If someone told me that a Sunday afternoon could be well spent sitting in a crowded auditorium, listening to musicians talk, I would probably say "I'll pass". I am glad I never did that and today as I sit and write this article, I feel a couple of notches smarter and more informed about music, the art form, the business and life itself. I was invited to attend the Ajivasan Music and Dance Academy's ACT 2024 day-long event. This is an institute which has a rich history of nurturing talent and creating amazing professionals in the fields of music and dance. The respected musician Suresh Wadkar established this institute I was witness to humility and gratitude towards Suresh ji from so many established musicians. The eventful day had 4 sessions with stalwarts like Purbayan Chatterjee, Vishal Dadlani, Taufiq Qureshi, Priyanka Barve, Sagarika Das, Aishwarya Bhandari, Rakesh Chaurasia and Shankar Mahadevan. I will be now mentioning the common themes and topics that were discussed throughout the day and the striking answers and viewpoints given by the esteemed celebrity musicians. How should youngsters approach the field of music?The ACT 2024 was primarily an opportunity for Ajivansan Institute's young music and dance students to meet their idols and they had numerous questions like these. Every musician who took the stage was patient, benevolent and candid with their responses. Vishal Dadlani had some great words of wisdom, and with all the frank responses he impressed me. A simple anecdote will explain this. A few students who were seated in the first few rows wanted to show off their singing skills. When one of them was handed the microphone, he performed a Vishal-Shekhar melody. I wasn't too impressed and within a few seconds, Vishal stopped the lad and said "Why are you trying hard to sing in a way which doesn't seem natural? I don't think this is your natural voice. Don't imitate any style, please be yourself". I loved hearing this, because this is the truth that we are facing, a world of imitators who lack originality. Vishal went on to advise students to wait patiently and keep doing the hard and good work until they make it big someday. He rightly said that when young musicians make it big they should remember to never let a young musician jump through hops and struggles. Tabla exponent Taufiq Qureshi said that it was important for percussionists to start with the Tabla or Mridangam and learn the basics of this versatile instrument, so that they can later move on to drums, Djembe or whatever attracted them. Vishal was very open to giving names of legends who percussion students should idolise like Steve Gadd, Ringo Starr, Jai Kow Ravi and Gino Banks. How will young musicians decide whether to pick singing or playing an instrument?Rakesh Chaurasia had a very thoughtful response, and he said parents should show young children YouTube videos of anything related to music. It could be a song, an instrumental or just a talk on any instrument too with some demonstration. The moment the kid's eyes light up is when one realises what pleases the kid the most. Purbayan recommended that everyone visit the Indian Music Experience Museum in Bengaluru to understand INdia's heritage and culture of music. I must agree with Purbayan ji, as I made this visit in 2023 to the museum and fell in love with the concept, items on display and the information available. What should students learn and imbibe to be a music composer?A very pertinent question this was and I loved two responses the most for this and here they are. Vishal Dadlani says that one should try and make a good melody first. The artist must not worry about introducing emotions and all that jazz at the initial stages of writing a song. Production and other departments will handle that. Shankar Mahadevan believes every singer has a composer inside and only self-discovery is needed to find the composer. He believes that no inhibition can help in the process and a composer must be like a singer in the bathroom all alone and in front of a mirror. This is when one is free and has no external and unwanted influences. How should an accompanying instrumentalist perform?This question was posed to Taufiq Qureshi, Rakesh Chaurasia and Purbayan Chatterjee in the day's 3rd session. Here are a few glimpses from that delightful episode. Purbayan asked the crowd if anyone would listen to a live concert if all instruments were switched off and only the singer was performing. He did make a valid point and he said that it would be difficult to listen to the performance for more than a few minutes without instrumental support, driving home the point that instrumentalists were crucial to music. The funniest on the stage was Rakesh ji who has a wonderful sense of humour. He said that film music teaches classical musicians to perform at the right level. He said that he has learnt it over many years because, without film music experiences, instrumentalists would not know when to stop. Jokingly Rakesh ji said that classical musicians would eat up a whole jar of pickles if not for film music which teaches you to add only a spoonful of it to your meal. On a serious note, he said that a supporting instrumentalist should understand whether he/she wants to make a song sound beautiful or get a lot of claps. Taufiq pointed out an example from Zakir Hussain who said that an instrumentalist in a concert was like a driver who must ensure the passenger (the vocalist) reaches home safe and sound. All 3 of them agreed that a musician must know a song in full if he/she wants to be successful as an instrumentalist in a concert, knowing when to back off, and when to lead and provide service in the melody. 

