping with fun spirit of the song, it only hinders the enjoyment here. A version of the song sans duck vocals, please? Try it for the sheer pleasure of listening to Rekha Bhardwaj.

Given the effect the title song of 'Rang De Basanti', I am sure the expectations from the title song here must be very high. 'Delhi 6' has Blaaze, Benny Dayal, Vivienne Pocha, Tanvi Shah and Claire gettng together for the title song. And what happens next? We get a mishmash sort of track, which opens fine, but derails soon! Are expectations getting the better of me here? Good instrumentals, but I found something lacking and can not place my finger on it yet. Help! But hey, the "gali hai deewanon ki dilli" line is really infectious :)

'Noor' unfolds Amitabh Bachchan's philosophical voice over and will be a pleaser for his fans.

Follow it up with some rap, shall we? 'Hey Kala Bandar' is a fun song with some innovative lyrics (props to Prasoon Joshi), and is performed by Karthik, Naresh Iyer and Bony Chakraborty (who is also responsible for singing the mad, mad 'Emosanal Atyachar' from Dev D). A cool track, this one, which scores on so many levels!

For those moments when you want a soft, feather-light number to soothe you, you have Rahman presenting us a delightful, whispering number in 'Dil Gira Dafatan', sung by Ash King and Chinmayee. It is a delight to see Chinmayee here - I've been a fan of hers since 'Kannathil Muthamittal'. Ash King does a great job, considering that (according to Chinmayee) this is his first song in Hindi. The song just grows on you like magic (cliched, but true)!

'Rehna Tu' is another song with very different lyrics and has Rahman singing this soft number along with Benny Dayal and Tanvi Shah, with really impressive results. This song is why I love Rahman as a singer. The song packs a lilting surprise, leaving you mesmerized! Rahman uses a new instrument - Continuum to great effect for the instrumental piece in Carnatic style. You really wish the song to go on forever.

And here comes the best part, the classic Rahman, in 'Masakali' ! Mohit Chauhan (Silk Route) opens this song brilliantly with cool sing-song lyrics "Masakali, masakali, ud, matakali, matakali". Rahman blends the old world charm with today's music and creates a song that will last a long, long time. This is an inherently versatile song! Apparently 'masakali' is the name of Sonam's pet dove in Delhi 6, and the song almost didn't make it to the movie. Thank heavens it did :). Clearly my pick of the album!

Waiting for the 21st, when the music gets officially released.
Enjoy!

The Delhi 6 trailor
Masakalli promo
Maula (Arziyan) promo

How Shekhar Ravjiani, singer, is busting loose! An Exclusive Drift Interview

Aspi — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 16:15:00 -0800

On Luck By Chance - the first great soundtrack of 2009 - composers Shankar Ehsaan Loy invited Shekhar Ravjiani to sing for them. Shekhar had lent his voice to over a dozen Bollywood tracks before - all his own compositions as part of the celebrated pair of Vishal-Shekhar. And the thought of recording someone else's composition made him a tad bit nervous.

But Shekhar's unique voice - full of mellifluous, robust timbre - married to the dreamy, gurgling ballad Yeh Zindagi Bhi ended up among his best work to date.

Enjoying a truck load of well deserved wah-wahs for his work, Shekhar was cool enough to make some time and stop by the Drift to tell us why the song is giving him new found confidence to uncork his voice a little more this year.

AspisDrift.com: Hi Shekhar, great work on Yeh Zindagi on LBC. Is this the first time you’ve sung for someone other than Vishal-Shekhar?

Thank you and yes! I’m glad Shankar Ehsaan Loy thought me good enough to sing their song.

AspisDrift.com: Tell us a little bit about the song. How did you end up getting it? Why do you think you got picked? What was the recording like?

Shekhar: For the last two years now Shankar has been singing for us. I love his voice. I think he is one of the foremost playback singers in the country. He can sing anything – from classical to a western song. Any genre is comfortable for him. And I love his voice.

Every time he used to record with us, he would leave the studio and say “Shekhar I want to record a song with you haan!” And I would say “Sure, any time man!” SEL are all very dear friends to us. We hang out regularly. About 6 months back, I got a call saying I should come over and record a song with them.

I was very happy and nervous at the same time. This was the first time I was going to sing for another composer. As a friend I knew there would be a great level of comfort with Shankar. But there is a different kind of nervousness you feel – (where) you hope you don’t mess it up.

So I went there and Shankar made me feel as if I was in my own studio. Shankar made me feel as I was singing my own song. The whole experience was finished in 45 minutes to an hour and (all along) I felt that I was in a party or something. All of them were there and they were just having a great time. Every line I would sing, these guys would be like “Superb, man!”

There was this crazy amount of energy and comfort level for me. I’m very happy with the way this song has turned out.

AspisDrift.com: You have a fairly unique voice. It’s dumdaar but also very soulful. But you seem to have sung a lot of songs that are soulful/romantic. Ever felt like testing your pipes with a zordaar, high notes song or is that not your style?

Shekhar: The thing is – once the song comes to you, that becomes your style. Its destiny. Maybe I’ve done all these romantic songs and that makes it feel that its my style. At the end of the day I think a singer should be versatile and sing different kind of songs. For example, my partner, my friend Vishal sings rock songs and then romantic songs. I feel very happy for him.

Personally I’m starting to figure out that maybe I can sing a bit. The biggest composers in India have called me to sing a song. People have appreciated my voice. There must be something in my voice. Maybe it’s time to find it and work hard on it.

A lot of people tell me: “Why don’t you sing your own songs”. I would love to sing my own songs! But at the end of the day it should connect with people. There is a song called Aazmale in Taxi 9211 – a lot of people inside and outside the industry called me to tell me that they loved that song. I just took my rough vocals on the track just to get an idea as to how the composition was going. All of a sudden Vishal walked and then (director) Milan Luthria walked in and they told me my voice completely locked with the song. So they asked me to sing it. And I said sure, no problem at all.

So sometimes what happens is that the voice just has to lock with the song.

AspisDrift.com: I think Jogi Mahi (from Bachna Ae Haseeno) is your most challenging work after Aazmale. Do you agree or does some other song stand out as being your most challenging work?

Shekhar: Jogi Mahi was a big, fat, full Punjabi song! It needed that kind of attitude. Romance also. At the same time it needed to be light and soulful. I’m glad (director) Siddharth (Anand) thought I should sing that song and I gave it a go and it worked.

We needed another character in the song so we got Sukhiji to sing with me. He’s always such a great inspiration for singers.

AspisDrift.com: You really like that guy don’t you?

Shekhar: I love Sukhiji! Have you heard that song Dil Haara from Tashan?

AspisDrift.com: Hasn't everyone?

Shekhar: He rocked that song!

AspisDrift.com: Ok, let’s talk about your work last year. You sang two tracks on De Taali (Aaj Mein Boond Hoon with Shreya, Hone Lagi with Anushka) and Jogi Mahi with Himani Kapoor on Bachna Ae Haseeno. How did you end up casting yourself on those tracks?

Shekhar: Those (first) two songs I sang just to fill things up. There were a few lines required so I said let me just go and sing it. I’m definitely building some confidence to sing more. I’m doing another song on Aladdin coming up in May.

My playback singing confidence has increased a bit because of all the love and faith people have shown in me. I’ve gotten messages and calls non stop since Luck By Chance. It feels great. I feel like doing more and better every time I go behind the mike.

AspisDrift.com: I remember mentioning this to you once but your live performance in The Unforgettables concert took me by surprise. I had expected Vishal to be good but you were a revelation. How come V-S don’t do as many live shows as say SEL?

Shekhar: We’ve started like mad in the last one and a half month. We’ve been doing them non stop! We perform for all kinds of events, corporate events. People who have seen us and want to have us perform for them. We are pretty mad on stage.

Unforgettables was just 15-20m or so. But if you see V-S live for about an hour and half, it’ll be like you are on a roller coaster ride.

AspisDrift.com: I should definitely catch a longer V-S show. What is my best bet for catching you live?

Shekhar: Whenever we perform if we are near you or you are near us, I will give you a buzz and you will be my guest.

AspisDrift.com: Ok Shekhar I have an exercise I want to do with you. There is a mad Vishal-Shekhar fan called Mind Rush on the Drift who once did a psychoanalysis of you for us. So I'm going to read out the analysis and you tell me how accurate it is.

First piece of analysis: Shekar eagerly jumps up on stage to dance. He's passionate, exuberant, impulsive man

Shekhar: Absolutely true!

AspisDrift.com: He stands behind the singers or to the side while on stage. He does not need to hog limelight. Also, thoughtful, observant

Shekhar: The singer is the most important person on stage. I wouldn’t want to block the singer. It’s the singer’s space. Its his performance. Its his time. There is a moment for everyone in life. Blocking the singer and saying rubbish doesn’t make any sense. So I always move away and let the singer get his due.

AspisDrift.com: He keeps his hands in his pocket while dancing. The man keeps secrets. No matter how well you get to know him, it’s hard to ferret out all his true feelings. He is an introvert

Shekhar: Kind of true. I don’t know what to do with my hands when dancing!

I’m more introverted than say Vishal. You can never talk about yourself but when people say I’m introverted, then ok I am. I am like that.

I believe in things that people go through – God gives you something you have to respect. Not like a few other people who try and grab the limelight that they are not supposed. Grab the limelight with the work that you do. Not with the shit that you talk on stage. That is always what I’ve believed.

AspisDrift.com: He dances on stage for all 3 contestants. A true lover of music! Ingrained sense of fairness and decency

Shekhar: Always!

AspisDrift.com: Bindaas dancing on stage even though dancing skills are modest. Music helps him overcome his inherent shyness. Does not obsess over his image

Shekhar: My dancing skills suck! But when I go on stage I’m an animal. I become a different person.

Just a couple of days back we did a concert on Jan 2 (The Turf Club at the Race Course – one of the beautiful places to play in Mumbai). You’ve seen us jumping on stage. Vishal and I – we burned the stage down. It was best ever concert!

We were on stage for 1 hour and 15 minutes. We sang about 15 – 16 songs, all the club hits of this year and last. We were mad on stage!

So basically when I’m on stage, its about entertaining people!

AspisDrift.com: Which song gets the biggest reactions when you sing these days?

