Top Indian Songs of the week 17th July 2022
1. Pareshan
Writer, Composer and Performer: Suzonn
Music Producer: Anubhav Gogoi
Engineer: Rob Murray (Wilderfox Studios, Vermont, USA)
Language – Hindi
Genre – Indie Pop
This youngster Suzonn was featured for a beautiful melodious track called ‘Humse Khafa’ back in Nov 2021. Please do listen to that song once before you hear this, as it sets a certain standard of expectation for you, and when you listen to his latest number “Pareshan” you will feel the exact opposite of the title words – Pure Bliss. As a listener, your music appreciation will tell you that Suzonn has hugely outdone himself in this song and is deserving of the number 1 spot it occupies across all the 400 songs released in the week. Suzonn a.k.a. Sujan Sinha has written, composed and performed the number with Anubhav Gogoi producing it. These men are the pride of Assam and a testament to the lineup of musical talent the state has been producing like a conveyor belt. This song would have made Anurag Saikia, Shankuraj Konwar and Papon proud. He starts off in an extremely mild fashion, as though he just is making an attempt to slowly get comfortable and sing aloud. The Keys are just like the North Star giving the song direction and then the beautiful line “bewajah rehta pareshaan”, sung and composed like a waterfall dropping and landing with grace. The strings are becoming more prominent in the background during the humming, and they are like an unstoppable force right through. The song picks up in tempo with the Piano also more free-flowing now than before, but Anubhav Gogoi decorates the song with impeccable beauty thanks to his production. I haven’t heard such an amazing strings arrangement in 2022 so far with over 7000 songs already that have been heard and analyzed by me this year. Suzonn introduces a nice bridge section as well just after a minor interlude on strings and Piano, singing “mann tu bataa, Main kaun hoon maujood”. The track is mixed, mastered and recorded by Rob Murray.
2. Mannimpu
Composer, Singer : Ranina Reddy
Lyrics: Rakendu Mouli | Rambabu Gosala
Musicians Asad Khan, Arshad Khan, Pradyumna, John Paul, Nakul Abhyankar
We have heard of songs where the message is apology and repentance maybe to a lover or a friend, but how about to Mother Earth. Ranina Reddy has composed and sung this number which originated in creation during the lockdowns and it is set beautifully in Raag Yaman. Asad Khan opens the song with his Sitar solo gravitating upon us the mood of the song. John Paul who is a master of the art., strums the guitars and with Arshad Khan’s Sarangi solo giving away the Raag influences. The rhythm programming is excellent as all credits of arrangements and programming go to the famed musician Nakul Abhyankar. After the opening lines by Ranina, and some harmonies in the background, Arshad Khan stuns you as the notes take a trajectory and deviate like you wouldn’t predict. The Sitar, electric guitars and drums combine into a pacy and energizing interlude. The stanza is all about Ranina’s low-scale vocals, supported by Pradyumna on Tabla and John’s basslines. The song’s message aligns with Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev’s message of “Save Soil” as Ranina expresses the sorrow of having destroyed Mother Earth and its natural resources. John Paul explodes with an electric guitar solo in the second interlude and it all adds such diverse elements to the song’s wholesomeness. Nakul solidifies the track’s output with all the arrangements as Asad’s Sitar solo plays a fitting end to the song. The track is recorded by Hariharan, while Balu Thankachan mixes and masters the track.
3. Vishay cut
Music Director, Producer : Advait Nemlekar
Singers : Aanandi Joshi , Advait Nemlekar
Lyrics: Akshay Shinde
Musicians – Hrishi Giridhar, Lavine da costa, Ninad Mulaokar
Language – Marathi
Genre - Melody
It has been a while since we heard a nice Marathi melody, and like we hear when it rains, it pours. This week we have a few and they all strike you like Thor’s hammer. I hope the Marvel fans will pardon me for this comparison and if I have used any words incorrectly. To me, however, this song has the power to move mountains and seas with its stunning melody and instrumentals and kudos to Advait Nemlekar the producer, composer and vocalist. Hrishi Giridhar plays the guitars with such eloquence accompanying the lovely vocals of Advait and Aanandi Joshi. Ninad Mulaokar plays the flute solo and he intervenes with magical perfection, romanticizing the tune even more. Lavine da Costa, who is a legend and worked with stalwarts like Salim-Sulaiman, does an enviable job in orchestrating and arranging the Strings section which dominates the interlude like a Western Classical bit and the flute lifts you up in the air. I am so excited to hear Advait sing and compose because I have never heard his work before, but this creates a massive wave of expectation for me. The track is mixed and mastered by Ajinkya Dhapare and recorded by Aslam Khan with Bevin Fernandes’ assistance.