I have been listening to music ever since I was a kid and thankfully music appreciation started getting rooted in me very early. It all began when I started listening to English pop when we were living in the Middle East and then in the US. I fell in love with musicians like Phil Collins, Elton John, Mariah Carey, and Whitney Houston and bands like A-ha, Police, Bangles and so many more. The list can be endless.We then moved to India. Once I reached middle school, there was a mammoth change in the style of music I listened to, but I am only thankful for that. I was exposed to Maestro and G.O.A.T. Ilaiyaraja owing to this change of base. After that came AR Rahman and Vidyasagar as well. Even before these greats, we had MS Vishwanathan and Ramamurthy compose amazing music in Tamil. If you notice the difference between paragraphs 1 and 2, the earlier has both men and women musicians who not only sang but also wrote their own songs. The second paragraph however only has a male name. Have I missed out on some women musicians, am I being factually incorrect or ignorant? I hope not, but I am sure women musicians in India were restricted to being vocalists or playback singers. If I extend the example of classical Indian music both Hindustani and Carnatic, we have female vocalists and instrumentalists. Composers, Producers and Songwriters are at the top of the musical food chain and they have mostly been men in the Indian scene. I wanted to try and analyse why this could be. But before getting deeper into the reasoning, I wanted to do some background research and know about female music directors and composers before my time.  Some basic keywords research helped me find out 3 names that I would like to briefly mention about.In the 1930s and 1940s, there was India's first female composer called Saraswati Devi who was born into a Parsi family and known by the name Khorshed Homji. Saraswati had more than a decent run and she scored music for around 35 films in the 1930s and 1940s. Then came Jaddanbhai Hussain who was a composer, writer, actress and director. She was less known with barely a few compositions for the grandmother of Sanjay Dutt and mother of Nargis Dutt. The composer to make a name for herself and who was the most successful of all the 3 was Usha Khanna. She scored music for around 3 decades between the 1960s and 1990s with around 150 movies to her credit. So clearly Usha Khanna is India's most accomplished female composer yet. A deeper study into some earlier articles written about women composers throws the same 3 names that I have mentioned here and they do show a list of a few more who I will name and write about in the coming paragraphs. A few names that get thrown around a lot are Jasleen Royal, Payal Dev, Paramapra Thakur, Sonal Pradhan etc. Of these names, the one who has good credentials based on quantity and quality and awards is Jasleen Royal. She is the first woman composer to ever win a Filmfare award for music and she also has more than a handful of compositions. When it comes to the others there is very little to really put them at the top, because I want to explore composers who can go on and dominate this "boys club" of film composers. Payal Dev, Parampara Thakur and Sonal Pradhan have very few movies to their credit and personally, I am not a fan of their limited work. The other media might voraciously praise their music, but let me quote you an example of why I feel otherwise. Payal Dev is credited with the music of 'Ginny Weds Sunny, but if you looked at the soundtrack, 3 songs were composed by her and 2 by Gaurav Chatterji. However in my opinion the only songs that really impress are those by Gaurav. Here is a list of some of the current generation female composers who I think are amazing.Some have achieved and been in the limelight for their work and some have the potential to go on and dominate this "boys club" of film composers. Sneha Kahanwalkar , Rachita Arora and Samira KoppikarThe ladies who will be revered are led by Sneha Khanwalkar who blasted her way into fame with albums like 'Gangs of Wasseypur' both parts, and she had movies like "Oye Lucky! Lucky Iye!", and the one that truly impressed me in terms of BGM scores "Detective Byomkesh Bakshy". Directors like Dibankar Bannerjee and Anurag Kashyap used her talent for their flicks and that is no mean feat. Somehow over the last few years, she has been witnessing a decline and I have been unimpressed. Now Rachita Arora is another name that has impressed with films like "Mukkabaaz", "Newton", "Shubh Mangal Savdhaan" and one must appreciate Anurag Kashyap who seems to be a common denominator providing women composers with an opportunity to shine. Samira Koppikar briefly between 2015 and 2019 did earn a name for herself thanks to albums like "NH 10", "Bareilly ki Barfi" and "Laal Kaptaan". The problem has been that many of these talented composers could not sustain themselves for reasons unknown.Shalmali KholgadeHere are some composers who will hold the mantle and if there are enough opportunities given and if the artists persist with drive and desire we could very soon be having most of our movie albums being composed by women composers. Shalmali Kholgade is at the very top for me and she has impressed me and the world enough with her debut Marathi movie called "June". The soundscape if something unheard of in Marathi movies and her indie EPs '2X Side A' in 2021 and '2X Side B' in 2022 showcase her composing talents even further. Aloknanda DasguptaAlokananda Dasgupta is a supreme force who is known for her scores in 'Geeli Puchi', "Sacred Games", "AK v