Shekhar: These days its Desi Girl. I kid you not, when we played Desi Girl last time we didn’t get a chance to sing. The audience was singing all the way till the very end. People went insane when we played Maa Da Laadla. Deewangi, Dard-e-disco – only our crowds sing that. This year was great for us!

AspisDrift.com: You seem to be a very level headed person. Haven’t you done or said anything crazy ever?

Shekhar: Every human being makes a mistake – everyone does something mad in life. I believe that when its music – something you really love and respect, you must do the right things at the right time.

I had no idea about this fighting and people crying and fainting and going crazy on the sets of Sa Re Ga Ma…or any reality show. It used to cheese me off completely.

When I participated in Sa Re Ga Ma, I’m talking about 12-13 years back, there used to be singers from Suresh Wadkar’s classes, from Bhimsen Joshi’s gharana. They used to these classy people who used to just come, sing and go! It was never about two judges fighting, it was never about jokes being cracked. It was never about bizarre things happening on stage. I know its entertaining for people. But I just couldn’t react to it. I feel like if I get called as a judge, let me do my job and leave.

AspisDrift.com: Finally, mandatory Drift question: can you fold a fitted bed sheet?

Shekhar: Well, no! I can’t do that. Or the person making me do this needs a lot of patience. That’s a tough one – I’ll leave it to the maids.

AspisDrift.com: Thanks for doing this with us Shekhar. My best to bhabhi and the rest of the family

Shekhar's discography as a vocalist

Dil Se Mere (Pyaar Mein Kabhi Kabhi) - 1999
Mujhe Kuch Kehna Hai (Mujhe Kuch Kehna Hai)- 2001
Bollywood Calling (Bollywood Calling) - 2001
Churaya Re (Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein) with Priti and Pinky - 2001
Chhaha (Supari) with Sunidhi Chauhan - 2003
Hamesha (Krishna Cottage) - 2004
Cuckoo Cuckoo (Home Delivery) with Sunidhi Chauhan - 2005
Aage Peeche (Golmaal - Fun Unlimited) with Sneha Pant - 2006
Aazmale Aazmale (Taxi No 9211) - 2006
Kehne Hai Jo (I See You) - 2006
Sajnaji Vaari Vaari (Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd) with Sunidhi Chauhan - 2007
Cash (Cash) with Sunidhi Chauhan, Vishal Dadlani - 2007
Aaj Main Boond Hoon (De Taali) with Shreya Ghoshal - 2008
Hone Lagi (De Taali) with Anushka Manchanda - 2008
Jogi Mahi (Bachna Ae Haseeno) with Sukhwinder Singh, Himani Kapoor - 2008
Yeh Zindagi Bhi (Luck By Chance) with Loy Mendosa - 2009

The Drift Bollywood Music Entertainers of 2008

Aspi — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 12:00:00 -0800

The quality of Indian films can be debated through the years, but if there is one things fans of Bollywood are sure about, it is that the music has always been great. Indian musicians have been exploring and learning all kinds of music across the diaspora. They've bought a lot of it to bear on Bollywood's traditional music scene. And in doing so, they are tearing up the rule book and charting new territory.

2008 was a great year for music. But there were some that entertained me more than others. Those CDs stayed either in or around my changer. Here are the Drift Entertainers of the Year (Bollywood Music Edition).

A. R. Rahman (Jodhaa Akbar, Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, Ada, Yuvvraaj, Ghajini, Slumdog Millionaire)

By any standards, Rahman has had a prolific year. Judged by his own, its been a veritable deluge of music. This year two Rahman's seem to take shape before our very ears. One was an old-school Bollywood stylist - a sophisticated throwback to the music directors of yesteryear. His music here was dreamy, massive, almost epic. Sometimes it collapsed under its own weight (Yuvvraaj). Often it soared to great heights (Jodhaa Akbar).

But there was another Rahman - a composer of compact FM-ready confections - genuine melodies with smart production. And by tuning in to the needs of the commercial market, Rahman surprised us and scored at the cash registers.

First Rahman found the pulse of a nation with a jangly mid-tempo call to good cheer - Kabhi Kabhi Aditi and a beat-heavy farce Pappu Can't Dance from Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. Both songs played a large part in making JTYJN one of the first genuine hits of the year.

Later, the same Rahman delivered a curious mix of songs for Ghajini - his collaboration with Aamir Khan. Ghajini has six tracks - they are wildly different compositions. Yet Rahman has integrated them into one single soundtrack that sounds coherent. On display again was his tendency to create a bellwether single (Javed Ali's buttery smooth Guzarish). Rahman mixed it up with a swirling dance anthem with a muted tribal feel (Shreya Ghoshal's Latoo), a power pop song (Suzanne's Aye Bachchu) and a Brat Pack composition (Behka).

Rahman also docked major international points by scoring the soundtrack to Slumdog Millionaire. If Slumdog can match its critical acclaim with box office success, Rahman will finally get the serious international attention he deserves.

Listen to the music of Jodhaa Akbar
Listen to the music of Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na
Listen to the music of Ada
Listen to the music of Ghajini
Listen to the music of Slumdog Millionaire

Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani, Loy Mendosa and Farhan Akhtar (The Music Team of Rock On!!)

Tasked with creating a hit soundtrack for a genre fast running out of steam in India (rock), music directors Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani and Loy Mendosa started by recruiting someone who had never recorded commercially before. Heck, Farhan Akhtar wasn't even known as a singer. To top it, they gave six of the nine tracks to him.

Four days in a studio yielded a soundtrack full of hook heavy, tightly composed tracks that captured a lost sense of fun by staying true to old fashioned rock structure. Against all odds, Farhan delivered focussed and raw vocal intensity. Most importantly, others also joined the party with their A-game: Suraj Jagan, Caralisa Monteiro and Dominque Cerejo recorded some of their best work on the CD.

The music of Rock On was a runaway hit - instantly igniting the rock scene in India. Scores of rock musicians dusted off their guitars. Clubs suddenly couldn't book enough rock gigs. The movie fed off that energy and met with box office success - pleasing mainstream audiences, converting skeptics and evoking (somewhat) envious eyerolls from the guardians of counter culture.

SEL had only one major release this year. But boy, did they make it count!

Listen to Rock On!!

Vishal & Shekhar (Tashan, De Taali, Bachna Ae Haseeno, Dostana and The Unforgettables Tour)

Epitomizing the new breed of music directors in India - fully aligned with the director's vision, armed with a rolodex of high quality musicians, willing to tear up old Bollywood mores - V-S delivered more hits this year than anyone else, save AR Rahman. In 2008, they fine tuned their style - a cleanly produced, melody driven sound with neatly constructed percussion. Yet they were able to span quite a range.

They matched Tashan's hyper-violent needs with a jagged pill of a soundtrack. They lightened the mood and deepened their beats on De Taali. On Bachna Ae Haseeno, they delivered a more rote soundtrack, but adorned with some killer songs (Khuda Jaane, Jog Mahi). They hobnobbed with the Bachchans on their Unforgettables tour. But V-S still had time to squeeze out a final soundtrack. On Dostana, they created a breezy set of catchy songs - delicate, soulful, energetic in short bursts.

Listen to the music of De Taali
Listen to the music of Tashan
Listen to the music of Bachna Ae Haseeno
Listen to the music of Dostana

Suzanne D'mello (Singh is Kinng, Kidnap, Drona, Golmaal Returns, Ghajini)

Forget Shreya Ghoshal's enroachment on Sunidhi Chauhan's territory - the new heir apparent of club tracks in Bollywood is Suzanne D'mello. And its happened so quietly, you could be forgiven for saying Suzanne who? (It probably doesn't help matters that Suzanne is often credited with or without her last name and sometimes under the pseudonym Suzie Q)

Regardless of the name she used, Suzanne's voice powered an impressive list of hits this year. She accompanied Labh Jhanjua on Singh Is Kingg's ubiquitous Jee Karda (nice rap, Suze). Singing for Pritam again, she delivered one of my favorite tracks of the year - Hey Ya (Kidnap), built on a ridiculously catchy R&B framework.

She Meow'd on Golmaal Returns, smoked her way through Na Dekho (Rubaru) and brought spunk and attitude to Rahman's Aye Bachchu (Ghajini). Suzanne has been singing in commercials for years and she's a veritable fixture in several studios. This was the year Bollywood was able to explore her fresh, sexy voice.

Listen to Jee Karda (Singh is Kinng) with Labh Jhanjua
Listen to Hey Ya (Kidnap)
Listen to Khushi (Drona) with Shaan
Listen to Na Dekho (Rubaru)
Listen to Meeow (Golmaal Returns)
Listen to Aye Bachchu (Ghajini)

Nitz'N'Sony (Money Hai to Honey Hai)

Musically, a Govinda movie is to be laughed at - no, literally. The music is treated as a lark. But a pair of music directors who met while working in a hotel (Nitin was a Hotel Manager, Sony was a chef) came together to deliver such a wonderful sucker punch with the soundtrack to Money Hai to Honey Hai, that I still can't stop listening.

Full of seductive, inventive and alarmingly risky beats, MHTHH was irresistibly catchy. Nitin Arora and Sony Chandy (Nitz'N'Sony) used a delicious mix of talent that had never been brought together on a soundtrack (Harshdeep, Suraj Jagan, Kunal Ganjawala, Rekha Bhardwaj, Adnan Sami, Shruti Pathak, Daler Mehndi, Master Saleem, Sunidhi Chauhan, Shaan, Labh Jhanjua, Sivamani) and because they were willing to use voices instead of names, their tracks won big.

Listen to the music of Money Hai to Honey Hai

Sneha Khanwalker (Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!)

Given an assignment to compose a Punjabi CD is sure to elicit groans from any music director. How do you take an overplayed genre and reinvent it? Surely all the mundiyas and mahis have been done to death and can't be reinterpreted.

But Sneha Khanwalker took a deep tour of the land and sat in on numerous grassroots singing jashans. She came back armed with ideas and composed a soundtrack so innovative, lilting and fresh that it took everyone by surprise. (More on Sneha's work in this excellent interview with Anita Iyer)

There are plenty of pleasures worth checking out on Sneha's CD - but start with the seductive beat of Superchor and the brilliant pacing on Hooriyan, then listen to the Clinton Cerejo arranged Punjabi reggae of Tu Raja Ki.

Listen to the music of Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!

The music of Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi

Aspi — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 21:03:00 -0800

By hitching their star to Yash Raj Films, Salim and Sulaiman Merchant have catapulted themselves to the A-list of Bollywood music composers.

