Aaj main gaaoon jo…
Aaj main gaaoon jo
Aisa wo geet ho
Geet kitne hain….
Geet baarish ke
Geet baadal ke
Geet boondon ke
Geet kirano ke
While there is no particular reason to mention this forgotten song from Little John, a little film featuring a big miracle of science(no, I don’t mean Jyothika by that) in the typical streak of Singeetham Sreenivasa Rao, I thought it would make for an appealing start nonetheless for a post on music.So coming back to the song, this and the other pleasant songs of the film were composed by AR Rahman’s long time buddy and assistant, Praveen Mani, jinke mainstream career ki udaan take off se pehle hi crash ho gayi. Sorry for the dialog, and it might not be true considering Mani is a talented whizkid and is behind many Rahman hits, an inkling of which is also evident in the breezy ‘Paadava Paadava/aaj main gaaon jo’ from Little John and another forgotten private album of Vasundhara Das called Meri jaan, the title track of which was beautifully shot around Taj Mahal by Shaad Ali and featured a ‘sau rupaye mein do sau rupaye ki acting karta hoon’ Shiney Ahuja. Of course, I am not mentioning the many Tamil songs done by Praveen Mani, as I haven’t heard them.
To behanon aur bhaaiyon, ab aate hain aaj ke mudde par. Sureele filmi taraano ki bauchhaar. Aur is bauchhar mein shumaar geet pe geet lagaatar…
Bole to, after a relatively non-happening dry season, we are back to some musical times. Rahman came with a ‘ek nahi aap do lijiye’ treat, Vishal Shekhar came up with a breezy surprise, SEL hit a low note in a predictable offering and newbee Amit Trivedi shows promise amplified.
To begin with, Rahman’s releases – Ada & Jaane tu… are fun to check out.
Ada has its open format appeal – songs diverse in moods, structures, approaches. No wonder the album was composed over 8 years or so. I remember how back in school days I used to have a page in my diary, “Rahman : Coming Soon”, and how I had these names there – tehjeeb, do kadam aur sahi(which later became Meenaxi), Ada, shikhar, fire…
Sab aa gaye bas Ada hi reh gaya. Shikhar’s songs went to Taal & Kisna. Probably Chhaiyya Chhaiyyan had its origins there. Not sure about it so don’t come all ballistic on me for mentioning that now. Just kidding. Coming back to Ada, the music needs a good month to absorb. Lovely songs. My current favorite is ‘mujhe milo wahaan’ especially the male chorus bits in the second half. Very reminiscent of Maachis, interestingly sung by a Malayali singer. Other supercool tracks include the Chitra number ‘tu mera hai’ which possibly is best rendered here by her, considering the transitions it goes through. Rahman ji does hang out in the song with his regular aalaaps and backing vocals. Sukhi ji comes later and gives the song a whole new dimension. His voice depicts the pain of a crying heart, content in its despair. Jeez, I should do away with these lame word structures.
Nice to hear Udit Narayan and Sonu Nigam in Rahman songs after quite a long time. Hawaa sun hawaa is a softly renditioned duet by Sonu & Alka. A very conventional number from a very unconventional composer.
Rahman weilds the microphone for Meherbaan, another ably structured song, which gets further affirmed in the instrumental version. Nice to see Rashid Khan coming to the fore in both the albums. I was waiting for some non-commercial unrestrained songs from Rahman for some time, and I felt with Ada & Jaane tu, we got a fair deal.
My current favorites from Jaane tu ya jaane na include the title song(love both the versions with more preference for Sukhi’s version for obvious reasons), nazrein milaana & kahin to hogi.
Now let’s come to Aamir, the reason I cancelled an early sleep to write this post. So I put on the headphones to check the album out and this is what happened…
WARNING: Shaayari Ahead!
Chakkar Ghumyo
Neend khuli to jaaga.
Neend se bach kar bhaaga.
Aankh khuli to aankh thi baasi.