AK", "Trapped", "Sacred Games" and recently "Shiv Shastry Balboa" which I have featured. Once again we have to thank Vikramaditya Motwane and Neeraj Ghaywan for standing tall and being the directors to give well-deserved opportunities to women composers like Alokananda. Also read: Top Indian songs of the week.Let us move Southwards and here 2 women give me all the hope Neha Nair, and Revaa. Neha works as a co-composer and co-producer along with Yakzan Gary Perreira and they have a very unique way of creating sound, and the duo get pretty whacky with their compositions as well. Some of their famous works include "5 Sundarikal", Mayanadi"(BGM), "Sudani from Nigeria" (BGM), " Love", "Driving License", "Sumesh & Ramesh" and "Vaashi" (BGM). Revaa was impressed with her score for the movie "Mugizh" and she is back with one more series called "Ayali". I have featured a couple of songs and have been quite impressed by the BGM

On December 18th 2022, I got an opportunity to understand the different styles and appreciate the diverse nature of this artform: music. You must be thinking, 'How is someone mentioning 18th Dec 2022 and not talking about the FIFA World Cup?". That is exactly the point. I am a massive sports nut and an Argentina fan. I had been waiting to see them lift the World Cup for the last 32 years, ever since I started watching football back in 1990 as a 10-year-old kid. Each day this year since the beginning of the world-cup were spent with a mix of anxiety and jubilation. Until Argentina met France in the finals. While looking for ways and excuses to distract myself on that Sunday(to avoid the anxiety of the finals) I got invited to a private concert by Chandana Bala Kalyan on vocals accompanied by Vinayak Netke on Tabla and Omkar Patil on the Harmonium. I had earlier reviewed both Chandana and Omkar on two separate instances so my expectations were set. I had interacted with both of them and was excited to meet them in person this time. I was also curious to meet and hear a new artist in Vinayak.As I entered the lawn of the private bungalow where the concert was scheduled I heard the three artists rehearsing and setting their audio systems almost as if the concert had already begun. This perfection and the sheer dedication of the trio made me confident that I was in for a treat.Chandana is a brilliant vocalist, and if you want to know what she is capable of, do listen to this masterpiece set in Puriya Dhanasree called 'The Great Escape' featuring Finix Ramdas and many other brilliant instrumentalists. The evening started and the concept amazed me, she calls it 'Marma'. It is about the realm of fantasy revolving around divinity and spirituality and how music helps interpret it. This concert was not for music lovers who come with a narrow view of music, believing that only Carnatic, Hindustani or a certain style of music was supreme. Here is my review and descriptive analysis of what I heard. In the end, I will paint a picture of why this concept and concert were precisely what our community need today. The concert set in a beautiful farmhouse, surrounded by nature and water set the tone for the concept that Marma is. She started with a Varnam 'Gopala pruthvi chandana' composed in Raag Shyam Kalyan. A varnam is a classical format to start a carnatic concert especially apt for the ongoing Margazhi season. The next song was a Namasankeerthanam or an invocation to the Lord, also called a Bhagwantwadiyacharane and although I was thinking it is probably set in Revathi Ragam, it could probably be in Raag Bhatiyar when I did some research later. Now we started experiencing a transformation in the flow of the concert and new styles started getting introduced. It was magical to simply see Chandana sing in different languages and styles which demand so much of flexibility in imagination and execution. The beauty of the concert lay in the way Chandana gives a narrative description before every song. Next up was a song to celebrate the festival of Holi. A pure joyful song set in Raag Desh. There was exuberance and Omkar was incredibly up to the task on the Harmonium while Vinayak showed his dexterity on the Tabla. There were many moments when Chanadana would have to take a breather and the intensity never dropped one-bit thanks to Omkar and Vinayak.Chandana then took out her Ukulele, a green one blending perfectly with the surrounding. I was curious to know what was in store next. She mesmerised by singing a beautiful Oriya verse in the Baul tradition which she later combined with an Ashtapathi called Nindati Chandana. The mild light musical style with a gentle humming sounded like a melodious number from the 1970s.Then came a heartwarming and interesting story from Maharashtra, set probably in the temple town of Pandharpur. She talks about how in our culture God can be spoken to like a friend or even foe without any deterring fear. The original writing here translates to lord Panduranga entering a forest and being eaten by a ghost, the inner meaning of the song was mind-blowing. The amazing storytelling skills that she possesses actually makes Marma even more special. . This song was set in Mohana Ragam. Chandana sang in a free-spirited way devoid of restraints and she also got all her Marathi diction right, especially with two Maharashtrian musicians on either side. Kannada was not forgotten in the mix of things as she sang a Kanakadasa song 'Nee Maya olago' set in Raag Gopriya. Apparently, it is also representative of the Western scale called Whole-tone. As a musical enthusiast, it was unimaginably difficult to comprehend, and I am certain it is