4. Mr Malang
Singer: Shalmali Kholgade
Lyrics: Mayur Puri
Composed, arranged and produced by: Bharat-Hitarth
Backing vocals: Amrita Talukdar
Musicians - Prachtes Bhowmik, Hitarth Bhatt,
Language – Hindi
Genre –Rock n Roll
Out of the blue, a song comes up and takes you by so much surprise, that you just can’t proceed to do anything that you were originally working on. I was so impressed with Bharat-Hitarth they do and I very much enjoyed two more songs in this little know movie album called “Titu Ambani”. When I did some more research I found that the duo is famous in the jingle world creating music for many famous brands and their advertisements. This is a welcome foray into the world of movies and I urge music enthusiasts to listen to the songs in the album. Shalmali Kholgade is a rock star and I can think of no one else to deliver this demanding song with incredible ease. Bharath and Hitarth compose, arrange and produce this song giving it a touch of 1960s Rock ‘n’ Roll much like Elvis Presley’s gems. Just listen to her vocals, as she incredibly alters her delivery style to suit a retro Hindi style as well. Amrita Talukdar provides the backing vocals but also gets enthused by Hitarth Bhatt’s and Prachotosh Bhowmik’s guitars which are snazzy. I can hear some Ukulele as well. The humming and vocal harmonies are well arranged, and there is a barrage of instruments from the Horns and Brass section, maybe Trumpets and Trombones and French Horns, but they all come together quite well. It is a massive task for the mixing engineer and Prathamesh Dudhane comes out on top in mastering as well. The stanza is where Shalmali takes it mild and gentle before once again moving the ante and adrenaline up. The second interlude with the guitars and Piano is a straight influence of old classic songs from Hindi as well but the song is a hit thanks to the singing, harmonies, arrangements and production. It feels like spotting an oasis in a desert when Bollywood music is going down the drain for lack of quality and originality. The Recording engineers are Ikramuddin Lochoor and Aamey Londhe. I will be reviewing two more songs from the album in the subsequent weeks.
5. Betahasha
Singer: Akanksha Bhandari
Composed, Written, Produced - Nilotpal Sinha
Musicians- Mehtab Ali Niazi, Shahrukh Khan, Sharafat Hussain
Language – Hindi
Genre – Semi- classical
I was blown away by the number, and as I have always been told, when I see the symbol “M” denoting Merchant Records, I know there is going to be some superior quality ahead. Nilotpal Sinha composes, produces and also writes this semi-classical number that just doesn’t stop oozing richness. The way Akanksha Bhandari sings is just phenomenal, with a mild sense of vulnerability in her voice depicting the message of the song. Shahrukh Khan’s Sarangi is stunning right from the beginning, and it drives the classical elements forward along with Sharafat Hussain’s Tabla. The interlude has joyful notes played on the Sitar by Mehtab Ali NIazi, and simultaneous the pathos is derived from the Sarangi. The delivery by Akanksha is just perfect in terms of her decibel level and energy as well, and I can feel a woman wanting to be loved with subtle and gentle expressions of romance. Shivansh Jindal who is an up-and-coming indie musician is the Executive Producer for the track and the song is mixed and mastered by the masterful Kohinoor Mukherjee. The song seems to be having influences from Raag Desh in my opinion.