Hothon pe thi bhookhi udaasi.
Pal bhar jaaga tha ek lamha.
Phir wo bhi so gaya.
Ojhal ek alsaai aankh kaanon se pare.
Jheem pichhakkar ghumyo.
Saat jhamelon ki kahaani
Wahi baasi aankh ki baani
Dhaago ka basera
Lamhon ka dera
Jaa tu jaa re motor ka pahiya
Pahiya ghumyo re saara baadal ghumyo
Sooraj na laage chokha
Koi aur naam de do
Daityanath
Beend dee ka bhaai pher aa gaya roti todne
Saala roti sookhi ho to todey
Roti na bache
Dus saal ki bandish
Dus saal ka jurmaana
Chokha laage manhe rangon ka sapna
Sapne ke aage peechhe aawe ek aur sapna
Aapni bhookh laage pyaari baaisa
Aapni pyaas ka dekho re taao
Waapas aawe to bulaao
Na aawe to jaao
Nikle the kahaan aur kahaan ko aaye
Raaton ki baatein
Aur subah ka phera
Raatein beet gayee raatein
Aawega kal wo savera
Raiwan de baatein
Beet jaati thi raatein
Tu bhi so jaawega
Saala savera tab kahaan jaawega…
Shaayari Ends
Verdict : Damn good song!
Ek lau zindagi ki bujhi mere maula
A poignant number, poised in its charm. Sung, written and composed with a heartfelt intensity. The song gets specifically pronounced in its conviction towards the latter male bits. But I am not sure if it works on whole on the scale of longevity.
A word here on something I have been observing for some time. The film music that has been getting composed off late is no less in any department. Though there might always be accusations and comparisons to the old and very old, I feel that each time and age has its own music defined for its echoing relevance. While we grow older and look back at the songs of yesteryears, we can always say that hook could have been better, or the ‘husn’ should have had more emphasis in the third stanza’s concluding line, there is no better time than a ‘contextual now’ to dissect and study music. So while I was listening to this number from Aamir, I felt a similar emotion, a mixed emotion of annoyance and wonder. I usually write about songs while I listen to them. So I pick up a song, listen closely to the words, write them down as the song progresses, along with penning the images it evokes, and so on.
What proves as a distraction in this entire exercise is when words are hard to decipher. For example, in ‘ek lau’ I found it hard to figure whether its ‘dhoop’ or ‘dhund’ in ‘dhoop/dhundh ke ujaale si’. Same for ‘par’ or ‘gar’ in ‘par/gar khuda khair kar’.
It is such times when I think in between all the build up of a beautiful execution, words get killed quietly somewhere. And though I think it is fairly pardonable, it would do the writer a little good if he had more part to play in the execution. Those who appreciate the significance of words would certainly agree the difference a ‘gar’ makes from ‘par’, or a ‘dhoop’ makes from ‘dhund’. And this is definitely not composer specific. May be its another attribute of the times. So I would not judge it.
Gardishon mein rehti
Behti guzarti
Zindagiyaan hain kitni
Inmein mein se ek hai
Teri meri ya kahin
Koi ek jaisi apni
Par khuda khair kar
Aisa ilzaam kisi rooh ko na de kabhi, yahaan
Guncha muskurata ek
Waqt se pehle kyun chhod chala tera ye jahaan
Ek lau is tarah kyun bujhi mere maula
Ek lau zindagi ki maula
Dhoop ke ujaale si
Os ke pyaale si
Khushiyaan mile humko
Jyaada maanga hai kahaan
Sarhadein na ho jahaan
Duniyaan mile humko
Par khuda khair kar
Uske armaan mein kyun
Bewajaha ho koi qurbaan
Guncha muskurata ek
Waqt se pehle kyun chhod chala tera ye jahaan
Ha raham(Mehfuuz)
Mehfuuz as a prominent mukhda hook is dear to me. Long ago, I had constructed a collage of images and stories around this one word. Much thanks to Euphoria’s album. So I approached this particular track from Aamir carefully…
Aani jaani hai kahaani
Bulbuley si zindagaani
Banti kabhi bigadti
Tej hawaa se ladti bhidti
Ha raham farmaaye khuda
Mehfuuz har kadam karna aye khuda
A very fine qawaali, in its true tradition and instrumentation.