an extremely complicated song to perform. The evening was getting better with such diverse creativity and novelty. The song and scale all the elements of Jazz which has incredible degrees of freedom for an artist to improvise and perform. A Nirguni Stuti was sung like a Ram Leela and it had a wonderful story about how we feel dejected when a temple is shut thinking it is a sign from God. But Chandana through this had other ideas to convey. Along with the playful interceptions by Omkar it almost felt like the Villu-Pattu style heard in rural Tamil Nadu. Here the message is that it doesn't matter if the main door of a temple shuts off, God can be found inside our hearts. Gammawala a Punjabi Heer written by Bulleh Shah in raag Charukeshi asking us to give up our ego and Ahankara and get closer to God. It was immediately followed by Kabir's Jheeni set in Maand. The great Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's beautiful song "Kinna Sona Tennu Rabb ne banaya" and although I assumed it was Shivaranjani Ragam, Chandana tells me it is basically in Karna Ranjani. As we approached the end she took us into another zone with aTelugu song called Nirguni Sadashiva Brahmalinga with some amazing philosophy asking what is inside what? I'll need a new post explaining just the concept itself but the eternal dilemma in whatever we do and think and intend was encapsulated in that work. It was set Raag Karaharapriya.Finally a burst of energy came about in the bhajan 'Saavare Aijaiyo' which to my mind and understanding was in Raag Thilak Kamod or a mix of Khamaj and Bihag. The whole concert went on till 8.40PM and I never even realised that the finals of the World Cup had already begun. That is the power of music as it can make you oblivious of any other realms of reality. I met with the artists and told them that whatever I have been trying to achieve as a music journalist was accomplished by Chandana, Omkar and Vinayak in under 2 hours. Music is beyond languages and no style or genre can claim superiority over another. The only way we can grow as human beings is if we keep our minds open and accept music outside of our comfort zones. My main aim as a music journalist is to throw light on India's musicians irrespective of what language they sing in, where they hail from or the genre they belong to. However, it is never easy to convince music lovers to listen to new styles of music. I hope through Chandana and her project 'Marma', music transcends all boundaries.

At the outset let me clarify a few things 1. This is entirely my view based on facts I have read in the public domain 2. opinion is based on my knowledge of music in general and Carnatic classical music 3. I don't have formal training in any music form vocal or instrumental 4. I don't know any members of Thaikkudam Bridge (TB hereafter) or Ajaneesh Loknath (AL hereafter) or Sai Vignesh (SV hereafter) personally, but I have interacted with some of them as a music-reviewer. 5. None of what I am about to write has been discussed with either TB or AL and I am simply stating my opinion.6. I will not be making comments on the movie, and I don't know what transpired behind the scenes 7. I did not listen to Navarasam at the time of my exposure to Varaha Roopam(VR hereafter) and only later listened to the TB number after reports of "inspiration" or " Plagiarism" emerged on social media. The following article will be in the form of Q&A and I hope some of you benefit from reading this Q. At first glance or upon first hearing Navarasam, what did I feel?Someone I know pointed out to me that Varaha Roopam sounds exactly like Navarasam and that I should listen to the original. I was stunned by this because I had never listened to the Thaikkudam Bridge song before. I must confess that when I first heard VR in the theatre I told myself " wow this sounds like a number that Agam, the Kerala-based Rock/Metal band, would have composed". So when I later listened to Navarasam I definitely understood why people felt it was a copy but I couldn't hear it. Q. What do I think happened that made TB approach the courts and file a suit against the creative team of Kantara?I believe there are elements of the song VR that sound very similar to their Navarasam, one being the Ragam base of Varali which is common in both and the second being the style of metal-carnatic fusion. So the extent of similarity musically could be one reason, but the other even more glaring similarity is the video or the visuals of the song. If VR was used to show a 'Bootha Kola' folk dance, it was 'Thaiyyam' in the case of Navarasam, and maybe this spurred fears and suspicion of malicious intents by the team of Kantara. The unbelievable success of VR and the movie probably also motivated TB to initiate such legal actionQ. What are the points in defence of Kantara team and AL?Based on my musical knowledge if someone decides to compose a song based on a certain Raga then it is bound to have many similarities with any other song in the same Raga. So the uncanny similarities do emerge because of this, and one could say that had AL chosen some other Raga as the base for the melody this would not have emerged as an issue. Also in a recent interview with The News Minute,  SV says that he and AL had jammed together and come up with near impromptu variations and hence the song has at-least 4 different Raga variations like Varali, Mukari, Thodi, Kanakaangi. This too is quite valid and one could hear traces of old classics like '"Thaaye Yashodha" and "Gaanamurthe" ( which is in a Raga very closely connected to Kanakaangi). This is why in his blog famous