Top Indian songs of the week - 7th August 2022

1. Hey Kanmani

Music Production: Kailas, Ebin Pallichan

Lyrics: Vinayak Sasikumar

Singers: Abhijith Anilkumar, Greeshma Tharavath

Musicians: Francis Xavier, Abhijith Anilkumar, Rafael Freitas (Brazil), Ashik M, Vimal John

Language: Malayalam

Genre: Pop

Like I promised Kailas Menon's 3rd song from 'Vaashi' has now made it, and like 'Rithuragam' and 'Yathonnum Parayathe' this song too makes it to the very top. It is one of the best movie albums I have heard in 2022 and we hope Kailas can keep raising the bar even higher. The Kazoo is played by the lead vocalist Abhijit Anilkumar himself, and it starts things off. The rhythms, synth, and keyboards keep the song high on energy and relevance and we have to thank Ebin Pallichan, Kailas for their production. Ashik M and Vimal John take care of the additional rhythm. I am so glad to hear Abhijit sing this with brilliant impact and he is one of the very fresh and likable voices from Mollywood. Is the interlude a tribute to Maestro Ilaiyaraja, well it certainly feels like, with Francis Xavier playing a sizzling solo reminding of "Kalakala maga vazhum kathalukku" from 'Punnagain Mannan'. Vinayak Sasikumar is the lyricist.

The Kazoo and Keys ornament the interlude further, to be picked up from there by Greeshma Tharavath as the lead female vocalist in the stanza. She maintains a very low scale and delivers it with great style and Kailas and Ebin arrange the instrumentals very well with the violin coming and going in the background. The harmonies are quite catchy but let us not forget the bassist from Brazil, Rafael Freitas who has kept things incredibly groovy. The song has a tone that feels similar to "Ennai Konjum Maatri" by Harris Jayaraj. The recording engineers are Midhun V Dev, Vimal John, Ebin Pallichan, and Amal Mithu with studio assistants Amal Raj, and Stanley. The track is mixed Suijith Hyder and mastered by Gethin John.

2. Deedar e Khuda

Singer: Muheet Bharti and Zaheed Damani

Composer: Muheet Bharti and Zaheed Damani

Lyrics: Alyas Nasiri

Music Production: Muheet Bharti

Language: Hindi

Genre: Indie Pop/Fusion

Muheet Bharti has been a supremely talented musician and whether a guitarist or singer or a composer he is top-draw. The song impressed me so much that I immediately fell in love, but because of my carelessness, I forgot to include it in my earlier lists. The power of 2 is what I see here as Muheet and Zaheed Damani co-work on both the composition and vocals making this a total chart-buster. The singing is exemplary with intricately laden vibrato, and never overdone to create a cringe. The harmonies are subtle but are substantial in impact because they create a varying style of the Church Choir nature. Cimone Rajan, Muheet himself, and another bright talent in Aditya Kalway constitute the harmonies.

Guitars and rhythms provide a more western touch along with bass guitars but the Sarangi takes us back to our backyard. One can feel the proximity and influence of the Salim-Sulaiman brothers in the composition, but it is only their label involved in this track. The segment with the rendering of swaras is delightful and when the song draws to a close we sense the Qawwali style gaining traction. The track is mixed and mastered by Aftab Khan.

3. Main Kaun Hun

Lyrics, Vocals: Shreyas Bhartiya

Music Production: Brince Bora

Musicians: Shreyas, Saurabh Lodha, Saket Rao

Language: Hindi

Genre: Pop, Alt-Rock

Who Am I? That pertinent question everyone has on their minds at some point of time in their lives is this. Shreyas Bhartiya is the musician who poses himself this question now, and whether or not he found the answer, his song helps me gain reason and answers to why I am a music reviewer. Shreyas has written, played the lead and rhythm guitars, and performed the number vocally. The guitars enthrall you along with the Keys in the background. Githin Sam George does a clean job with the vocal production, with harmonies and humming adding some delight. Brince Bora deserves massive credit for the production because the song as one finished product is just brilliant.

The electric guitar solo in the interlude is very intriguing, and although they are the same notes as the song's opening lines, it adds a different flavor. Saket Rao is constantly engaging through his drums and Saurabh Lodha is the bassist. The silence in percussion after the 3rd minute with only guitars and layers of vocals is very soothing. The trumpets and probably trombones programmed are very clever and just surrender to the outro on guitars enhanced by drums, trumpets, and keys making it one spectacular piece. Khsitij Kumar Choudhary has done the mixing and mastering and the song is recorded at the Gray Spark Audio Academy in Pune.