They've followed up on this slice of fortune by producing crisp, tight compositions that neatly balance the modern with the (filmi) traditional. Sure, they are are a little awkward composing club songs - which is almost a rite of passage for composers in this zamaana - but they make up for it by delivering hugely moving songs, visceral even.

Consider the stage for the SRK starrer Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. Yash Raj Films is a banner in some trouble. At the top of almost every Bollywood Power List, its status has been seriously dented: Laaga Chunari Mein Daag, Tara Rum Pum, Aaja Nachle, Tashan and Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic were high profile box office failures.

Now, YRF's biggest talent behind the camera, lost in the hustle of running the business, is back. Aditya Chopra is writing and directing a movie for the first time since Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. Here he has reunited with Shahrukh Khan.

He's hired Salim and Sulaiman to compose the music for the film. There are five songs on the album - one flagship ballad that is repeated. And Salim-Sulaiman, off all the singers they can pick in Bollywood, give the song to Roop Kumar Rathod.

Happily, this gutsiness pays off. Tujh Mein Rab Dikhta Hai is a genuine melody - it doesn't require any funky music programming to rescue it although Salim-Sulaiman use a cool bass line under the dhol to give the song additional texture. But its in the way Roop sings the song - an octave higher and it would have sounded too hopeful, lower and it would have been too raundu. But just as it is, Roop is able to infuse a loving wistfulness in the song. Its a great way to start the CD - and Salim-Sulaiman build on it to deliver a smooth clutch of songs that, while aligned with very specific situations in the movie, grow you on.

On Haule Haule, Salim-Sulaiman use a catchy peti hook to offset the central melody. Its a trick they employ on one more song later. Sukhwinder sings this song - and as it has been lately with him, he sounds great when he leashes his voice and delivers a restrained performance. Haule Haule is a cute little ditty about letting life (and love) take its time. It also has the briefest interludes of all the tracks on the CD, making it the most accessible composition.

Sunidhi Chauhan is barely recognizable on the early lines of Dance Pe Chance, which is a club track. There are a lot of elements at play on the track - the best of which is a synth hook that plays differently from the main hook. Salim-Sulaiman use backing vocals from Labh Janjua and break the song down a number of times to keep it from getting stale. You could argue that there is too much going on in this song or that the composers are trying too hard - and you wouldn't be wrong. But its a matter of preference - most people I've talked to haven't liked RNBJ, but they've liked this song.

Dance Pe Chance has another version - called Dancing Jodi - which is essentially a remix that sounds like a background score.

The only real disappointment on the CD is Phir Milenge Chalte Chalte - a bit of a stunt song (read: situational) that contains lyrics made up of songs and titles from older movies. In all fairness its hard to get a song like this right - stringing together a bunch of diverse tunes is disastrous in terms of establishing a melody. Salim-Sulaiman take some playful liberties with the tunes in an effort to gel the song together. It works only in bursts. But its interesting to note that they've invited Sonu Nigam to sing the song. Of all the singers we have today, if there is anyone who can sing any song from our past (or will die trying) its him - so its a nice tip of the hat.

The CD will depend heavily on RBNJ's prowess at the box office for its own commercial success. Its not a particular piercing observation to make on my part - most CDs in Bollywood are that way. RBNJ requires multiple listens to get stuck in your ears. And if there is one commodity music releases can't afford these days - its time.

The Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi trailor
The heroine - Anuskha Sharma
What IS the closely guarded plot of Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi?

Listen to the songs from saavn.com below

Inside the music of DOSTANA with Vishal Dadlani - An Exclusive Drift Interview

Aspi — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 17:30:00 -0700

Its no secret that Vishal and Shekhar have been riding a comet up the ranks of Bollywood's elite music directors in the last few years. But dig behind the hoopla generated by their steady stream of hits and you'll be able to hear a very canny pair of musicians build a versatile and commercial portfolio.

Take their last few major releases for instance: Om Shanti Om, Tashan, De Taali and Bachna Ae Haseeno all contained a distinctive theme for each CD. The fact that between them they have successfully employed a variety of their own talents (composing, live shows, song writing, vocals) gives them a unique 360 view into the process of creating hits.

On the soundtrack for the new movie Dostana - one of this year's major releases - Vishal-Shekhar amp down the theatrics to create a smooth, sensuous clutch of songs.

Vishal Dadlani was cool enough to stop by the Drift and tell us all about it.

Aspi: Hey Vishal, thanks for stopping by the Drift and doing this with us. How's the leg doing now (given that you survived all that bouncing around on The Unforgettables)?

Vishal: The leg is outta action for a bit. Just got that much overdue surgery a few days ago, and it'll be about six weeks before I hit the studio again!

Aspi: Ok, how did you and Shekhar meet? Mwa-ha-ha, I'm just kidding, you don't have to answer that ghisa-pita question. You can put the gun away now

Vishal: Thanks, can't tell you how much I appreciate this! ;-)

Aspi: But I will ask you this: is there any specific fuel (food, drink, etc) that you keep handy in the studio to get through those long days?

Vishal: Chinese jasmine tea is a big booster for me! I do about four cups a day!

Aspi: Listening to Dostana, I got the feeling that you were creating the definitive Lite FM CD – it sounded breezy and reminded me of sunny days. Was there an underlying theme to the music or did each track evolve independently?

Vishal: I have to give all credit to [Dostana Director] Tarun [Mansukhani] . He's the guy who went all out to find a sound that, while commercial, was unique to him, and different from the well-established Dharma [Productions] sound!

He made us put in a lot of work (maybe 200-300 different tune options), and gave us a lot of space and patience. But, it was all worth it! He wanted the light, breezy vibe you feel when you hear it, but without losing sight of the fact that it's a huge commercial score!

Aspi: On Jaane Kyun there is a Vishal Dadlani who turns in a bravura vocal performance. That doesn't sound like you at all! Is there another Vishal Dadlani in the industry that I don't know about or is that you truly singing a personally game changing song?

Vishal: Well, I do a few voices you haven't even heard yet! ;-) Seriously, though, I was getting a little trapped into singing songs that were solely within the rocked-out style, and this was a big opportunity for me to do something different with my voice. I'm glad Tarun and Shekhar took a chance on me, and I'm glad people dig it!

Aspi: Vishal, who hires lyricists? Is it the director, the music director or it depends?

Vishal: Usually, we (music director/director) suggest their names, and the producer pays them.

Aspi: You've worked with Anvita [Dutt Guptan] before on Bachna Ae Haseeno and now here on a couple of tracks. Her lyrics seem to suit your music really well. What's the one thing you hope and pray for in a lyricist?

Vishal: The ability to understand that a music director's opinion is a somewhat valid one, and the patience and humility to sometimes change lyrics accordingly. That, and a new approach, a fresh insight. Easier said than done, believe me! And Anvita has it all!

Aspi: Do the actors always stop by to listen to the songs? And what kind of inputs do you get from them? Any specific inputs from John , Abhishek and Priyanka on this CD?

Vishal: Sometimes they do, but on this one, it was all Tarun, all the way. Nobody (except Karan [Johar] on a couple of occasions) heard a song till it was recorded! Luckily, everyone loved 'em!

Aspi: I think it's really cool that you have found a new way to use an old world voice like Saleem. I think Maa Da Laadla is one of the most unique club tracks of the year but I'm not convinced about those helium vocals. How did that song happen?

Vishal: It's a mad story. We were badly stuck on that song. It's a bit of a joke situation, and Tarun hadn't gone nuts over anything we'd done for it yet, so in a fit of frustration, Shekhar took a day off, and promised Tarun six options the next day.

He played them all to him, one by one, and Tarun kept bouncing them, until he played this one. The duck vocals were a bit of a joke, but Tarun just loved it, and so they stayed as they were!

Aspi: Could you walk us through the other tracks as well?

Jaane Kyun (Vishal Dadlani)

Vishal: Meant to reflect the spirit of the film, it's a song of friendship, of people getting to know one another, and starting to rely on one another. It's a beautiful emotion, but we had to express it in a new way, both sonically, as well as lyrically. I especially love the line 'dushman ke iraade, sachhe lagte hain'.

The song has a lot of shiny, happy energy, and is one of the few tunes in this film that was approved by Tarun in the first thirty seconds of hearing it! He also loved the expressions I'd done on the scratch, which is why he insisted that I sing it.

Desi Girl (Shankar Mahadevan , Sunidhi Chauhan )

Vishal: First up, I firmly believe that Indian women are the most magically beautiful women in the world! The root idea for this one was brought to us by our sound engineer Calvin [Vaz]. We were looking around for a hook for this particular situation, but hadn't really found anything. He came up with the idea "I like my girls Indian", or something like that. We rejected it outright as being cheesy, but then Tarun changed it to the concept of "desi girl", and suddenly, there was the song!

Between conception and recording, we made five scratches, and each time, Tarun wanted it faster, and higher, for more energy. So, by the time we finished, the song was pitched so high, that only Shankar could possibly have sung it. We called him, he came in and totally rocked it!

Shut Up & Bounce (Sunidhi Chauhan)

Vishal: This is a light hearted party-song, the intro for the film. it's shot in Miami, so there are lot's of hot girls everywhere, there's the super-hot Shilpa Shetty , and there's the ocean. Can't ask for more.

There's a sinister story behind this one too, though. Tarun the Tyrant kept "bouncing" options for it, until, as a reference to our predicament, Karan said "Maybe we should call the song 'Shut up and Bounce!'" I loved it, ran into the studio, and came up with a basic idea, which went thru many transmogrifications before eventually becoming what it is!

Khabar Nahi (Vishal, Shreya Ghoshal , Amanat Ali )

Vishal: We were stuck (again) for a love song that was simple and true, but yet new and not filmi at all. Anvita and I were brainstorming on the smoking-verandah outside our studio, and I asked her "what happens when you fall in love?" And then, answered the question with a phrase I use often, "You don't know which way is up!".

Then I translated that, came up with the first line. She took it from there, and made it magical! It was Tarun's idea to add the Sufi bit, as a stark contrast to the pop melody of the main song. Shekhar came up with that bit, and completed the song.

We both instantly though of Amanat as the perfect voice for that bit, and called him. We also tried Raja Hasan out, but that didn't gel. You still hear him the backing vocal track behing the first interlude, though.