music journalist Karthik Srinivas had written that despite the similarities AL makes this song his own. When I heard the two songs closely they both go into different trajectories after the initial similarities, and this is why I couldn't see how VR was a copy. Even the initial instrumental notes are not a mirror image or copy, but they follow the same Raga. This is why I am not sure how even an arbitrator or Court could come to the conclusion, that AL copied the song. Q. What are the points in defence of TB team?Well if you hear the opening segments with the riff on Keyboards and guitars and the notes of the Violin in Navarasam and Nadaswaram in VR, they do sound similar. Even if they are the same Raga, the tone and feeling you get are that they are too similar for comfort and make it hard for AL to plead innocence. So the team TB probably wanted to address this considering the song's style and visuals also seemed similar. So they had to take it up with the Kantara teamQ. Are there prior examples of such incidents in India?Well Yes, do read this nice article that came out in The News Minute.Here there are 6 examples with some sounding just like very mild inspirations or mild similarities, yet courts ruled in favour of the Original composers. I think in the famous web series on Amazon Prime called "Guilty Minds" there was an episode on musical creativity rights, and the lawyers referred to two cases that are also mentioned in this News Minute article. The case against Urumi musician Deepak Dev, and Krazzy 4 composer Rajesh Roshan tell me that minute similarities can be termed as 'plagiarism' as well. Interestingly AL has been involved in a case where his music for Rakshit Shetty's 'Kirik Party' was caught in an entanglement with an older Kannada song and composer. I heard both versions and I could sense a similarity in one humming that comes right at the beginning, barring that nothing quite solid enough to call it a copy. The two parties amicably resolved the issue but I now feel why there was even a need to have even a minor segment sounding similar to an original if there was not going to be any credit given to the original or at least an admission of inspiration.Q. What is my opinion on these matters of similarities in certain segments of two songs and so on?In this space of music, I think it is impossible to be 100% original, without even inspiration from somewhere else. If the opening segment sounded the same and this led to this fight between TB and Al, then I feel the last part of AR Rahman's "Thumbi Thullal" is exactly the same as the first lines of "Kadhaippoma" scored by Leon James. The similarities between Urumi song by Deepak Dev and an English number as mentioned in The News Minute Article, are as good as those between Ar Rahman's "Kuluvalile" and a song called "Rescue me" that plays as OST in the movie 'Sister Act'. But just because some musician gets away with something, or some musician doesn't want to make it an issue and ask for credit, it doesn't mean that that is the rule by which the world should function. Q. What do I think could have happened to avoid this mess?Well AL could have straightaway mentioned to TB and asked for their permission during the creative process. They could have later just publically given credits of inspiration to the TB team, like how we in the field of financial markets always put the name of the source data for numbers, or even charts. TB could have let this go thinking here is a young musician who has definitely taken some inspiration from the song but made a very good number on his own too. By the way VR is a fantastic song. Q. How do I rate both songs?Having listened to both, the styles are similar belonging to Carnatic-Metal fusion, and hence both would score similar points in terms of creativity. Vocally Sai Vignesh sings it brilliantly and hence I would give VR more points on the vocal execution. As an overall song to me, Varaha Roopam is a better song with a greater appeal, more Ragas are brought in making it better to listen to and sing as well. In terms of live instrumentals and arrangements, both songs score equally with some splendid guitars, violins, folk percussion and so on. VR would get a score of 8.5/10 while I would give Navarasam a 7.75/10. Navarsam gives me trance effect, while VR does that plus also throws in a lovely sense of divinity and calmness. Q. Does creating a better song mean that one can copy or take inspiration from the original without credit?I don't think it is a copy, but VR could well be inspired by Navarasam. I am reminded of this scene from the movie "License to Wed". Here Robin Wiliams is a Priest at a church and he is seen giving a lecture to young children. A question is put forward " is it ok to cheat on your partner with someone who doesn't look attractive". Robin answers " yes it is still a sin". So even if I believe VR is a much better song, it would be wrong if it was a copy. Q. What is the latest progress in the legal proceedings?"The Principal District and Sessions Judge, Kozhikode has injuncted the Producer, Director, Music Composer, Amazon, Youtube, Spotify, Wynk Music, Jio Savan and others from playing the song Varaha Roopam in the film Kantara without the permission of Thaikkudam Bridge. Suit for the injunction has been filed on behalf of Thaikkudam Bridge by Music Attorney, Satish Murthi, Advocate Supreme Court of India."This is what we have seen on the official Thaikkudam Bridge accounts on social media and in the newspapers. This tells us that the courts approached based on the evidence provided see that AL and the team of Kantara have