4. Vichhda

Composer: Anand Bhaskar

Singer: Romy

Lyrics: Ginny Diwan

Music Production: Hrishi Giridhar

Musicians: Ajay Jayanthi, Hrishi Giridhar

Language: Hindi

Genre- Semi-classical Fusion

He is one shining light, in the Hindi music space, and whether it is indie music or scores for movies/series Anand Bhaskar puts his hand up and serves a delicious song. 'Masoom' has probably one of the best BGM scores in Hindi in recent memory along with Ajay Jayanthi's 'Thar'. What do you know, both of them belong to this band called 'Anand Bhaskar Collective. Ajay plays the strings while Hrishi Giridhar is on the guitars. Romy delivers the vocals, and we get that vocal texture of a Divya Kumar or a Sukhwinder Singh, and I do hear traces and influence of Raag Bhimpalasi. The harmonies add a lot of weight to the vocals and it helps in delivering the beautiful lines written by Ginny Diwan. The pace and tempo suddenly drop in the middle of the track, and gives a flavor of a devotional number, helped by additional vocals, Keys, and guitars. The track is mixed and mastered by Prathamesh Dudhane with Krina Shah as the recording engineer. The last 1 minute is where Anand Bhaskar enters familiar territory or the rock genre and it is a tete-a-tete between, vocals, guitars, and drums.

5. Aane Maadi Heluteni

Music: B Ajneesh Loknath

Singers: Vijay Prakash, Harshika Devanath

Lyrics: Punith Arya

Musicians: B.Ajaneesh Loknath, Shruthi Raj, Kabuli, Josy

Language: Kannada

Genre: Melody

One of the finest composers we have in India at the moment is B Ajaneesh Loknath and it is a matter of pride that he and Charan Raj both belong to the Kannada movie industry. With Ajaneesh one can always expect some riveting melodies that would make even the geniuses of yesteryears proud. Harshika Devanath has been singing brilliantly for Ajaneesh of late and this is one more to the list. Josy's bass guitars and Chennai Strings Orchestra in full flow are what delighted me straight away. The humming accompanies the strings and finally the brilliant percussion by Shruthi Raj work like magic.

It reminds me of Ilaiyaraja's "Inji Iduppazhagi" and "Nenjukkulle Innaru". Ajaneesh is on the Keyboards and all additional programming is by Midhun Ashok. To aid the percussion, we have rhythm programming by Ricky D Costa and Ajaneesh. But I would be amiss if I don't credit Ramesh Vinayagam and Ajaneesh who have done the arrangements. CR Bobby co-produced the number along with Ajaneesh which takes us back to the 1990s and it is B Sajayan Kumar who does the mixing and mastering. Vijay Prakash joins late but provides the perfect compliment and shows why he is Kannada's top vocalist even today. The second interlude is a pleasant ride on the flute solo, but the richness of the stanza is what separates Ajaneesh from other also-rans who just impress with a few good lines.

6. Kashmakash

Music Composer: Swastika & Sagnik (Jam8 Studio)

Lyrics: Shloke Lal

Singers: Antara Mitra and Mohammed Irfan

Musicians:

Language: Hindi

Genre: Indie Pop

Here we go, and we have one more song in the same Roposo Jamroom project making it the 5th song to be reviewed. This is showing a marked difference from the song 'Dil ka Kabootar'. It is more of a melody hovering around the pop genre. Swastika and Sagnik are a mother-son duo who have composed this number and how many times have we heard of such a combination before? Zilch according to me. Mohammed Irfan and Antara Mitra are the lead vocalists and there is so much newness to the vocal texture when we hear them sing.

The guitars and drums and vocal harmonies are elegant layers that just elevate the song and we have Roland Fernandes, Udhayan Dharmadhikari on acoustic guitars, Prachotosh Bhowmick, and Roland on electric guitar, and Rajkumar Dewan on bass, Dev Modi plays the drums, Chinmay Deore plays percussions and the chorus team has Subhashree Das, Akash Mukherjee, Aaroh Velankar, Vacha Bipin, Archita Ajgaokar, Sonu Ishteyak Khan and Vaishali Singh and Swastika is on the additional vocals

The vocal harmonies are arranged and designed such that they almost sound like a Gospel. Sunny M.R. and ZIA have arranged and programmed with the former completely on mixing and mastering, with Ritvik Shah as the mix assistant. The interlude then introduces the Sarangi by Momin Khan and that is where this whole project has stood apart, in that the songs are very skillful pieces of fusion rather than just unidirectional and predictable. The song has a lot of tonal similarities to 'Zehnaseeb' by Vishal-Shekhar. The best part of the song is the stanza which has immense richness and is sung very deftly by Irfan and this is where the song probably has some traces of Raag Yaman, especially as I can hear similarities to "Ae Hairathe". The last part where the scale is just lifted higher and then the chorus takes over singing the title line works pretty well. Rudrik Mistry plays the upright Piano and Sagnik is on the Keyboards and Synths.

