Music Aloud Playback – Best Indian Songs of 2024! 30 Dec 2024 5:46 AM (3 months ago)

Just a little over a day left before we complete the first quarter of this century. In last year’s roundup, I had featured nine different lists, the most I have ever done. Ironically, this year, due to some not-so-happy personal circumstances, I have only been able to complete four lists as of now – Bollywood, Malayalam, Tamil and Indian Indie/Pop, the least I have ever done. However, this post will be a work-in-progress – I promise to continue working on this in the first half of January and finish with at least 7-8 lists. So, for the moment, hope you enjoy this partial roundup!

Took a bit longer than expected to finish off the rest of my roundup, so decided that I might as well time it with Music Aloud’s 16th birthday! So I have added four more lists as promised – Telugu, Web Series, Kannada and Marathi. Couldn’t find time to do Coke Studio, sorry about that. So if you are still in the mood to catch up on some of 2024’s best, scroll down!

And thanks again for all the support across these 16 years of our existence – we hope it continues for long. Also do follow our instagram page if you aren’t yet – we are hoping to get a bunch of activities going there this year!

Shout-out to the amazing @athulct for helping with the artwork this year as well!

Like last year, I have created an All In One playlist for the benefit of anyone who doesn’t want to go through the individual lists and would rather shuffle-play the entire thing:

Playlists: Apple | Spotify | YouTube

Happy listening, and wish you all a lot more wonderful music in 2025!

Bollywood

Playlists: Apple | Spotify | YouTube

It was a slightly better year for Bollywood compared to recent past. Thanks partly to some makers with great sense of music reuniting with their trusted composers – Imtiaz Ali with A R Rahman (Amar Singh Chamkila), Sriram Raghavan with Pritam (Merry Christmas), Kiran Rao-Aamir Khan with Ram Sampath (Laapataa Ladies), Siddharth Anand and Vishal-Shekhar etc. And partly to Sachin-Jigar going on a run evocative of the early days of their mentor Pritam, in more ways than one. The Besharam Rang-fuelled “electro ghazal” (for want of a better phrasing) trend gained further pace this year – we got some good numbers in the genre. Alongside the usual suspects, it was nice to see the return of some names I would love to see more of in Hindi, like Joi Barua, MM Kreem, Karan Kulkarni etc. and a bunch of new ones like Hunny-Bunny and Mayukh-Mainak.

Malayalam

Playlists: Apple | Spotify | YouTube

While last year it was Tamil industry that featured my favourite music, this year it’s been Malayalam’s turn. One of the highlights of the year was Aadujeevitham – an album that should ideally have been A R Rahman’s return to Malayalam after over two decades, but ended up losing that spot to Malayankunju last year due to the huge delays in the project. What also did not help the soundtrack’s cause was the shoddy release on streaming platforms, but the album still had the composer acing the genre he always has – sufi. After the terrific Romaancham last year, Sushin Shyam was roped in for director Jithu Madhavan’s sophomore venture Aavesham in 2025, and the result was equally spectacular! Like in Hindi, we had some reliable composer-director combos delivering again – Prashant Pillai for Lijo Jose Pellisserry, Rex Vijayan for Aashiq Abu etc. I was happy to see two of my favourites from outside Malayalam – Dhibu Ninan Thomas and Vishal Chandrashekhar – make their Malayalam debuts. Hope to see more from them in 2025!

Tamil

Playlists: Apple | Spotify | YouTube

In Tamil, the year primarily belonged to Sean Roldan, GV Prakash and Govind Vasantha, who delivered both in quality and quantity throughout the year. Ilaiyaraaja followed through on his work in Viduthalai 1, with an even better set of songs, while Santhosh Narayanan delivered a knockout in Vaazhai. ARR had a gem of a song in Oh Raaya with Ganavya, but on a soundtrack level there wasn’t much that stood out, despite the man composing for three movies during the year. His daughter Khatija had a promising composing debut in Minmini, however. Similarly for Anirudh it was only Neelorpam that I took away this year, a song that ironically did not even feature in the movie (the makers thereby ensuring that people took absolutely no positives from that movie). And to the industry in general, I would like to reiterate my two wishes from last year – to let playback singers sing all the songs, and for Anirudh to take up smaller scale projects.

Indian Indie/Pop

Playlists: Apple | Spotify | YouTube

The biggest news on the indie front was of course Hanumankind and Kalmi’s Big Dawgs making it big internationally, debuting on Billboard Hot 100 et al. That aside, the star in the indipop scene was Sai Abhyankar, a boy who seems to be well poised to deliver on his musical pedigree (for the uninitiated, he is the son of singers Harini and Tipu), having produced two chartbusting hits in 2024 itself, and will soon be debuting as a movie composer as well. Like last year, I will be trying and working on a Coke Studio specific list covering all the current versions, but this year more brands looked to be going the Coke Studio route, most prominently Warner Music India with Maati. My usual caveat on this list still applies by the way – these are my favourites from whatever I meant to catch up on during the year, so apologise for any glaring omission.

1 Katchi Sera (Think Indie) – Sai Abhyankar
2 Big Dawgs – Hanumankind, Kalmi
3 Suprabhatham (Voyage 2) – Dhruv Ghanekar, Nandini Srikar
4 Bawla feat. Khan Brothers (Maati S1) – Mikey McCleary, Rani KoHEnur, Parth Parekh
5 Shik Shik Shik (feat. Dhee) – Santhosh Narayanan, Gana Muthu, Aditya Ravindran
6 Senti Akhiyan – Sona Mohapatra, Ram Sampath
7 Tumi – Nihira Joshi Deshpande, Santanu Ghatak, Ashwin Srinivasan
8 Kanavugal Kanden (100,000 Dreams) – Amrit Ramnath
9 Chhaila (Bhoomi 2024) – Shreya Ghoshal x Sunidhi Chauhan, Salim Sulaiman, Shraddha Pandit
10 Vaanmugil – Nishad G, Shashaa Tirupati, Sreekanth Hariharan, Anjana JP, Rishi K
11 Innevanavva – Bindhumalini, Prashanth Techno
12 Nange Allava (Sunjuice) – Sanjith Hegde
13 Puviul Naan (Divya Pasurams) – Ilaiyaraja, Sharreth, Vibhavari Apte Joshi
14 Baat Itni Si – Sheykhar, Pratibha Singh Baghel, Madhubanti Bagchi, Priya Saraiya
15 Kal Wo Hamaara Hai (First Act) – Amaal Mallik, Amole Gupte, Vaibhav Pani
16 Aasai Kooda (Think Indie) – Sai Abhyankar, Sai Smriti
17 Alayazhikal (Kappa Originals) – Neha Nair, Yakzan Gary Pereira
18 Shariyat-e-Dil (Songs of Trance 2) – Amit Trivedi, Papon, Rupali Moghe, A M Turaz
19 Love Like That – Jonita Gandhi feat. Ali Sethi
20 Jiya Laage Na – Rochak Kohli, Mohit Chauhan, Shilpa Rao
21 Din Jo Dhal Gaya – Vishal Bhardwaj, Rekha Bhardwaj
22 Evolution (Celestials) – Lydian Nadhaswaram, Rajhesh Vaidhya, S Akash, Naveen Napier
23 nadaaniyan – Akshat
24 Poti (Yezhundhen Nimirndhen Nadanthen) – Maalavika Sundar
25 Jaagan Jaago – Hriday Gattani
26 Elephant Crossing~(A Late Afternoon Special) – Edwin Raphael, Dhruv Visvanath
27 Le Ja Re – Tapas Kalai, Soultrax
28 Jatra (Voyage 2) – Dhruv Ghanekar, Vaishali Samant, Gina Mirenda
29 Mere Saamne – Santanu Ghatak, Ronkini Gupta, Irtiza-Asad
30 Kaafi Ho – Kakkey

Telugu

Playlists: Apple | Spotify | YouTube

One of my favourites from the industry, Vivek Sagar, had a great 2024, featuring in a bunch of soundtracks that I enjoyed, although he was a surprising omission in Vivek Athreya’s Saripodhaa Sanivaaram, considering their previous two collabs. Saripodhaa instead went to Malayali composer Jakes Bejoy who has been steadily increasing his presence across Tamil and Telugu. While on the subject of Malayali composers, Gopi Sunder and Hesham Abdul Wahab also produced some great music this year. And then there were of course the industry regulars delivering the goods.

Web Series

Playlists: Apple | Spotify | YouTube

Like Jubilee and Modern Love Chennai last year, there were two music-heavy (more specifically classical music-heavy) web series in 2024 as well – Heeramandi and Bandish Bandits 2. The former being Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s directorial debut (and composing debut, of course) in the web series space, and the latter the second instalment of the musical series that had previously had SEL at its helm. The makers decided to give a large chunk of Bandish Bandits 2 soundtrack to a bunch of relatively newer crop of composers, and they came through wonderfully – pretty much matching the quality of the first season! Citadel: Honey Bunny, Raj and DK’s Indian spinoff of the international series, also featured some great songs. Since I did not have the time to delve into music from web series from around the country in much detail, the list is largely focused on Hindi language series, with a smattering of Malayalam and Tamil.

1 Chaudhavi Shab (Heeramandi – Hindi) – Sanjay Leela Bhansali|A M Turaz|Shreya Ghoshal
2 Sur Hi Parmaatma (Bandish Bandits 2 – Hindi) – Siddharth Mahadevan-Souumil Shringarpure|Sameer Samant|Shankar Mahadevan
3 Ghum Hain Kahin (Citadel: Honey Bunny – Hindi) – Aman Pant|Ramil Ganjoo, Akhil Tiwari|Papon
4 Paathi Murinju (Manorathangal – Malayalam) – Ouseppachan|Shibu Chakravarthy|Sithara Krishnakumar
5 Khwaab (Panchayat Season 3 – Hindi) – Anurag Saikia|JUNO|Gauranga Shekhar
6 Sapnon Ka Karobaar (Tribhuvan Mishra CA Topper – Hindi) – Ram Sampath|Farhan Memon|Meenal Jain
7 Saiyyan Hatto Jaao (Heeramandi – Hindi) – Sanjay Leela Bhansali|A M Turaz|Barnali Chattopadhyay
8 Hichki 2.0 (Bandish Bandits 2 – Hindi) – Siddharth Pandit|Alok Ranjan Srivastava|Swaroop Khan, Poorvi Koutish
9 Yeh Safar (Citadel: Honey Bunny – Hindi) – Sachin-Jigar|Priya Saraiya|Shilpa Rao, Osho Jain
10 Ee Naadu (Perilloor Premier League – Malayalam) – Mujeeb Majeed|Shabareesh Varma|tsoj
11 Jee Loon (Gyaarah Gyaarah – Hindi) – Taliz|Ginny Diwan, Rahi Sayed|Arijit Singh
12 Khwaish Adhoori (Call Me Bae – Hindi) – Rochak Kohli|Gurpreet Saini|Akanksha Sethi
13 Zaroori Toh Nahi (Citadel: Honey Bunny – Hindi) – Aman Pant|Akhil Tiwari|Kinjal Chatterjee
14 Kannadi Kadhal (Inspector Rishi – Tamil) – Ashwath|Bagavathy P K|Kapil Kapilan, Pop Shalini
15 Pyaar Hai (Mismatched 3 – Hindi) – Pina Colada Blues|Sagar Verma|Samahita Narang
16 Saavan Mohe (Bandish Bandits 2 – Hindi) – Siddharth Mahadevan-Souumil Shringarpure|Sameer Samant|Ankita Joshi, Krishna Bongane
17 Ek Baar Dekh Lijiye (Heeramandi – Hindi) – Sanjay Leela Bhansali|A M Turaz|Kalpana Gandharva
18 Eerolli (Perilloor Premier League – Malayalam) – Mujeeb Majeed|Suhail Koya|Sai Prabha
19 Door Hue (Tribhuvan Mishra CA Topper – Hindi) – Ram Sampath|Puneet Krishna|Shreya Ghoshal
20 Thalavara Muriyave (Jai Mahendran – Malayalam) – Siddharth Pradeep|Arjun Ranjan|Bharath K Rajesh
21 Ishq Hai (Mismatched 3) – Anurag Saikia|Raj Shekhar|Romy, Amarabha Banerjee
22 Janaliloode (Manorathangal – Malayalam) – Bijibal|Santhosh Varma|Sowmya Ramakrishnan
23 Aasmaan Rootha (Panchayat Season 3 – Hindi) – Anurag Saikia|JUNO|Swanand Kirkire
24 Aashiyan (Love Storiyaan – Hindi) – Shantanu Dutta|Neha Karode|Jonita Gandhi
25 Kya Karun (Call Me Bae – Hindi) – Pranay Parti|Pranay Parti|Danish Sood

Kannada

Playlists: Apple | Spotify | YouTube

As usual, my Kannada list is a compilation of songs I loved from the few composers I keenly follow – Ajaneesh Loknath, Charan Raj, Arjun Janya, Judah Sandhy, Nakul Abhyankar, Vasuki Vaibhav etc. There wasn’t anything that stood out to the level of Sapta Sagaradache Ello from last year, but some good music from across the board all the same.

Marathi

Playlists: Apple | Spotify | YouTube

Finally, Marathi. Just like with Kannada, a selection of songs from composers I love from the industry. Have to say the spread was a bit disappointing – people like AV Prafullachandra and Hrishikesh-Saurabh-Jasraj not featuring at all for instance. So much so that I had to choose the soundtrack of a movie that is only releasing in 2025, to make up the numbers. But that is a soundtrack I do want to talk about – Sangeet Maanapmaan, Shankar Ehsaan Loy’s return to Marathi industry after Katyar Kaljat Ghusali, and it is an equally monstrous soundtrack! Very classical-oriented and featuring a spectacular lineup of musicians; I am very surprised at how under the radar this album has gone. I really hope it gets its flowers when the movie is out later this year. I am also hoping to review it at some point. I have featured four of the songs in this list, but do make sure to check out the entire soundtrack – it has 14 songs!

The post Music Aloud Playback – Best Indian Songs of 2024! first appeared on Music Aloud.

Amar Singh Chamkila – Music Review (Bollywood Soundtrack) 11 May 2024 9:12 AM (11 months ago)

Soundtrack credits at the end.

Last year, while reviewing Amit Trivedi and Kausar Munir’s outstanding work in Jubilee, the track I named as my favourite was Saare Ke Saare, a composition that seemed like a tribute to Yeh Duniya Agar Mil Bhi Jaaye and Dekhi Zamaane Ki Yaari. In Amar Singh Chamkila too, my favourite song from A R Rahman and Irshad Kamil feels like a nod to Yeh Duniya in spirit; an artist lamenting and giving up on a society that treated them unkindly. Even musically, Vida Karo is crafted as a retro Hindi melody a la the Burmans etc (shades of khamaj raaga I thought, which incidentally the Burmans have employed for some real gems), except with a mix of Punjabi words (in which Kamil appears to tip his hat to Shivkumar Batalvi, who had a poem by the same title). Rahman keeps the orchestration at a minimal level; the gentle use of flute, piano and strings immensely accentuate the poignancy of the track. But it is the main man behind the mic – Arijit Singh – who truly makes you feel that lump in your throat with his measured yet incredibly effective delivery, reminiscent of yesteryear legends. And just as you are soaking in Arijit’s vocals, the composer – as he has done multiple times in the past to fantastic effect – throws a second voice late into the mix, the incredible Jonita Gandhi who matches the former pound for pound. The harmonies involving both singers in the final iteration of the opening verse is truly one of the highlights of the song. Ishq Mitaaye is a track very much identifiable as an ARR piece from an Imtiaz Ali movie (and not least because it is fronted by Mohit Chauhan ) – there’s a bit of Wat Wat Wat (Tamasha), Sheher Mein (Rockstar) etc about it. A routine Punjabi flavoured track that soars around the segments where the chorus joins Mohit (felt a bit of shivaranjani raaga flavour in these parts). The Main Hoon Panjab phrase packs quite a punch, especially with the context of the situation the song appears in the movie. It comes with a great visualisation as well. Another piece that is wonderfully choreographed in the movie is Naram Kaalja, a folk-heavy (and risqué) dance number that has the ladies of the film voicing their wildest desires – Irshad Kamil sort of flipping the narrative, as it were. Alka Yagnik, Richa Sharma, Pooja Tiwari and Yashika Sikka lead the vocals here that strike a fine balance between attitude and fun – the backing vocalists are also in great form with their little touches; loved that haaye mar jaawaan main gud khaake at the end of the second stanza! That said, I would have preferred a younger voice in place of Alka. Lovely woodwind solos by Paras Nath stand out in the instrumental passages, starting with the jodiya pava (I think) in the prelude.