Kuch Kam (Shaan )

Vishal: A song of loss, of loneliness. But, true to Tarun's nature, not expressed in an earth-shattering way. It's almost colloquial, almost casual. It's about how everything is a little less true without friends to share it with.

And, I think Shaan shows great maturity as a singer by restraining the innate joy you usually hear in his voice. This is the second time he's done this for us (Dastaan-e-OSO being the first). He's still learning and growing as an artiste, and as the person who did his first film song with him, I'm truly proud of the guy!

The rhythm on this song is programmed by Samrat Bharadwaj, along with our regular producer, Abhijeet Nalani. That combo is what made Jhankaar Beats happen, and I think that's one of the reasons why this song is very special to me.

Aspi: I wanted your thoughts on the following three new singers who I've grown quite fond of.

Shilpa Rao

Vishal: Beautiful voice, great determination, will do great things! Her voice made Khuda Jaane even more special!

Himani Kapoor

Vishal: Great singer, unique voice, will also achieve great things! Jogi Mahi was just a voice-test for her with us. We'll definitely do something big with her soon.

Harshdeep Kaur

Vishal: We worked with her on Le jaa in the film Karam , and she's absolutely fantastic too! I hope this Junoon victory does big things for her.

Himani (stylistically) and Harshdeep (stylistically and sonically) will have to step out of the Richa Sharma mold, and find their own personal niches, though.

Just so you know, I love the fact that there are so many new singers around! It makes me happy too see so much talent all around. Shekhar and I wish we could do songs with all of them! And, maybe we will! ;-)

Aspi: Hey, will there be another Jo Jeeta Wohi Superstar next year?

Vishal: Who knows. I mean the way SRGMP has bombed this year, maybe we just managed to escape the reality show melt-down! ;-)

Aspi: Final question: and it's mandatory on the Drift: can you fold a fitted bed sheet?

Vishal: Ummm.........sure. Why the hell not! I can do anything! ;-)

Aspi: Vishal, thanks again. Best wishes for much success with Dostana and beyond. Megan Diwani (you remember that Shekhar-Megan episode on SRGMP don't you?) sends her love. And just about everyone on the Drift wants you to know how much they love you (and Shekhar).

Vishal: Love you all right back, especially Meg, who we both dream about constantly! :-)

Notes:
All links in the conversation inserted by me.
The Dostana CD is out now. The movie opens November 14, 2008.
Many thanks to Saniya Makker for the picture of Vishal-Shekhar at The Unforgettables

Also:

Bella is glad Vishal was his usual funky self
Megania khush hui
j felt a thrill going up her leg and now loves the Bachna remix
girlie girl misses V-S on SRGMP
Mind Rush enjoys the playfulness
VS fan notes that Vishal is the only celeb who can fold a fitted bed sheet
Deep likes Inside the Music better than the Drift reviews
meena is all set to give Dostana a listen
V-S's music seems to be going downhill says Anon
bollywoodjunkie loved Dostana and the making of
maxdavinci appreciates V-S giving new singers big budget breaks
musical is now loving jasmine green tea even more!
Cinderella hasn't heard Dostana but can't wait for the weekend now
Drift Memsaab asks: Vishal, how do you balance the professional, creative and personal?
Shubhchintak proposes a music reality show for the music directors
ADF loves BAH and Dostana - especially Maa Daa Ladlaa
Vishal = coolness unlimited says Kanan
j is in love with Vishal's first pic and envious of Priyanka's body
Lin has become a fan of Shilpa Rao
Sidekick hands out love to Vishal and does a mini-DOSTANA review
Pappu has a request for V-S (its related to Amanat)
Cinderella's favorite songs from the CD

Inside the Music of DRONA with composer Dhruv Ghanekar - An Exclusive Drift Interview

Aspi — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 18:31:00 -0700

Dhruv Ghanekar has been around for a long time on the Indian music scene – first with the band Chakraview and then composing jingles in the advertising world. Though he’s done film music before, Drona (Abhishek Bachchan , Priyanka Chopra) is his biggest release to date as a music director.

Facing his commercially biggest challenge yet, Dhruv delivered a deft, delicious CD that balances sonic complexity with minimalist arrangements. It’s a piece of work that really got me excited when I first heard it not so long ago.

I thought it would be really cool to have Dhruv stop by the Drift and tell us all about it.

Aspi: You have been at this since the age of 9 and you’ve been making music that really challenges mainstream Indian audiences to step out of their comfort zone. Bollywood requires composers to be more conservative. Are you in this to change the world or are you paying the bills?

Dhruv: About Bollywood requiring you to be conservative – I don’t think so. Given the kind of composers and musicians who are working, they are all young people. I can cite lots of names from Vishal-Shekhar, (Shankar-)Ehsaan-Loy, they bring a young aesthetic.

So there have been a lot of changes and the industry is evolving and people also want to hear new sounds. Everything that has worked in the last few years has worked because it’s been a different sound.

Actually a classic case that is current is Rock On!! The music is a huge rage. The idea of Bollywood [music] is very different from the way it used to sound.

My motivation for doing [Bollywood] is not so much the money. It’s just honestly to be heard by a wider audience. I’ve being doing music in different forms for films and advertising for a while now and there have been days when you land with some really hip stuff and it gets heard but people don’t really know who you are. Or it gets heard by a minority.

Aspi: How did you get involved with Drona? You’ve been doing jingles, you’ve been doing other music on the side. Suddenly this fairly large project comes along – how did you get pulled into it?

Dhruv: [Director] Goldie [Behl] has a television software company which produces content for television. He asked me to do a title track for a television show that he was doing. This was about two and a half years back. I did one and he asked me to another one and I kept doing them and I did about four or five. I was wondering why the hell was he bouncing my tracks and apparently he was just checking out my chops.

He called me finally and said he liked my work a lot and just wanted to see my range. He said he was going to be starting this new movie in a few months called Drona so would I be interested in it. I was a bit: yeah, ok. A lot of people say a lot of things in this town.

But sure enough, he called me up and said ‘Listen I’m ready to go and I want you to do this!’ When he narrated the story to me I was literally jumping out of my seat and wanted to get into the studio right then.

Aspi: Dhruv, tell us a little bit about each song on the CD?

Drona - Title Track (Dhruv Ghanekar)

Dhruv: I had finished a couple of songs for the film when Goldie came up to me and said he wanted a title track. Now 'Drona' is not an easy word to spin a song around. It’s kind of a tricky word you know.

So I took the approach of going into a more industrial, clubby type of feel for it. The first thing when composing that I was conscious of was that I had to incorporate that word in.

The way it happened was almost like a war cry. I played the song for Goldie. He really liked it. He played it for his friends. Everybody loved it the way it was. That’s basically how my voice ended up on that song.

Oop Cha (Sunidhi Chauhan)

Dhruv: Goldie has a really wonderful way of working with people. He gently points you in a direction without being specific about what he wants. He never gave me any specifics and I really liked this about Goldie. So you feel like a part of the process and this is really important.

The “hit” aspect of this song was kind of unsaid. Goldie said this would be an item song – let’s not kid ourselves. So I decided to take a hip hop approach. The words 'Oop Cha' were originally dummy words I used as a place holder – but Goldie really liked them. People have either loved it or hated it. But it’s playing in all the clubs right now so I’m not complaining!

After I finished composing, Sunidhi came in and slammed the song out of the park. It was the first time I’d worked with her and I was completely amazed.

Then I hit upon this idea of giving it a slightly grungy tribal vibe. So I had Sivamani come in. The only thing I told him was that it should visually match with what Goldie wanted - grungy, dirty, grimy, garage setting. So we added a lot of metallic sounds, like hubcaps. Siva added the second part of the song – he was very creative. So it kind of evolved.

It took forever to produce this song – about 10 days staggered over a period of time.

Bandagi – (Sunidhi Chauhan, Roop Kumar Rathod)

Dhruv: This was the last song we recorded for the movie. I was literally forcing Goldie to insert a romantic song in the movie. And after a lot of plugging finally Goldie relented. I immediately went into the studio and had the song within an hour. I finished producing it at two in the morning and called Goldie right away. I met him the next morning and played the song for him. He loved it.

I had sung the whole song at that point. I was quite keen on singing it, but Goldie was convinced that I shouldn’t sing this one and we should get a more seasoned singer. I was ok with that and I’m glad that I chose Roop for this because he’s done a fantastic job with this song.

Sunidhi brought such a cool energy to the studio, she totally got what I wanted so I invited her back again to sing a third song.

Nanhe Nanhe (Sadhana Sargam)

Dhruv: This song came out of a theme I had composed for the movie, in fact the very first theme from a lot I wrote for the movie. Everyone loved the theme so much that we thought it might be cool to make a song out of it.

Sadhnaji was actually my mother’s idea. Often I’ll go and play my songs for my mom and she has a really cool for sense for casting, which is really important. And the song had a kind of Lata feel to it for which Sadhna works really well.

Khushi (Shaan, Suzanne D’mello)

Dhruv: The thing with birthday songs is that the concept is so situational that it can go into this really cheesy state like (sings): ‘It’s my birthday, Happy Birthday!’ So I wanted to get far away from that.

I had just seen The Producers in London and I was blown away. There is something very interactive about doing a song in the big band jazz medium because it lends itself to telling a story. At the same time musically there is so much going on.

Shaan was an obvious choice because is young and has this Robbie Williams thing going on but he has an understanding of the Old World. I was very conscious about the fact that this was a big film and I didn’t want people to talk about whether Goldie made the right choice. So I was very nervous about this track.

Drona Redux (Sunidhi Chauhan)

Dhruv: This was a marketing call because we wanted to show a video where Priyanka would introduce Drona. That was the idea behind it. Sunidhi had just finished singing Oop Cha and she was an obvious choice for me because I felt she would hit it out of the park and she did that for me.

Aspi: Dhruv, have you seen Rock On yet? Your old band is given a tip of the hat in it and your ex-bandmate Suraj Jagan has quite a nifty role in it.

Dhruv: Farhan (Akhtar) is a friend and we used to hang out together back in the days because my bass player Anand and Farhan were school buddies. So he told me about the movie and asked if it would be ok to use the name in it.

Aspi: One question about Chakraview – I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that someone with your interests started a rock band. Was it about the chicks? Did you want to slowly morph into something bigger? Did your interests change while you were in it?

