Top Indian Songs of the weeks Jan 9 & 16 2022

This is the week's 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 350 tracks released in the week ending 9th & 16th January 2022, I have rated and reviewed the 15 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 Top Songs this week on SPOTIFY

1. Bihag

I believe in him, and every-time he releases a single, it becomes a project that I deeply look forward to. Anirudh Varma is a genuine flag-bearer who keeps the greatness of Indian classic music alive and spreading it amongst the newer crop of music listeners. This is the 3^rd single from him and his trusted musicians after a ‘Bhimpalasi’ and ‘ Chhayanat. The track features some amazing talent as well like Nikhil Rao from the band ‘Indian Ocean’ and vocalists Amira Gill, Kavya Singh and Sreerag. The video of the song features a Delhi-based Odissi dancer Vrinda Chadha. The track obviously set in Raag Bihag apparently brings to light the love between two individuals who have been longing for each other. The Piano played by Anirudh and the Violin by Miku Konishi start things off so delightfully and then Rohit Prasanna engages us further with his flute solo. The vocals initially are rendered in Hindustani style by Kavya Singh who just improvises as she goes along, and then at the right time the wonderful intervention on Tabla by Saptak Sharma appears. Sreerag does an aalap in true Carnatic style and this is brilliant by Anirudh to concatenate both these splendid classical styles. Anirudh also has done the arrangements composition and even vocal arrangements and production along with another super talent Saptak Chatterjee. I am reminded of two gems, one in Carnatic music called ‘Thikku Theriyatha kattil’ by Maharajapuram Santhanam and a song in the movies called “Malargal Ketten� sung by KS Chitra and composed by AR Rahman. Amira Gill and Sreerag sing the Carnatic elements with perfection aided by Varun Rajasekharan on the Ghatam. Anushree Mahindra supports effectively right through on backing vocals. Nikhil Rao creates some magic playing Bihag on the electric guitars and then Mehtab Ali Niazi does some finger sorcery playing the Sitar playing at super-normal speed. Now we have a unison of all vocalists and then the Keys and drums by Anant Mittal tag along. The whole track is a master-class in arrangements. The acoustic guitars are played by Shrikant Biswakarma and bass guitars are by Madhur Chaudhary. The Sarangi which we hear in the background is by Ahsan ali and the track is mixed and mastered by Anindo Bose at Plug ‘n’ play Studios. The video is filmed and directed and edited by Shrey Gupta with BTS by Saubhagya Saxena and artwork by Shrey Kathuria.

2. Tum se

A great track follows and now in the second spot and this is composed and produced by Sourav Dey and Saurav Bhardwaj, and this too is to evoke that sense of love and romance. Sushant Pandey is the lyricist. The track starts off with a soul-stirring solo by Rohan Prasanna on the Sarod and then the vocals of Purvi Chaturvedi. Sourav the composer is the lead male vocalist and the singing by both the leads is so pleasing to the ears. The interlude is another excellent showpiece on the Sarod with Ankit Divdhir Negi embellishing the track with his flute interventions. Saurav Bhardwaj and Satwik Tripathy play the guitars and that becomes more evident in the verse, which is once again beautiful in vocal delivery thanks to Purvi. As the water flows in the background we hear the wonderful flute taking us back to mother-nature and her gifts. The bass guitarist is Purav Gohain and Paras Khanna does the mixing, mastering and co-production work. Raghav Munjaal handles the motion graphics and animation, with Simran Gupta as creative supervisor and Sachin Kashyap on artwork design and illustration. I don’t know if it’s the song’s tone of the flute resemblance but I am reminded of AR Rahman’s masterpiece ‘yeh tara who tara’ from Swades. The origin of the track and some segments also make me wonder if there is a bit of Hamsadhwani Raag somewhere.