The instrument that Amar Singh Chamkila is almost always seen with, the tumbi, finds its appearance in multiple songs from the album, understandably, but the best and most prominent use of the instrument happens in Tu Kya Jaane. A charming romantic melody from the composer, Tu Kya Jaane is a solo act by Yashika Sikka (is it just me or does she sound a bit like Neeti Mohan?), one that the singer knocks out of the park! So much to love about the singing here, like the multiple variations of the Tu Kya Jaane line (the movie version of the song features even more of these), especially that touch of melancholy every time she sings Tu Kya Jaane Meri Jaan instead of Tu Kya Jaane Mere Yaar. Also worth mentioning is the humming outro where the singer builds beautifully on the sarod solo (it sounds like sarod to me, but weirdly there is no sarod mentioned in credits – wonder if SM Subhani produced this sound on a banjo) from the first interlude. The dholak-led percussion brought to mind some iconic ARR compositions in a similar genre and mood, like Saawariya Saawariya and Kurukku Sirutthavale/Chalo Chale Mitwa. I have not been a big fan of ARR’s compositions in recent movies where he tries to pack multiple songs into one song. However, the composer’s paean to Amar Singh Chamkila titled Baaja is one case where those multifarious parts come together quite nicely. Although I am still bummed about how the ethereal opening segment by Suryansh gets cut off abruptly, the high energy bits that follow are entertaining as well, helped by the efforts of Mohit Chauhan, who plays the bard role very effectively, both behind the mic and – surprisingly – on-screen! Accompanying the opening credits, the song quite comprehensively sums up what Chamkila achieved with his songs, and the tumultuous period during which he did so – and therefore takes on an anthemic tone at times (a bit of sindhubhairavi raaga I think). Irshad Kamil is in incredible form here; his lines replete with colourful usages like social darinda (which he incidentally also employed in Imtiaz Ali’s previous film Love Aaj Kal, in the song Parmeshwara). Rahman’s orchestration here grows in intensity and grandness as it progresses, building up to a crescendo of sorts. It was also nice to hear a favourite of mine, Romy, debut with Rahman – his voice is quite prominent towards the frenetic closing segment. In Bol Mohabbat, the lyricist incorporates Baba Bulleh Shah’s words that perfectly encapsulate the essence of Chamkila’s quote from the preceding sequence. It isn’t the composer’s first day at the rodeo when it comes to adapting Bulleh Shah’s lines for sufi songs of course (I get a strong feeling that I have heard the mainu apni tod nibhavan de line in another ARR song, but I am unable to place it), so it comes as no surprise that the composition turns out as impactful it is. Rahman helms the vocals as well, and the instrumentation featuring the frame drum, an oud-like plucked string et al keep the sound quite rustic. Great piece to bring the fine soundtrack to a close.

Six songs that last just over 28 minutes. This is probably the shortest Imtiaz Ali movie soundtrack ever. But it is by no means less enjoyable than those previous soundtracks. It is amazing that after extracting two great soundtracks out of Pritam in his last two projects, the man just gets back with ARR and produces another beauty like it’s no big deal! Long may these partnerships continue!

PS: I have not included Amar Singh Chamkila’s original compositions featured throughout the movie in my review, more out of lack of time than anything else. So had to make a mention of Diljit Dosanjh and Parineeti Chopra’s wonderful delivery of those songs. Also I loved how the Hindi translations were presented on screen!

Music Aloud Rating: 4/5

Top recos: Vida Karo, Tu Kya Jaane, Baaja

Soundtrack Credits

Songs Composed, Produced, Arranged by A.R. Rahman

Lyrics by Irshad Kamil

Music Supervisor – Hiral Viradia

Mixed and Mastered by Nitish R Kumar

Vida Karo

Singers: Arijit Singh, Jonita Gandhi

Additional Vocals: Hiral Viradia

Flute: Nikhil Ram

Chennai Strings Orchestra conducted by: Prabhakaran

Score transcribed by: Samarth Srinivasan

Tu Kya Jaane

Singer: Yashika Sikka

Additional Vocals: Sarthak Kalyani

Percussions and Tumbi: Vijay Yamla

Mandolin and Banjo: SM Subhani

Bass: Keith Peters

Baaja

Singers: Mohit Chauhan, Romy, Suryansh, Inderpreet Singh

Additional Vocals: Hriday Gattani, Dilshad Shaikh, Tajinder Singh, Devender Pal Singh, Aasa Singh, Arvinder Singh, Sarthak Kalyani, Gurtaj, Alka Yagnik, Hiral Viradia, Yashika Sikka, Divya Iyer, Aanandi Joshi, Poorvi Koutish

Live Rhythm played by: Omkar Salunkhe, Keyur Barve, Gautam Sharma, Arun Solanki, Deepak Bhatt

Live Rhythm arranged by: Parag Chhabra

Flute: Ashish Venkateswaran

Additional Orchestration by: Shubham Bhat

Sunshine Brass: Conducted by Lisa Sarasini

Chennai Strings Orchestra: Conducted by Yensone

Scores transcribed by: Samarth Srinivasan

Naram Kaalja

Singers: Alka Yagnik, Richa Sharma, Pooja Tiwari, Yashika Sikka

Additional Vocals: Pinky Maidasani, Shifa Ruby, Meenu Kale

Rhythm: Omkar Salunkhe, Hanif Aslam, Pratap Rath

Additional Rhythm Arrangement: Parag Chhabra

Flute: Paras Nath

Bass: Keith Peters

Ishq Mitaaye

Singer: Mohit Chauhan

Additional Vocals: Harshil Pathak, Sarthak Kalyani, Inderpreet Singh, Romy, Aasa Singh, Arvinder Singh

Bol Mohabbat

Singers: A R Rahman, Kailash Kher

Additional Vocals: Suryansh, Sarthak Kalyani

Frame Drums: Hamta Baghi

Additional Programming: Sarthak Kalyani

Sound Engineers :-

Panchathan Record Inn, Chennai

Senior engineers – Suresh Permal, Karthik Sekaran

Recording engineers – Sreekanth Hariharan, Sarath Santosh

Assisting engineers – Aravind Crescendo, Suryansh, Sathish V Saravanan

Panchathan Studios, Mumbai

Recording engineers – Dilshaad Shabbir Shaikh, Nitish R Kumar

Assisting Engineers- Harshil Pathak, Naval Chikhkiya

Head of Technical Services – Riyasdeen Riyan

Dolby Atmos Music – Riyasdeen Riyan

Musician Coordinators – R Samidurai, Abdul Hayum

The post Amar Singh Chamkila – Music Review (Bollywood Soundtrack) first appeared on Music Aloud.

Aadujeevitham (The Goat Life) – Music Review 27 Mar 2024 2:54 AM (last year)

Songs and soundtrack credits at the end.

Palestinian singer Sanaa Moussa, who previously featured in composer A R Rahman’s Muhammad: The Messenger of God and Dil Bechara (and interestingly had a special mention in Mimi despite not singing, perhaps for some kind of consultative role) delivers a folk song from her homeland titled Badaweih in Aadujeevitham. A song that relies almost exclusively on the singer’s skills as the composer keeps the backdrop very minimal and expansive (reflective of the landscape the visuals are likely to be set in, I reckon). And Sanaa delivers spectacularly, making the Arabic nuances sound deceptively simple, the way she sings it. The gospel choir-esque cameo from Deepthi Suresh is a lovely addition to the proceedings. Keeping up with the recent trend in ARR-composed movies, of having a promo song video featuring the musician, is the Hope Song. One that, as the title suggests, conveys a message of hope in these chaotic times. Five lyricists representing five different languages (Rafeeq Ahammed in Malayalam, Vivek in Tamil, Ramajogayya Shastry in Telugu, Jayant Kaikini in Kannada and Prasoon Joshi in Hindi) join hands with ARR to piece together this multilingual track that comes across as unremarkable, and heard-before despite all of their efforts. We have had some classics in this genre from the man, and this one doesn’t quite compare. Omane seems to be representative of the very few happy moments in the film; the romance between the lead pair leading up to their wedding, indicated by the oppana (celebratory dance form among Muslims) segment that the song segues into halfway through. There is a “set around water” kind of feel about the use of strings and percussion in this song (which the lyric video seems to reflect as well) – not sure if this is a deliberate choice to contrast with how the protagonist’s life turns out in the aridness of the desert. While Chinmayi’s singing is on point (some mispronunciations aside), her parts in this song did not quite work for me, something about the lyrical progression especially in the initial portions doesn’t really seem to gel well with the melody. Ergo, it is the chorus segment in the interlude and the oppana by Rakshita Suresh that I keep going back to. The transition from the oppana bit back to the main melody is really well done though, and Vijay Yesudas’s cameo deserves a mention too, particularly in the first stanza where his introduction happens alongside the gentle strains of the tabla tarang.

In a conversation with A R Rahman on Aadujeevitham’s official YouTube channel, Prithviraj says that the protagonist’s journey is about spirituality and faith, in a lot of ways. So, it doesn’t come as a surprise to see the composer knock it out of the park with the more spiritual themed songs. Istigfar brings to mind songs like Zikr (Bose The Forgotten Hero), songs where ARR eschews the filmi elements and produces a raw, honest to roots sufi piece that almost puts you in a trance. Adding immensely to the song’s feel is the heart-rendingly brilliant rendition by Faiz Mustafa (what a talent!), Raja Hasan (not sure if this is his first song for ARR; what a song to debut with, if so) and one of Rahman’s regular collaborators, Murtuza Mustafa (for the uninitiated, Faiz is Murtuza’s son). Felt shades of chakravaakam/ahir bhairav raga at times, although I could be wrong. And I found it quite fitting that the composer chose to end the song with the sallallahu alayhi wa sallam phrase that also closes out another iconic sufi song of his – Kun Faya Kun. If Istigfar hit you in the feels, wait till you listen to Periyone. It was not long ago that I reviewed a gorgeous song set to a seven beat cycle, Dheeme Dheeme in Laapataa Ladies. It was such a joy to listen to another belter in the same category here! Well, joy is not exactly the emotion you come away with after this one, especially if you have read the book as well. A melancholic tune (possibly gowri manohari raga?) that the very talented Jithin Raj aces, aided by Rafeeq Ahammed’s lines that are effective in conveying the longing and anguish – some water references here as well, to presumably drive home that earlier-mentioned contrast. Wonderful use of sarod and oboe (I think) in the two interludes. Navin Chander’s flute version of the song titled Benevolent Breeze adds one more layer of wistfulness for the fans – throwback to a time when ARR soundtracks used to feature an instrumental version of a track (or more). Can’t remember the last one before this, perhaps it was Sanjeev Thomas’s guitar rendition of Meherbaan (Ada). Coming back to the song here, Navin recreates the song’s melody to a tee. The chorus that sings the Periyone refrain etc in the main song are employed to add a lovely harmonic layer of humming here.

Aadujeevitham (The Goat Life). A R Rahman’s second Malayalam soundtrack in two years sees two of the most poignant sufi pieces he has created in quite some time!

PS: I wish the release and marketing of the songs had been handled better; the soundtrack is still available in three parts on Spotify, Apple etc.! And the lyric video for Omane looks to be very shoddily transcribed. Hopefully the makers address these issues soon.

Music Aloud Rating: 3.5/5

Top Recos: Periyone, Istigfar, Benevolent Breeze, Badaweih

https://youtube.com/watch?v=E3suzWn_twA%3Fsi%3DqKNdK00icVtT-ujp

Soundtrack Credits

OMANE

SONG COMPOSED, PRODUCED AND ARRANGED BY
AR RAHMAN

LYRICS
RAFIQ AHAMED
SINGER
VIJAY YESUDAS, CHINMAYI SRIPADA, RAKSHITA SURESH

ADDITIONAL VOCALS
NAKUL ABHYANKAR, SURYANSH, APARNA HARIKUMAR

MUSIC SUPERVISOR
PRASHANTH VENKAT

PROJECT MANAGER
KARTHIK SEKARAN

LANGUAGE SUPERVISOR
ARAVIND CRESCENDO

ADDITIONAL PROGRAMMING
HENRY KURUVILLA, PRASHANTH VENKAT, NAKUL ABHYANKAR, SURYANSH

MUSICIANS
TABLA TARANG – SAI SHRAVANAM
CHENNAI STRINGS AND SUNSHINE ORCHESTRA
CONDUCTED BY JERRY VINCENT
SUPERVISED BY SHUBAM BHAT

SOUND ENGINEERS
PANCHATHAN RECORD INN
SENIOR ENGINEERS
SURESH PERMAL, KARTHIK SEKARAN
ASSISTANT ENGINEERS
ARAVIND CRESCENDO, SATHISH V SARAVANAN

AM STUDIO
AINUL HUQ, BHARAT ARJUNAN

RECORDING ENGINEERS
SREEKANTH HARIHARAN

MIXED AND MASTERED BY
SURESH PERMAL

DOLBY MUSIC MIXED AND MASTERED BY
RIYASDEEN RIYAN

HEAD OF TECHNICAL SERVICE
RIYASDEEN RIYAN

MUSICIAN COORDINATOR
SAMIDURAI R, ABDUL HAIYUM

PERIYONE

SONG COMPOSED, PRODUCED AND ARRANGED BY
AR RAHMAN

LYRICS
RAFIQ AHAMED
SINGER
JITHIN RAJ

BACKING VOCALS
SREEKANTH HARIHARAN, SARATH SANTOSH, ARAVIND SRINIVAS, SHENBAGARAJ, APARNA HARIKUMAR, ANU ANAND, DEEPTHI SURESH, POOJA VENKAT

MUSIC SUPERVISOR
PRASHANTH VENKAT

VOCAL ARRANGEMENT
SURYANSH

PROJECT MANAGER
KARTHIK SEKARAN

LANGUAGE SUPERVISOR
ARAVIND CRESCENDO

MUSICIANS
PLUCKED INSTRUMENTS – SUBHANI
PERCUSSION – HARIPRASAD
STRINGS – SUNSHINE ORCHESTRA
CONDUCTED BY JERRY VINCENT
SUPERVISED BY SHUBAM BHAT

SOUND ENGINEERS
PANCHATHAN RECORD INN
SENIOR ENGINEERS
SURESH PERMAL, KARTHIK SEKARAN
ASSISTANT ENGINEERS
ARAVIND CRESCENDO, SATHISH V SARAVANAN

RECORDING ENGINEERS
SREEKANTH HARIHARAN, SARATH SANTOSH

MIXED AND MASTERED BY
SURESH PERMAL

DOLBY MUSIC MIXED AND MASTERED BY
RIYASDEEN RIYAN

HEAD OF TECHNICAL SERVICE
RIYASDEEN RIYAN

MUSICIAN COORDINATOR: SAMIDURAI R, ABDUL HAIYUM

BADAWEIH

PALESTINIAN FOLK SONG

MUSIC ARRANGED BY
AR RAHMAN

SINGER
SANAA MOUSSA – PALESTINE

ADDITIONAL VOCALS
DEEPTHI SURESH

MUSIC SUPERVISOR
PRASHANTH VENKAT

PROJECT MANAGER
KARTHIK SEKARAN

LANGUAGE SUPERVISOR
ARAVIND CRESCENDO

MUSICIANS
CHENNAI STRINGS
CONDUCTED BY JERRY VINCENT
SUPERVISED BY SHUBAM BHAT

SOUND ENGINEERS
PANCHATHAN RECORD INN
SENIOR ENGINEERS
SURESH PERMAL, KARTHIK SEKARAN
ASSISTANT ENGINEERS
ARAVIND CRESCENDO, SATHISH V SARAVANAN