Dhruv: Chakraview wasn’t a rock band at all. It’s a funny story about Chakraview. I had borrowed a guitar effects processor from a very close friend of mine for rehearsal and I lost it on the way! So I basically had to pay this guy back about 30, 40 grand which would be like Rs. 10 lakhs today.

Just then we saw an ad in a page about this competition at IIT called MoodI where the winner would get 30 grand and there were other prizes as well. So if we won it we would pay my friend off and it would be a fun road trip.

We went there and basically won all the prizes. And then we felt ‘This is cool!’

But the only gigs we were getting were in lousy clubs so for one whole year we went and hit all the colleges and played all the competitions and won a lot of the prizes. And that’s how we became famous.

Our sound developed into this strange music with a lot of elements: World, Indian, Rock. But it kind of started by accident.

Aspi: Do you miss being in a band?

Dhruv: Well, I do play as much as I can. Blue Frog was born out of our frustration that there aren’t enough places a musician can go out and play on a fantastic stage. And fans don’t have a place to go to and watch cool acts from diverse genres.

Blue Frog is a label, a night club, a music production company and a fantastic recording studio. It’s doing really well. We’ve signed an incredible guitar player called Sanjay Divecha from LA who has moved to India now. We signed John McLaughlin for the India side of the deal. Ashu[tosh Pathak]’s independent project comes out in October. My solo album comes out in January.

Drona releases October 2, 2008

The music of Drona

Aspi — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 19:02:00 -0700

While listening to the Drona soundtrack the one thing that jumped out at me was that composer Dhruv Ganekar seems to love mellow stuff. More accurately: his heart is set on simmering rather than exploding. (He's the anti-Himesh!)

What does the music of Drona sound like? Its touching, sometimes visceral and its different enough that it stands out. But despite Ghanekar exploring (relatively) new musical territory its also very commercial. There are a couple of reasons for this.

First, Ghanekar isn't in Sajid-Wajid territory (Partner, God Tussi Great Ho) when it comes to commercial tunes, but he sure knows how to create a mainstream hook. And second, thanks to the influx of mavericks who have cut their teeth on the independent music scene in India, Bollywood music is undergoing a slow but sure change. And that change is beginning to redefine what mainstream hits sound like. This suits Ghanekar's sound well.

Take the title track for starters on which Ghanekar man's vocal duties. There is a soft percussion and a neat edge in Ghanekar's voice. There is a simple up-tempo beat that is paced with an electric guitar. And despite building up the drama, Ghanekar leashes it enough that it doesn't quite blow up in your face. And this bit of restraint makes Drona a neat piece of counter-programming as far as title tracks go.

Ghanekar constructs Oop Cha gradually with nifty tribal beats. He's playing to the galleries here because he asks Sunidhi Chauhan to sing with that singular high note followed by the speaking note that adorns so many of her hits and unfairly marks her as having limited depth. Predictably, the rap hooks follow.

But for some reason Oop Cha is tremendous hook to have in a song. I couldn't get it out of my head the first time I heard it. And there is a reason this singing formula works for Sunidhi - it just sounds really good! So it is that Oop Cha is hugely listenable - even when the mandatory remix arrives.

Past these two songs, Drona gets more interesting. On Bandagi, Sunidhi and Roop Kumar Rathod sing a laid back semi-classical composition. Ghanekar uses brief harmonies combined with a spare set of instruments: mostly synths and tablas to create a clean, almost still sound.

He uses the same Rahman-like formula to create the one truly memorable composition of the CD - the gorgeous lullaby Nanhe Nanhe. In a terrific move, he hires Sadhana Sargam to sing the song. And Sadhana is such a singer that although she lacks Lata Mangeshkar's legendary throw, she can hold some of the legend's notes without losing the sweetness that left Lata's voice with age. Its a long song (it clocks in at 6:04) but a lot of the tedium is resolved by Ghanekar who introduces new instruments or arrangements with each verse - a rousing, strident percussion that appears by the second chorus being one that I loved in particular. Ghanekar brings the song to a close with an extended rendering of the melody by flute. Its a nifty move because he uses your memory of the sound to tie in his next composition with the CD.

Which brings us to Khushi, Ghanekar's hugely interesting pop-jazz composition, notable for being uncompromising in its musical arrangements' fidelity to its genre. Shaan - who sings this song - avoids mimicking jazz-swing straight notes, thus giving Khushi a somewhat distinctive sound. Suzanne D'mello sings backup on this and unleashes her gorgeous wail to end the song - its worth a listen.

There is one more song on the album - a version of Drona rendered by Sunidhi which has more of the mainstream drama and pace you'd expect in a big title track. And despite the fact that it showcases Sunidhi's vocal range in a way the other tracks don't, I was happy with Ghanekar's original choice.

I have only one critique of Ghanekar to make. Yes, its a big break (congratulations are in order on producing a gutsy set of compositions) and the expectations and schedules have to be met. But I would have loved to have seen a better variety of voices on the tracks.

It would have been a fitting way to announce the arrival of a talent who will - in all likelihood- continue to nudge if not push the envelope.

The Music of 1920s

Aspi — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 19:00:00 -0700

On Vikram Bhatt's bhatakti aatma thriller 1920s, Adnan Sami does some nifty stunt casting in the soundtrack. He invites timeless (as in timeless aatma, get it?), classical maharathis to sing his pop confections. And he does something unusual - he barely tinkers with their vocals, leaving the blemishes (not that they could be called such) in. By doing this he gets some striking results.

Let's start with Pandit Jasraj's Vaada. Adnan's ability to traverse multiple genres of music results in a wonderful blend of instruments: sitar, violins, tablas and the piano. And Pandit Jasraj sings this entirely in his bass timbre. His voice results in a coarse melody - which Adnan fixes rather elegantly by throwing in sweet, short turns of a flute. Yet given Pandit's reputation, its hard to take your ears off the song.

Vaada has a distaff version, sung by Parveen Sultana. I haven't heard much of her (my misfortune I'll admit) but she sounds so relaxed on the song that its the vocal equivalent of doodling. Parveen combines power with melody in her voice, affording Adnan a more traditional diffused percussion. More interestingly Adnan pauses to add in a terrific Blues lick on a six string somewhere in the first third of the song.

Shobha Mudgal keeps her pitch high and hits straight note after note on Bichua, which begins with a male chorus alongside a guitar. Mudgal's vocal choices lend the composition a lot of energy and in the middle when she does wiggle her notes playfully, the song has notably registered its impact. Even with so much happening in the song, I appreciated Adnan's ability to do something interesting. As Bichua winds down, there is a Rockabilly riff on the guitar that's worth a listen.

There is more to discover on 1920s. Asha Bhonsle sings Aise Jalta Hai Jiya, which is a two paced song that alternates between a low slung sexy-ghoulish vibe and a more dramatic pace.

Kailash Kher softens his voice on the soulful, lifetime of love 1970s throwback Tujhe Main Pyar Karu. There are a couple of high notes on the synth in the rhythm that give the song its kinetics and plays well with Kailash's stretched notes.

1920s will probably go down as the CD in which Adnan reminded us all of his talent and helped us look beyond his pay the bills ventures of the past.

Also:

Bichua is leera's favorite so far
Bitterlemons has memories of Parveen Sultana
Adnan did a great job with Lucky recalls Pitu
Pankha links to Adnan's classical Chamki Kiran
Which reminds dockaul of Albela Sajan
Anon has some info on Adnan's collaborator
Randomer-Than-You'll-Ever-Be has a song
Anon spots a Surdi trend
Anon recalls how Parveen Sultana went the Bhagyashree way

Inside the music of Rock On!! with Ehsaan Noorani (A Drift Exclusive)

Aspi — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 20:27:00 -0700

Shankar Ehsaan Loy's music for Rock On!! is a landmark effort. How so? Stripped of non-Bollywood style constructs, it embraces a spare four piece rock band sound and stays true to it from beginning to end. There are some bold choices on the album from the choice of lyricist (Javed Akhtar) to the choice of singers - none more so than giving lead vocals on no less than five tracks to Farhan Akhtar (writer-director: Dil Chahta Hai, Don) who makes his acting debut here.

Rock On!! is probably the best Hindi rock CD that indierock never gave us.

Ehsaan Noorani - who along with Shankar Mahadevan and Loy Mendosa makes up SEL and whose guitar riffs power much of the signature sound of Rock On!! - was nice enough to tell us about the making of the music exclusively here on the Drift.

Aspi: Hi Ehsaan, congratulations on a terrific CD - its a straight rock album but its different in tone and texture from regular Bollywood albums. Did you get specific directions on the songs from (director) Abhishek?

Ehsaan: Farhan and Abhishekh briefed us on the kind of songs that they were looking at for Rock On!! which was essentially rock. They played us the kind of music that they were listening to while penning the script. Naturally the music was going to be totally non Bollywood in terms of format and style.

Aspi: How long did the album take to put together?

Ehsaan: All the songs were composed in about 5 days! We composed like a rock band with the drums and bass set up and we all played live to the recorder . We cut this album like a band does which is essentially live...no programming.

Aspi: You picked interesting singers on the album. Is there such a thing as a good Hindi rock voice?

Ehsaan: Farhan was naturally the first choice since he is the actor in the film . It was a nice move on the part of the director to make Farhan sing as it gives the music and the film a sense of realness like Hollywood films have. Suraj (Jagan) is a great rock singer and was the first choice for the Zehreelay song . Caralisa (Monteiro) and Dominique (Cerejo) who sung the two mellow songs are fine singers with totally different voices and we chose them because they are completely apart from the typical film voices.

Aspi: Ehsaan, could you tell us something about each song on the CD?

Ehsaan:

Socha Hai
(This was) the 2nd song we composed essentially based around the guitar riff which opens the song!

Pichle Saat Dinon Mein
This was the first song we composed. We literally jammed on the guitar riff that I came up with and the song fell into place in about 20 mins! The words are very interesting about how one loses everything but can't afford to lose love. The guitar solo was the solo I played on the first draft of the recording and we decided to stick with it.

Rock On!!
This song came later as we thought it would be nice to have a title song! The song has a nice 80's vibe which we went for on purpose.

Ye Tumhari Meri Baatein
A beautiful traveling song which Dominique sang with such wonderful soul. She really is an awesome singer! I like the texture of the entire song which has a lovely ambient quality to it.

Zehreelay
The heavy metal song on the album which Suraj has rendered like a true rock star! Suraj also inputted on the composition of this song. Javed saab freaked us (out) by writing the words for this song. He totally related to it! The guitar solo on this song is totally unlike my style of playing and it came magically in one take I don't think I will be able to play it again.