copied or taken inspiration from TB's Navarasam without due credit or proper permission. Without any bias or agenda, I can only tell that AL and Kantara have to abide by the ruling, but it is only them who will truly know if they intended to copy or use any material from Navarasam. When I listen, I see mild similarities but nothing that shows red flags. I also did read in one of the papers that AL met up with Govind Vasantha, but something else has provoked TB into filing the legal notice.Q. What lessons can I learn from this?We live in an era where one has to be 100%, in fact 200% sure of what to say or write before doing so. Offending any community or any group at large or hurting someone's sentiments, or saying anything inappropriate was something one could get away with even a decade ago. For all teh right reasons, one needs multiple layers of filters and has to be sure he/she is not uttering anything that comes to mind. The field of music too has shaped up that way where it is NOT ok to copy or lift segments from an original without credit or due permission. The other day I listened to a song called "Bholi Bhali ladki" by Rajesh Roshan, which is a shameful copy of Vidyasagar's "Bodhai eri pochu". I don't think the composers cared back then, but it is what probably let people like Rajesh Roshan learn no lesson and they continued to copy from other musicians without remorse or a sense of ethics.I still believe that VR is not a copy, but if it was inspired by Navarasam, AL could have talked to TB before the creative process saw the light of day. It is always better to ask someone nicely in life about what they feel, before assuming something. Q. Any words for either party?To Ajaneesh - I think he is one of the brightest

Barrack Obama was a great President and more than that a brilliant orator and an incredibly inspiring human being. His words have affected the global economy, and he mattered so much to global cooperation and diplomacy that he was handed out a Nobel Peace Prize back in 2009. These are quite understandable but his words put an Indian singer on the global map and skyrocketed him to celebrity status. Prateek Kuhad is the singer-songwriter whose Cold/mess was a recommendation by Obama as a part of his 2020 must-listen playlist.  It was a lovely song that could cradle you away to sleep, enhancing the level of tranquillity. Ever since Prateek has never looked back and risen in stardom and success. I love a story like that where a new star is born out of nowhere and the lustre incrementally keeps getting stronger. Some of them could fade away, and some never reach that destination that the world and fans predict. If I was being honest, I believe Prateek belongs to this category of popular A-listers who just struggle to live up to that expectation. I have nothing against Prateek Kuhad and I'll be more than willing to give my unbiased honest opinion of his songs, but when the world goes gaga over someone, I will not stand by and join the herd. This article is going to be a brief review of Prateek's "The way that lovers do" (TWTLD), trying to analyse the overall album, and I'll also be recommending my favourite tracks from it. But how good is any criticism, without a solution or an alternative? This is why I'll be reviewing and recommending an alternate album by the singer-songwriter Jaimin called "Cutting Loose". TWTLD would get a score of 6.25/10 in my opinion, and out of the 11 tracks, I liked 4 tracks. My favourites were 'Bloom', 'Just a Word', 'CO2' and 'Favourite Peeps' and I strongly recommend these numbers for some fine singing, lyrics and instrumental arrangements. I could feel love and romance all through my veins when I heard 'CO2', and the song comes off like some fabulous numbers by Keane like 'Everybody's Changing'. 'Bloom' probably stands out as the best track where Prateek showcases his vocal range better and the interplay of Pianos, vocal harmonies and trumpets is just brilliant. 'Just A Word' has a very hummable segment and ring to it with some nice Keyboards to keep you hooked and finally 'Favorite Peeps' has a nice catchy tune aided by good guitar riffs and lyrics. Other than these 4, every other track is passable and you can skip them. Now take Jaimin's 'Cutting Loose' which has 14 songs on the album. I would gladly give it a 7.5/10 and recommend that all music lovers check out the whole album. 7 of the 14 are terrific songs creating pure bliss and with 50% of the songs qualifying to be good enough to be on my weekly charts.  This is much better than a mere 25% for Prateek's TWTLD. Another area where Jaimin scores better is that 6 songs are so good that they would get 8/10 and these are "Shes running late", "Never Mind", "One more night", "She", "Something here to stay", "Wore my heart on my sleeve". The two best numbers that would any day qualify among the best numbers of 2022 are " She" and "Something Here to Stay". Jaimin soars as a vocalist and to me, he wins hands down over Prateek in his abilities as a performer. There are many times I felt that Prateek sounded weak, with no conceivable emotion or even vocal presence. The emotional connection in Jaimi's album is stringer and it is some mind-blowing live instrumental arrangements that steer me towards Jaimin's album over Prateek's.  