AM STUDIO
AINUL HUQ, BHARAT ARJUNAN

MIXED AND MASTERED BY
SURESH PERMAL

DOLBY MUSIC MIXED AND MASTERED BY
RIYASDEEN RIYAN

HEAD OF TECHNICAL SERVICE
RIYASDEEN RIYAN

MUSICIAN COORDINATOR: SAMIDURAI R, ABDUL HAIYUM

BENEVOLENT BREEZE

SONG COMPOSED, PRODUCED AND ARRANGED BY
AR RAHMAN

FLUTE
NAVIN CHANDER

MUSIC SUPERVISOR
PRASHANTH VENKAT

PROJECT MANAGER
KARTHIK SEKARAN

LANGUAGE SUPERVISOR
ARAVIND CRESCENDO

MUSICIANS
PLUCKED INSTRUMENTS – SUBHANI
PERCUSSION – HARIPRASAD

SOUND ENGINEERS
PANCHATHAN RECORD INN
SENIOR ENGINEERS
SURESH PERMAL, KARTHIK SEKARAN
ASSISTANT ENGINEERS
ARAVIND CRESCENDO, SATHISH V SARAVANAN

MIXED AND MASTERED BY
SURESH PERMAL

DOLBY MUSIC MIXED AND MASTERED BY
RIYASDEEN RIYAN

HEAD OF TECHNICAL SERVICE
RIYASDEEN RIYAN

MUSICIAN COORDINATOR: SAMIDURAI R, ABDUL HAIYUM

ISTIGFAR

SONG COMPOSED, PRODUCED AND ARRANGED BY
AR RAHMAN
LYRICS
A R RAHMAN

SINGER
RAJA HASAN, FAIZ MUSTAFA

MUSIC SUPERVISOR
PRASHANTH VENKAT

PROJECT MANAGER
KARTHIK SEKARAN

LANGUAGE SUPERVISOR
ARAVIND CRESCENDO

PERCUSSION
HARIPRASAD

ADDITIONAL VOCALS
MURTUZA MUSTAFA

SOUND ENGINEERS
PANCHATHAN RECORD INN
SENIOR ENGINEERS
SURESH PERMAL, KARTHIK SEKARAN
ASSISTANT ENGINEERS
ARAVIND CRESCENDO, SATHISH V SARAVANAN

MIXED AND MASTERED BY
SURESH PERMAL

DOLBY MUSIC MIXED AND MASTERED BY
RIYASDEEN RIYAN

HEAD OF TECHNICAL SERVICE
RIYASDEEN RIYAN

MUSICIAN COORDINATOR
SAMIDURAI R, ABDUL HAIYUM

The post Aadujeevitham (The Goat Life) – Music Review first appeared on Music Aloud.

Laapataa Ladies – Music Review (Bollywood Soundtrack) 29 Feb 2024 4:32 PM (last year)

Songs and complete soundtrack credits at the end.

If I were to rank my favourite musical instruments, one of the top entries would definitely be reserved for the African kora. An instrument that imparts an incredibly calming vibe, and therefore is often part of songs tend to be in that zone as well (remember this song from Raavan/Raavanan?). It is also an instrument that is unfortunately rarely employed in Indian music, so I have to rely on world music, or catching the instrument live (like this street performance I stumbled upon the other day). It was therefore that my ears perked up when I first listened to Sajni and heard strains of what sounded like kora kicking off the song. Got hold of the credits, and indeed it is Senegalese musician Vieux Cissokho at work. Cissokho and Bennett Sullivan on the mandolin (both instruments nicely complementing each other) dominate the backdrop of this wistful tune, even as Arijit Singh delivers the goods on the vocal front with practised ease. My favourite lines from the soundtrack appear in Doubtwa –Divyanidhi Sharma’s (also the movie’s additional dialogue writer) quirky mix of English and rustic phrases form the soul of this lively track where composer Ram Sampath smartly crafts an intriguing-yet-frivolous kind of a piece (love the use of horns!). And he could not have gotten a better candidate than Sukhwinder Singh (in fact the composer gets his choice of vocalists absolutely spot on for all four tracks) to sing this one – listening to the singer here made me think of songs in similar settings he has sung in the past, especially for Vishal Bhardwaj.

Nearly 11 years after he did a Beda Paar in Fukrey, Ram Sampath creates a second song under the same title – this time with lyricist Prashant Pandey – in Laapataa Ladies. And I am happy to report that this one has turned out way better than the older track, with its engaging folk melody delivered wonderfully by Sona Mohapatra and a zesty arrangement highlighted by the gabgubi, harmonium and mandolin. The album’s longest and best song goes to Shreya Ghoshal, who is unsurprisingly terrific on her part. The fact that this one is set to a seven beat cycle and is written by Swanand Kirkire brings to mind a song from the same team for Satyamev Jayate way back in 2012, O Ri Chiraiyya. While the similarity between the two songs pretty much ends with the abovementioned aspects, Dheeme Dheeme is as heart-tugging as O Ri Chiraiyya. Cracker of a tune which the composer treats gently, with very understated instrumentation – which reflects in the way Pratikhya Sharma’s backing vocals are employed as well. And the bonus – like kora in Sajni, here it is the harp, played by Lara Somogyi, accentuating the song’s soothing vibes. Love how the final minute is primarily an improv bit from Shreya to see out the song – nice touch that.

After a long break post Raees, it is good to see Ram Sampath compose for two movies in as many years. In Laapataa Ladies he also gets back with Aamir Khan Productions, a production house with which the man has had most success. And here too he comes up with a well-realised soundtrack, although I do wish it had more songs and that three of the four songs weren’t half-size. Nevertheless, hope to see the composer as active, if not more active, in the coming months!

Music Aloud Rating: 3.5/5

Top Recos: It’s just 4 songs lasting under 13 minutes, go listen to the whole thing!

Soundtrack Credits

Song name : Beda Paar
Composed By : Ram Sampath
Lyricist : Prashant Pandey
Singer : Sona Mohapatra
Music Arranged & Produced by : Ram Sampath & John Paul
Music Supervisor : Vrashal Chavan
Recorded & Mixed at Omgrown Music, Mumbai by Amey Wadibhasme
Mastered by Gethin John at Hafod Mastering
Backing Vocals : Shehnaaz Khan
Additional Arrangements : Nalin Vinayak

Song name : Doubtwa
Composed By : Ram Sampath
Lyricist : Divyanidhi Sharma
Singer : Sukhwinder Singh
Music Arranged & Produced by : Ram Sampath
Music Supervisor : Vrashal Chavan
Recorded & Mixed at Omgrown Music, Mumbai by Amey Wadibhasme
Mastered by Gethin John at Hafod Mastering
Backing Vocals : Alvin Presley & Ram Sampath
Additional Arrangements : Nalin Vinayak

Song name : Sajni
Composed By : Ram Sampath
Lyricist : Prashant Pandey
Singer : Arijit Singh
Music Arranged & Produced by : Ram Sampath
Music Supervisor : Vrashal Chavan
Recorded & Mixed at Omgrown Music, Mumbai by Amey Wadibhasme
Mastered by Gethin John at Hafod Mastering
Vocal Recordist : Sukanto Singha
Vocal Editor : Prithviraj Sarkar
Kora played by Vieux Cissokho
Mandolin & Dobro played by Bennett Sullivan

Song name : Dheeme Dheeme
Composed By : Ram Sampath
Lyricist : Swanand Kirkire
Singer : Shreya Ghoshal
Music Arranged & Produced by : Ram Sampath & Arabinda Neog
Music Supervisor : Vrashal Chavan
Recorded & Mixed at Omgrown Music, Mumbai by Amey Wadibhasme
Mastered by Gethin John at Hafod Mastering
Backing Vocals : Pratikhya Sarma
Violin & Viola played by Kailash Patra
Recorded at Neo Sound By Pranjal Borah & at A-Ray Studio by Monor Kotha
Harp played by Lara Somogyi
Additional Arrangements : Nalin Vinayak

Score credits

Music Composed By : Ram Sampath
Music Arranged & Produced By : Ram Sampath
Music Supervisor : Vrashal Chavan
Additional Arrangements : Nalin Vinayak & John Paul
Recorded, Mixed & Mastered at Omgrown Music, Mumbai by Amey Wadibhasme

The post Laapataa Ladies – Music Review (Bollywood Soundtrack) first appeared on Music Aloud.

All India Rank – Music Review (Bollywood) 26 Feb 2024 9:29 AM (last year)

Songs and complete credits at the end (It is nice to see complete and properly annotated credits for the songs, with proper lyrical subtitles etc. Just an example of people who actually care about film songs putting them up for public consumption)

While working on my annual roundup for 2023 late last year, I noticed All India Rank among the 2023 movies listed in wiki, and was disappointed to see no songs associated with a movie directed by Varun Grover of all people. So it was really a happy surprise to notice the first single from the movie come out a few days back, and a full soundtrack soon after that. Which brings us to this review. The movie obviously released in cinemas on Friday, and one of the points common across reviews has been how this movie succeeds in evoking that 90s nostalgia. And this is mostly true of the movie’s songs as well. While introducing Noodle Sa Dil, Grover put out an amusing tweet about how they wanted to adapt Biddu-Alisha Chinai’s Made In India but ended up making it a tribute song due to budgetary reasons. And the song indeed a solid tribute, armed with a wonderfully done animation video that is full of 90s references, and Aditi Paul modulating her voice well to suit the era. Musically, however, debutant composers Mayukh-Mainak seem to draw more from a slightly older era of disco – Biddu’s own Nazia Hassan track Boom Boom was one of the songs that kept playing in my head as I listened to this one. Thoroughly enjoyed this one though, and not sure if Varun intended this, but apart from being a smart simile for the romantic entanglement, I found “noodle” quite a fitting choice of word for a movie that presumably portrays a lot of hostel life. Sab Achchi Baatein Hai has the lyricist in top form in his putdown of the idealism in our textbooks. The fact that one of the lead singers is Bodhisattva Sharma (Araham Khan, the other singer), the movie’s main man, lends well to the informal setting in which the song appears to be delivered.Quite liked the country-ish segues the composers take the song through from time to time. A hat tip also to the lovely flute phrases from Paras Nath. The rap track Choice Hi Nahi by Sumit Roy (who also supplies additional lyrics here) has some hard hitting (and very relatable) words, but musically there isn’t much that stands out here.

Varun’s intro for Theher Zara said that since this is a “sukoon aur thehraav ka geet”, it required a voice that makes us stop and introspect. And the makers do indeed the perfect choice in Vishal Bhardwaj. In the process of recording the veteran though, the composers also seem to have gotten influenced by VB’s repertoire, making Theher Zara sound more like a Vishal Bhardwaj song than a Mayank-Mayukh song. Good composition nevertheless, ID Rao’s sax/clarinet solos being another prominent element in the backdrop contributing effectively to the sukoon factor. My current favourite from the album is Haq Hai, particularly for the brilliantly amusing metaphors that the writer crafts out of engineering entrance fundas! Not to take anything away from the composers’ efforts of course, they produce an immensely hummable folkish tune to go with Grover’s words, and the ever dependable Shahid Mallya to deliver it – the singer seems to have made his voice a bit more nasal, which is a great touch here. Tapas Roy and Rickraj Nath’s work on the plucked strings also deserves a mention. Bringing up the rear of the album is surprisingly a guest composition, a 2021 indie song by Chitrangada Satarupa. While Not A Dream was most likely not composed for this movie, it still is a nice fit thematically. And a nice song too, a pensive melody rendered neatly by the singer-songwriter.

All India Rank. A commendable debut for Mayukh-Mainak, helped hugely by Varun Grover’s words. Even if the songs do not always land, full marks for staying true to the theme of the movie throughout.

Music Aloud Rating: 3.5/5

Top Recos: Haq Hai, Theher Zara, Noodle Sa Dil

https://youtube.com/watch?v=nyMpTdtXJ3w%3Fsi%3DrzKXfV_5dZufufYR

Soundtrack Credits

All songs* composed and arranged by: Mayukh-Mainak
All songs* mixed and mastered by: Rupjit Das
Audio recording engineers: Rupjit Das, Mrinal Kanti Das
Lyrics* by: Varun Grover
Recording Studio: Playhead, Mumbai

(* except Not A Dream)

Sab Achhi Baatein Hain

Singers: Araham Khan, Bodhisattva Sharma
Chorus: Nachiket Lele, Chaitanya Mauli, Shubham Kabra, Arhaan Hussain
Guitars (Acoustic & Bass): Rickraj Nath
Strokes (Banjo, Mandolin & Dotara): Tapas Roy
Flute: Paras Nath
Percussion: Arun N. Solanki
Percussion: Bhaskarjyote Das

Choice Hi Nahin Hai

Singer and Additional Lyrics: Sumit Roy
Track coproduced by: “Roy”/RollsRoys
Keyboard programming: Mayukh – Mainak
Sorolin: Abhijit Mazumdar
Harmonium: Mainak

Noodle Sa Dil

Singer: Aditi Paul
Backing Vocals: Aditi Paul, Shreya Banik Biswas
Keyboard programming: Brince Bora
Guitar: Rickraj Nath

Thehar Zara

Singer: Vishal Bhardwaj
Guitars (Acoustic, Electric, and Bass): Rickraj Nath
Rhythm programmer: Sobuj Mukherjee
Clarinet, Sax: ID Rao
Voice recorded by: Debarpito Saha (Satya Studio)

Haq Hai

Singer: Shahid Mallya
Chorus: Shahid Mallya, Saheb Biswas
Guitars (Acoustic, Electric, & Bass): Rickraj Nath
Strokes (Ektara, Saaz, Mandolin): Tapas Roy
Ravanhatta: Abhijit Mazumdar
Percussions (Dholak, Bongo & Hi Percs) : Bhaskarjyote Das

Not a Dream

Written, composed, and sung by: Chitrangada Satarupa
Arranged and produced by: SambitC
Guitar, percussion, piano, bass and backing vocals by: SambitC
Vocal arrangements by: Isheeta Chakrvarthy
Mixed and mastered by: Adhiraj Singh

The post All India Rank – Music Review (Bollywood) first appeared on Music Aloud.

Music Aloud Playback – Best Indian Songs of 2023! 28 Dec 2023 7:35 AM (last year)

Another year-end, another roundup. 15th edition of this activity that has now become a Christmas tradition for me. This year, I put a bit more effort than usual, partly to make up a bit for the sparsity of posts through the year (apologies about that – I was more focussed on instagram content during the little spare time I had). Which, in case you aren’t following, is musicaloud.gram), but mainly because some of the year’s best music happened in the web series space so I felt it deserved its own category. As a result, this time there are nine lists (10 playlists, including the consolidated one), the most I have ever featured in my roundups. The rest of the drill remains the same – I continue with the top 30 format like I did last year, except with web series, Kannada, Marathi and Coke Studio which are shorter. The naming convention also remains “Song title (Movie/series title) – Music Director(s)|Lyricist(s)|Singer(s)” for most categories. The lists have been arranged in decreasing order of number of songs.

And for those who can’t be arsed to go through the entire post but wish to check out the songs nevertheless, here is a consolidated list on all three platforms for you to enjoy on shuffle! YouTube is the only one that contains all 222 songs. Spotify is 1 track short, and Apple Music 2.

All in One Playlist: Apple | Spotify | YouTube

The artwork this time comes from the awesomely creative @athulct so thanks a bunch to him for these!

Happy listening, and wish you all a wonderful 2024!