Saanson ki sooti
Dor anoothi
Jal jaayegi
Jal jaayegi
Band jo laaye they
Haath ki mutthi(pronounced as ‘moothi’)
Khul jaayegi
Khul jaayegi
(the ‘khul jaayegi’ bit gets too predictable in situations like this. Some writers do try to experiment. For e.g. one can use ‘dhundhlaegi’ or ‘sang jaayegi’ or bhar jaaegi’ here. Again, just a difference of approach. Not that it’s wrong being conventional)
Ab maan gaye kaaya ye ujli mitti mein mil jaayegi
(This is exactly the issue I was talking about in the previous song. You can’t decipher what’s being sung if you don’t hear it a couple of times, and make an effort to do so, as well)
Chahe jitni shamaayein roshan karlein
Dhoop to dhal jaayegi
(great line)
Being a Rahman follwer, I can’t help thinking how would he approach this track. I would say he would keep the beat monotonous, keep the strings very sparse. May be introduce them post the first stanza, and make you feel hollow instead of filling you up. Just my imagination.
The next stanza is almost indecipherable in its first couplet. Any help would be appreciated. I am at a loss of words to review.
Having started off as a promising qawwali, haan raham khuda doesn’t quite live up to the promise. May be a better arrangement could help. But I must say it ends up on an exhaustive note, which is not something you expect out of a sufi rendition. Mostly.
Haara
Starts off on a gangster mood. I would not be attempting to write the words for this one. I don’t think you would either. Mainly a grunge rhythm oriented track, it pounds the beat to hit you with a rising inferno of darkness and depression. I would say it gets it rightly. I might need a couple of plays before really reaching a point of analysis, but the song, to say the least, is a well conceptualized one.
Phas gaya
Starts off on an Aqua mood.Interesting for the mood the film projects. Into the chorus and you adapt to the fun take on the entire ‘I am fucked up anyways so lets enjoy it’ groove. not much depth though. The kind that was displayed in chakkar, ek lau & haan raham.
De Taali -Vishal Shekhar
De Taali was rather a surprise. Considering the people and the genre associated, I would not expect a ‘aaj main boond hoon’ number. So the surprise.
A breezy track captured almost in the right mood by Shreya, I feel it is such albums where V-S can get back to their pyar mein kabhi kabhi days. Not great numbers but you can sense a kind of freewheeling approach to the tunes, something which you wont find in the big banner albums like a Tashan & OSO(taking nothing away from them).
De Taali
An interesting chord progression makes this song go with the mood established by the previous song. Nothing else much in the song to rave about though.
Hone lagi
Probably the best and most-RDesque number of the lot. It impresses you instantly. A nice and welcoming change for Anushka. Even Babul Supriyo(I might be wrong) goes very well with the mood.
Maari Teetri
I knew Raja Hassan will get a number like this very soon. A rustic folk-pop number a la Himesh Bhai. And he does a pretty good job of that, a kind of cross between Sukhi and Himesh Bhai. Though I maintain the song could have done with less of all those shiny disco balls beats, it would have retained the natural flair of Raja’s voice.
Tooti Phooti
Another good number spoiled by the overheard patterns that is almost becoming annoying now in a V-S number. You can skip this.
I even tried covering ‘thoda pyaar thoda magic’ to make this mausiquana safar a full circle but I guess some dreams better remain dreams…
Later.
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Tushar, another good music review after JA. A small question. Ghumyo, aawe, jaawe, etc. where do they use such Hindi dialect? Is it UP?
Thanks Vivek. That is Rajasthani. not refined though, I seasonally abuse my linguistic roots, so this is another of those seasons.