In this project, Brianna Supriyo does music supervision along with Antara Mitra, and the latter also does Curation. The Executive Producers are Shraddha Mohanti and Vikas Nopany, audio engineers on the track are Subhashree Das, Akash Mukherjee, Aaroh Velankar

7. After Effects

Lyrics, vocals: Jzzy

Music Production: Adam Nielson

Language: English

Genre: Synth-pop

This song came as a total surprise to me and the after-effects of the song on me were pretty intense. Ajmat Jasmine Mohammaed a.k.a. Jzzy is a young artist who hails from Ajmer but now is settled in the US. She has written, composed, and performed brilliantly while the song is produced by Adam Nielson. The guitars are resplending and make you wake from any slumber of any degree. With a delivery like that Avril Lavigne Jzzy teases you with her vocals. The production is scintillating by Adam and beefs up the song. There are moments where Jzzy goes into that falsetto zone impressively. This synth-pop number genre in all its glory is heard here.

8. Dil Ka Kabootar

Composer: Ana Rehman & Shubham Shirule

Singer: Mame Khan, Nikhita Gandhi and Shubham Shirule

Lyrics: Shloke Lal

Musicians: Salman Khan, Prachotosh Bhowmick, Roland Fernandes, Udayan Dharmadhikari, Raj Kumar Dewan, Ishteyak Khan, Mushtak Khan, Chinmay Deore, Shubham Shirule, Ana Rehman, Rudrik Mistry

Is this one of the finest projects of 2022, I think so. Jam 8 Studio had created this Roposo Jamroom to give music lovers 9 tracks involving different composers, musicians, and a galaxy of live instrumentalists. Shubham Shirule and Ana Rehman who already have been featured with 2 songs once again compose this very different and enjoyable fusion track, while it is Shubham on arrangements and programming. Once again it is Niraj Sanghai on concept and ideation with Pritam as the mentor. Salman Khan's Sitar is the hero at the start and if you were expecting something very classical, just wait for Mame Khan to start singing and be accompanied by Rajkumar Dewan's bass guitars and Roland Fernandes on the Trigggered Electric guitar.

Shubham also joins on the vocals with Chinmay Deore playing the percussion and Tabla. We also hear the constant accompaniment on the chorus by Subhashree Das, Akash Mukherjee, Aaroh Velankar, Vacha Bipin, Archita Ajgaokar, Sonu Ishteyak Khan, Vaishali Singh. Nikhita Singh is probably wasted in so many songs with the songs she is offered and that is what I feel when she performs in this number. Udayan Dharmadhikari plays the acoustic and Prachotosh Bhowmick is on the electric guitar. The song is not very complex with too many variations but the singing, and the choice of percussion in different segments makes it a very interesting song. Ishteyak Khan, Mushtak Khan play the Dholak and the upright Piano is played by Rudrik Mistry . The track is mixed and mastered by Ashwin Kulkarni and the composer duo Ana and Shubham handle the Keys and Synths. As usual in this project, Brianna Supriyo does music supervision along with Antara Mitra, and the latter also does Curation. The Executive Producers are Shraddha Mohanti and Vikas Nopany, audio engineers on the track are Subhashree Das, Akash Mukherjee, Aaroh Velankar

9. Tigress

Composition, Lyrics, Vocals: Manchild

Vocals: Sethu Kalyaani

Produced by: Best Asok

Co-composed by Chidakasha

Musicians: Dixon Dennis, Rohit Sanjay, Arjun Subramanian, Krishnan Meep

This is the second time I was hearing Manchild a.k.a. Sachin Rajeev and to say that I was thoroughly impressed would be an understatement. The first time around it was a song called "Better" along with Chennai-based Michael Timothy and though the song did have some impressive portions fusing Carnatic and Western styles, I was waiting for something better, and here it was. Sachin has composed, performed, and written the lyrics along with Sethu Kalyaani on vocals alone. Chidakasha has co-composed while Best Asok has produced this outstanding number and also played the guitars and done the additional programming.