Bollywood

Playlist: Apple | Spotify | YouTube

With Bollywood it was pretty much the same story as recent years – the occasional good songs but an entire album being great was a rare occurrence. A lot of my favourites from the year happened in the final quarter, courtesy primarily of messrs Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani and Loy Mendonsa who delivered some terrific music in their three projects (Dono, The Archies, Sam Bahadur). Among the rest, Pritam produced some entertaining music across his three big ticket projects, although by his own standards the albums were a bit underwhelming, especially Dunki. The hitherto infallible combo of Amit Trivedi and Anurag Kashyap finally faltered in Almost Pyaar With DJ Mohabbat – Trivedi did however score a belter in Jubilee, which appears later in this post under web series. The hiphop trend that peaked post Gully Boy seems to have died down a bit, but what did make a comeback this year was long soundtracks – there were a fair few of them.

1 Itni Si Baat (Sam Bahadur) – Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy|Gulzar|Shreya Ghoshal, Sonu Nigam
2 In Raahon Mein (The Archies) – Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy|Javed Akhtar|Arijit Singh
3 Show Me The Thumka (Tu Jhoothi Main Makkar) – Pritam|Amitabh Bhattacharya|Sunidhi Chauhan, Shashwat Singh
4 Duniya (Almost Pyaar With DJ Mohabbat) – Amit Trivedi|Shellee|Abhay Jodhpurkar
5 Chaleya (Jawan) – Anirudh Ravichander|Kumaar|Arijit Singh, Shilpa Rao
6 Kudmayi (Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani) – Pritam|Amitabh Bhattacharya|Sachet Tandon
7 Raangla (Dono) – Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy|Irshad Kamil|Shankar Mahadevan, Pratibha Singh Baghel
8 Nouka Doobi (Lost) – Shantanu Moitra|Swanand Kirkire|Shreya Ghoshal
9 Main Parwaana (Pippa) – A R Rahman|Shellee|Arijit Singh
10 Pehle Bhi Main (Animal) – Vishal Mishra|Raj Shekhar|Vishal Mishra
11 Yeh Nazar (I Love You) – Shor Police|Hussain Haidry|Adnan Sami
12 Phir Aur Kya Chahiye (Zara Hatke Zara Bachke) – Sachin-Jigar|Amitabh Bhattacharya|Arijit Singh
13 Plum Pudding (The Archies) – Ankur Tewari, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy|Shibani Akhtar, Zoya Akhtar|Ankur Tewari, Shibani Akhtar, Zoya Akhtar
14 Phir Se Aaj (Mast Mein Rehne Ka) – Anurag Saikia|Vijay Maurya|Mohan Kannan
15 Hori Mein (Gulmohar) – Siddhartha Khosla, Alan Demoss|Shellee|Kavita Seth
16 What Jhumka? (Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani) – Pritam|Amitabh Bhattacharya|Arijit Singh, Jonita Gandhi
17 Tanhai (Khufiya) – Vishal Bhardwaj|Gulzar|Sunidhi Chauhan/Kiran+Nivi
18 Chal Ve Watna (Dunki) – Pritam|Varun Grover|Javed Ali
19 I Wanna See You Dance (Kho Gaye Hum Kahaan) – Sachin-Jigar|Ankur Tewari|Saba Azad
20 Tu Jo Hai (Kadak Singh) – Shantanu Moitra|Tanveer Ghazi Shreya Ghoshal
21 Khoya Tu Kahaan (Blind) – Shor Police|Shloke Lal|Vishal Dadlani
22 Nikar Chalo Re (Kathal – A Jackfruit Mystery) – Ram Sampath|Ashok Mishra|Sona Mohapatra
23 Jamal Kudu (Animal) – Traditional Iranian Bandari music reinterpreted by Harshavardhan Rameshwar
24 Tere Pyaar Mein (Tu Jhoothi Main Makkar) – Pritam|Amitabh Bhattacharya|Arijit Singh, Nikhita Gandhi
25 Dil Dariya (Shiv Shastri Balboa) – Alokananda Dasgupta|Rajeshwari Dasgupta Ghose|Nayantara Bhatkal
26 Khamma Ghani (Dono) – Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy|Irshad Kamil|Shreya Ghoshal, Shivam Mahadevan
27 Asymmetrical (The Archies) – Aditi “Dot” Saigal|Aditi “Dot” Saigal|Aditi “Dot” Saigal, Tejas
28 Kabhi Kabhi Zindagi (Mast Mein Rehne Ka) – Shailendra Barve|Vijay Maurya|Vijay Prakash
29 Dhak Dhak (Dhak Dhak) – Rishi Dutta|Baba Bulleh Shah, Kundan Vidyarthi|Sunidhi Chauhan, Jatinder Singh
30 Jaan Da (Tejas) – Shashwat Sachdev|Kumaar|Shreya Ghoshal

Malayalam

Vishnu Vijay created some brilliantly groovy tunes in Thallumaala last year. His follow-up this year in Sulaikha Manzil felt a bit too derivative of the former, being based in similar genres etc. Instead we had Sushin Shyam producing a banger with Romaancham – this one was more electronic and hiphop than folk-based, but extremely effective all the same. The year belonged to Govind Vasantha though, the composer was very busy in the industry (and in Tamil as well) and delivered with terrific consistency! Sam CS was another composer who made his presence felt prominently across Malayalam and Tamil. At this point I need to mention an album that I have excluded from the ranking, because the songs were all recreations. I refer to Bijibal and Rex Vijayan’s work in Neelavelicham which I absolutely loved. There was very little chance that fans of the original classic were going to view this album sans a comparison with the original, but I felt that what the composers did here was really respectful of Baburaj’s work, and they got the singer choices pretty spot on as well. So a hat tip to them for the work. Folk influence in Malayalam film music continued unabated this year as well. In fact composers ventured into new territories within the genre this time; there was a Maappila Ramayanam adaptatation (Laama Laama – Bhagavan Dasante Ramarajyam) and a song that seemed to draw inspiration from Thullal Paattu (Pandaaradangaan – Adi) among others. There was also a posthumous album release – Section 306 IPC composed by Kaithapram Vishwanathan; tomorrow is his second death anniversary.

Playlist: Apple | Spotify | YouTube

1 Aadharaanjali (Romaancham) – Sushin Shyam|Vinayak Sasikumar|Sushin Shyam, Madhuvanti Narayanan
2 Snehadweepile (Little Miss Rawther) – Govind Vasantha|Anwar Ali|Pradeep Kumar, Chinmayi
3 Neela Nilave (RDX) – Sam CS|Manu Manjith|Kapil Kapilan/Shweta Mohan
4 Haalaake Maarunne (Sulaikha Manzil) – Vishnu Vijay|Mu.Ri|Ahi Ajayan, Pushpavathy
5 Puthuthaayorith (Iratta) – Jakes Bejoy|Mu.Ri|Shahabaz Aman
6 Thone Mohangal (Adi) – Govind Vasantha|Sharfu|Govind Vasantha, Haniya Nafisa
7 Paalmanam (Christy) – Govind Vasantha|Vinayak Sasikumar|Kapil Kapilan, Keerthana Vaidyanathan
8 Laama Laama (Bhagavan Dasante Ramarajyam) – Vishnu Sivasankar|Ganesh Malayath|Sooraj Santhosh
9 Premakkathu Paattu (Kadina Kadoramee Andakadaham) – Govind Vasantha|Mu.Ri|Fathima Jahaan
10 Thathana Thathana (Madhura Manohara Moham) – Hesham Abdul Wahab|BK Harinarayanan|Chithra, Bhadra Rajin, Aavani Malhar
11 En Kaadal Nadiye (Otta) – M Jayachandran|Vairamuthu|Shankar Mahadevan, Shreya Ghoshal
12 Thalatherichavar (Romaancham) – Sushin Shyam|Vinayak Sasikumar|Zia Ul Haq, MC Couper
13 Karimizhi Niraye (Janaki Jaane) – Kailas|Manu Manjith|K S Harishanker, Sithara Krishnakumar
14 Thinkal Poovin (Pachuvum Athbutha Vilakkum) – Justin Prabhakaran|Manu Manjith, Raj Shekhar|Anne Amie
15 Sathiyunarunnu (Section 306 IPC) Kaithapram Vishwanathan|Kaithapram| P Jayachandran, Indulekha Warrier
16 Ennile Iruntha (Vela) – Sam CS|Sam CS|Maalavika Sundar
17 Ra Ra Rajasika (Little Miss Rawther) – Govind Vasantha|Titto P Thankachen|Sithara Krishnakumar
18 Aanandam (B 32 Muthal 44 Vare) – Sudeep Palanad|Shruthi Sharanyam|Sudeep Palanad, Bhadra Rajin, Sreedevi Thekkedath
19 Aalumee Naalam (Theru) – Neha Nair-Yakzan Pereira|Hareesh Mohanan|Sangeeth
20 Aakasha Paalazhiyil (Lovefully Yours Veda) – Rahul Raj|Rathi Sivaraman|Shweta Mohan
21 Arikeyonnu Kandoru Neram (Vellari Pattanam) – Sachin Shankar Mannoth|Vinayak Sasikumar|Nithya Mammen, K S Harishanker
22 Kadalu Theendum (Poovan) – Midhun Mukundan|Suhail Koya|Midhun Mukundan
23 Aathmaave Po (Romaancham) – Sushin Shyam|Vinayak Sasikumar|Sushin Shyam
24 Oro Shwaasavum (Christy) – Govind Vasantha|Anwar Ali|Govind Vasantha
25 La Koodaaram (Ntikkakkakkoru Premandaarnnu) – Paul Mathews|Vinayak Sasikumar|Paul Mathews
26 Nizhale Nee (Ennaalum Ente Aliya) – William Francis|Swathi Das|Narayani Gopan
27 Ellaarum (Khali Purse of Billionaires) – Prakash Alex|Anil Lal|Vidhyadharan Master, Sujatha
28 Kaathal Marangal (Pranaya Vilasam) – Shaan Rahman|Suhail Koya|Sreejish Subramanian, Nanda J Devan
29 Kalaapakkaara (King of Kotha) – Jakes Bejoy|Joe Paul|Shreya Ghoshal,Benny Dayal, Jakes Bejoy
30 Naalppathu Kazhiye (Pazhanjan Pranayam) – Satish Raghunathan|BK Harinarayanan|Vaikom Vijayalakshmi

Tamil

Tamil had the best year among the industries I tracked this time, particularly with the veteran Ilaiyaraja rolling back the years and creating some spectacular songs across multiple albums. His best work, Modern Love Chennai, will appear under web series of course, but he had more than enough quality elsewhere to make a prominent presence even in this list. Close on his heels was the other industry veteran, A R Rahman. Among the rest, my favourite was Sean Roldan, although some of his work came in web series and the debut edition of Coke Studio Tamil. Anirudh had two more big projects this year (apart from the Hindi one), I really wish he takes on something smaller for a change, there’s just too much of the same things in these kind of movies. And another wish directed towards the industry in general – please let the playback singers sing all your songs, that is what they are there for.

Playlist: Apple | Spotify | YouTube

1 Veera Raaja Veera (Ponniyin Selvan 2) – Traditional Dagarvani Dhrupad/A.R.Rahman|Ilango Krishnan|Shankar Mahadevan, Chithra, Harini
2 Annai Thanthai (Are You Ok Baby?) – Ilaiyaraaja|Ilaiyaraaja|Shweta Mohan
3 Arutperunjothi (Viduthalai Part 1) – Ilaiyaraaja|Ilaiyaraaja|Ilaiyaraaja
4 Nenjame Nenjame (Maamannan) – A R Rahman|Yugabharathi|Shaktisree Gopalan|Vijay Yesudas
5 Kangal Edho (Chithha) – Dhibu Ninan Thomas|Yugabharathi|Pradeep Kumar, Karthika Vaidyanathan
6 Imaithidathe (Yaadhum Oore Yaavarum Kelir) – Nivas K Prasanna|Mohan Rajan|Malvi Sundaresan
7 Vaa Vaathi (Vaathi) – GV Prakash Kumar|Poetu Dhanush|Shweta Mohan
8 Anbenum (Leo) – Anirudh Ravichander|Vishnu Edavan|Anirudh, Lothika
9 Pa Pappa (Kondraal Paavam) – Sam CS|Kabilan|Chinmayi
10 Yaavum Yaavumey (Tamilarasan) – Ilaiyaraaja|ARP. Jayaraam|VV Prasanna, Vibhavari Apte Joshi
11 Raasa Kannu (Maamannan) – A R Rahman|Yugabharathi|Vadivelu
12 Rathamaarey (Jailer) – Anirudh Ravichander|Vignesh Shivan|Vishal Mishra
13 Yedhudhaan Inga (Lucky Man) – Sean Roldan|Balaji Venugopal|Sanjay Subrahmanyan
14 Ulagai Vella Pogiraai (Annapoorani) – Thaman|Vivek|Harini
15 Oyyaram (Jigarthanda DoubleX) – Santhosh Narayanan|Vivek|Meenakshi Elayaraja, Meenakshi Santhosh, Aditya Ravindran, Santhosh Narayanan
16 Nira (Takkar) – Nivas K Prasanna|Ku Karthik|Sid Sriram, Malvi Sundaresan, Gautham Vasudev Menon
17 Malarthan Vizhundhadhu (Aneethi) – GV Prakash Kumar|Karthik Netha|Ravi G, Hesham Abdul Wahab
18 Athana Per Mathiyila (Raavana Kottam) – Justin Prabhakaran|Karthik Netha|Yazin Nizar, Vandana Srinivasan
19 Chinnanjiru Nilave Marumurai (Ponniyin Selvan 2) – A R Rahman|Ilango Krishnan|Khatija Rahman
20 Kaattumalli (Viduthalai Part 1) – Ilaiyaraaja|Ilaiyaraaja|Ilaiyaraaja, Ananya Bhat
21 Badass (Leo) – Anirudh Ravichander|Vishnu Edavan|Anirudh
22 Nee Singam Dhaan (Pathu Thala) – A R Rahman|Vivek|Sid Sriram
23 Jimikki Ponnu (Varisu) – Thaman|Vivek|Anirudh, Jonita Gandhi
24 Vaan Megam (Vasantha Mullai) – Rajesh Murugesan|Vivek|Shaktisree Gopalan, Vijay Yesudas
25 Seemakaariye (Saba Nayagan) – Leon James|Karthik Netha|Sanjith Hegde
26 Po (Good Night) – Sean Roldan|Mohan Rajan|Sean Roldan
27 Swagathaanjali (Chandramukhi 2) – M M Keeravani|Chaitanya Prasad|Sreenidhi Tirumala
28 Aathma Nesar (Yaadhum Oore Yaavarum Kelir) – Nivas K Prasanna|Mohan Rajan|Malvi Sundaresan
29 Un Idhazhgalinaal (Margazhi Thingal) – Ilaiyaraaja|Ilaiyaraaja|Ananya Bhat
30 En Vaazhvin Thoorigai (Raid) – Sam CS|Mohan Rajan|Maalavika Sundar

Telugu

After bagging his biggest break as a composer with the Malayalam movie Hridayam last year, Hesham Abdul Wahab turned his sights to Telugu in 2023, and was easily the industry’s composer of the year with the music he produced, even if some of them carried shades of his work in Hridayam. It wasn’t just Hesham who came to Telugu this year from Malayalam, the Side A-Side B release format that Hridayam brought back last year got picked up here too (and in Kannada, but more on that later) with the movie Keedaa Cola, which had music by one of my industry favourites, Vivek Sagar. Sagar sadly didn’t have anything else this year, nor did another favourite, Vishal Chandrashekhar. Multiple other composers made their presence felt with the one or two soundtracks they did, however – Ilaiyaraja again, Vijai Bulganin, Mani Sharma, Santhosh Narayanan and Gopi Sunder to name a few.