6. Raah dikha de
Music Composer: Shubham Shirule and Ana Rehman (Jam8 Studio)
Lyrics: Shloke Lal
Singers: Mohit Chauhan and Asees Kaur
Musicians - Sunny M.R. and ZIA, Utkarsh Dhotekar, Suresh Lalwani, Jitender H Thakur, Mohan, Ram Chandran, Dev Modi, Chinmay Deore, Sharmilee, Rajkumar Dewan, Roland Fernandes.
Language – Hindi
Genre – Indie Pop, Melody
Let me tell you straight away that songs like these are a rarity, especially in Hindi, songs which make you fall in love with the idea of music without having to destroy your ears with a high noise level of dance beats or having to listen to cuss words and offensive and degrading language. This song composed by Shubham Shirule and Ana Rehman is priceless. Apparently, their mentor is Pritam and now you know where they have taken inspiration from. The most supreme talents like Sunny M.R. and ZIA have arranged and programmed along with Utkarsh Dhotekar, and right from the start the sounds give you a hint that it is the work and production of Sunny M.R. and listen to the impactful strings even before Mohit Chauhan begins singing. Jitender H Thajur plays the Violin while they are arranged by Suresh Lalwani. Jitender is accompanied by Mohan on Viola and Ram Chandran on the Cello. It really feels like you just got to feel the fresh air in your lungs after being suffocated to death, when you hear Mohit’s voice after listening to some very mediocre singing and a million of them mimicking Arijit Singh. Dev Modi on drums and Chinmay Deore on percussion start making an impact with strings just interjecting at every instance. The arrangements couldn’t have been better and often do we hear so many live instruments all in one place, and this deserves huge applause to Ana, Shubham, Sunny, Zia, and Utkarsh. The title line “Raah Dikha De” is just magical not just when Mohit sings but an extremely inspiring chorus does it that includes Subhashree Das, Akash Mukherjee, Aaroh Velankar, Vacha Bipin, Archita Ajgaokar, Rudrik Mistry, Sonu and Ishteyak Khan. Shloke Lal clearly brings his A game with his lovely lyrics. Let us also pay attention to the Piano played by Sharmilee and as ZIA arranges the keys, we have the Keyboards and Synths handled by Shubham and Ana. Asees Kaur proves that she owns a powerful and likeable voice that probably is wasted many times. Here when she opens the stanza with a very cool and laidback approach you start enjoying the minute yet meaningful vibrato she introduces at just the right places. Roland Fernandes is on guitars with another very common name on bass viz. Rajkumar Dewan. Everything goes silent when Asees performs giving all the spotlight on her, and then the bass, guitars, drums and keyboards along with the harmonies beautify the background. It is amazing to just hear the way Asees moves into the opening lines after the stanza as she seamlessly moves to the higher scale with ease. We can all just stand up and thank Niraj Singhai who is responsible for the concept and Ideation. The song is a celebration of music and how every player has a role to play in the ultimate sound and output, and we get more proof when that aggravated and upbeat drum bit leads us into one final “raah dikha de” moment, this time with the entire chorus. The audio engineers who have worked on the project are Hemaksh Kalsi, Subhashree Das, Akash Mukherjee, Aaroh Velankar and Pranav Gupta. Antara Mitra and Brianna Supriyo handle music supervision, with Antara also doing the curation.
7. Chaal ka badaleli
Singer: Abhay Jodhpurkar
Music Composed; Arranged - Hrishikesh, Saurabh, Jasraj
Lyrics: Jitendra Joshi
Musicians - Shriram Sampath Kalyanee Mujumdar
Language - Marathi
Genre - Melody
Like I mentioned a while ago, it is pouring Marathi and another pleasing number is here for us sung by the serenading Abhay Jodhpurkar while it is the brainchild of Hrishikesh, Saurabh and Jasraj as the trio composes and arranges the track. The song is from this album called “Medium Spicy” and what a great way to begin the track, free flowing strings and a strong-lunged whistle. Abhay proves once again that he is probably one of the best Indian vocalists who can sing beautifully across languages. The guitars and bass start playing the mild impact along with the flipping sound of the fingers acting like percussion. Hrishijesh, Saurabh and Jasraj also do all the programming and arrangements. Kalyanee Mujumdar is simply sensational on the Violin solo in the interlude and she is supported on the Flute by Shriram Sampath. The guitars complete the outro and the song is mixed and mastered by Tushar Pandit, Kittu Myakal and Tishar also on recording.
