Best Indian tracks of the week - 19th September 2021
This is the weeks best music from across the nation. Music from every state written in every language, composed as a part of Movies and by Indie artists is listened to and after analyzing more than 300 tracks released in the week ending 19th September 2021, I have rated and reviewed the 20 absolute best tracks in the country. This is truly India's ONLY multilingual music review and music curation page. Week after week , without any breaks you will get the review and links to the best work from musicians all over the country.
Find the full playlist of 20 tracks on SPOTIFY
1. Cheppake Cheppake
Haven't I been saying that Telugu music is probably re-scaling a peak of dominance and quality in the last year or so? Well If not, let me state it again with assertion. This took me back many years feeling like listening to a Ilaiyaraja masterpiece, and how much we miss them these days. If you were not brought up in South India, you wont understand what I am talking about. Chaitan Bharadwaj , Kudos to you for creating this weeks best Indian number and Deepthi Parthasarathy is splendid as the lead vocalist. The guitars by Arun Chiluveru are stunning from the get go, and we hear a mild flute also by Ravi Shankar. The strings section is elaborate and it fills your heart with joy and I feel Imam who has conducted the strings deserves a ravishing credit for this. The Violins are played by Sampath, Sastri, Babji, Sasi, Siva, Ramana, Mohan, Murali, Balaji, Balu, Vijay Bhaskar, Balaji, Viola by Sebastin, Baskar, Chandru, Vinaya Kumar, Gopi, Girijan, Hemanth, Anita Francis, Cello by Sekar, Viji and Double Bass by Francis. The intelude is a wonderful symphony with total dominance by Ravi Shankar on the flute. The verse and many instances have a second-line of chorus with female backing vocalists Vasa Pavani, Nemalikonda Manasa, Amrutha Varshini, Abhiikya Tanikella. Its amazing what a wide range Deepthi shows just within the verse itself as we also have SM Subhani handling all the middle eastern instruments that keep playing the layers and in the outro. Chaitan himself does all the keyboard and synth programming, with Hariharan doing the additional tone processing. The mixing and mastering is done by India's leading engineer Shadab Rayeen and assisted by Pukhraj and Milan. Chaitanya Prasad writes the beautiful Telugu lyrics.
2. Dhoore
It makes me so happy that there are musicians creating such wonderful pieces with especially with elaborate array of live instruments. The number 2 song this week is from Malayalam and we have two spell-binding singers in the lead in K.S.Harishankar and Nithya Mammen and that itself takes care of 50% of the musical output. Now moving over to the creative side of things Ebin Pallichan is the brains of the song as its composer, programmer and arranger. Francis Xavier stings you with his Violin Solo at the very start and the whole grand show is by Cochin Strings comprising of Harald Antony, Francis Xavier, Carol George on 1st Violins, Josekutty, Francis Sebastian, Biju Panikkaveetil on 2nd violins, Mariadas, Jain MP, Danny on Viola, Albin Jose on Cello and Saju Jose on Double Bass. Josy Alappuzha then lays the mild groundwork for Hari to enchant you with his voice. Biju Annamanada is scintillating on the Veena and Sandeep Venkitesh gets the tempo going with his Tabla and Dholak. The title line is just filled with mystery and keeps you engaged. Nithya does a haunting humming in the intrelude followed by Josy's Flute and Biju's Veena interventions. Sumesh Parameswar keeps playing the bass and acoustic guitars for this one. After a high pitched end to the version, ""etho raavin maaya raagam thannu nee pranayame "" is a fabulous line and landing to reach the Pallavi and you just have to stand up in ovation for KS Harishankar's delivery. The secon interlude has a nice Dholak and Violin combination, and towards the end it feels like listening to ""Kadhalenum Thervezhudhi"" by AR Rahman. Nithin K Cheriyan is the lyricist and Nikhil Kakkochan has done the mixing, mastering and sound design and recording of string orchestra, woodwinds, percussion, guitars and veena. All assistance is provided by Louis Ansal, Mebin Dsilva and Prince George. Dhlolak is recorded by Shiju Ediyatheril and vocals recorded by Akshay Kakkoth and Sai Prakash.