Arjun Subramanian plays the guitars and you can hear Rohit Sanjay on the bass. The song is filled with Synth inputs and it takes into a trance mode straight away thanks to Krishnan Meep. Arjun accompanies on additional vocals but you can feel the beautiful fusion with the way the singing has a Carnatic finish and Ornamentation in the way it is delivered. Dixon Dennis plays the drums and he chooses his moments of silence and domination perfectly. There is, according to me, Abher Raag influences in the aalap that we hear past the 3rd minute. Arun K Ramachandran does the mixing and mastering.

10. Jeevakasham

Composed, Programmed, and arranged: Shaan Rahman

Lyrics: B.K Harinarayanan

Singer: Sooraj Santhosh

Additional vocals: Chitra Pai

Musicians: Bharath Sajikumar, Anand

Language: Malayalam

Genre: Melody

Why doesn’t he sing all songs in all languages? Well, looks like my liking for Sooraj Santhosh inadvertently got blurted out. He is without any doubt, or debate one of the finest vocalists in India, and has been extremely active in the indie space of late. From time to time when he sings in Mollywood, it ends up being a cracker like this one. Shaan Rahman too has upped the ante and has now probably been on my lists quite periodically. The Piano is not just subtle as it imposing in sound and then the vocals of Sooraj tend to mellow things down. Bharath Sajikumar impresses as the bassist and Anand pounces on you with his Tabla and Dholak. The mild vibrato he injects is exemplary to major artists who overdo it and kill a song. Chitra Pai can be heard accompanying Sooraj in the backing vocals. The Harmonium and Tabla combination is charming as expected in the interlude. The stanza does deviate too far from the pallavi, and the singing and instrumentals do enough to touch your heart. A special mention to Chitra for delivering the humming bits with style and she adds an innocent and sweet charm. The track is mixed and mastered by Balu Thankachan

11. Takhthiyaan

Singer: Dhaval Kothari

Music Production and Arrangement: Vishal Khatri

Composition: Dhaval Kothari and Pulkit Jain

Lyrics: Mufazzal MGeneric

Musicians: Akshay Jadhav, Megha Rawoot, Sanchit Mhatre, Jobin David

Language: Hindi

Genre: Semi-classical fusion

The duo is not new when it comes to these weekly Indian charts, and I have to admit that Vishal Khatri and Dhaval Kothari impress when they work on a project. Vishal has composed, produced, arranged, and played the Keyboards for this one with the lead vocals of Dhaval. The song starts in a very stylish pop style aided by Jobin David on guitars and Sanchit Mhatre on drums. The title line engages you thanks to the singing and guitar notes, not to forget the chords we hear from Vishal on keyboards. The 180-degree shift happens with a soothing Sitar solo by Megha Rawoot and a drop in tempo and energy. Akshay Jadhav accompanies on Tabla and there are moments here where I did feel an influence of Raag Shanmukhapriya, but later Vishal tells me that it is not exactly so, but maybe some influences as the song were created with just some minor scales. Megha starts slow and sober but she sows some finger dexterity and ups the ante on the Sitar towards the end of the interlude. The song is an exhibition of Vishal’s composing skills and it needed Prasad Maha’s mastery to mix and master the track which had so many instruments and layers.

12. Naina Chaap Tilak

Singers: Nikhita Gandhi & Saaj Bhatt

New Music Composer, Music Production, Mixing & Mastering: Mann Taneja

New Lyrics: Rukhsar Bandhukia

Original Composer and Lyricist: Amir Khusro

I wouldn’t call this a remix, but a very creative modification of an existing treasure. To me, it is Applied Sciences or creating a Version 2.0 of something. Nikhita Gandhi is back again as a vocalist in this week’s list for a second number and when it is English lyrics she just sounds very convincing. Mann Taneja has refurbished this old classic with production, mixing, and mastering. Saaj Bhatt’s high-pitched classical rendition goes like crunch in a salad when Nikita sings the rest of the song. The original treasure as I called it was composed and written by Amir Khusro and here the multi-faceted singer/songwriter Rukhsar Bandhukia writes the new lyrics for the song. Jaikiruddin Khan plays the acoustic guitars and Ronak Damani handles all the additional programming, and If I am not wrong the song belongs to the Yaman Kalyan Scale. Rukhsar also is the music supervisor and the whole team gets a commendable re-creation for music lovers. The director is Nitesh Tyagi, and the project is produced by Vinit Jain and Girish Jain