Tum Ho Toh
The rock ballad on the song has a wonderful vibe and it is completely different from the other songs (an angle you will see in the film). It was challenging for Farhan to sing and he did a great job.

Sinbad the Sailor
Javed saab created a great hook by coming up with the Sindbad the Sailor words. There have been songs like Achilles Last Stand and Brave Ulysses in the past so this concept is really cool. It has a great jangle to it.

Pichle Saat Dinon Mein (Live)
Essentially a live version of the song to give people a feel of the film.

Phire Dekhiye
Caralisa's vocals took this song to a different level! I composed this song in English to get the right feel after which Javed saab wrote the words (in Hindi). Loy has played a million dollar piano solo in the 2nd interlude.

Also:

m hasn't heard this yet but recommends Khuda Ke Liye
j is intrigued by the CD
Sidekick is curious about a rock CD amongst the relentless punjabification of music
srini hopes the album inspires the Indian rock scene
girlie girl listens to two songs and likes them
indianpaduser hands out some Farhan love
Tania - tired of mahiyas and kudias - looks forward to the CD
svr is looking forward to the music but wants to hear from Vishal Shekhar
Ehsaan's answers motivate HR to have a listen
The father-son effort make this a special album for Mind Rush
The music sounds dated says Anon
Ehsaan explains the reason behind the 80s rock sound of the album
What's this movie about? asks m
leera reviews Rock On!!
The brief recording time surprised j
Never Mind!! has a listen and lists her favorites
Its a combination worth listening to, says Kanan
svr analyzes Mahalakshmi's singing in Jhoom
meena hopes this CD will stop some nearby eye rolling
'Anu Malik' stops by
So does 'Bappi'
Pitu proposes a Chollywood club
Singh is King! Mind Rush celebrates India's nuclear vote
Anon hands out the Worst Music of the Year award to Mehbooba
girlie girl shares her hair care
As does m
and j
and Kanan
Amrita wants to check out Rock On!!
Pitu hands out curly hair love

The music of Bachna Ae Haseeno

Aspi — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 02:37:00 -0700

Bachna Ae Haseeno is a movie where the rubber meets the road for a star son waiting to inherit his father's legacy on the screen. With a horrendous flop - Saawariyan - marking his debut, Ranbir has much to prove. So do producers Yash Raj Films - who with disappointing returns on much awaited titles - are now struggling to hold on to their place at the top of the Bollywood power list.

But I digress: the music has been composed by Vishal and Shekhar, at the outset a seemingly good match to provide the soundtrack for the soft, youthful romance projected by Ranbir. And while Vishal-Shekhar try hard on this as always, they come up with a CD that feels safe - like we've covered this ground before.

Since I try looking at the glass half full, we'll talk about the positives here. But its also fair to expect me to explain why I didn't like some of the songs.

First, I love Punjabi music - but these days I'm all Punjabi-ed out. And this theme runs through Bachna, thus leaving me less than feeling fresh. But let's take Lucky Boy for example - the second track from the CD. The song - about a girl making a sales pitch for her reportedly considerable charms - is rendered by Sunidhi Chauhan.

Lucky Boy has a thumping club beat that teeters between house and disco - a bit too much towards the latter for my liking. The song has but a single hook - the chorus - which over a repetitive beat tends make the rest of the song less interesting. Midway through the song V-S employ Hard Kaur to do a rap bit. But because they want to keep the creamy smoothness of the song intact, they muzzle Hard Kaur's spunk. It ends up derailing the song.

I had similar issues with Ahista Ahista. The vocals are given to Lucky Ali and Shreya Ghoshal - the latter of which I'm not sure V-S have figured out how to exploit fully yet. And Small Town Girl (Shankar Mahadevan) - a song that V-S try hard to punch up with musical arrangements and changes of pace - ultimately falls victim to playing too close to its genre.

But because composers work hard on CDs and also have to produce a steady stream of output - its unfair to dismiss them thus. So on to the glass half full: there are two killer tracks on the CD and its no coincidence that two of the newer female vocalists that I am very enthusiastic about make an appearance on them.

Shilpa Rao (who made her name on Tose Naina Laage Re) sings Khuda Jaane with KK. Shilpa has a luscious voice and a ghost of a lisp that is drop dead sexy. And V-S make her do a delicious little musical sigh throughout the song that sounds terrific. Unlike Shreya, V-S seem to get the best out of KK. His pop range (which I'll have to talk about in a post some day) is on display here. Throughout this CD, V-S work hard to construct catchy background vocals - the payoff comes here.

Himani Kapoor has a small part to play in the other track I dug - Jogi Mahi. I enjoyed the fact that she gets to sing in her throaty speaking voice. Shekhar Ravjiani sings most of Jogi - a part touching, part cracking song about announcing an emergent love to the world - and starts by bravely exposing his voice right away. This deft, quiet start nicely sets up the rhythm on a dafli when it kicks in.

On songs like this V-S use the synth sparingly - which they do here but when they do they make it count. Sukhwinder Singh provides backup vocals and its a matter of conjecture what he could have done with the song. But you can hear the love for this composition in Shekhar's voice and its important to give in to the passion rather than commerce every now and then.

Finally, there is the matter of the title song - a song made legend by Kishore Kumar, RD Burman and Rishi Kapoor in Hum Kissi Se Kum Nahin. I remain hugely fond of horns in a song but not bombastic trumpets. V-S have no choice but to reuse the big band signature of the song in order to retain its essence. But the remake strips the original of its over the top drama and ends up delivering tepid nostalgia. To be fair, its hard to see how the situation could have been avoided unless V-S had been left alone to tinker with the song without consequence to the built-in brand recognition. They smartly keep Kishore's vocal track on the CD but their bid for nostaliga with Kishore's son Sumit's voice doesn't have the payback they might have been looking for.

Thanks to Ritha for recommending this album to me

Also:

ritha loved the Khuda Jaane remix but is disappointed by the song's look
Mind Rush thinks someone likes Bips and Himani a lot
dilip vala liked the CD
j wonders why V-S haven't promoted the CD on JJWS
Amrita briefly reviews Singh is Kinng and Bachna Ae Haseeno
Pitu is unimpressed by the title song and Chintu Jr and has a bet to make
Jog Mahi should have been Sukhwinder's song says Sania
What's with all these positive reviews asks Ridhima

Money Hai to Honey Hai is the best Bollywood soundtrack of Summer

Aspi — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 21:11:00 -0700

How good is the soundtrack for Money Hai to Honey Hai? Created by relative unknowns to the masses, Nitin Arora and Sony Chandy, it is good enough to redefine Bollywood soundtracks.

At the core of this goodness are a bunch of sensuous, languorous beats. Arora-Chandy construct them with the confidence of seasoned professionals. They constantly tinker with their tracks - including terrific turns and changes of pace.

They repeatedly use a construct that pays off big: they tend to use a female vocalist for interludes that give their songs a seductive lilt. In addition the composers cast their singers really well - in particular the female vocals are thrown at some interesting choices that make for very interesting listening.

On a major release like this for them, these risks are nothing short of ballsy.

By forsaking tight melodies for complex tunes, Arora and Chandy make this CD sound very different than what has being coming down the pike lately.

Take the title track for instance. Forget that little Chinese ditty in the beginning or the obligatory boings and toings to inject humor in the song. The song starts with a beat that resembles a car sputtering to a start - which blends into an anthemic clap. The composers use Harshdeep Kaur here - who brings an impish cool to the song by incorporating a simmering chuckle in her voice.

If you thought Arora and Chandy made one brave choice, they bring another delicious mid tempo beat - built with an alternating piano and knocking percussion - to Awaara Dil where they hire Adnan Sami and ask him to clip his warbling. Here Arora-Chandy use Shruti Pathak to provide the interlude. Later on the same track they alternate an Island rap with a Mumbaiya rap - both of which give the song a distinct third act.

Switching gears on Rangeeli Raat, Arora-Chandy use Daler Mehndi and Master Saleem to alternate vocals and produce some cool breakbeats on what is a bhangra dance track. And since the bhangra overload of the new millennium I tend to avoid these. But I had no problems listening to this. Female relief on this song - Sunidhi Chauhan.

On Ta Na Na, the digworthy Kunal Ganjawala sings a seduction song with Rekha Bhardwaj - but its done with such humor over a slow DNB jam with whoops, flutes and a whistle - that it instantly alleviates the roteness of the situation.

There is more worth discovering on the soundtrack - Labh Janjua, so sensational on Soni De Nakhre from Partner sings a stabbing, entertaining song called Chhuriyaan which contains sweet backup vocals from Sunidhi and enough minor digressions in bhangra vocal arrangements that make the song stand out.

Suraj Jagan handles the surprisingly tricky, derivative but hugely catchy power ballad No Big Deal - about a man refocusing on hope to negotiate a particular dark juncture in life - with feel and panache. Once past the initial violin intro - No Big Deal is a spare 3 piece rock track done well. This song is also translated into an instrumental theme titled Hope - where Arora-Chandy notably and successfully employ a rasping electric flute.

Finally Shaan and Shivamani pair up on Dance Master. But enough from me. Go have a listen and hear it for yourself.

The Music of Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na

Aspi — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 20:56:00 -0700

On Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, A. R. Rahman tries meticulously to reconstruct his reputation as a mainstream music composer. He continues to reach for the stars but ends up walking on clouds here. Yet he leaves us with a densely interesting soundtrack.

Rahman eschews youthful exuberance here, instead putting together a vibe of laid back young romance. He picks singers with thinner voices that can convey youth, gives them simple melodies but makes them work hard. And to be fair, he works just as hard with them.

Rahman gives Kabhi Kabhi Aditi to Rashid Ali, a singer with a fluid voice that can hold most of its sweetness at high notes. But it comes at a price - Rashid has a tendency to go nasal and jiggle his notes ever so slightly.

Fortunately Rashid is good with the guitar - creating a delightful little tune with pulled string notes to power the song. Probably because Hindi isn't Rashid or Rahman's first language, they have a funky way of breaking up a phrase or compressing words. And this allows them to give the tune an exoticness - the song sounds peppy and different.

Rashid's voice is clear enough that Rahman wisely uses only an amped down scattered bass line in the song. Around the second verse, he throws in a gorgeous flute - it instantly transforms the song and gives it a wistful mojo.