Playlist: Apple | Spotify | YouTube

1 Na Roja Nuvve (Kushi) – Hesham Abdul Wahab|Shiva Nirvana|Hesham Abdul Wahab
2 Madhura Gathamaa (Shaakuntalam) – Mani Sharma|Sri Mani|Armaan Malik, Shreya Ghoshal
3 Pattana O Pattu (Keedaa Cola) – Vivek Sagar|Bharadwaj Gali|Sri Krishna, Malavika
4 Samayama (Hi Nanna) – Hesham Abdul Wahab|Anantha Sriram|Anurag Kulkarni, Sithara Krishnakumar
5 Nannu Nannu Ga (Ranga Maarthaanda) – Ilaiyaraaja|Sirivennela Sitaramasastri|Gayatri (Ranjani-Gayatri)
6 Deva Raaja (Baby) – Vijai Bulganin|Kalyan Chakravarthi Tripuraneni|Arya Dhayal
7 Sooreede (Salaar) – Ravi Basrur|Krishna Kanth|Harini Ivaturi
8 Yevarini Yevaritho (Das Ka Dhamki) – Leon James|Purnachary|Haricharan
9 Chamkeela Angeelesi (Dasara) – Santhosh Narayanan|Kasarla Shyam|Dhee
10 Evo Saraagaalu (Music School) – Ilaiyaraaja|Rehman|Javed Ali, Shreya Ghoshal
11 Hatatthuga (Manu Charitra) – Gopi Sunder|Sira Sri|LV Revanth
12 Kalallo (Virupaksha) – B Ajaneesh Loknath|Anantha Sriram|Anurag Kulkarni, Madhushree
13 Dooke Chinuka (Miss Shetty Mr Polishetty) – Radhan|Anantha Sriram|Abby V
14 Naa Tholi (Month of Madhu) – Achu Rajamani|Krishna Kanth|Haricharan, Aditi Bhavaraju
15 Mass Mogudu (Veera Simha Reddy) – Thaman|Ramajogayya Shastry|Ramya Behara, Mano
16 Sita Kalyanam (Anni Manchi Sakanamule) – Mickey J Meyer|Chaitra Ambadipudi, Kaala Bhairava
17 Ammaadi (Hi Nanna) – Hesham Abdul Wahab|Krishna Kanth|Shakthisree Gopalan
18 Timeless Love (Custody) – Ilaiyaraaja|Ramajogayya Shastry|Kapil Kapilan
19 Rushivanamlona (Shaakuntalam) – Mani Sharma|Sri Mani|Sid Sriram, Chinmayi
20 Yema Andham (Spark) – Hesham Abdul Wahab|Anantha Sriram|Sid Sriram
21 Yedhaki Oka Gaayam (Kushi) – Hesham Abdul Wahab|Shiva Nirvana|Hesham Abdul Wahab, Divya S Menon
22 Ammadi Gummadi (Butta Bomma) – Sweekar Agasthi|Kasarla Shyam|Anurag Kulkarni, Nutana Mohan
23 Premisthunna (Baby) – Vijai Bulganin|Suresh Banisetti|P V N S Rohit
24 Okkasaari Putti (Bro) – Thaman|Kasarla Shyam|Ravi G
25 Ichesukuntale (Tiger Nageswara Rao) – GV Prakash Kumar|Bhaskarabhatia|Sinduri Vishal
26 Dipiri Dipiri (Keedaa Cola) – Vivek Sagar|Bharadwaj Gali|Hanuman
27 O Dollar Pillaga (Das Ka Dhamki) – Leon James|Purnachary|Deepak Blue, Mangli
28 Holare Hola (Samajavaragamana) – Gopi Sunder|Sri Mani|J V Sudhanshu, Sony Komanduri
29 Sridevi Chiranjeevi (Waltair Veerayya) – Devi Sri Prasad|Devi Sri Prasad|Jaspreet Jasz, Sameera Bharadwaj
30 Gandarabai (Skanda) – Thaman|Anantha Sriram|Nakash Aziz, Soujanya Bhagavathula

Indian Indie/Pop

As usual, my picks from whatever indie/indipop songs I managed to catch this year. The Coke Studio ones are in a separate category, and I might end up creating a more extensive list for Kappa TV’s Music Mojo at some point since they have once again been producing quality music after a long gap – for now I have just included a couple of my favourites here. I realise that the first entry in this list is not really an indie or a pop song, but I did not want to create one specifically for classical/fusion songs, plus this will be a special one since I was lucky to catch this one live as well, in what was possibly Shakti’s last live tour, earlier this year.

Playlist: Apple | Spotify | YouTube

1 Mohanam (This Moment) – Shakti
2 Bhaavam – Job Kurian
3 Rooh Jaga Doon – Arijit Singh
4 Jharokha (Par) – Vidhya Gopal
5 Walk Away – Mali
6 Fursat (Songs of Trance 2) – Amit Trivedi, Siddharth-Garima, Rupali Moghe
7 Cheli (ft. Jimmy Francis John & Shravan Sridhar) – Keethan
8 Vaari Vaari – Shekhar Ravjiani, Avinash Chouhan, Shreya Ghoshal
9 Malabari Banger – Joker, MRH, SA & Dabzee
10 Dear Sahana (Sidharth) – Sid Sriram
11 Rail Pogum Idam – Vijaynarain
12 Iru Manam – Kalyani Nair, Vidhya Vijay, The Indian Choral Ensemble
13 Anuraaga Nadhiye (Kappa Originals) – Vipin Lal, BK Harinarayanan, Bineetha Ranjith Music Company
14 Giddh – Thaikkudam Bridge
15 Reza Reza – Shiraz Uppal, Neeti Mohan
16 A Thousand Stars – Jayanthi Kumaresh, Prashant Techno
17 Sakhi Neelambari – Athul Anand, Harish Sivaramakrishnan
18 Numaani – Faridkot, IP Singh, Shilpa Rao, Rajarshi Sanyal
19 Lafz Bheege Hain (Lafz Bheege Hain) – Paras Nath, Pratibha Singh Baghel
20 Moon Tides (Wrong Side Out) – Raagamuffin
21 Kaamil – Salim Sulaiman, Paradox, ISHH
22 Breathe – Kamakshi Khanna
23 Toote Chhaate – Nihira Joshi, Rhythm Shaw, Alok Ranjan Sirvastava
24 Kasam Se (Only Just Begun) – Armaan Malik, Amaal Mallik
25 Bhoo Bandham – Nakul Abhyankar, Mangli, Vijay Prakash
26 Kyun Roothi Ho – Hanita Bhambhri, Vayu
27 Pa Pe Po… (Kappa Originals) – Amrutam Gamay
28 Tere Baare Mein – Santanu Ghatak, Yashika Sikka, Darpan Suthar
29 Bairi Birhaa (Songs of Trance 2) – Amit Trivedi, Geet Sagar, Varsha Singh Dhanoa
30 Monot Pore – Taba Chake

Web Series

So yes, two of the year’s best works – Modern Love Chennai, spearheaded by Ilaiyaraaja, and Jubilee which had Amit Trivedi paying tribute to some legendary composers, both in the web series space, and both incidentally carrying a predominantly retro sound. This list is all Hindi and Tamil, as those are the only languages I managed to track, but you will notice an impressive lineup even in this, aside of the two names already mentioned – Vishal Bhardwaj, Sachin-Jigar, Santhosh Narayanan, Govind Vasantha, Alokananda Dasgupta etc. I have primarily gone for vocal tracks, but there was some great BGM work as well this year.

Playlist: Apple | Spotify | YouTube

1 Aanaal (Modern Love Chennai) – Ilaiyaraaja|Yugabharathi|Ananya Bhat
2 Saare Ke Saare Akele (Jubilee) – Amit Trivedi|Kausar Munir|Devendrapal Singh
3 Saath (Faadu) – Santhosh Narayanan|Kausar Munir|Amira Gill, Haricharan, Sathya Prakash
4 Cargaalamey (Sweet Kaaram Coffee) – Govind Vasantha|Nixy|Sathya Prakash, Keerthana Vaidyanathan
5 Dhundh (Charlie Chopra) – Vishal Bhardwaj|Vishal Bhardwaj|Papon
6 Lori (The Jengaburu Curse) Alokananda Dasgupta|Rajeshwari Dasgupta|Ronkini Gupta
7 Stardust (Jee Karda) – Sachin Jigar|IP Singh|Rashmeet Kaur, Mellow D
8 Kaala Visai (Modern Love Chennai) – Ilaiyaraaja|Yugabharathi|Shivani Panneerselvam
9 Wo Adhoore Khwab (Do Gubbare) – Saurabh Bhalerao|Sunil Sukhtankar|Himani Kapoor
10 Nahin Ji Nahin (Jubilee) – Amit Trivedi|Kausar Munir|Sunidhi Chauhan, Papon
11 Edar Odar (Chamak) – Jagir Singh, Late Shri Ulfat Bajwa, Manna Singh
12 Lullaby (Kaala Paani) – Rachita Arora|Madhan Karky|Shashaa Tirupati
13 Tune Hi (PI Meena) – Amit Chatterjee|Shloke Lal|Kinjal Chattopadhyay
14 Bharam (Guns and Gulaabs) – Aman Pant|Akhil Tiwari|Aman Pant
15 Teri Yeh Zindagi (Do Gubbare) – Saurabh Bhalerao||Sahil Charaya
16 Theme Song (Scoop) – Achint
17 Paavi Nenjae (Modern Love Chennai) – Ilaiyaraaja|Yugabharathi|Ilaiyaraaja
18 Aasmaan (Farzi) – Tanishk Bagchi|Raghav Meatle|Raghav Meatle, Anumita Nadesan
19 Thirunaal (Sweet Kaaram Coffee) – Govind Vasantha|Nixy|Kapil Kapilan, Keerthana Vaidyanathan, Aditya Rao
20 Uravu (Modern Love Chennai) – Sean Roldan|Yugabharathi|Padmapriya Raghavan, Sean Roldan
21 Ammiye (Jee Karda) – Sachin-Jigar|IP Singh|Simran Choudhary
22 Jee Ki Gathariya (Charlie Chopra) – Vishal Bhardwaj|Vishal Bhardwaj|Rekha Bhardwaj
23 Haseen Mushkilein (Faadu) – Santhosh Narayanan|Kausar Munir|Aditya Ravindran
24 Khairaat/Reprise (Chamak) – Kanwar Grewal, Manna Singh, Vari Rai
25 Voh Tere Mere Ishq Ka (Jubilee) – Amit Trivedi|Kausar Munir|Sunidhi Chauhan

Kannada

The side A-side B format that I mentioned previously in Telugu, came into Kannada as well, with what was, to me, one of 2023’s best soundtracks across the country – Charanraj’s Sapta Saagaradaache Ello. Apart from that, this list is a compilation of songs from other Kannada composers I like. Ajaneesh Loknath, Judah Sandhy, Arjun Janya, Midhun Mukundan all had a good year (Ajaneesh and Midhun even had a few good songs in other languages). Bindhumalini, who REALLY should be composing more often, came back after a five year hiatus with Sindhu Sreenivasa Murthy’s directorial debut Aachar & Co.

Playlist: Apple | Spotify | YouTube

1 Title Track (Sapta Saagaradaache Ello – Side A) – Charanraj MR|Dhananjay Ranjan|Kapil Kapilan
2 Sapthaswara (Aachar & Co) – Bindhumalini|Avinash Belakalla|Varijashree Venugopal, Nakul Abhyankar, Bindhumalini
3 Aaradhipe (Toby) – Midhun Mukundan|Prithvi|Siddhartha Belmannu
4 Olave Olave (Sapta Saagaradaache Ello – Side B) – Charanraj MR|B R Suvarna Sharma|Srilakshmi Belmannu
5 Manada Mele (Marichi) – Judah Sandhy|Pramod Maravanthe|Pancham Jeeva
6 Muddu Rakshasi (Vaamana) – B Ajaneesh Loknath|V Nagendra Prasad|Vijay Prakash, Harshika Devanath
7 Gold Fish (Baanadariyalli) – Arjun Janya|Kaviraj|Aishwarya Rangarajan
8 Namaami Namaami (Kabzaa) – Ravi Basrur|Santhosh Venky|Aishwarya Rangarajan
9 Doori Laali (Tatsama Tadbhava) – Vasuki Vaibhav|Vasuki Vaibhav|Sunidhi Ganesh
10 Chandane Chanda (Inamdar) – Nakul Abhyankar|Pramod Maravanthe|Ramya Bhat
11 Preethisuve (Kousalya Supraja Rama) – Arjun Janya|Jayanth Kaikini|Sonu Nigam
12 Kadalanu (Sapta Saagaradaache Ello – Side A) – Charanraj MR|Nagarjuna Sharma|Srilakshmi Belmannu
13 Mellage (Swathi Mutthina Male Haniye) – Midhun Mukundan|Prithvi|Madhuri Seshadri, Sunidhi Ganesh
14 Arre Idu Entha Bhavane (Gurudev Hoysala) – B Ajaneesh Loknath|Yogaraj Bhat|Haricharan
15 Maathaado Gombe (Shivaji Surathkal 2) – Judah Sandhy|Pramod Maravanthe|Siddhartha Belmannu
16 Bad Manners (Bad Manners) – Charanraj MR|Dhananjay Ranjan|Usha Uthup
17 Boys Sarigilla (Hostel Hudugaru Bekagiddare) – B Ajaneesh Loknath|Trilok Trivikrama|B Ajaneesh Loknath
18 Dhare Neeneedidaasare (Sapta Saagaradaache Ello – Side B) – Charanraj MR|Rakshit Shetty|KS Harishankar
19 Suryakanthi (Tagaru Palya) – Vasuki Vaibhav|Daali Dhananjaya|Madhuri Seshadri
20 Single Sundara (Raghavendra Stores) – B Ajaneesh Loknath|Nagarjuna Sharma|Vijay Prakash, Naveen Sajju

Marathi

Like the previous list, Marathi too is concentrated on a handful of soundtracks from the few Marathi composers whose work I admire. Top of that list is one of the most exciting composers in the country, A V Prafullachandra, who smashed it with the two movies he did, one of which was Nagraj Manjule-written Ghar Banduk Biryani. Two other highlights of Marathi were the return of Gulraj Singh after a long time, and singer Anweshaa turning composer, both to really impressive results. Hrishikesh-Saurabh-Jasraj don’t appear to have had any album this year, although Saurabh Bhalerao from the trio had a Hindi web series that I have featured.

Playlist: Apple | Spotify | YouTube

1 Gun Gun (Ghar Banduk Biryani) – A V Prafullachandra|Vaibhav Deshmukh|Kavita Raam, Ashish Kulkarni
2 Baharla Ha Madhumas (Maharashtra Shaheer) – Ajay-Atul|Guru Thakur|Shreya Ghoshal, Ajay Gogavale
3 Chalalo (Pahije Jatiche) – Anweshaa|Uma V Kulkarni|Abhay Jodhpurkar
4 Man Taara (Unaad) – Gulraj Singh|Kshitij Patwardhan|Gulraj Singh, Shashaa Tirupati
5 Darav Darav/Reprise (Naal 2) – A V Prafullachandra|Vaibhav Deshmukh|Jayesh Khare, Master Avan, Padmanabh Gaikwad
6 Khara To (Shyamchi Aai) – Ashok Patki|Sane Guruji|Mahesh Kale
7 Tu BE Aan Mi BE (Jaggu Ani Juliet) – Ajay-Atul|Guru Thakur|Armaan Malik, Shalmali Kholgade
8 Ghar Banduk Biryani (Ghar Banduk Biryani) – A V Prafullachandra|Vaibhav Deshmukh|Mohit Chauhan
9 Kshan Kaalche (Unaad) – Gulraj Singh|Guru Thakur|Nandini Srikar
10 Godi Hi Dostichi (Naal 2) – A V Prafullachandra|Vaibhav Deshmukh|Gauri Gosavi
11 Gau Nako Kisna (Maharashtra Shaheer) – Ajay-Atul|Guru Thakur|Jayesh Khare, Ajay Gogavale
12 Kadhi Na Tula (Jaggu Ani Juliet) – Ajay-Atul|Guru Thakur|Sid Sriram
13 Aai Tuzhi Angai (Shyamchi Aai) – Ashok Patki|Saket Kanetkar|Devika Panshikar
14 Duniyadaari (Pahije Jatiche) – Anweshaa|Sant Kabir, Uma V Kulkarni|Anweshaa, Hrishikesh Ranade
15 Mariya (Ghar Banduk Biryani) – A V Prafullachandra|A V Prafullachandra|A V Prafullachandra

Coke Studio

And finally, Coke Studio. This year there wasn’t a Coke Studio Pakistan, but instead we had three other editions of Coke Studio – Coke Studio Bangla, which has been catching the attention since late last year and continued to deliver great music in 2023, and the two variants within India – Coke Studio Bharat and Coke Studio Tamil. The gap between the song releases has been a bit of a buzzkill in all of these cases, but there was some quality music in offer across the three shows. I have snuck in a Coke Studio Bangla song from last year as well – Bulbuli – because I missed including it last year and I love the track.