13. Pebbles in a River

Written, Performed, and Produced: Nav's Hook

Language: English

Genre: Alt-Blues/Country

It is this joy and excitement of meeting new artists that drive the most to listen to the plethora of songs that I do. Nav’s Hook is who I am talking about, and other than a very unique name he also hails from a place only few would pay attention to on a map, that too if they were ever attentive in a Geography class. He is from Cyprus, this Indian origin artist, and he gives a nice fresh style mixing alt-blues and country music. The vocals felt like touching pebbles with my fingers, soft, unputdownable, and addictive. The guitars and vocals do the trick and obviously, the keen and relevant writing makes for a very worthy listening experience. Nav’s Hook has written, composed, produced, and performed this number and I feel like ending this post right now so that I can take a long drive in my car and play this song on loop. The harmonies and rhythm keep the song engaging, but the highlight would have to be the solo Guitar and the variation to the title line that he sings just before this solo. I am not wrong about the country music bit, and I realize this when I see the album cover art done by Edwin Adam Gates.

14. Bucket of Pain

Lyrics, Music, Vocals: Jaimin Rajani

Musicians: Arka Chakraborty, Aniruddha Saha, Subharaj Ghosh, Billy Cardine, Patrick Fitzsimmons

Language: English

Genre: Country

That sound of the slide guitar hit me the most, as it is one unmissable sound and it was played by Billy Cardine in this feel-god song though oddly named ‘Bucket of pain’. This is one of 14 songs that Jaimin Rajani has scored for his album called “Cutting Loose”. I will be featuring a few more subsequently. Subharaj Ghosh plays the electric and bass guitars, while Jaimin plays the acoustic guitars, along with writing, composing, and performing on the track. The mild drums and percussion we hear are by Aniruddha Saha. The song is enhanced by some vocal harmonies as well and this is where Bibhurata Acharjee comes in. The use of Mandolins is inventive in the track and with Patrick Fitzsimmons playing it, the front-man of Heat Sink, Protyay Chakraborty has mixed and mastered the track. The wonderful sound of the Glockenspiel is thanks to Arka Chakraborty. Other than the message and lyrics, this song is anything but even a drop of pain.

15. Jaane Kaise

Lyrics & Composition: Sanam Malik/Anamika Mamgain

Vocals: Anamika Mamgain/Sanam Malik

Production: Subhasish

Language: Hindi

Genre: Indie Pop

We are coming to the end of the list, but the songs never lose their charm. This too is featuring artists I haven’t heard of before and Sanam Malik and Anamika Mamgain have combined vocals and composition to give a soothing melody that is also dominated by guitars. Anamika’s vocals aren’t mundane like every other female vocalist we hear, so that novelty in itself keeps things interesting. Once the Title line begins, the song starts ebbing and flowing with likable notes, and there is a point where Anamika in the middle of delivery pauses, takes a breather, and hums, and I am not sure if it has to do with breath control issues or planned. Either way, it is a worthy unexpected twist. Subhasish produces the track and so the sound design and output are his makings. Sanam Malik has some very nice vocal texture too that rises above the guitar riffs and rhythms and when the two vocalists sing in unison, things take a turn for the better.

16. Dil Tenu

Composition, Lyrics & Vocals: Devika

Music Production: Devika & Jayhaan

Language: Punjabi

Genre: Indie Pop

Devika Chawla stuns you and pierces your heart with her vocals, I don’t follow Punjabi but her singing conveys more than what I need to follow. She has composed, written, and performed the song but she works with Jayhaan on producing this piece. It is a short and simple track but sometimes small is beautiful. Hanosh Khan does the mixing and mastering. The video is shot by Hira Singh with Sylvia Ray on editing.

17. Someone else than you

Performed by The Fortune & Vandita Narayan

Song was written by Vandita Narayan, Nikhil Pradip

composed by Dhananj Shivganesh

Language: English

Genre: Alt-pop, Funk

If you wanted a cool funky way to end this week’s charts, well I present to you Vandita Narayan who has sung and performed along with The Fortune. This duo has a doctor from AIIMS, yep not a typo. The band has Dr. Dhananj and Nikhil Pradip with the latter who handles all the engineering with his mixing and mastering. The song is composed by Dhananj Shivganesh while Nikhil works with Vandita on writing the lyrics. The layer of backing vocals brings about a good effect. Other than that the Lo-fi influence gives the song its creative fuel.