8. Truce
Written, composed, Vocals – Anami
Production – Varun Murali @ The Red Music Box
Language – English
Genre – Indie Pop, Ballad
This Bengaluru-based singer-songwriter has been featured on my website with a brilliant track called “Vultures” and now she’s back with a ‘truce’. Before you start reading this or listening to the song go musically prey on “Vultures”, wow I love how I wrote that ironic line. Anami is next to perfect in her vocals in this song and a very close second to her is the song’s production and programming and who else but Varun Murali of ‘The Red Music Box’. He does a stupendous job of production, arrangements, mixing and mastering. The guitars at the beginning with the rhythms set a beautiful tone and sound and it is like Anami’s vocals and the production sounds are find Truce and entertaining us equally without competing for our attention. A brilliant line both lyrically and musically is “We’re caterpillars learning to be butterflies” where Anami just sings the line with immense passion, and skill, if you observe the rise in scale as she sings the first part and her delivery and breath adjustment when she sings the second part. ‘This is a truce with the voice inside you” is how we all try and lead a happy life and Anami summarizes it perfectly. The guitar riff is simple but it gives a song texture like the “Dream is collapsing” by Hans Zimmer. There is a nice portion where Anami plays and teases just with the word try, maybe like saying try harder, or keep trying different ways, all symbolic and encoded. The song makes the shift upward to a higher scale and only some artists and songs achieve it without looking forced, Anami does it well. The strings in the background are mild and give a nice layer to the tone.
9. Raai
Singer- Rekha Bhardwaj
Music Director-Sravan Bhattacharyya
Lyrics- Ritam Sen
Music Production and sound design- Dev Arijit
Musicians Debashish Halder,
Language - Bangla
Genre – Ballad, Semi-classical
This is a Rekha Bharadwaj special as she does a beautiful, soulful aalap at the start and when everything around you must stop. The Piano is the only accompaniment with some mild percussions, but the arrangements are perfectly done to make sure we don’t get distracted away from Rekha his vocals. Sravan Bhattacharya and Dev Arijit are the arrangers with Sravan being the composer. Slowly you start hearing the acoustic guitars but the Sarangi Debashish Halder makes a lasting impression. Alok Punjani and Abhimanyu Chatterjee are the recording engineers. The song gives me a flavour of Raag Desh and we have Subhadeep Mitra on mixing and mastering.
10. Babul Mora
Music Produced by Deepak Pandit
Singer: Pratibha Singh Baghel
Music Co-Produced by Gaurav Vaswani
Musicians – Deepak Pandit, Prashant Sonagra, Tapas Roy
Language – Hindi
Genre – Semi-classical, fusion
The Queen, Diva whatever you want to call her, she is the voice of Ghazals and any influences of that brand of music, a voice which AR Rahman said he always listens to a.k.a. Pratibha Singh Baghel. She has worked with composer/Producer Deepak Pandit and whenever they have a song is generally brilliant in sounds, sense and substance. The song felt like Raag Sindhubhairavi in Carnatic and Tapas Roy can be heard playing the stringed instruments like maybe the Harp and we have the Live Orchestra from The Budapest Live Symphony Orchestra in charge. Pratibha just keeps you glued with her vocals and you can’t help but close your eyes, and shake your head in approval of what you hear. Deepak is a master in producing such tracks with a fusion of Classical Indian music and Western Classical styles. The strings section is heavenly in the background and in the interlude. Prashant Sonagra plays the Tabla ever so delicately and the Piano adds the extra element of Western influences to the mix just listen to the stunning humming just before the second Antara starts. Gaurav Vaswani also co-produces this track and it is a mystery how this classical song could be even envisioned with such wonderful western sound support and arrangements. Deepak also plays the violin solo and the track has recording engineers K. Sethuraman, Sanket Tole, Ezekiah Naniwadekar, Harshul Khadse and Anushree Manjrekar. The track is mixed by K Sethuraman and mastered by Christian Wright. There is more in this EP called “inheritance” and I shall review more in the subsequent days.