Playlist: Apple | Spotify | YouTube

1 Bulbuli (Coke Studio Bangla) – Ritu Raj x Nandita
2 Khalasi (Coke Studio Bharat) – Aditya Gadhvi x Achint
3 Urudhi (Coke Studio Tamil) – Sanjay Subrahmanyam x Arifulla Shah Rafaee
4 Geejaga Hakki (Coke Studio Bharat) – Sanjith Hegde x Charan Raj
5 Anondodhara (Coke Studio Bangla) – Adity Mohsin x Bappa Mazumder
6 Nodir Kul (Coke Studio Bangla) – Idris x Ripon x Arnob
7 Vendum (Coke Studio Tamil) – Sean Roldan x Meenakshi Elayaraja
8 Taqdeer (Coke Studio Bharat) – Donn Bhat x Rashmeet Kaur x Prabh Deep x Sakur Khan
9 Kan Moodudho (Coke Studio Tamil) – John Pradeep JL x Chinmayi
10 Shondhatara (Coke Studio Bangla) – Arnob x Sunidhi x Adit
11 Sagavaasi (Coke Studio Tamil) – Arivu x Khatija Rahman
12 Murir Tin (Coke Studio Bangla) – Riad X Pollob X Towfique

The post Music Aloud Playback – Best Indian Songs of 2023! first appeared on Music Aloud.

Maamannan – Music Review (Tamil Movie Soundtrack) 25 Jun 2023 5:03 AM (last year)

Songs and musician credits at the end.

A R Rahman has some iconic train-themed songs to his credit; songs where he has innovatively employed the rhythm of the locomotive. In Jigu Jigu Rail there isn’t much of that; the role of the train sound here is pretty much to bookend the track. However, there is something in the reggae rhythm (riddim?) that is evocative of the gentle chugging along of a train (I did find a fair few train-related reggae tracks on a cursory search, perhaps there is something in that choice?), and the video prominently features a toy train – although the highlight of the video is the composer trying his hand (and legs) at dancing! The inspirational track is part fun and part emotional, the Ellaam Maarum refrain in particular is soul-stirring. Fantastic use of bass (Keba Jeremiah I assume) and horns (Sunshine Brass), and of course the children’s chorus, that constitutes the aforementioned fun aspect of the song. I also liked how there is a synth melody underlining most of the song (made me revisit this bgm piece from Rhythm), sometimes independent of the main melody and thereby adding a nice touch to the proceedings. Also an inspirational song, but of a more assertive nature, exhorting women to rise up, is Kodi Parakura Kaalam. This one consists of three distinctive segments – first a helpless lament of sorts, beautifully delivered by Kalpana Raghavendar with some fine clarinet in tow (giving the segment a retro feel), before three more wonderful singers, Rakshita Suresh, Deepthi Suresh and Aparna Harikumar knock it out of the park with the punchy main section that features some great folk percussion and guitars. The percussion-led coda closes the song off at even higher energy levels. Great anthemic piece, and great writing by Yugabharathi. The album has one more equally well-executed all-female track in Utchanthala. A sombre, at times ominous sounding piece that took my mind back to Kaayam from Iravin Nizhal (the soundtrack itself feels to me like an extension of Iravin Nizhal’s soundscape sometimes). Deepthi Suresh, Sireesha Bhagavatula and Pavithra Chari deliver this one very effectively. Love that solo violin that makes an appearance in the final minute, later closing the song with a short violin+flute coda that feels like a nod to Promontory from The Last of the Mohicans. A R Ameen’s voice carries a Vishal Dadlani-esque edge in his fervent rendition of Veerane – he has really impressed in his recent singing ventures. But even with his singing and the song’s general vigour, it comes across as the relative weakling of the album.

Arivu and ARR’s first collaboration is quite a fitting choice for the movie’s theme/title track. Arivu’s own incisive writing and trademark delivery bring the attitude, and Rahman’s arrangements complement that perfectly; some deft touches in response to the lines, like the parai kicking in when Arivu sings vaazhvin osa adhu parai osa (The beat of the drum is the anthem of life) or the fanfare around the mannaa maamannaa phrase – I like how the titular phrase appears only towards the end of the song; kind of like a hero’s mass entry! Have to confess at this point that this is a track that has grown on me over time, I wasn’t too impressed with it on first hearing. On an aside, love that Arivu is wearing a shirt with Notorious BIG’s pic printed all over, in the lyric video. While Maamannan is a great album, one aspect that I found a bit missing here, compared to other Mari Selvaraj movie soundtracks with Santhosh Narayanan, is that raw intensity. Of course, it is likely that the setting of the movie itself is different from the previous ones, leading to this shift, but the one song where it does show up in brilliant fashion is Raasa Kannu. Rahman keeps the orchestration minimal here, and very folk – that 4-note string refrain that appears around the 1:16 mark and continues throughout the rest of the track has a mesmerising effect, even as Vadivelu’s powerful voice and the booming thavil phrases keep you tethered to reality. Vadivelu as choice of vocalist is a masterstroke, as he delivers Yugabharathi’s scorching words with the soulfulness that they deserve. The romantic Nenjame Nenjame comes as a soothing balm to the ear after the heaviness of the rest of the soundtrack. A gentle melody that the composer adorns with an equally tender arrangement – the use of percussion in particular is my favourite; vanishing during the interludes and reappearing with a new set of instruments in each stanza. There’s also the brief throwback-inducing appearance of the pan-flute, and the short bursts of piano phrases contributing to the song’s charm. And then the vocals. Vijay Yesudas and Shaktisree Gopalan are in excellent form here, but the composer also gets a ladies’ chorus to bring up a closing segment of over 1.5 minutes, singing a slight variation of the opening verse – lovely touch that. The melody interestingly has an Ilaiyaraja-esque feel to it at times, especially around that opening phrase.

Maamannan. A R Rahman‘s incredible run of form continues; that’s another winner just a couple of months since the last one, in Ponniyin Selvan 2. And this one features full length songs! In fact, it is more than just full length – 7 songs averaging almost 5 minutes per track. I cannot remember the last time we had a soundtrack with that kind of song duration. Would love for that norm to make a comeback!

Music Aloud Rating: 4/5

Top Recos: Too many to list!

Musician Credits

Song – Nenjame Nenjame

Song Composed, Produced and Arranged by A.R.Rahman

Lyrics Yugabharathi

Singer Vijay Yesudas, Shakthisree Gopalan

Musicians

Additional Vocals Deepti Suresh, Aparna Harikumar, Vrusha Balu

Music Supervisor A.H.Kaashif

Project Manager Karthik Sekaran

Vocal Supervision Suryansh, Sreekanth Hariharan, Sarath Santosh

Guitar – Sunil Milner

Bass – Prashanth Venkat

Flute – Nikhil Ram

Strings – Chennai Strings and Sunshine Orchestra

Conducted by Jerry Vincent

Additional Programming Santosh Dhayanidhi, Prashanth Venkat, Soumya Sejpal

Sound Engineers

Panchathan Record inn – Suresh Permal, Karthik Sekaran, Aravind Crescendo, Sathish V Saravanan

AM Studio – Pradeep Menon, Sathya Narayanan, Ainul Huq

Mixed & Mastered by Suresh Permal

Apple Digital Master by Riyasdeen Riyan

Musician Coordinator Samidurai R, Abdul Haiyum

Song – Kodi Parakura Kaalam

Song Composed, Produced, and Arranged by AR Rahman

Lyrics: Yugabharathi

Singers: Kalpana Raghavendar, Rakshita Suresh, Deepthi Suresh, Aparna Harikumar

Music Supervisor A.H.Kaashif

Project Manager Karthik Sekaran

Vocal Supervision Nakul Abhyankar, Suryansh, Sreekanth Hariharan

Musicians

Guitar – Keba Jeramiah

Percussion – Hariprasad, Kaamil Saif, Guberan

Rhythm Arrangement Kumaran Sivamani

Sound Engineers – Panchathan Record inn

Suresh Permal, Karthik Sekaran, Aravind Crescendo, Prashanth Venkat, Sathish V Saravanan

Mixed by Pradeep Menon

Mastered by Suresh permal

Apple Digital Master by Riyasdeen Riyan

Musician Coordinator Samidurai R, Abdul Haiyum

Song – Manna Maamanna

Song Composed, Produced and Arranged by AR Rahman

Rap written & Performed by Arivu

Musicians

Additional Vocals – Sreekanth Hariharan, Sarath Santosh, Aravind Srinivas

Music Supervisor – A.H.Kaashif

Project Manager – Karthik Sekaran

Vocal Supervision – Arjun Chandy, Prashanth Venkat

Musicians – Percussion – Hariprasad, Kaamil Saif

Sound Engineers – Panchathan Record inn – Suresh Permal, Karthik Sekaran, Aravind Crescendo, Sathish V Saravanan

Mixed and Mastered by Nitish R kumar

Apple Digital Master by Riyasdeen Riyan

Musician Coordinator Samidurai R, Abdul Haiyum

Song Name – Jigu Jigu Rail

Song Composed, Produced and Arranged by A R Rahman

Singer A R Rahman

Lyrics Yuga Bharathi

Kids Chorus S.T.Nishanth, J.Sarvesh, P.Pragadeesh, Neha Girish, R.Aadya, R.Diva Lakshmi

Additional Vocals – Khatija Rahman, Amina Rafiq, Sreekanth Hariharan, Sharath Santhosh, Deepthi Suresh, Sireesha Bhagavatula

Music Supervisor A.H.Kaashif

Project Manager Karthik Sekaran

Electric Guitars – Keba Jeremiah

Drums – Kumaran Sivamani

Sunshine Brass, Conducted by Lisa

Recorded by Vilva, Shridhar Ramesh

Additional Programming Prashanth Venkat, Suryansh

Rhythm Arrangement Kumaran Sivamani

Vocal Arrangement Arjun Chandy

Vocal Supervision Suryansh, Sreekanth Hariharan

Sound Engineers, Panchathan Record inn

Suresh Permal, Karthik Sekaran, Aravind Crescendo, Sathish V Saravanan

Mixed by – Nitish R Kumar

Mastered by Suresh Permal

Apple Digital Master by Riyasdeen Riyan

Musician Coordinator Samidurai R, Abdul Haiyum

Song – Raasa Kannu

Song Composed, Produced and Arranged by A.R.Rahman

Lyrics – Yugabharathi

Singer – Vadivelu

Music Supervisor – AH Kaashif

Project Manager – Karthik Sekaran

Backing vocals – Sreekanth Hariharan

Orchestration – Suprava Mukherjee

Musicians

Chennai Strings & Sunshine Orchestra,

Conducted by Jerry Vincent

Supervised By Prashanth Venkat

String Instruments – SM Subhani

Music Editor Prashanth Venkat

Sound Engineers

Panchathan Record inn Suresh Permal, Karthik Sekaran, Aravind Crescendo, Suryansh, Sathish V Saravanan

AM Studios Pradeep Menon, Manoj Raman, Sathya Narayanan, Ainul Huk

Mixed and Mastered By Nitish R Kumar

Apple Digital Master and Dolby Atmos by Riyasdeen Riyan

Musician Coordinator Samidurai R, Abdul Haiyum.

Song – Veerane

Song Composed, Produced and Arranged by A.R.Rahman

Lyrics Yuga Bharathi

Singer AR Ameen

Additional Vocals – Baala Boys, Sathya Prakash, Deepthi Suresh, Sireesha Bhagavatula

Musicians

Percussion – Hariprasad, Kaamil Saif, Karthick Vamsi

Sunshine Brass, Conducted by Lisa

Supervised by Vilva, Shridhar Ramesh

Rhythm Arrangement – Kumaran Sivamani

Additional Programming – Sarthak Kalyani

Music Supervisor – A.H.Kaashif

Project Manager -Karthik Sekaran

Vocal Supervision – Prashanth Venkat, Sreekanth Hariharan

Sound Engineers Panchathan Record inn – Suresh Permal, Karthik Sekaran, Aravind Crescendo, Sathish V Saravanan

Mixed and Mastered by – Nitish R kumar

Apple Digital Master by – Riyasdeen Riyan

Musician Coordinator – Samidurai R, Abdul Haiyum

The post Maamannan – Music Review (Tamil Movie Soundtrack) first appeared on Music Aloud.

Modern Love Chennai – Music Review (Tamil Web Series) 14 May 2023 4:50 AM (last year)

Songs and credits (to the extent available) at the end of the review. Also has information on which song belongs to which episode.

G V Prakash Kumar gets just the one song in Modern Love Chennai, for Krishnakumar Ramakumar’s Kaadhal Enbadhu Kannula Heart Irukkura Emoji. The composer totally makes his mark with that song though – Kukunnu is total earworm material! While the melody itself is quite catchy and delivered very well by the interesting pair of singers Vagu Mazan and Ramya Nambessan, there’s also some really quirky folk-electronic fusion happening in the backdrop – the remixed version of S Ballesh’s shehnai solo to mention a highlight (which made me revisit the old remix of Leke Pehla Pehla Pyaar by Raghav). Sean Roldan is in familiar turf with the folksy, flippant romantic number Jingrudha Dhanga. Given that this features in the Raju Murugan-directed Lalagunda Bommaigal, the analogous song that comes to mind is the one Roldan composed for Murugan’s Joker, Jasmine-u. Fun track delivered well by the composer himself and helped amply by Bakkiyam Shankar’s lines replete with colloquialisms and Chennai references. In his second song Uravu, Roldan does even better – a beautifully haunting melody that occasionally seems to venture into an Ilaiyaraja (who we will get to in much detail in a bit) zone. Love how Padmapriya Raghavan and Roldan play off each other, and the charming elements in the arrangement like the whistles and Ashwin Suresh’s guitar work. Yuvan Shankar Raja turns the clock back a few years with his two brilliantly immersive compositions. Yaayum Gnaayum, which appears to be the anthology’s title track, is an ode to love penned by Yugabharathi (who writes most of the album’s songs) and is a solo act by the sultry-sounding Shivani Paneerselvam. Very trippy work from Yuvan; that rhythm loop playing throughout the song refuses to leave my head! Peranbae (part of Balaji Sakthivel’s Imaigal) plays out like sufi fusion, and Shivani kicks off this one as well. Top notch arrangements once again; the only stumbling block is the composer’s own singing alongside Shivani.

And with that, the Ilaiyaraaja show begins! Three of the veteran composer’s 13(!) songs are part of Akshay Sundher’s Margazhi, and all three are written by the man himself. Nenjil Oru Minnal is a very sweet, very hummable waltz that sees some lovely use of guitars. Thendral is trademark Raja, evoking memories of Poongaatru Puthithaanadhu, not just for its melody but also the pulsating backdrop marked by the belated introduction of the tablas et al. I really wish the above two songs had been sung by someone other than Raja though, the quality of the two tracks really warranted top tier vocal performances. Endrum Endhan breaks your heart in two ways – one, for the poignant melody that it is – made even more so by Priya Mali’s rendition – and two, for the fact that it is over in 52 seconds!