3. Boonda Boondi
It is all in his name Meghdeep Bose. His music is like something that soars into the skies and touches the clouds (Megh) , his scores are 'deep' in creativity and finally when you have 'Bose' as your surname , do we have to debate about sound? He has been doing a terrific job in composing some stunning numbers and after creating the best Ganesh Chaturthi song ( Tu Hi Hai was featured on my instagram last week) here he creates a reverberating piece of music set in Miyaan ki Malhaar and Megh Melhaar. The vocals which are the most enthralling component of this number are by Shekhar Ravijani with lyrics by Manoj Yadav. Juhi Mahagaye and Trishita Recs( I'm a fan of her indie music, check her tracks I have featured on my blog) begin with their backup vocals and then it leads to Shekhar's amazing vocals with guitars, bass and strokes by Meghdeep in the background and the joyous percussions begin to take over with the female humming portions. Tejas Vinchurkar plays teh Bansuri to our delight especially the interlude. The Fames Studio Orchestra from North Macedonia is heavily involved in all the live instrumentals conducted by Sasho Tatarchevski with contributions from Laurent Koppitz as the sound engineer, Riste Trajkovski, Ilija Grkovski as stage managers, Teodora Arsovska as the protools engineer. All the strings scores are transcribed Japjisingh Valecha . What I love about the track is how the tune, and arrangements make us visualize the monsoon rains, and the fact that back up vocals are prevalent almost right through the track making the vocal arrangements also sound amazing.
4. Du Chokhe Harai
This is a new web series in Bengali and they always never fail to astound you with great content visually and musically. Saswata Das does all the wonderful strings programming but the Esraj, a wonderful Indian string instrument, is played by Tathagata Mishra with design by Sravan Bhattacharyya and Dev Arijit. Ujjaini Mukherjee is at the peak of her powers singing this lullaby of sorts. Sourav Bhattacharya plays the piano with design by Dev Arijit. When the verse begins, there is also this humming in the background helped by the mild guitar strumming(design by Anitesh). Sravan is the composer and he has created a beautiful number here with some stunning live instruments. Ujjaini's magical voice is recorded by Gaurub Roy, with Shamik Guha Roy doing the mastering and mixing. The Esraj is a hugely impactful instrument in this track which is recorded by Avimanyu Chatterjee. Ritam Sen is the lyricist. There are some influences of Raag Gaud Sarang in this track.
5. Holding onto History
This artist took inspiration from Taylor Swift at a very young age and one must applaud Hungama's Artis Aloud which has promoted Krishaa as a singer songwriter with her debut single. Krishaa has written, composed and performed this amazing single which I loved right within the first minute. The superstar guitarist Nyzel Dlima has produced this track. The guitars in the foreground and strings programmed in the background are great accompaniments to Krishaa's vocals which are stunning to say the least. You will enjoy the female harmonies that decorate the track adequately and Nyzel's production stands apart in this track. Krishaa's sings about the deep emotions involved with break-ups and separation especially the ill-treatment, but it is not just the lyrics but the whole score that stays in your head and once its over, you do hold on to the history of listening to the number. Well done team Nyzel and Krishaa.Â
6. Know Your Hail Mary
Brecilla Dsouza is a singer-songwriter trained in Jazz Vocals and hails from The True School of Music and she has been a busy musician touring many parts of India with her earlier bands ""My kind of blue"" and ""Queendom"". You can understand the training Brecilla would have obtained and skill that she possesses when you hear her in this track. The harmonies and Keys are important components that accompany the track right through. Pranav Kamat takes the credit for mixing, mastering and producing this number. I love the ""haa hu yee ha ha"" humming in the end with some great vocal interventions in the background. Yohaan Pissurlenker plays the bass guitars. Aafreen Ansari handles the artwork and is the artist manager.Â
7. Bheemla Nayak