3. Pathi Pathi

This individual is riding on a high, and well if you ask me it could refer to the composer, the female lead singer or the male lead singer. Ranjin Raj is the composer, and after an outstanding score for “Kaaval� he’s back againg for this rollicking number. Nithya Mammen makes it to my list almost every week, as she is undoubtedly one of the finest vocalists around in India now. Finally Kapil Kapilan who undoubtedly delivered the best vocal performance of 2021 with “adiye�. When you have a team like this nothing can go wrong and that is evident in this number from start to finish. The song starts off in brilliant style with a fast paced tempo showing glimpses of Raag Abheri in the pallavi. Murukan Kattakad is the lyricist. Embar Kannan is solid on the violin solo, and the mild aalap that Kapil does might remind you of Sid Sriram. Let me go one step further than this comparison, and state that Kapil according to me is the probably going to take over from Sid, in fact wait for my post and article about how the same title called “Adiye� has boosted both Sid and Kapil into limelight. The interludes are alos heavy on violin but once the charanam begins we are reminded of songs like “Malare Mounama� though this belongs to Darbari Kanada raaga. The charanam is heavily influence by Raag Kanada and it involves some blissful singing by Nithya. The arrangements and programming are top-notch and its thanks to Ranjin Raj and Alan Joy Mathew. The second interlude has another ravishing violin and Kamalakar joins in on the wind instrument. Sai Prakash, Senthil Prasath and Sampath S are the recording engineers. The track is mixed and mastered by Harishankar V.

4. Baju Band

This is a classic song that has been given a new façade or refurbishment, and it is re-created by Kshitij Tarey and sung with effective poise by Sniti Mishra. The original is a Tumri set in Raag Bhairavi. Abhishek Dasgupta’s guitar strumming is excellent along with the inventive use of Cajon as the percussion played by Akshay Jadhav, and he also plays the Tabla in the track. There is a constant presence of the Piano and that adds to the melody and calmness. Reena Gilbert has recorded, mixed and mastered the track with DOP role donned by Subrat Sethi and editing by Umesh Kashyap. The track is a great production overall but the standout performance comes from Sniti Mishra who delivers every note with a scintillating touch. Listen to her vibrato to believe it.

5. Need to know now

Salim-Sulaiman are at it again and their next song from Bhoomi 2021 makes it to my list. I am not surprised even a bit and this kind of consistent excellence is commonplace for the brothers now. Salim and Sulaiman have composed and produced this track featuring Shashwat Singh and Nikhita Gandhi as lead vocalists. The hindi lyrics are penned by Salim and English words by Dhiren Garg. Shahswat’s singing is stylish as usual and the way he adds the subtle vibratos is just way too impressive. Nyzel D’lima and Muheet Bharti on guitars and of-course Rushad MIstry on bass simply take you for a ride, a total joyous one at that. Raj Pandit plays the vocorder and co-produces it as always and with Salim playing the Keyboards along with Jarvis Manazes, Sulaiman plays the Zen drums. The moment Nikhita starts singing in ENgish the track too makes a deviation and sounds a lot like a pop EDM from just a breezy pop track. Darshan Doshi brings in solidity with his drums and the track is mixed and mastered by Aftab Khan with Vatsal Chevli as his mix assistant.

6. Knock on your door

The song not just carries the similar words, but for some reason even feels like I am hearing “Knocking on heaven’s doors� by Bob Dylan. Its become customary now to have a song by Compass Box Studios in the top 15 every week just like we have one by Merchant Records. I am sure all other musicians in the country are wondering how to create music with this kind of zany consistency. Raag Sethi and Divyang Arora produce the track but Dhyani totally steals the show with that voice that makes your heart throb. But a close second is Raag playing the bass guitars with an incredible oomph, and he also is playing the acoustic and electric guitars in the track. Listen to the mild clarinet support provided by Harmish Joshi and the dependable Shivang Kapadia on drums. There is a nice solo on the electric guitar right near the end, and we wish it lasted longer. But watch what happens after that as we have a mild pause, vanishing percussions, and now its just Dhyani on vocals and Raag on bass guitars making me feel like I am listening to the Maestro Ilaiyaraja himself. The track is mixed and mastered by Thomas Juth. The way she sings “you gave our kingdom up� is downright marvelous.