One has to just closely listen to the writing in "She" and it is a work of a genius in that number along with some glorious Solo on Violins. The commonly found awesomeness in each of these tracks in "Cutting Loose" is the Piano, Organ, Violin(Protyay Chakraborty), Drums (Arjun Chakraborty) and harmonies. The use of the Sitar(Kalyan Majumdar) and Saxophone (Abhay Sharma) in "Something here to stay" will make you go crazy in love for music, and you will close your eyes and lose your senses in the electric guitar solo in " Wore my heart on my sleeve"I have no intention of pitching Jaimin against Prateek, and it is not a silly competition that I am trying to brew. All I am trying to do here is, to encourage my readers and music lovers to go check out Jaimin's album. If you love Prateek Kuhad, I am sure you will find Jaimin equally poignant and lovable. Jaimin Rajani, the Kolkata-based musician brings in a huge array of Indian talent like Rahul Ram, Rohan Ganguli, William Walters and Ralph Pais as bassists, Arjun Chakraborty on drums and percussion along with Aniruddha Saha, Abhay Sharma on the Sax, Billy Cardine on the Dobro Slide Guitar, Subharaj Ghosh on guitars and bass, Deepak Castelino on the classical guitar, Kalyan Majumdar on Sitar, Arka Chakraborty on Piano, Organ, bass Patrick Fitzsimons on Mandolin, Protyay Chakraborty and Rjarshi Das on Violin etc. The list of Vocalists for harmonies is Protyay, Rajshekhar Banerjee, Susmit Bose and Bhibhubrata Acharjee. All songs are composed, written and performed by Jaimin who also plays the guitars, with mixing and mastering by Protyay. 

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post calling AR Rahman to "Please Stop" making music, and although those were strong words that many thought could have been avoided, they did emerge from a place of strong emotion and connection towards his music. The post did receive some criticism but nothing very harsh, and I could understand the passion of all Rahman fans behind those comments. I am critical of AR Rahman's work these days but also because the bar is higher for him than for the rest of the lot. I will have to clinically analyse a song with greater depth than if it was composed by a debutant and I don't think that it is unfair. I, like many millions of fans, had a smile on my face when I saw this post by AR Rahman sitting next to his mentor, and the absolute God of not just Indian music, but Music itself according to me. But this is not about Ilaiyaraja, but this magical human being Rahman. Despite everything disrespectful and harsh that keeps coming from his teacher Rahman manages to always keep his cool and shows deep humility and respect. We all would have never witnessed the slightest display of arrogance and anger. This is from one of the greatest Indian composers with envious consistency over 30 years. That is why I wanted to talk about not just his traits but his colossal musical record as well. AR Rahman came into the industry at one of the toughest times owing to the dominance of Ilaiyaraja in 1992 and it couldn't have been without his ability or hard work that he rose to such fame leaving others by the wayside. The sounds he created and the digital experience were such a turnaround and nobody come could close. ARR at times broke the structure of songs which had the usual pallavi-anupallavi-charanam and made Indians listen to some of the trending Western pop influences. Anyone who said that he couldn't diversify his styles probably knew infinitesimally less about music. He scored in folk, Carnatic classical, rock, Jazz, hip-hop, and kuthu as well. None of these ventures was hard-core but had Rahman's creative additions to it, like none of us, would have ever heard rap in Tamil before "Petta-rap" but that too wasn't pure rap. He was the musician who made the world of music go upside down back in the 1950s and 1960s when Tamil music was getting influenced by Bollywood, and that changed to AR Rahman either directly composing his originals being copied into Bollywood. The ability to adapt alone helped ARR achieve something which even Ilaiyarja couldn't successfully do despite a few attempts. He then traversed over to global recognition as well with his double Oscar double Grammy, a BAFTA and a Golden Globe award. I remember how surreal it was to watch Denzel Washington in action with "Chaiya Chaiya" in the background in "Inside Man " and Nicholas Cage slowly ambulate with the 'Bombay Theme' in the background in "Lords of War". Rahman not just scored memorable songs, but also helped numerous talented singers showcase their talent without allowing just a few to dominate, a common characteristic under previous composers. I also would have never known the names of all the musicians involved in a song before AR Rahman started giving official credits for their roles. He thus came, saw and conquered the whole music scene not just in India but globally. 'Ponniyin Selvan' was a title given to a famous Chola King as he was the greatest son of Kaveri(the river), and apparently, he was very benevolent, well-behaved towards all people and had one pleasing face. I think for all these reasons and AR Rahman's unquestionable love for Tamil, he should be given that title in this day and age. Now does all this mean that I repent for my earlier statements and that I am walking back on that? No. Everything good comes to an end and a genius like him should know best when to call it a day. I recently saw Serena Williams speak on Centre Court after her 3rd Round loss at the US open. She was retiring because she knew she was in no way close to her best. It was painful to see the greatest Woman Tennis player announce retirement but it is only natural for even greatness to bid adieu. AR Rahman fans pointing to some random songs here and there as a sign of his undiminished genius are cheating themselves because it is like saying that Serena is still great because she won 2 rounds.