A movie remade will not guarantee success just because the original is a well-made. The same holds true for music as well , and I must say that the title track gives me hope that S Thaman will do a fabulous job to at least match Jakes Bejoy's original. If Kalakkatha was fabulous in 'Ayyapanum Koshiyum' this track goes one step further in its sound quality and overall impact. We have some established singers in Prudhvi Chandra, Ram Miriyala and Sri Krishna along with Thaman himself. The woodwinds instruments with the folk music bit is a great start and that gets the job half done. Darsanam Mogulaiah and Alphons Joseph provide the backup vocals. The song has some amazing beats and percussion with Sivamani A on live percussions, and Dipesh Varma and team handling additional percussions and Vedachalam on the wood block.. Omkar Dhumal plays the sax, Shehnai and Oboe and Tapas Roy and Subhani handling the strings section. The song has everything needed to qualify as a great track with some fabulous sounds and make sure you have a great pair of earphones to enjoy all the intricacies. S Thaman has programmed and arranged the track but a lot of credit also goes to the engineering team with Shadab Rayeen mixing and mastering it with assistance from Pukhraj. There are many elements of the brass section as well in the track and the French horns, Brass trumpet and Trombone are recorded by Patric Chinnawaong. All the live violins, violas are recorded by Biju, conducted by Prasanna B and assisted by Ravi Raghav. Ramajogayya Sastry is the lyricist and Sri Krishna has done the vocal supervision. There is no doubt Thaman is talented but honestly this song is a much better display of his abilities compared to a lot of repetitive tunes he scores.Â
8. Anale Anale
A great composer-singer combination is like having a great crust and a delectable topping together making a delicious pizza. Ghibran is undoubtedly one of the best and the most consistent musicians in the country today and he gets in Haricharan to do the singing honors, Voila great pizza straight off the oven onto your plate! Bon Appetit it is. Gold Devaraj assists Ghibran as usual and Dr. V Sritharan is the supervisor. The Piano is a great addition to Haricharan's serenading vocals and Hary Nair and LJ Vijay provide all additional song arrangements to Ghibrans overall programming and arrangements. The humming "" pumpum pa pa pa"" is so delightful catchy and as expected Ghibran creates beautiful notes in the verse as well especially when the lines go"" aadhalai kadhali seivom naame"". The track is mixed and mastered by Abin Paul with Andria Miranda and Britto David doing the production management. N. Idhaya is the lyricist for this track and it is recorded and edited by Wesley and Chandrasekharan TK.Â
9. Ammadi
Vijai Bulganin, is a trust-worthy name in the indie space and his consistent effort to delivery a popular yet melodious tune every time is note-worthy. He composes and sings this one with Nutana Mohan as the female lead. Lalit Talluri plays the flute like he always does in the interlude along with Subhani on the string instruments. Simeon Telfer is omnipresent on the guitars and also on keyboards and he has wonderful solo on guitars in the second interlude. Vijai is different from many composers that he even today focuses on creating a full-fledged track like the olden days with two stanzas, and two interludes. Nutana does her job as the female vocalist with perfection singing the whole stanza. Sathish Sebastian handles all additional keyboard duties, Robin Sebastian is the Melodyne engineer and Roshan Sebastian has mixed and mastered the track. Deepak Narayanan and Anand Gurrana are the recording engineers and Suresh Banisetti is the lyricist.Â
10. Mon
He has been on my radar for a year now but this Bengali single did really catch my attention and it is one pleasure ride if you love simple, soulful music. Ayushman Basu creates his 4th single here but his 1st in his native tongue called""Mon"". Mainak Bumpy Nag Chowdhury plays the bass guitars and Raja Chowdhury is on the acoustic guitars. Amit Chatterjee has done the mixing and recording with Arjun and Anu handling all the artwork. There is nothing complicated in the track except that Ayushman sings these beautiful sounding Bangla with great poise and it creates a sense of calmness as you listen. Raja's guitars are splendid as are the bass-lines in the background by Mainak.