@ Vivek: Although the lines of Chakkar Ghumyo are distinctly rajasthani, aawe, jaawe, etc are used across north india. I think it has its roots in braj bhasha. Even the great Ghalib used it in one of his ghazals, which had ‘…aavenge kya” as the radif (refrain).
dost ghamkhwaari mein meri saa_i farmaaveNge kyaa
zakhm ke bharne talak naakhun na badh jaaveNge kyaa
hai ab is maamuure mein qaht-e-gham-e ulfat asad
ham ne yih mana ki dilli mein rahein khaaveNge kyaa
its ‘Malayali’ not ‘Malayalam singer’ :-)
shorry couldn’t resist
Thanks Aditya. I didn’t know Ghalib used those brij/khadi twists in his words. I feel it always adds a little something to the expression if done in a right spirit.
Thanks DPac, correction made.
Tushar: This particular ghazal was there in Gulzar’s serial, but not included in the initial cassette releases. It was included in the subsequent CD releases. You can listen to it here:
I have the CD set. :-)
Tushi,
Im surprised u didnt get the strains of ‘the Requeim’ in Haara
wo kya hota hai bhai? the requiem?
Requiem for a Dream, tushi
oh wo. ya, all those jump cuts sounds. certainly.
Dpac
Exactly thats what i felt too…may be amit was truly inspired by it…
good job tushar…I didn’t like jaane tu that much… except for kabhi kabhi aditi and nazarein…
no jump cuts and all..
the base strain..
Thanks Varun.
Dpac, may be you need to send me some sample of it then. :-( btw, you mean bass strain right.
Thanks Tushar and Aditya for the info.
Tushar: I have a mixed reaction to Ek Lau. Good tune, great lyrics, but together they just don’t gel. I find the enunciation of the words by the singers to be quite irritating, and I blame the composer for that. His tune doesn’t allow for a smooth flow of these words.
btw, the word in the song is “anjaam” not “ilzaam”. I had no problems with gar/par and dhoop/dhund.
Same issue with Mahfuz….I’m not sure if the wordsmith and the tunesmith worked in tandem on this album…seems like both did their respective jobs in isolation. The stanza you could not decipher is a classic case in point (the word ‘ki’ was completely ommitted for it to fit the tune and it just doesn’t make sense):
sone(ki)chamak mein
sikkon (ki) khanak mein
milta nahin milta nahin
dhool ke zarron mein dhoonde koi tu
milta nahin milta nahin
kya majaal teri marzi ke aage
bandon ki chal jaayegi
thaame (??) ungli jo tu
kathputli ki chaal badal jayegi
But on the whole, Mahfuz is my pick from this album (possibly due to my soft corner for the qawwali genre)
very apt observations, Aditya.
I am giving it another hear tonight to see if there is any changes that I notice. Thanks for helping me out with the words.
Tushar Listen to this…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cf-CFUZREm8
i prefer Ek Lau over Mehfuz. The voices they have used doesn’t suit the song. The sargam was half-hearted. Don’t you think so?
HG, will definitely check it again and let you know. Like I said it was my first impressions of the song…
“But I am not sure if it works on whole on the scale of longevity.”
bass strain nahin be..
i dont know how to put it in music lingo…
but hear both of them , u will notice the similarities
Am behind. Will need to make up on all this over the weekend
Hi guys,
Mehfuz is a very beutiful qawalli very mellow and poignant–
the lyrics as I understand them Tushar are
- Kya gooman kare – being unneccesarily proud-, Kaaya ye ujli mitti mein mil jaayegi
(and not – Ab maan gaye kaaya ye ujli mitti mein mil jaayegi)
taane – meaning to pull – ungli jo tu
(and not – thaame (??) ungli jo tu)
kathputli ki chaal badal jayegi
also Noor-ul-alla (I am not sure I got that right) from Meenaxi is a very beautiful sufi-based song – What say?