Play on..

For a change today, I want to talk about the Hindi music scene.. Music has increasingly taking a back seat for me, in the last couple of years. Earlier I was always hands on with the latest releases and had an opinion on all the latest music.. But with limited time spent at home and not much FM connectivity in these parts of the world, its hard to keep track of things. But then the best of the lot still trickles through.

Last year or so hasnt really been big for music. The trends keep changing all the time, but the current one is really baffling.

For one, rarely an album has music from just one composer.. So you have Anu Malik, Pritam and company sharing space on the same album cover. Now, thats not what an album is about. It isnt supposed to be a hash of Punjabi Pop, Sufiana and Rock. Take one or max two genre and give us ranges within it.. But then with the way our movies are structured it isnt that mis-aligned. :)

Then 4 of 6 'original' (pun intended) tracks HAVE to have a remixed or DJ or Dance version of them. The topping is when the most tragic songs are rehashed as trance tracks.. ;-) DJ Akbar Sami and his ilk are having a field day.

And then comes in Himesh Reshammiya. Well, first things first. I think he is a talented composer. He has a genuine sense of melody. I appreciate some of his work. I actually liked his "Aashiq Banaya aapne" and the first set of his sufiana pepped stuff. For one it provided variety to the innumerable Punjabi pop tracks, that I inately dislike. Then Sufi music has an appeal that is hard to capture in text. His efforts were commendable and his voice was a diversion from the 'perfect' sterile voices of the likes of Sonu Nigam and Co. So far so good.. but then he overdid it to an extent that he was doing 3 albums a month, composing 6 tracks an album (+ 6 remixes from Akbar Sami) and singing all of them. Now he was never a singer to pull it off. His initial success pulled him through the last six months and 20 hits.. watever. But thats now a trend we would want to go on. Himesh himself needs to get over it and compose something new.

But then there has been the emergence of some good too.
We have seen a lot of different voices breaking in.. point in case Shafqat Amanat Ali Khan (Mitwa/fuzon), James (Bheegi Bheegi/Gangster), Zubeen Garg (Ya Ali/Gangster), Kailash Kher and Atif Aslam. Now, all these guys dont have those crystal clear voices of Udit Narayan, Sonu Nigam, KK and Shaan. Thats what sets them apart. Its great to hear to a lot of niche songs in these different voice, where their natural elements add to the feel of the songs. Take for example "Allah ke bande" by Kailash Kher. You can not have a Udit Narayan rendering it with the same feel. Or "Ya Ali" by Zubeen Garg. Zubeen isnt in the same league as Sonu Nigam, but Ya Ali sounds better with Zubeen than what it would with Sonu rendering it(IMO).

And then there is Atif Aslam. Atif is the best of the lot.. atleast the new ones. He is naturally gifted with a very high pitched voice, that doesnt really shiver even at the highest notes. Just listen to his 'Aadat' or 'Bheegi Raatein'. Even his latest 'Tere Bin' from 'Bas ek Pal', not his best, sounds soo peaceful.

Another great 'find' IMO has been Shantanu Moitra, of Parineeta fame. He isnt as visible as an Anu Malik or not even as much selling as Himesh, but he is really talented. His music has an inate sense of softness and 'thehraav' which is rare to find. Rahman's is the only other music that has the same feel. apart from his more appreciated Parineeta, do listen to his score in "Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi", an amazing score of ghazals to the tune of Mirza Ghalib and Swanand Kirkire (Contemporary!!). And then Parineeta, which I personally thought was a hopeless movie, had a gem for each and every of its songs. The lesser known "Soonga mann ka aangan" is the crown jewel.

Well, we can only hope that we have more of the positives and a lot less of these so called trends coming up later this year. But do give Shantanu Moitra and Atif Aslam a go.. well, that actually gives me the thought of a Shantanu Moitra composed song sung by Atif. That would certainly qualify for a treat. You never know...