 7. Patient with me

“Know your hail Mary� was released by Brecilla back in September and it was showstopper good, and if you haven’t heard it already, I suggest you stop reading this blog right now and go have a listen. Or maybe just listen to this magical vocal performance first. In a very competitive market where there are a plethora of vocalists Brecilla somehow seems to stand out of the crowd and that is no mean feat. The harmonies produce a very interesting humming right near the start, and they are a beautiful layer along with the Keys, guitars and strings. She does a little bit of scat-singing and you fall in love with everything she does. Pranav Kamat is playing the electric guitars, and Abhinay Lama is on the acoustic guitars. The predominant sound of Electric upright bass is from Yohaan Pissurlenker. Hardik Mehta plays the drums with Maharshi Joshi doing the mixing, mastering and recording. To be honest I cannot be patient with Brecilla, I need to hear her next single right away, because she is that good.

8. Udaan

The Yellow Diary is a band I follow for some excellent Punjabi pop and Rajan Batra on his own also has impressed me quite a bit like the song with Raghav Meattle and Nikhil D’Souza called “Shades of Grey�. This one is the band in full flow as they sing ‘Udaan’ referring to how every member of the band was infact doing something else in life before finally switching over to the music profession and passion. The composition belongs to the band but its lead vocals and words come from Rajan. There is peculiar style that he has and I am not sure it will suit any other singer as much this former Naval Cadet. The keys form a crucial element at the beginning and right through and Himonshu Parikh takes care of that along with some backing vocals and production of the track. The splendid bass and electric guitars are played by Stuart DaCosta. I love how the song keeps altering into various tempos and energy levels and Sahil Shah ups the ante when needed and shies away on drums as required. The synth programming is quite effective and catchy and a lot of the credit goes to the sound engineers like Sid Sirodkar on mixing and mastering, and Abhishek Khandelwal and Dilip Nair are the recording engineers.

9. Darkest days and brightest nights

Bodhisattwa Ghosh is a Kolkata based composer and guitarist and he recently released his solo debut album by the name “Darkest days and brightest nights� and it is this title track that impressed me the most from the 9 track album. Saul Samuel is the lead vocalist and the brand of rock feels more like hearing to the style of “Jethrotul�. The backing vocals by Shrestha Das are excellently performed and arranged. The bass guitars by Mainak Nag Chowdhury stand out as they keep playing like a background score. The solo violin by Rohan Roy and Keys by Pradyumna Singh Manot add to the gravitas of the song. The drums are never dominating but you do recognize their presence thanks to Gaurab Chatterjee’s intelligent display. John Paul has splayed the VST instruments and also produced the track. He is also responsible for mixing the track. Beyond the 4^th minute we hear a savvy electric guitar solo by Bodhi which is the highlight of the track and he is involved in playing the acoustic guitars. I love how the electric guitar keeps playing with a total improvisation and fades into thin air towards the end of the track. Bodhi has written, composed, arranged and co-produced the track. The track is mastered by Sayan Ghosh and as Tirthankar Ray records the live drums, Abhibroto Mitra records the vocals.

10. Sammathame

Tollywood music can never be left behind as there are always jewels coming from that part of India. This song is from a new upcoming movie called ‘Raja Viramarka’. The track is composed, programmed and arranged by Prashanth R Vihari. The track is a guitarist’s heaven as there is so much scope to shine and deliver and Arun Chiluveru grabs with all his fingers and how brilliantly he executes it right form the start. He also plays the bass and electric guitars on the track, and the opening segment makes me feel like I am listening to AR Rahman’s “Dil se� title track. The chorus team does a very fine job and it includes Kavya, Aparna Ritesh and Naresh. Karthik has moved into singing in Malayaam and Telugu and he sings in his usual groovy catchy style. VS Bharan’s additional synths can be heard right through the track. In the verse Shashaa Tirupati opens her account and she immediately smashes it out of the park with that impeccable delivery. It is around these parts that I do sense some influence of Raag ‘Karaharapriya’. Chaitra Ambadipudi also joins in on the vocals and towards the end of the verse we have a solid solo on the violins played in Western style by Sandilya Pisapati. The second verse is different from the first in structure and notes and that shows Prashanth’s skill as a composer. Rama Jogayya Sastry writes the lyrics, and the track is aided by some very good drums, and finally it is mixed by Sarath J and mastered by Nitish R Kumar.