Rahman unveils another singer - Runa Rizvi - on Jaane Tu Mera Kya Hai, a song where he mixes the melancholy of a strummed mandolin with the restlessness of repeated triplets on a keyboard to give the song a nifty unease. Like Rashid before her, Rahman makes Runa's lungs work hard (despite the benefit of a couple of takes). Runa's voice has a relaxed stillness that plays well in this track.

Her song has a companion piece - where the male lead now works out his feelings for his friend. Rahman hires one of his old favorites Sukhwinder Singh, fast becoming one of India's leading vocal lights. Its the third outstanding composition of the CD and Rahman blends a thick flute with keyboards against a backdrop of stabbing violins to start the song. He knows he's on to something special because he takes his time - Sukhwinder doesn't open his mouth until nearly a minute and a half have gone by.

Both Rahman and Sukhwinder exercise notable restraint. Rahman creates underwhelming, winding, operatic tunes to propel the song and Sukhwinder carefully holds his voice back and lets it simmer.

There is more fun stuff on the album if you care to explore. In the song marred by a rather foolish controversy, Pappu Can't Dance, Rahman employs a host of singers to create the only truly uptempo track on the CD. There's a nonsense Hindi rhyme, an island rap and all kinds of sonic bells and whistles thrown into this track. Rahman uses his singers in interesting ways - its worth listening to if you thought Rahman couldn't be silly and have some fun.

There are two larger observations I would like to share.

Thoughtful as Rahman is about his compositions and careful as he is to not buckle under his own musical weight, I get the feeling he often plays it too safe. On the Rat Pack influenced, you me are chalk and cheese rumination, Tu Bole Main Boloon, Rahman (who assumes vocal duties) uses a piano, cello and trumpets. But in a musical genre ripe with fusion possibilities, its a tragedy Rahman doesn't throw in a sitar or a shehnai or something else that might have sounded good to him.

Second, lyrics for these kind of songs are hard to write because the situations are so rote. There's the falling in love song, the discovering love song and the crazy in love song. But Abbas Tyrewala (Munnabhai, Main Hoon Na) does a fine job arranging well worn phrases in interesting ways. He shrewdly inserts the words in the movie's title in multiple songs. He's positively terrific on Kahin To which is reflective of what he's trying to do here - write for a character rather than a situation.

Many thanks to Sidekick for recommending this CD to me. Uss ladki ke ghar mein pau nahin tikte but she always has a home here on the Drift. Thanks Motorsandal for helping me figure out the guitar notes and entertaining me simultaneously.

Also:

Genalia is Amrita Rao Part 2 says m

maxdavinci can't stop listening to the CD

girlie girl's favorites? Kabhi Kabhi Aditi and Pappu Can't Dance

Genalia looks like Sonali Kulkarni's younger sister to Kanan

Kabhi Kabhi Aditi reminds Never Mind!! of a telugu song

Pitu enjoyed the album and thinks Genalia is like that other buck-tooth beauty Hristhtaa

Aamir + family = Mela last time, which is a good sign points out leera

anu g reveals how Genelia got her start

All the name Genelia needs is a T in it, says m

Genelia was good in Masti says Joules

Mind Rush is good for any relative of Aamir

Teddy passes on the Top 22 things a phoren returned desi does

The music of De Taali

Aspi — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 21:56:00 -0700

Bindaas Bollywood comedies make me groan. And its easy to dismiss the music in these movies because it tries so hard to be - you know, bindaas. But still I listen to everything I can in the hopes that I'll hit something cool and entertaining. And to be fair, I've been sporadically rewarded.

The CDs for Masti and Heyy Babyy were massive guilty pleasures in recent memory. I also loved Love Ke Liye Kuchh Bhi Karega (especially McDonalds Aftab in Dil Mera Dil). De Taali is along the same lines - although I'd be lying if I didn't admit I checked it out with more care than usual because its done by Vishal and Shekhar.

Why more care? Of all the new music composers in the business today, V-S strike me as the ones most likely to escape the trappings of Bollywood success and keep pace with the times.

On De Taali, they build on the clean sound they fine tuned on Tashan with some nifty percussion and insert enough surprises into each song to make them interesting. They also seem to be saying: "We love hanging out with Shaan, Sunidhi Chauhan and Kay Kay. But Shreya ain't bad either" Fair enough, but no Mahalakshmi?

Take Everbody Puts Your Hands Together (Shaan, Sunidhi and Anushka Manchandani) for instance. V-S use a drum machine and a strident guitar to propel the song and then use their three singers to construct some coarse harmonies. At one point the lyrics compare a taali rather innocuously to a heart singing a qawwali. Its a throwaway line, but V-S pounce on that opportunity to throw a peti lick in the song. Its downright endearing.

Later yet, V-S interestingly employ Anushka to sing Hone Lagi but instead of the usual bump and grind slow tempo, they surprise you midway by adding a sitar. Its a traditional instrument used in a sensual way in a pop composition. And Anushka has a salty voice - which works well here against type.

Raja Hasan shows up on Maari Teetri which Vishal kicks off with a rather delicious little backdrop about a magical butterfly. Here I'll pretend to be Raja's favorite judge Himesh Reshammiya. "Raja you are a very good human being. And Maa Sarawasti ki tum pe krupa hai. You sang very well, but your voice was missing the paagalpan to match the musical arrangements in the song. Perhaps with time your gurus will find a good mix of instruments to make your voice pop - it got a little lost here. But God bless!"

The song that grabbed me the most was Tooti Phooti - on which (the voices of) Shaan and Sunidhi Chauhan lament the fact that Kay Kay is getting over yet another weekly heartbreak. Tooti Phooti is structured as a slow blues jam. There is a spare percussion which I'm not sure how V-S built but it resembles finger snaps and its tightness allows the fluidity of the guitar pieces to work in the background. At one point V-S even attempt horns - although on a synth - and I wish the genuine article could have been used. But who knows? Maybe the low-slung vibe of the song might have been disrupted.

Shekhar sings briefly on two of the songs - the afore mentioned Hone Lagi and also with Shreya Ghoshal on the falling in love ditty Aaj Mein Boond Hoon in which V-S either overlay an electric guitar with another or just hum behind it. But you should check it out for yourself.

Bappida, are you there? What do you think Shekhar ke low notes ke baare mein?

The future of music in Love Story 2050

Aspi — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 21:20:00 -0700

If a movie happens to be set over 40 years in the future, how do you predict what music will be like then and yet make it sound like a major Bollywood soundtrack? The answer is: you don't.

At the outset the choice of Anu Malik to handle the music of Harman Baweja's much ballyhooed flick Love Story 2050 is a good one. Malik has the right touch of the crazies to pull this off. And he tries hard on the CD to fashion a sound that is like something we haven't heard before. He falls short in several places, but its an interesting effort.

Malik addresses the challenge of creating a futuristic sound by trying to surprise us with the mildly unconventional in the songs. He does this by taking a few chances - and he pulls it off on a number of occasions given current Bollywood song structures.

But here is the problem with Anu Malik these days. He's a much better composer of musical arrangements than he is of vocal arrangements. When he gets both right - its magic. But most often he excels at the former and stumbles with the latter.

Take the treacly Jane Kaisi Hai Teri Meri Love Story (Shaan) for example. Its a mediocre melody accompanied by some rote singing. But Malik throws in that theme tune for this movie that he's flicked from Natacha Atlas' Bond song You Only Live Twice and then adds in a deft guitar. He almost rescues the whole thing.

But let's focus on two songs where Malik tries hardest with different results.

Malik opens Aa Gaya Hun Mein with processed vocals, slides into a disco beat and throws in a bunch of sounds that stop just short of industrial. Most effectively he instructs Kay Kay to sing the mukhda at a flat, low octave. It puts the song deliciously off-key. Yet almost immediately Kay Kay is back to singing traditional arrangements and the song almost unravels at that point. Malik is careful to throw in some Hindustani vocals to seemingly to assure us that it'll be around in the next half century.

Wisely Javed Akthar stays away from Hinglish, which you'd think would be in circulation around the time desi chicks start clubbing in red hair. But does anyone believe we won't be all throwing Mandarin words at each other by then? How about surprising us with Hindarin phrases then? Javedbhai, you just missed a golden opportunity to amaze us.

Fortunately on Milo Na Milo, Malik gets the right combination he's looking for on this CD. A brief tune on an acoustic guitar leads us into a cracking house beat (a touch of R&B vocals), more industrial licks and some well placed changes of pace (at one Malik turns the song on a tabla). Shaan sings and its a good choice because his throw and tonal quality offset the heavy musical arrangements on this song nicely.

Its the solitary winner on this CD and even contains a good lesson for Bollywood composers encumbered with delivering long songs.

This song clocks in at 6 minutes 14 seconds. Its an epic by global pop standards. On long songs, a lot of vocals tend to make the song sound jaded. So some phaltu Drift advice to composers: if you are contracted with composing a long song, keep the vocals shortened to suit a 3-minute-odd version and focus on constructing some interesting music instead. Your song will have a lot more repeat value!

Otherwise risk treading the path that Shankar Ehsaan Loy might be barreling down.

The music of Black and White

Aspi — Tue, 20 May 2008 21:39:00 -0700

The more I listen to the soundtrack of Subhash Ghai's box office bomb Black & White, the more I'm convinced its a vastly underrated CD. Especially because you can't listen to party dhuns all the time and need a breather like this once in a while. And when you do, you won't find a better collection than what composer Sukhvinder Singh has put together here.

There are two things to note at the outset.

First, B&W is very much a singer's album. It matches the song and its mood very carefully with vocal talent. The music plays second fiddle to the vocals and the singers get to show off their chops - and three of them, including Sukhvinder himself bites into the opportunity with relish.

Second, B&W is largely a mellow album. Its Hindustani lite-FM played over softened percussion. Delicate tablas replace sharp drums, finger snaps proliferate instead of claps - even the big drums sound diffused. Sukhvinder stays true to this theme through the album - relying on the singing instead of musical arrangements to ratchet up the drama and emotion when required.

On Jogi Aaya, Sukhvinder opens - singing at an octave that virtually changes his voice - and sets the stage for one of the most criminally underused talents in Bollywood music today: Sadhna Sargam. (Her Chupke Se from A.R.Rahman's Saathiya remains a personal favorite.) Sadhna delivers an exquisitely calibrated performance, something even Lata would be proud to have on her crowded resume.