11. Heer Meri
Music Composer - Shahzan Mujeeb
Lyrics - Mandy Gill
Hook Lyrics - Shahzan Mujeeb
Singers - Ash King, Shalmali Kholgade, Shahzan Mujeeb
Language – Punjabi/ Hindi
Genre – Indie Pop
Musicians - Roland Fernandes, Rajkumar Dewan, Tejas Vinchurkar, Vishal Pathak, Ishteyak Khan, Rudrik Mistry, Chinmay Deore, Dev Modi,
It is that project again ideated and conceptualized by Niraj Sanghai, where some excellent young musicians mentored by Pritam are composing originals and presenting for our listening pleasure. It is called Roposo Jamroom. If it was Shubham- Ana for “Raah Dikha De”, it is Shahzan Mujeeb for this catchy number. Ash King impressed me immensely with that high-pitched delivery and what do I say about Shalmali Kholgade. This is her second song ins this week’s list and she is a superstar vocalist once again proving it here. We have heard Tejas Vinchurkar on flute before but he only arranges that portion on flute played by a young Vishal Pathak. Vishal keeps intervening nicely in the opening segment itself. Rajkumar Dewan the bassist and Roland Fernandes on guitars do their thing as usual. The title line “Oh Heer meri” is sung to perfection and with a mild but lovable ghamak by Ash. Gibson George does an outstanding job producing the track and he also does the arrangements here which you can understand is a mighty task for a song with so many levels of live instrumentals. Ishteyak Khan plays the Tabla, while it is Dev Modi on drums and Chinmay Deore on percussion. The chorus team once again impress like the previous song, and that includes Subhashree Das, Akash Mukherjee, Aaroh Velankar, Vacha Bipin, Archita Ajgaokar, Sonu and Ishteyak Khan. The upright Paino is played by Rudrik Mistry and Gibson Georges's production thanks to the Keys and Synths sounds like the work of geniuses Salim-Sulaiman in many places. The recording engineers are Subhashree Das, Akash Mukherjee, Aaroh Velankar and Aniruddh Anantha, with Ashwin Kulkarni on mixing and mastering, Akash Mukherjee and Subhashree on BTS Mixing. Once again here too is Brianna Supriyo and Antara Mitra on musical supervision.
12. Don’t shut your eyes
Vocals: Niranjan Menon
Composition: Niranjan Menon, Sarthak Ray, Kanishk Diwaker
Production: Niranjan Menon, Sarthak Ray
Lyrics: Niranjan Menon
Language – English
Genre – Indie Pop/ Ballad/ Alt-Rock
How very unique? Is it an irony? Who cares just listen to this number that encapsulates some western pop/ballad and brings in an element of a Charukeshi scale in between. The irony being Sarthak Ray, the composer/producer calls himself “Project Hamsadhwani”. Anyway, the sober, very mellow Piano is followed by Niranjan’s vocals. Soon enough the Keys and Synths adorn the track thanks to Niranjan Menon and Sarthak Ray’s production. The composition is by the two along with Kanishk Diwaker and the harmonies actually light up the environment with some nice energy as the song moves forward. Niranjan explores the falsetto very well and lands it as desired and with the way the harmonies work I am reminded of some famous boy bands in the US like Boyz II Men and All-4-one. Then just past the 1.30-minute mark, we have an electric guitar solo that has comparative scales of Raag Charukeshi and apparently, the trio wanted to deviate far enough from the rest of the song and get back on track with the interlude. To me the song is soothing and elevates the mood, so don’t shut your ears even remotely! Jatin Kalia does all the additional production with Sarthak on mixing and Hersh Desai on mastering. Harris Paul, Rajeev Ninan, and Tejas handle the artwork and creatives. The recording engineers are Hari Patel, Melovick Morais, Jose Cherain, and Noel Gonsalves. Namrata Hangla handles the press release.