The biggest and best chunk of songs come as part of the Thiagarajan Kumararaja’s episode quite fittingly named after an Ilaiyaraja classic, Ninaivo Our Paravai. Paavi Nenjae is one song where Raja’s delivery is a great fit – the composer seems to tweak his voice slightly to suit the retro jazz piece it is. Top melody, top orchestration, especially the horns! There are two songs where Raja tips his hat to composers from before his time. First is Aanaal that harks back to the 60s (curious to see how this appears in the show); specifically a nod to this Veda-Kannadasan-L R Eswari song, @soundtrackindia tells me. Ananya Bhat is excellent in her languid, Western-influenced singing – love how the word “aanaal” is used to signify the shift in perspective. And second is the instrumental piece Kaamaththup-Paal, that riffs off Edvard Grieg’s In The Hall Of the Mountain King. First of all, hats off for picking a piece with progressively increasing tempo and intensity as reference, drawing a perfect parallel with the sexual act that the song’s title appears to imply. And secondly, what a tribute piece from Raja! The composer’s proficiency with classical pieces is well-known, even while drawing from the reference track here, Raja makes it his own, expertly adding intricate layers as he builds the song up towards its crescendo. Thee Inbame is all about the use of violins, even as Christopher Stanley is singing his heart out. That six-note refrain playing throughout the song made me think of Metallica’s Nothing Else Matters. Sooriyan Thondrudhu Saamatthilae is a whirlwind that comes and goes before you realise it! A frenzied rock piece – another annoyingly short composition – that is rendered to a tee by Priya Mali. I have seen people quoting The Rolling Stones’ Paint It Black as a potential reference for this one; however the true magic in the song is the composer throwing in a Flight of the Bumblebee-esque contrapuntal piano solo! Shivani Paneerselvam, who really is the find of the album, gets two more tantalizingly short tracks. Kaala Visai is more retro jazz with some delightful use of guitars. And Thaen Mazhaiyo is just Shivani on her own. The absence of any instrument places the onus squarely on the melody and the singing, both of which are excellent. Finally there are three more instrumental pieces from the composer. Kannil Pattu Nenjai Thotta Minnal is the only one that doesn’t really make an impact, at least as an audio track. Uncertainty of the Future delivers exactly what it says on the label – a suspenseful, unsettling kind of tune. The Good Bye is the album’s longest track, and is another piece that sees some neat jazz incorporation. A large portion of the song is the piano and sax repeating a short but very likeable melodic phrase over and over, with a brief strings segment in the middle of it all.

The Modern Love franchise has produced some great music over its previous editions, but the Chennai one is the biggest and best of the lot by a country mile. All the musicians involved have done a fine job here, but none more so than the maestro Ilaiyaraaja. What a year he has been having! And glad to see the retro trend continuing in all glory. What I hope doesn’t become a trend though, is this bit song one!

Music Aloud Rating: 4.5/5

Top Recos: Too many to name!

Soundtrack Credits

Lalagunda Bommaigal:

Jingrudha Dhanga
Song composed, arranged and programmed by Sean Roldan
Lyrics : Bakkiyam Shankar
Singer : Sean Roldan
Additional vocals : Manoj Krishna
Additional Rhythms : Ashwin Suresh
Fully produced and recorded at Roldan Records
Mixed and Mastered by Toby Joseph

Uravu
Song composed,arranged and programmed by Sean Roldan
Lyrics : Yugabharathi
Singers : Sean Roldan, Padmapriya Raghavan
Acoustic and classical guitar : Ashwin Suresh
Fully produced and recorded at Roldan Records
Mixed and Mastered by Abin Paul

Title track:
Yaayum
Song Composed, Arranged and Produced by Yuvan Shankar Raja
Lyricist : Yugabharathi
Singer : Shivani Panneerselvam
Fully produced and recorded at U1 Records
Mixed and Mastered : Kumaraguruparan M.
ITunes Mastered at U1 Records by Kumaraguruparan M.

Imaigal:
Peranbae
Song Composed, arranged and produced by Yuvan Shankar Raja
Lyrics: Yugabharathi
Singers: Shivani Panneerselvam and Yuvan Shankar Raja
Flute and Wood Winds : K. L. Vijay
Fully produced and recorded at U1 Records
Mixed and Mastered by Kumaraguruparan M.
ITunes Mastered at U1 Records by Kumaraguruparan M.

Kaadhal Enbadhu Kannula Heart Irukkura Emoji:

Kukunnu
Song Composed by G.V. Prakash
Lyrics: Yugabharathi
Singer: Ramya Nambessan and Vagu Mazan
Programmed by : Bala Sarangan
Shehnai – S. Ballesh
Fully produced and recorded at Divine Labs Chennai
Mixed and Mastered by Jehovahson Alghar

Margazhi:

Nenjil Oru Minnal
Song Composed, arranged and programmed by Ilaiyaraaja
Lyrics: Ilaiyaraaja
Singer: Ilaiyaraaja
Fully produced and recorded at Ilaiyaraaja Studios
Mixed and Mastered at Ilaiyaraaja Studios

Thendral Pudhithu
Song Composed, arranged and programmed by Ilaiyaraaja
Lyrics: Ilaiyaraaja
Singer: Ilaiyaraaja
Fully produced and recorded at Ilaiyaraaja Studios
Mixed and Mastered at Ilaiyaraaja Studios

Endrum Endhan
Song Composed, arranged and programmed by Ilaiyaraaja
Lyrics: Ilaiyaraaja
Singer: Ilaiyaraaja
Singer: Priya Mali
Fully produced and recorded at Ilaiyaraaja Studios
Mixed and Mastered at Ilaiyaraaja Studios

Ninaivo Oru Paravai:

Paavi Nenjae
Song Composed, arranged and programmed by Ilaiyaraaja
Lyrics: Yugabharathi
Singer: Ilaiyaraaja
Fully produced and recorded at Ilaiyaraaja Studios
Song Mixed by Tapas Nayak, Aura Studio, Chennai
Song Mastered by Andy Bartow, Black Dog Mastering Studio, Florida

Thee Inbamae
Song Composed, arranged and programmed by Ilaiyaraaja
Lyrics: Yugabharathi
Singer: Christopher Stanley
Fully produced and recorded at Ilaiyaraaja Studios
Song Mixed by Tapas Nayak, Aura Studio Chennai
Song Mastered by Andy Bartow, Black Dog Mastering Studio, Florida

Aanaal
Song Composed, arranged and programmed by Ilaiyaraaja
Lyrics: Yugabharathi
Singer: Ananya Bhat
Fully produced and recorded at Ilaiyaraaja Studios
Song Mixed by Tapas Nayak, Aura Studio Chennai
Song Mastered by Andy Bartow, Black Dog Mastering Studio, Florida

Sooriyan Thondrudhu Saamatthilae
Song Composed, arranged and programmed by Ilaiyaraaja
Lyrics: Yugabharathi
Singer: Priya Mali
Fully produced and recorded at Ilaiyaraaja Studios
Song Mixed by Tapas Nayak, Aura Studio Chennai
Song Mastered by Andy Bartow, Black Dog Mastering Studio, Florida

Kaala Visai
Song Composed, arranged and programmed by Ilaiyaraaja
Lyrics: Yugabharathi
Singer: Shivani Panneerselvam
Fully produced and recorded at Ilaiyaraaja Studios
Song Mixed by Tapas Nayak, Aura Studio Chennai
Song Mastered by Andy Bartow, Black Dog Mastering Studio, Florida

Thaen Mazhaiyo
Song Composed, arranged and programmed by Ilaiyaraaja
Lyrics: Yugabharathi
Singer: Shivani Panneerselvam
Fully produced and recorded at Ilaiyaraaja Studios
Song Mixed by Tapas Nayak, Aura Studio Chennai
Song Mastered by Andy Bartow, Black Dog Mastering Studio, Florida

Kaamaththup-Paal
Song Composed by Ilaiyaraaja

Kannil Pattu Nenjai Thotta Minnal
Song Composed by Ilaiyaraaja

The Good Bye
Song Composed by Ilaiyaraaja

Uncertainty of the Future
Song Composed by Ilaiyaraaja

The post Modern Love Chennai – Music Review (Tamil Web Series) first appeared on Music Aloud.

Jubilee – Music Review (Bollywood Soundtrack) 7 Apr 2023 10:15 AM (2 years ago)

Songs and complete musician credits at the end.

After that brief dip in her output at the start of the decade, it has been nice to see Sunidhi Chauhan’s Bollywood portfolio pick up again in recent months – imagine my delight spotting her name against four songs in Jubilee! Some of the album’s top songs too, that once again showcase the singer’s versatility. I was excited about Babuji Bhole Bhaale right from the time I heard a snippet of it in the show’s trailer, and it totally delivers on its promise. Evocative of the light-hearted songs with Western-influenced orchestration from the 50s (Tadbeer Se Bigdi Hui, Shola Jo Bhadke, even Sar Jo Tera Chakraye comes to mind for the quirkiness), Sunidhi is at her exuberant best in this one. Love what Amit Trivedi has done with the arrangement here – the horns punctuating every line with the short phrases, the characteristic breaking out of dholaks towards the end of the interludes etc. Not sure if the show takes place across multiple time periods, because Sunidhi’s other solo act, the spotlessly delivered Voh Tere Mere Ishq Ka, appears to be a nod to Khayyam’s ghazal-infused work from many years later (Dil Cheez Kya Hai, to pick one). As expected, the song features some fine use of tabla (Satyajit Jamsandekar), harmonium (Akhlak Warsi), sarangi (Dilshad Khan) and sitar (Bhagirath Bhatt). Papon joins Sunidhi for the flirtatious Nahin Ji Nahin (wonderfully written by Kausar Munir), a song that once again carries a strong European influence in its orchestration and is set to the waltz rhythm as well. Here too the composer uses the short phrasing of instrumental notes to great effect – the staccato use of accordion (Shubhash Parab), the violin-flute combination in the second and third stanzas for instance. Papon and Sunidhi trade verses throughout the song (the melody seems to carry shades of kalavati/valachi raaga I think?), and the call-response nature adds to the playful charm of the piece. In a soundtrack where Amit Trivedi pays tribute to multiple composers, the most on-the-nose ones belong to Shankar-Jaikishan. On listening to the accordion-led waltz that opened Itni Si Daastaan, the first song that came to mind was Jeena Yahaan, but given the romantic nature of the track and the period, the reference point is perhaps Dil Ki Nazar Se. Sunidhi’s male counterpart here, Mohammed Irfan, modulates his voice really well to sound almost like Mukesh. Na Koyi Mera instantly brings memories of Ye Raat Bheegi Bheegi (but also seems to occasionally reference other SJ songs of the time). Papon is behind the mic for this one as well, alongside an equally proficient Vaishali Made (good to see her sing in Bollywood after long, Kalank was the last perhaps).

Dariyacha Raja begins with the Marathi folk track indicated by the title, before switching to the Shankar-Jaikishan folk zone, reminiscent of songs like Ramayya Vastavayya and Barsaat Mein Hum Mile. The riddle-filled Chandu Naacha – with Swanand Kirkire, and for a brief period, Amit Trivedi, posing musical questions answered by a kids’ chorus – is likely a nod to Ichak Dana. There seems to be something about Kirkire’s singing that works really well for such kiddie-style songs – remember the Picture Shuru ditty from Barfi. Interestingly this song probably makes Swanand Kirkire the person to have lent vocals in most number of Amit Trivedi’s retro themed soundtracks, having sung in Lootera and Qala before this. Udankhatole would appear to belong to an even earlier era, going by Kausar Munir’s lines (lot of Sanskrit-origin words) and the way Mohammed Irfan and Vaishali Made enunciate the words (great voice modulation by both the singers). The saxophone solo from I D Rao in the second interlude was an interesting touch. Itraati Chali also has a percussion template that indicates the same period as Udankhatole, but the other elements of the song sound a lot more contemporary – one of the rare instances in the album where you feel the composer’s own stamp making its appearance. This one too features Mohammed Irfan and Vaishali Made on vocals. Dil Jahaan Pe Le Chala, with that horsecart rhythm et al, has got to be an O P Nayyar tribute. Kausar Munir’s carpe diem-themed lines also made me think of Main Zindagi Ka Saath.. The song comes in two versions – sung by the composer himself and by Shahid Mallya, and between the two I prefer the latter; not just for the singing, but also for the lighter arrangements (on the percussion front) that suit the carefree mood of the song better. Love that short laugh with which Mallya ends the song – very Kishore Kumar of him! The soundtrack’s longest song goes to one of my favourite underrated singers of the industry – Devenderpal Singh. A singer whose portfolio is mostly made up of Amit Trivedi songs, the composer has employed Devender in some really soulful pieces – and Saare Ke Saare Akele is another beauty to add to that list. A song that feels like a nod to two glorious songs that SD Burman composed for Guru Dutt – Yeh Duniya Agar Mil Bhi Jaaye and Dekhi Zamaane Ki Yaari, both sung by Rafi. Lyrically it feels closer to the latter – there is even a kaagaz ke gul reference thrown in for good measure! Like both of those songs, this one too is set to a waltz rhythm, and this too is a slow burner, gradually building up intensity, layer upon layer, and finally bursting into a more upbeat choral outro. This is Devenderpal Singh’s show though – the man pours his heart out into this achingly beautiful melodic piece, with some fine support from the instruments that make their presence felt from time to time, the woodwinds and violins being the most effective among them.

Amit Trivedi has already built a great reputation at delivering retro-flavoured soundtracks. Jubilee further cements this rep – the composer manages to produce a wonderful tribute to some of the giants of yesteryear Hindi film music, almost entirely eschewing his personal brand in favour of that authenticity. An extremely enjoyable and accessible set of songs – it feels good to see the Amit Trivedi-Vikramaditya Motwane team come up with another cracker, after that blip in Bhavesh Joshi Superhero.