You can hear Shreya Ghoshal's growth on Mein Chali, which has a beat that requires Shreya to keep up with some challenging single-breath singing. Unlike Barso Re - Shreya's coming of age and more celebrated song - this is a stronger performance with excellent modulation at most scales. And Shreya now sounds less shrill at the higher notes than when she started.

Sukhvinder uses Jagjit Singh on Yeh Hindustan Hai - a straightforward melody which really benefits from the natural timber and world-weariness in Jagjit's voice. Its contrasted with a more hopeful version rendered later by Udit Narayan.

Sukhvinder does the bulk of the singing on this CD, doing duty on no less than four of the seven original tracks here. But his one outstanding turn is on the sufi anthem Haq Allah, with Hans Raaj Hans accompanying him. It helps that the song is garnished with petis and tablas (my sweet spot when it comes to these types of songs). And the song has a deliciously kinetic bridge.

There are two more songs on the CD that you can discover for yourself if this sounds up your alley. Sukhvinder does another version of Shreya's song (Mein Chala) and pairs up on Peer Manava with Shraddha Pandit.

The evolution of Sunidhi Chauhan

Aspi — Fri, 16 May 2008 01:16:00 -0700

Sure the advent of item numbers at the turn of the millennium helped surge Sunidhi Chauhan to the forefront of Bollywood singers, but she's also made a contribution of her own - namely, she's helped draw the squeaky Lata era to a close.

The big break

As is well documented, Sunidhi started her career via singing shows, made an unremarkable Bollywood debut and helmed an independent album that tanked at the sales registers (her father maintains HMV botched the product placement). A chance introduction with Sandeep Chowta (whose career has cooled of late) via Sonu Nigam resulted in two duets on Mast and her first Bollywood success.

At the outset Sunidhi's voice and looks made her an ideal candidate to sing item numbers. In fact, her breakthrough song - Mehboob Mere - was one of the first in which a song was inserted in a movie for dubious reasons purely as spectacle. And as item numbers were supposed to, it spiraled the movie (Fiza, possibly Anu Malik's career zenith) and the song to hit status.

A quick evolution

Sunidhi's voice hadn't hit prime time yet. But her base voice was terrific - a low purr - and she brought a lot of youthful energy to her songs. She developed instant chemistry with a younger generation of music listeners but to her credit she seemed to understand the limitations in her voice.

Over the years, Sunidhi's progress took me by surprise. She steadily fixed the gaps - her live singing improved dramatically and her ability to move up and down on the scale with the speed required of a genuine playback talent got better.

Putting her divorce after an eloped marriage at 18 behind her in 2004, in a short five years since her first successes, she was hitting her straps on Khakhee (Aisa Jadoo) and Dhoom (Dhoom Machale). Some terrific singing ensued in Dus (Deedar de) Shikhar (Fitna Dil), Taxi No. 9211 (Ek Nazar), Pyare Mohan (Rabba De De Javaani), Shaadi Se Pehle (Mundiya - a personal favorite) and 36 China Town (Aashiqui Mein Teri).

The coronation is complete

By the time Omkara rolled around and Sunidhi sang the sensational Beedi the ascension to the throne was complete - and this was regardless of a little train called Shreya Ghoshal who was picking up plenty of steam.

Surprisingly enough, Sunidhi did keep challenging herself. And the second phase of her expansion can be heard on CDs today. Much of it seems tied to her fascination with American R&B and Soul (she's been known to be fond of Mariah Carey - who despite her tacky troubles and squishy song choices - has impeccable vocal credentials not to mention peerless sales)

Here Sunidhi's results have been choppy. And its a little unfair to expect her to get results immediately. Because of the scale of her speaking voice - which is ironically her strength - she can't hit the high notes without losing tonal quality. In this respect singers with thinner voices have the advantage. So while Sunidhi has tried some stuff and crashed and burned a little, occasionally she does something different with more success.

A career full of possibilities

There are several places Sunidhi can go from here. Although the magnificent Richa Sharma of late has been threatening to cut loose, most of her competition is still too stereotyped to be an immediate threat. There is, of course, Shreya but if you listen to their songs you'll see them circling each other's territory without completely encroaching on it.

There is a charted journey for Bollywood playback singers. But I think Sunidhi has enough talent to do something different. And personally my phaltu Drift advice for her would be to start talking to someone else on the bottom run of the music food chain: musicians, and putting together a kick ass band. Then take a hotshot composer with youth appeal who is struggling to get work in Bollywood (like say Raghav Sachar) and get a bunch of original songs together.

Next step, negotiate license deals for Sunidhi's most popular songs. Then book a ten city tour playing small places - probably major hotels or metro lounges in India and test out the songs. Because Sunidhi is a really good live performer and she has some famous songs, the audiences will listen to the other music just as carefully. And there might be enough immediate cash to end up with a distribution deal on the songs that allows Sunidhi to maintain control.

If the independent music scene in India won't give us a non-filmi star, maybe Bollywood can!

Bollywood Music: plagiarism and power

Aspi — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Kamla Bhatt interviews Karthik Srinivasan who runs itwofs, a site that identifies plagiarized songs in Bollywood and is often referenced by Drift readers.

At one point Karthik gets asked: Who should get the title for the most unoriginal music director in Bollywood? And Karthik responds...

Despite the fact that I love many of their songs, I’d hand that title to Nadeem Shravan. This is more for their loud and aggressive sound bytes to media about how talented they are. Pritam, in reality deserves that title more than Nadeem Shravan, but he has learnt to live with the tag and even goes on to say that he’s a better music arranger than a composer. He tries to credit sources (only Indian) but I think is hampered by producers’ budget constraints to pay royalty or music labels ignoring his pleas to credit sources.

What? No Bappi Lahiri? I demand attention be paid to my phavoreet!

On the other hand, Karthik has been helping me build a Bollywood Music Power List (an idea that germinated from a sidekick comment on the Bollywood Power List post).

And I'm going around with my begging bowl for ideas again. Anyone like to help by naming some people who are powerful in the music industry? I think we'll also eventually do one just for singers - but for now we'll focus on who calls the shots in the music world.

Also:

bappida shows up and he's hurt!

anu g trusts AR Rahman will show up high on the list

Amrita has a bunch of names for the power list

m brings up one crazy awards show on SET MAX and names Rahman, VS, SEL and S-S

meena notes that Prasoon Joshi has been writing cool lyrics lately

Joules wonders why Aadesh Srivastava fell from grace

~mad munky~ watched the awards show and Bappi breaking into song

Amrita makes a case for including lyricists

Bitterlemons' power list

And Sidekick's

anu g makes a case for Gajji

Spruha sees Sunidhi and Shreya on the list

The music of Tashan

Aspi — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 00:24:00 -0700

Vishal-Shekhar's recent work has threatened to put them an album or two away from turning into Bappi Lahiri-type clichés in the film industry. On Om Shanti Om, they rescued themselves by fulfilling the demands of commerce with a return to form somewhat approaching their creative high point on Taxi No. 9211.

And on Tashan, a very important project for them if less seismic than OSO, they seem to be working hard to forge a signature sound. What is this sound exactly? A variety of instruments, employed in carefully limited combination and amped down to not overwhelm the vocals. Its a clean sound - devoid of dense synth dubs, back beats or huge guitar crunches. V-S have been quick to embrace electronica before, but on this CD they seem to be telling us: this is what we are most comfortable with.

Along with this, V-S seem to have established a go-to ecosystem of trusted singers who they rely on to bring their songs home. Often it seems they build in a number of hooks specifically for the singer they've hired.

Take the opener Dil Haara for example. The song is constructed entirely around the natural lilt in Sukhwinder Singh's voice. V-S give him more sonic variety to traverse than he is normally used to. And he does a fine if not memorable job - his voice is a little too rustic and his diction too sharp to negotiate the softer turns in the song. Later, he has to negotiate a tricky psychedelic up-tempo transition towards the end which doesn't work very well - although you want to salute V-S for taking that chance.

On Falak Tak - the singular ballad on the CD - V-S employ Udit Narayan, who with his phulka puri voice is the romance king of Bollywood. And his deliciously gentle drawl envelopes this song completely. Accompanying him is Mahalaxmi Iyer, whose voice I listen to very carefully ever since her bravura work on Jhoom Barabar Jhoom (she's fast turning into a female K.K. with her versatility - only her voice quality is better). And through two-thirds of the song, V-S resist the temptation to throw keyboards in - choosing instead a steady two piece percussion and a couple of guitars to create a gorgeous slow-grind sound.

Even on Chhaliya (Sunidhi Chauhan, Piyush) - a song about a woman with overwhelming self-esteem - they pull out the six string after the first verse and render a solo piece that doesn't overwhelm the song. Chhaliya - for all its mainstream appeal - is also reasonably complex in terms of change of pace and hooks, something V-S did on Rehem Kare (Cash) with much success.

This approach helps them when asked to do something like Dil Dance Maare (Sukhwinder, Udit, Sunidhi) - it allows them to retain a lot of dignity while creating a hugely corny song.

Finally, Tashan Mein, which closes out the CD, is sung by Vishal and Saleem, the latter of which employs a tremendous nasal drawl to infuse the song with much decadence. Tashan Mein is paced in a manic way with a simmering verse exploding into a more breathless chorus. Its got nonsense lyrics but a rather cool Hindustani alaap leading into a folksy bridge.

There are four brief spoken words on the CD as well - each voiced by the principal actors in the film: Kareena, Saif, Akshay and Anil Kapoor. They are meant to be thumbnail character sketches and add a little bit of glamor to the entire album. They amused me quite a bit: look, there's Kareena trying to sound bindaas, here's Saif flaunting his burnished cool, there's Akshay trying to be funny and if you pretend Anil Kapoor is skewering an actor skewering desi villain stereotypes, you might chuckle.

Also:

Amrita can't get two songs out her head

Sidekick can't bring herself to like anything except Dil Haara

anu g recommends a book by Ganesh Anantaraman

SkD loves the CD

Pratik enjoyed it

girlie girl still hasn't given Tashan a listen

ritha felt all the songs started well but lost steam soon enough

Are V-S touring US wonders Mind Rush

Yes, with Aish and family says m

Bella loved Dil Haara and Tashan Mein but couldn't listen to Dil Dance Maare

megan is over Sunidhi's vocals