11. Gallan Teriyaan
I wish I could call them the ""Merchants of Venice"" , well that is how popular and amazing they are. The brothers Salim Merchant and Sulaiman Merchant are at it again with a superb song, this time not just producing it, but also composing. Jonita Gandhi is a grade-A singer with an impeccable voice, and even better diction in many Indian languages. Raj Pandit who is a close associate of Salim-Sulaiman sings the male parts and also co-produces the track. Muheet Bharti's bass guitars already start playing teasingly and I loved the surprisingly excellent vocals of Raj, and maybe I have never listened to him too much as a singer. There are a lot of techno-sounds that dominate the interlude but Salim-Sulaiman excel at infusing these into their melodies. Listen to the beautiful shift in notes when Jonita sings ""Dil toh aapka bhi rangrez hai"". Amitabh Bhattacharya excels at writing these beautiful lines. The track is mixed and mastered by Aftab Khan.
12. You And I
Rajiv Khati rightly names this EP ""About time"" as he has been in the process of composing and releasing these for many years. I am just happy it finally released and that is the feeling I got when I heard the EP and this song especially. He writes, composes, plays the guitars and sings this extremely pleasant and enjoyable single. There is a huge resemblance to Jon Bon Jovi in Rajiv's vocal texture and delivery and isn't that enough to fall in love with the track. After the 5 minute mark there is a brief pause, and then there is probably a slight change in the time signature, but the track is equally poignant in the last 2 minutes.
13. Allorode Pillade
Sahithi Chaganti has been on a purple patch, singing some amazing numbers with very renowned musicians. Her vocals have so much oomph that is is impossible to avoid and not get drawn to. Siddharth Watkins is the composer and he has done a fabulous job arranging all these spectacular live instruments. The Violin by Sandilya Pisapati, and rhythms by Chiranjeevi Mothukuri stand out. Pramod Umapathi intervenes on his flute solo delightfully in more than a few instances. Subhani's strings are well timed and they keep charming you in the background layers, watch-out for the 2nd interlude. The track is mixed and mastered by Vinay Kumar, programmed by Geo Jos and the lyrics are by Remix Umesh.
14. Yah Haalaath & Paar Hoga Tu
The series has created a wave with very strong reviews and I am glad Ahuthosh Phatak has excelled at creating some spectacular music at-least in the songs. Ill have to watch the series to know how good the BGM is. Ashutosh also plays the keyboard, electronics as well as bass and acoustic guitars. I especially loved 'Yeh Haalaath' which reminded me of ""Lady in Red"" by Chris De Burgh, and 'Par Hoga Tu'. Jubin Nautiyal who is probably the busiest singer in Indian today does a remarkable job singing 'Yeh Haalaath' with lyrics by Niranjan Iyengar. It is a serene, somber number which you feel like listening to staring at the vast skies of the night counting he countless stars in utter solitude. Jai Row Kavi's drums keep you engaged, Abhinav R and Ishaan Mehta handle all the additional programming for the whole album. . Jovian Soans is the mix engineer for the album. Anand Bhaskar is going places with his band creating splendid singles, and singing in Hindi, and Gujarati as well. The track starts off with the low scaled singing by Anand, Sanjay Divecha on the guitars. the backing vocals team contributes brilliantly and it is comprised of Sonia Saigal, Ashutosh, and Mandar Deshpande. The choir vocals is comprised of Rajat Sharma, Ruhika Rao, Sushmita Benal, Neha Vivek Patil, May Rain , Kritika Soni, Anushka Maheshwari. Listen to the wonderful solo on the sarangi by Sabir Khan, as it almost took me surprise hearing it in this sort of a track and it goes brilliantly with the church bell sounds and the bass guitars. Jai Row Kavi is mind-blowing on the drums in the outro of the track.