Music Aloud Rating: 4.5/5

Top Recos: Too many to list – but Saare Ke Saare first among equals

Musician Credits

1 Babuji Bhole Bhaale

Composed by Amit Trivedi

Lyrics by Kausar Munir

Singer – Sunidhi Chauhan

Crew

Produced by Parikshit Sharma, Amit Trivedi

Sound Engineer, AT Studios – Urmila Sutar

Recording Engineers at YRF Studios – Vijay Dayal, Chinmay Mestry

Mixed and Mastered by Shadab Rayeen @ New Edge

Assistant Engineers – Pukhraj & Anup

Manager, AT Studios – Shruti Shah

Live Sessions

Song Violin – Chandan Singh

Woodwinds – I D Rao

Dholak – Girish Vishwa & Hafeez Khan

Brass – Robin Fargose, Geet Vaz, Walter Dias, Zameer Shaikh

Percussion – Deepak Borkar

Mandolin – Tapas Roy

Backing Vocals: Jitendra Tupe, Madhura Paranjape, Rohan Patil, Archana

Gore, Deepti Rege, Aditi Prabhudesai, Janardan Dhatrak, Rucha Padhye,

Umesh Joshi, Vijay Dhuri

2 Dil Jahan Pe Le Chala (Amit Trivedi)

Composed by Amit Trivedi

Lyrics by Kausar Munir

Singer –Amit Trivedi

Crew

Produced by Sunny Subramanian, Amit Trivedi

Sound Engineer, AT Studios – Urmila Sutar

Recording Engineers at YRF Studios – Vijay Dayal, Chinmay Mestry

Mixed and Mastered by Shadab Rayeen @ New Edge

Assistant Engineers – Pukhraj & Anup

Manager, AT Studios – Shruti Shah

Live Sessions

Song Violin – Chandan Singh

Woodwinds – I D Rao

Mandolin – Laxmikanth Sharma

Dholak- Girish Vishwa, Hafeez Khan

3 Nahin Ji Nahin

Composed by Amit Trivedi

Lyrics Kausar Munir

Singer/s Papon & Sunidhi Chauhan

Crew

Produced by Parikshit Sharma & Amit Trivedi

Sound Engineer, AT Studios – Urmila Sutar

Recording Engineers at YRF Studios – Vijay Dayal, Chinmay Mestry

Mixed and Mastered by Shadab Rayeen @ New Edge

Assistant Engineers – Pukhraj & Anup

Manager, AT Studios – Shruti Shah, Aditya Hanchinal

Live Musicians

Song Violin – Chandan Singh

Mandolin – Laxmikanth Sharma

Accordion – Shubhash Parab

Woodwinds – I D Rao

Group Violin – Chandan Singh, S Rao, Mohan Goyal, Dharmendra Jawda, Jitendra

Jawda, Sanjay Verma, Dilshad Ahmed

4 Voh Tere Mere Ishq Ka

Composed by Amit Trivedi

Lyrics by Kausar Munir

Singer– Sunidhi Chauhan

Crew

Produced by Amit Trivedi

Sound Engineer, AT Studios – Urmila Sutar

Recording Engineers @YRF studios – Vijay Dayal, Abhishek Khandelwal,

Dileep Nair

Mixed and Mastered by Shadab Rayeen @ New Edge

Assistant Engineers – Pukhraj & Anup

Manager, AT Studios – Shruti Shah, Aditya Hanchinal

Live Sessions

Tabla – Satyajit Jamsandekar

Side Rhythm – Deepak Borkar

Harmonium – Akhlak Warsi

Sitar – Bhagirath Bhatt

Sarangi – Dilshad Khan

Vibraphone – Dnyanesh Bhalchandra Deo

5 Na Koyi Mera

Composed by Amit Trivedi

Lyrics Kausar Munir

Singer/s Papon & Vaishali Made

Crew

Produced by Sunny Subramanian & Amit Trivedi

Sound Engineer, AT Studios – Urmila Sutar

Recording Engineer at Ajivasan – Avadhoot Wadkar

Mixed and Mastered by Shadab Rayeen @ New Edge

Assistant Engineers – Pukhraj & Anup

Manager, AT Studios – Shruti Shah

Live Musicians

Woodwinds – I D Rao

Percussion & Rhythm – Deepak Borkar

Accordion – Satyajit Prabhu

Mandolin – Laxmikanth Sharma

Song Violin – Chandan Singh

Group Violin – Jitendra Thakur, Sandeep Thakur, Pradeep Thakur, Chandan Singh, Mohan Goyal, Sanjay Verma

6 Chandu Naacha

Composed by Amit Trivedi

Lyrics by Kausar Munir

Singers – Swanand Kirkire & Amit Trivedi

Crew

Produced by Sunny Subramanian, Amit Trivedi

Sound Engineer, AT Studios – Urmila Sutar

Recording Engineers at YRF Studios – Vijay Dayal, Chinmay Mestry

Mixed and Mastered by Shadab Rayeen @ New Edge

Assistant Engineers – Pukhraj & Anup

Manager, AT Studios – Shruti Shah

Live Sessions

Song Violin – Chandan Singh

Accordion – Subhash Parab & Satyajeet Prabhu

Woodwinds – I D Rao

Mandolin – Tapas Roy

Backing Vocals – Rashi Harmalkar, Shahana Shome, Prapti Mitra,

Shubhayu Mukherjee, Mohit Gokhale, Harshvardhan Gore, Rohan

Vaidya, Isha Khandekar, Archana Gore

7 Udankhatole

Composed by Amit Trivedi

Lyrics by Kausar Munir

Singers – Mohammad Irfan , Vaishali Made

Crew

Produced by Parikshit Sharma, Satyajit Jamsandekar, Amit Trivedi

Sound Engineer, AT Studios – Urmila Sutar

Recording Engineers @ YRF Studios – Vijay Dayal, Chinmay Mestry

Mixed and Mastered by Shadab Rayeen @ New Edge

Assistant Engineers – Pukhraj & Anup

Manager, AT Studios – Shruti Shah

Live Sessions

Song Violin – Chandan Singh

Mandolin – Laxmikanth Sharma

Woodwinds – I D Rao

Violin – Chandan Singh, S Rao, Mohan Goyal, Dharmendra Jawda,

Jitendra Jawda, Sanjay Verma, Dilshad Ahmed

Dholak – Girish Vishwa & Hafeez Khan

8 Dariyacha Raja

Composed by Amit Trivedi

Lyrics by Kausar Munir

Singers- Divya Kumar & Mohammad Irfan

Crew

Produced by Parikshit Sharma, Satyajit Jamsandekar, Amit Trivedi

Sound Engineer, AT Studios – Urmila Sutar

Recording Engineers at YRF Studios – Vijay Dayal, Chinmay Mestry

Mixed and Mastered by Shadab Rayeen @ New Edge

Assistant Engineers – Pukhraj & Anup

Manager, AT Studios – Shruti Shah

Live Sessions

Song Violin – Chandan Singh

Woodwinds – I D Rao

Mandolin – Laxmikanth Sharma

Violin – Chandan Singh, S Rao, Mohan Goyal, Dharmendra Jawda,

Jitendra Jawda, Sanjay Verma, Dilshad Ahmed

Dholak- Girish Vishwa

Percussion – Deepak Borkar

Accordion – Satyajeet Prabhu

Santoor – Mangesh Jagtap

Backing Vocals – Umesh Joshi, Janardan Dhatrak, Rohan Patil, Vijay

Dhuri, Jitendra Tupe, Aditi Prabhudesai, Rucha Padhye, Archana Gore,

Madhura Paranjpe, Deepti Rege

9 Itni Si Hai Dastaan

Composed by Amit Trivedi

Lyrics Kausar Munir

Singer/s Mohammed Irfan & Sunidhi Chauhan

Crew

Produced by Parikshit Sharma, Satyajit Jamsandekar & Amit Trivedi

Sound Engineer, AT Studios – Urmila Sutar

Recording Engineer at Ajivasan – Avadhoot Wadkar

Mixed and Mastered by Shadab Rayeen @ New Edge

Assistant Engineers – Pukhraj & Anup

Manager, AT Studios – Shruti Shah

Live Musicians

Percussion & Rhythm – Deepak Borkar

Accordion – Satyajit Prabhu

Mandolin – Laxmikanth Sharma

Song Violin – Chandan Singh

Violin – Jitendra Thakur, Sandeep Thakur, Pradeep Thakur, Chandan Singh, Mohan

Goyal, Sanjay Verma

10 Dil Jahan Pe Le Chala (Shahid Mallya)

Composed by Amit Trivedi

Lyrics by Kausar Munir

Singer – Shahid Mallya

Crew

Produced by Sunny Subramanian, Amit Trivedi

Sound Engineer, AT Studios – Urmila Sutar

Recording Engineers at YRF Studios – Vijay Dayal, Chinmay Mestry

Mixed and Mastered by Shadab Rayeen @ New Edge

Assistant Engineers – Pukhraj & Anup

Manager, AT Studios – Shruti Shah

11 Itraati Chali

Composed By – Amit Trivedi

Lyrics – Kausar Munir

Singers – Mohammed Irfan & Vaishali Made

Produced By – Parikshit Sharma & Amit Trivedi

Sound Engineer, AT Studios – Urmila Sutar

Mixed and Mastered by – Shadab Rayeen @ New Edge

Assistant Engineers – Pukhraj & Anup

Manager, AT Studios – Shruti Shah

12 Saare Ke Saare Akele

Composed by Amit Trivedi

Lyrics Kausar Munir

Singer Devender Pal Singh

Backing vocals – Umesh Joshi, Vijay Dhuri, Vivek Naik, Devendra Chitnis, Yash

Kulkarni, Pragati Joshi, Deepti Rege, Mrunmayee Dadke, Duhita Kunkavlekar, Seema Lele

Crew

Produced by Sunny Subramanian & Amit Trivedi

Sound Engineer, AT Studios – Urmila Sutar

Recording Engineer at Ajivasan – Avadhoot Wadkar

Mixed and Mastered by Shadab Rayeen @ New Edge

Assistant Engineers – Pukhraj & Anup

Manager, AT Studios – Shruti Shah

Live Musicians

Woodwind- I D Rao

Percussion & Rhythm – Deepak Borkar

Accordion – Satyajit Prabhu

Mandolin – Laxmikanth Sharma

Song Violin – Chandan Singh

Violin – Jitendra Thakur, Sandeep Thakur, Pradeep Thakur, Chandan Singh, Mohan

Goyal, Sanjay Verma

The post Jubilee – Music Review (Bollywood Soundtrack) first appeared on Music Aloud.

Ponniyin Selvan 2 – Music Review (Tamil Soundtrack) 2 Apr 2023 9:09 AM (2 years ago)

Songs and musician credits at the end (credits will be updated as I get hold of more info)

Having gotten used to the BGM version of Aga Naga from the first instalment of Ponniyin Selvan, the slight increase in tempo in the extended track took a bit of warming up to, but I am now totally besotted with this waltzy track. And one of the primary contributors to that love is the fantastic use of strings (Chennai Strings & Sunshine Orchestra). With just a smattering of percussion, it is the strings that drive the orchestration pretty much, marked by some lovely touches like the “tiptoeing” every time Shaktisree Gopalan sings Yaaradhu Yaaradhu, and the short violin solo from Sunshine Orchestra’s Vignesh towards the song’s closure. Writer Ilango Krishnan does a fine job of conveying princess Kundavai’s love for her land that exists in tandem with her affinity towards Vanthiyadevan – the short phrasing adds to the charm. In the opening verse the writer also uses the Anthaathi style of writing, where the closing phrase of one line becomes the opening phrase of the next line. Of course, all of this comes to life in Shaktisree’s voice – the singer is in sublime form here. Aazhi Mazhai Kanna comes from poet-saintess Andal’s Thiruppaavai series of poems dedicated to Perumal (Vishnu), analogising Andal’s devotion towards Perumal and Vaanathi’s feelings towards the protagonist. The original composition is in the raga varaali, but A R Rahman here goes for a more pleasant melody (shades of desh raaga I think?) – the only issue I have (which holds true for multiple tracks from this album) is that the track is done in under a minute and a half. It feels great to listen to Harini (possibly other singers involved too, uncredited on Spotify) over that duration though, singing for Rahman after ages. The bit nature of the song and the female chorus made me hark back to the lovely bit songs from Kaadhalan. Shankaracharya’s Sanskrit work Shivoham (from his Nirvana Shatakam) is another of the album’s short tracks. Rahman makes this an intense piece, akin to the likes of Shiva Thandava Stotram, seemingly setting it to Chakravakam raaga. An effective male chorus delivers this one, complemented by the chendamelam + edaykka combination that is a perfect choice for the song’s fervour.

Keerthana Vaidyanathan and Niranjana Ramanan, the two ladies who delivered the beautiful Paapam Seiyaathiru in Iravin Nizhal last year, get a similar assignment in Ponniyin Selvan – a song that, with its minimal arrangements, relies heavily on the singing, and they absolutely ace this one as well. Kudavaiyil Theerathanar’s Ilaiyor Soodaar is a lament, presumably picking up from where the first movie left off, with the supposed demise of Ponniyin Selvan. Rahman chooses an eerie silence to adorn this piece, and a fittingly dark raaga (my guess on this was between aahiri and thodi, but this thread concludes that it could be a rarely used raaga phenadhyuthi and turns out it is thodi, as confirmed by ARR in this wonderful conversation with Mani Ratnam and Baradwaj Rangan) to perfectly capture the mournful tone. At some point the mind strangely wandered off to Sigur Ros’s cover of Rains of Castamere in Game of Thrones! The composer interestingly goes for a completely different melody for this one in Hindi – a lighter, more soulful (and slightly longer) tune that is delivered by a wonderful-sounding Pooja Tiwary. Gulzar pens this track titled Mukti Do, and the arrangement remains minimal here too, the odd sarangi phrases being the only standout element. I think I still like the Tamil melody more, though. Ilango Krishnan models Chinnanjiru Nilave on Bharathiyar’s poems and therefore sets it to the same waltz-like meter (well, roopaka thaalam to use the Carnatic terminology). And the song comes in two versions, sung by Haricharan and Khatija Rahman, both quite different in their presentation – they do have one element in common though, the arrangements getting progressively turbulent (violins, the primary contributors to this) perhaps in keeping with the puyal (storm) analogy mentioned in the first stanza. Although Haricharan is brilliant in his rendition, this version carries a bit of familiarity about it and therefore it is the Marumurai (Reprise?) that I really enjoyed, despite its anachronistic sound. The piano refrain along with Khatija’s dreamy voice have quite the mesmerising effect. Finally, my current favourite – Veera Raaja Veera. What a song! Riffing off a traditional dhrupad piece in adana raaga (you can read more about the piece and hear the original piece on this thread), Rahman creates a classical flavoured piece mostly based on darbari kaanada raaga (or adana raaga, I cannot be sure), except for the little digression to a brief, seemingly hameer kalyani raaga based segment, around the midway mark. The use of vocals in this song is top notch; which isn’t a big surprise considering the three names leading the line – Shankar Mahadevan, K S Chithra and Harini, all sounding in fine fettle, but the chorus is equally brilliant, and as prominently employed as well. The orchestration is heavy on Hindustani classical instruments – pakhawaj, sarangi, sitar etc.; one of my favourite bits from the song is the sitar–sarangi duel around the 2:08 mark. The Hindustani flavour of the song also makes it a seamless fit in the Hindi version (sung by Arman Dehlvi, Shreya Ghoshal and Kavita Krishnamurthy), although the arrangements have been slightly modified. A wonderfully grand paean that should be a perfect accompaniment for the climactic coronation sequence. I really hope we get to this song in its entirety onscreen!

Ponniyin Selvan Part 2. A spectacular soundtrack from A R Rahman and Ilango Krishnan, whose only problem is its length. While the first part had a terrific set of songs as well, the sound was a bit more “commercial”. This one however has the composer fully embracing that period sound and producing a classically rich set of songs.

PS: Thanks a ton to the amazing @AakriPasta for once again acting as the Ponniyin Selvan subject matter expert and giving me tons of context around the songs. She has also written a piece on the soundtrack – given that she is a passionate ARR fan in addition to being a PS fan, it makes for a great read!

Music Aloud Rating: 4/5 (this might have been 4.5 had it not lasted just 20 minutes!)

Top Recos: Veera Raaja Veera, Aga Naga, Chinnanjiru Nilave (Marumurai), Ilaiyor Soodaar

Musician Credits

Song Title: Aga Naga
Song Composed, Produced and Arranged by A.R.Rahman
Singer: Shakthisree Gopalan
Lyrics: Ilango Krishnan
Music Supervisor: Nakul Abhyankar
Project Manager: Karthik Sekaran
Score Transcription: Suprava Mukherjee

Musicians –
Chennai Strings & Sunshine OrchestraConducted by Jerry Vincent
Flute: Nikhil Ram
Tabla Tarang: Sai Shravanam
Veena: Haritha Raj
Solo violin : Vignesh ( Sunshine orchestra )
Additional Programming: Nakul Abhyankar, Srikant Krishna
Sound Engineers:
Panchathan Record inn
Suresh Permal, Karthik Sekaran, TR Krishna Chetan, Aravind Crescendo, Suryansh Jain
AM Studio
Pradeep Menon, Manoj Raman, Sathya Narayanan, Ainul, Sathish V Saravanan
Mixed by Pradeep Menon
Mastered by Suresh Permal
Apple Digital Master by Riyasdeen Riyan
Musician Coordinator: Samidurai R, Velavan B, Abdul Haiyum, T M Faizudeen

The post Ponniyin Selvan 2 – Music Review (Tamil Soundtrack) first appeared on Music Aloud.

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