11. Ee Seethege

Kannada music industry is shining bright as well just like Tollywood,thanks to composers like Raghu Dixit. This song is from the upcoming movie “Garudaâ€? and it is sung by Sruthi VS and Raghu himself. The way the song starts, it clearly shows influences of Raag Maand and the sweet vocals of Sruthi glorify every note delivered. Sudharshan’s flutes fill the interlude with melody and when the verse opens up, the Mrindangam is a wonderful addition to the scheme of things thanks to Sruthi Raj who has also played the Tahvil, Ganjira and Tabla.  John Paul who played with Bodhi at number 9 this week, is also the man behind the acoustic and bass guitars for this song. Nakul Abhyankar who is one of my favorite composers in South Cinema these days has done all the programming work with additional programming by Jathin Dharshan. Sudharshans solo on the flute is even more enticing to hear in the second interlude. The humming by Sruthi VS in interlude sounds more like Hamirkalyani or Saranga raagas. The second verse has a lot of Tabla for percussion and Raghu flourishes as a singer in the higher scales especially. Bharath M Venkataswamy is the lyricist and Krithik Koushik plays the violin with recording, mixing and mastering by Vishnu K J.

12. Tere Bin

Raghav Chaitanya is not just your ordinary playback singer in Bollywood, he is supremely talented, has a gifted voice and can compose music in the indie space with impressive quality. NO wonder he is a preferred choice for Anurag Saikia who is one of the most trust-worthy composers in the business today. I have featured many of his numbers including the latest ones ‘Faasle’ and ‘Karoon bhi kya’. Raghav has produced, sung, composed and played the gentle acoustic guitars. Listen to the uncanny bass guitar notes in the background by Rajkumar Dewan right from the beginning. The singing is par excellence, especially when he sings those lines “kaise hua yeh� with mild vibrato. Aditya Shankar plays the electric guitars and they go perfectly well the rhythms programmed. Shashank Tyagi and Raghav pen the lyrics with some more contributions by Yash Anand and Aditya Joshi. You can alos hear the mild harmonies in the background layers and they are designed by Raghav and Fardeen Siddiqui. The outro is grand and a great symphony of harmonies, lead vocals and all the live instruments, as Panaj Borah mixes and masters the track.

13. Jhooti hai

Rishabh Tiwari I guess is getting a feature for the first time in my list, and it is nice to get new musicians and their music reviewed here. He has written and composed this song and also we have the famous guitarist/producer Vaibhav Pani arrange for this track. The song has a very Bollywood feel, but that is never wrong especially if we have an extremely hummable tune at hand. The harmonies, guitars and rhythms are perfectly complimenting the vocalist. The sound of Keys gain prominence in the stanza and that is what makes the song deep. Tarun Sharma has recorded, mixed and mastered the track. The tune somewhat reminds me of “Main Tenu Samjhawan ki�.

14. Barbaadiyaan

This is the band’s second single and I have promised myself that Ill listen to the first single called “Kuch Iss Tarah�. The song deals and addresses a very pertinent and important issue of drugs and substance abuse. Fateh has written the lyrics and also is the lead vocalist for the song. Viraj Joshi is emphatic on the lead guitars and Anish Puthuraya, plays the rhythm guitars. The title line is just pure bliss especially when it is sung like this by Fateh. Akarsh Singh is matching up to Viraj’s electric guitars with his intense drumming. Roopank Verma is adding a layer on the bass guitars that just cannot be overlooked. Anish also has produced the track and sung the harmonies, and there is a team of musicians who have also worked on the additional composition viz. Aayush Khazanchi, Bijoy Palliserry and Kshitij Kumar Chaudhary. The song looks like something out of the movie “Rock on� and that is definitely meant to be a compliment. The track is mixed and mastered by the famous sound engineer Saurabh Lodha.

15. Shes like a breeze

Rohan Prasanna is this young Sarod exponent and he is creating waves all around with his music. This whole album had some amazing scores and songs and it was rightly named “Bouquet of Life�. I particularly loved this track and remember he has already appeared in the second best song of this week “Tum Se�. Rohan has also lent his voice for this track and mixed it, while Anindo Bose of Plug ‘n’ Play studios has mastered the track. There are no lyrics and no structure, it is almost he is like just being creative and improvising as goes along. The track is like a wonderful evening breeze blowing and hitting your face and only music like this can feel as good as the real thing. Who knew the sarod can be so sensational in effect!