13. Lori
Lyrics, Vocals and Composition: Pushpak P
Music Prod. Mix and Master: Darshan Pedgaonkar
Language – Marathi
Genre – Melody
Pushpak Pardeshi goes almost solo in this project singing, writing and composing this Marathi number that is all bouncy and chirpy in its tone. It is a simple number with good vocals, but also some excellent production, just pay attention to the strings, and the Sitar that comes and goes along with catchy rhythms. Darshan Pedgaonkar is the producer and he does the mixing and mastering as well.
14. Aik Pakhara - Salman Ali
Singers - Salman Ali , Urmila Varma
Music - Raamnaath
Lyricist - Prashant Jamdar; Sajeev Sarathie
Musicians Vagu Mazan, Krishnakumar, Josekutty, Francis, Herald, Josy,
We have the 4th Marathi number this week and this one is a beautiful melody set in Raag Maand and sung by the phenomenal Salman Ali along with Urmila Varma. Raamnaath Gopalakrishnan is the composer of this song from the movie album ‘Anya’. Urmila Varma makes the initial foray with her female lead lines, and this is a giveaway of Raag Maand and then we have the goose-bumps set in with Salman’s gamakas., and he begins with some very baritone-scaled singing and pulls it off in style. Vagu Mazan intervenes with her Mandolin and the interlude is filled with the Cochin Strings team of Jodekutty, Herald and Francis. Even during the stanza, we hear the strings and the Sitar by Krishnakumar playing also. The chorus team comprises of Aryan Bhowmick, Shivahari Varma, Riya Mishra and Jasmine Rehi. Josy plays the bass guitar as well as the flute in the track. You can feel a lot of the Tamil song “Sowkiyama”, sung by Nithyashree and composed by AR Rahman. The song has a very rich stanza that is pure in its raga influence and Salman’s singing intensifies the emotive element. The song is recorded, mixed and mastered by Bijin Mathew with recording assistance given by Pushkar Prakash, Kedar and Ashish Sawant.
15. Rabbit - Neha Karode
Singer: Neha Karode
Music: Anurag Saikia
Lyricist: Anubhav Sinha
Co-composed: Ishan Das, Neha Karode
Music Produced by Ishan Das
Musicians - Ishan Das, Deepak Saikia(Deepu)
Neha Karode made it to our list last week with the number 1 Indian song for the movie ‘Anek’ thanks to a superb score and vocal performance in “Oh Mama”. This week we have a song which she co-composed along with Ishan Das. We get a heavy guitar presence at the beginning itself straight out of a rock song and we have Ishan Das on the guitars other than in his production role. The bassist is Deepak Saikia but the song heavily rests on Neha’s vocal delivery and she gets the attitude and tone spot on. The production on rhythms is of high quality as well and I can never get enough of how well Neha innovates and creates modifications to her vocals, imagine she is trained in classical Indian music. It is fabulous when you hear her deliver the lines “they got blood on their hands” at such a low scale. The track is mixed and mastered by Pankaj Borah with Pranjal Borah as mix assistant. The director Anubhav Sinha has penned the lyrics.
16. Aaj Phir Kyu - Anupam Mukharjee
Singer/Lyricist/Composer - Anupam Mukherjee
Producer/Mix - Mastering Engineer - Keshav Dhar
Language – Hindi
Genre – Indie pop
Here is the last song of the week, but in a clichéd way, never the least, as it too produces a nice fresh sound. Keshav Dhar is to thank for the really good production and he also mixes and masters the track. Anupam Mukherjee truly impresses, as he starts the line “tera pehla pehla wada tha”. The use of the guitars, especially that one segment where there is intervention after Anupam sings “andheron mein yoon chodke”, like a ray of light amidst the darkness. There are programmed strings in the background which also works well in a song that is grounded and gravitates towards longing and pathos. I like that Anupam doesn’t overdo his vocals anywhere in the song, and even his vibrato is limited.