15. wounded
Niranjan Menon and Artemis Fall have collaborated before and I have loved ""Castle in the Sky"" and reviewed it on my blog. This time Marc Andre and Niranjan write and sing with composition and arrangements by Niranjan. Artemis Fall has mixed and mastered the track with Rajeev Ninan handling the cover art and visuals. Wow, falsetto straightaway and it works for me immediately and the singing and production is terrific in this track. The synth programming along with the background vocals , with a hint of Sitar as well. The lo-fi sounds dominate in the verses when both singers deliver but there are so much happening in this song that you will have to listen multiple times just to observe and enjoy everything. I loved the mild classical Indian aalap as well.
16. Ae Sadho Re
Sarthak Kalyani is one of those new age composers who likes to get a a semi classical song with a proper base in Indian classical music. Of the many he has composed recently this is a more funky one that doesn't take itself too seriously , and that is a good thing. It only shows the diverse talents of Sarthak as a composer and singer. This is a song that depicts the deep theories of Hindu Adhyatma such as Advaita Siddhanta, 6 eternal enemies, and journey towards the salvation while sounding more like a Sufi. Apparently it is a contemporary ode to Sant Kabir as well as numerous other sages who purported selflessness over worldly pleasures. I feel like there is a resemblance to that great track called ""Zindagi Maut na ban jaye"" from Sarfarosh. Sarthak has sung and composed the track with lyrics written by Vikram Edke. Suprava Mukherjee's guitars are truly fantastic , and should also credit Akash Sharma for all the additional programming for getting those sounds of the Piano, flute, rhythms etc. The track is mixed and mastered by Sarthak, and Akash also is involved in vocals.
17. Time
The track is her debut single as Charita Arora a.k.a. Roradoll excels as a singer-songwriter in this is track produced, mixed and recorded by Varun Rajput. She sings with such ease at that low scale and the key to the songs success lies in the element of mystery created in her delivery style. The backup vocals work really well in the background along with the upright bass that accompanies all along. The sudden introduction of the Cello and the drums makes the track even more exciting and it moves into a phase with a faster tempo, and it offers much more than just being a one-dimensional track. Varun's touch of class is what elevates this track thats to the exemplary work in production. Ishita Singh has done all the artwork.
18. Sapno Ka Safar
TRAVZIC believes in mixing music and travel and if that is not the bets cocktail in the world, then I don't know what is. They are creating this EP called "" Sapno ka Safar""and this is the second but titular track and I absolutely loved the composition. It is written and scored by Amlan Majumder and produced by Ritaprabha Ray who is an ace-guitarist. The way the song starts with the drums, I was reminded of a Coldplay number. The electric guitars and drums start off and Durnibar Saha is the male vocalist and from sounding like a rock number it transforms into a rock/pop with some excellent singing by the lead singers Durnibar, and Megha Mukherjee. Megha playfully delivers her lines with a delightful vibrato her and there. The song is like a roller-coaster ride as it slows down without beats for a bit and once again gather peace. Rhitabrata Kar does the mixing and mastering and Sukriti Khurana handles the illustration with Lavanay Sood on the video.
19. Mehndi Te Tavi
Yes I agree, I prefer reviewing fresh music composed from the scratch, but isn't any new music inspired from somewhere ? I love any great creative fabrications done to an already existing tune as well and that speaks to many in the younger generation like this one here which is a fresh rendition of a traditional Gujarati folk song that is usually sung or played at the Mehndi function in a wedding. Lost Stories as they call themselves have produced, composed and arranged this very catchy and enjoyable version. Jonita Gandhi like I just mentioned earlier in this blog shows what she is capable of as a singer especially when the languages are different frmo just hindi. Shriram Sampath plays the fun-filled interlude on the flute with a lot of strings being programmed in the background thanks to Jay Pei. There is brief portion where you hear the traditional percussion and wind instruments as well as Lost Stories mix and master the track.
Author
I write album and song reviews of Tamil music every month for Behindwoods. You can also call me a sports nut, especially football, and I used to write articles on sportskeeda.com. I am a die-hard Argentina football fan and have travelled to South Africa and Russia to witness the FIFA world cup games. It is not just music, I love movies as well and you will find me quoting dialogues and moments from a lot of movies, as I believe every movie teaches me something new about life itself.