The song was a raging hit in all parts of India crossing over 50 million YT hits within days, but that was partly helped by the “Love Storiyan” battle over lyrics. I liked any ingenuity in lyrics so that did not bother me, but apparently, the song in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam became very popular as fans wanted to boycott the Hindi version and listen to the tune in other languages. The song is not something out of the ordinary but it was Pritam in 3rd gear when he is quite capable of moving in the 5th. The song’s likability was boosted thanks to the production by Himonshu Parikh who is also one of the guys behind the success of the Indie group ‘The Yellow Diary’. I am going to rate the 5 versions of the song based on overall likability, singing quality, styles and delivery, lyrical fit with the notes, and finally creativity. Since the song had no changes in the notes and production, all these factors apply to the vocals and lyrics alone. I follow only Tamil and Hindi, so for all 5 languages, I’ll only judge how the lyrical sounds fit the music without going into their meaning and depth. Let me first describe the elements I liked and disliked about each version and shall present my scores in the end. The original was in Hindi and created all the buzz and here I perfectly liked the lyrics including how creatively “love storiyan” was introduced. So I would give solid points for lyrics here. Arijit sings it quite well, and he is bringing his A game for Pritam, although a lot of the aalap he does are quite predictable, if you have heard him enough before. The Ghamakas are fine but without any creativity and so the style of delivery is monotonous. Pritam ropes in Sid Sriram to sing the Tamil and Telugu versions completely, and they sound exactly similar. I wish Pritam used some local knowledge to get someone else to the singing, I feel he just took the easy route and picked a popular singer with a massive social media following at the moment. When I spoke to a few people who understand Telugu, dismissed Sid’s diction and that has been a common complaint. As a layman when I heard Tamil and Telugu, I felt Tamil lyrics fit the song better. There are moments when I got very uncomfortable with Sid’s higher notes (which made me cringe) and his Tamil pronunciation is questionable saying “Ulahe” instead of “Ulage” “Mahala” instead of “Magala”, and “Azhahe” instead of “Azhage”. Some composer has to tell Sid to change his style as it just sounds repetitive with his ghamakas. Having said that the way he brought in swaras in the places which had just no vocal involvement in the case of Arijit. Sanjith Hegde is one of my favourite vocalists and he smashes it. His singing, style, delivery, and creativity all are unmatched making it my favourite version. “Kesariya Rangu” is the best version with a score of 50/60. The lyrics match the notes very well and the mild vibrato that Sanjith brings in is just exemplary. Mayalayal is a close second along with Hindi as Hesham Abdul Wahab scores best on creative ghamakas. Just listen to the closing stages as Hesham does tricks and pauses which gets him solid points. But I did feel in the last outro when the title line is slowed down in singing (like all the other versions too), Hesham alone wasn’t keeping in perfect tempo and I felt he may have skipped a beat here and there. My complaint across Kannada and Malayalam was that Sid Sriram had to be featured in both to do the Swara bit, while I am sure Hesham and Sanjith are capable of doing it on their own. The lyrical fit of Malayalm was pretty good as well. The scores are as shown belowKesariya Rangu 50Kesariya 49Kunkumamaake 48Theethiriyaai 45Kumkumala 43 Best version – Kesariya Rangu – KannadaBest Vocals – Sanjith HegdeBest Lyrical fit – Kesariya – Hindi – Amitabh BhattacharyaBest Creativity – Sid Sriram Best style of delivery – Hesham Abdul Wahab – MalayalamWorst Version – Kumkumala - Telugu