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 6th March 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. 1. Khwaab He is a musician I value and rate quite highly and there have been some songs of his in the past, which I somehow overlooked, but not any more. If you don’t believe my words, just listen to the song and you will know why it is India's number 1 song for the week. Anurag Mishra smashes this one for a home run as they say in baseball, and I cannot wait for the rest of the tracks in his new original album “Lifafe�. Dreams i.e. “Khwaab� have never probably sounded so damn good before. Anurag seems to be a brilliant chap as well graduating from top institutions like NIT and IIM Indore, and he is a gain for the musical industry for sure. Anurag is already working his way up in the industry by making some headway into Bollywood and down south as well. Anurag, writes composes and sings this with style and substance but let us not forget the guitars by Hrishi Giridhar and his production along with mixing and mastering. The Keys and Anurag’s vocals both feel like a dream in-fact you wouldn’t want to ever get out of. The line “Aankhon mein tu tehra� is just a brilliant shift in notes enhancing the quality of the tune. Then comes that “oo oo oho� humming which is itself soothing, but a moment of magic happens when there is a pause for a fraction of a second. The greatest Indian musician called Ilaiyaraja once talked about the impact of pauses in songs, well I found one today. The stanza that follows the electric guitar interlude is all worth every second of your time. 2. Jashn E ali These guys aren’t going to stop anytime soon, and recently I also read a newspaper article about how Salim-Sulaiman started to produce more music on their own during the pandemic. It is not only the quantity, but the quality as well. This one is mesmerizing and will send you into a heavenly trance that you will just not want out of. The track has minimal instrumentals but depends on some fabulous vocals and enchanting harmonies. Salim-Sulaiman compose the tune while Anshuman Sharma produces it. The vocals belong to magical performers like Salman Ali, Salim Merchant, Raj Pandit and Vipul Mehta. The raag influences are glaring and to my mind they resemble Asavari. The lyrics are penned by Noor Vasaya and Salim himself. The track is recorded by Aftab Khan, and Raj Pandit. It is like the vocalists are in a competitive battle as to who can captivate the listener more and they all succeed immensely. 3. Teri khair mangaan Another brilliant Punjabi number comes in here and it has come of the most creative bits and instrumentals this week among the top 15. Can it get better if the legendary Ustaad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan himself sings this? The female lead for this one Deeba Kiran and the song is composed by Kamran Akhtar with lyrics penned by Saji Ali. Noman Rauf does all the conception and production work. The song starts of with almost a rock n roll effect on guitars and some energetic singing by Deeba. The song in my opinion shows glimpses of Raag Bhimpalasi and the way the modern leaning for instrumentals mix with the traditional style of singing stands out for me. The singing is par excellence without any question but listen to some of the electric guitar intervention in the interlude. The horns section playing in the background already my attention, but the second interlude with Horns and swaras by Ustaad Rahat is a treat. 4. Hum Thay Seedhe Saadhe , Hum Rang hain & Maange Manzooriyan– Is this the revival we were waiting for? Yes I am talking about Amit Trivedi, once the Prince of Bollywood music and he certainly lived upto that name with some splendid compositions like Dear Zindagi, Fitoor, Udta Punjab, Dev D, Ishqzaade etc. But I have been critical of his recent scores especially Bollywood songs which seem to be lacking inspiration. This song along with a few more in “Badhai Do� are certainly belonging to the top draw and I am about to review 3 of them here. The songs are not entirely fresh but the singing and instrumental arrangements clearly bring about a smile. The song itself has three versions by Raj Barman, Abhay Jodhpurkar and Shashaa Tirupati and I loved the one with the female lead. Varun Grover’s lyrics are excellent and look at the ironically inventive title “seedhe saadhe�, but the lead actors play homosexual adults. The track is mixed and mastered by Shadab Rayeen with engineers like Urmila Sutar, Pukhraj and Milan assisting and Mani Ratnam on recording. Keba Jeremiah’s guitars are a pluck of genius and Shashaa is at the top of her game being gentle in her delivery and also portraying the innocence of the character. The rhythm by Krishna Kishor and guitars are a match made in heaven and you will agree with me when you hear the stanza. Nikhil intervenes on the flute solo and he solely uplifts the number. The composition doesn’t have too many complexities . The opening lines of this song clearly remind me of the number “Yeh dil sun raha hai� from Khamoshi, which go “meri sada mein bole tu� in the stanza. I don’t remember the last time a Bollywood song came top of the charts in my rankings, so Kudos to Amit ji for that. There are two other songs I love in this album with one being “Hum rang hain� which is straight down Amit’s alley. The harmonies really do the trick along with the strong keyboard and synth backgrounds. The electric guitars and strings are two layers are keep the song from falling down on the intensity level. Once again Shashaa carries the song with her soft tones but the high octane and high scaled singing by Nakkash Aziz and Amit boost the songs likability. Here too Varun Grover’s “Hum rang hain� referring to rainbow colors of LGBTQ pride is interesting. Abhay Jodhpurkar sounds charming in the last song recommendation from this album called “Maange Manzooriyaan� and this one is composed by Khamosh Shah, and produced by Sunny MR.. Samyukta Narendra Zia and Sunny handle all the programming and arrangements, which are delectable in this number. Roland Fernandes is equally to the task with his guitars and additional guitars are played by Veljon Noronha. The champion is also Jitendra Thakur who is nothing short of brilliant on the Violin and Viola, and he doesn’t rest anywhere during the track. Congrats to the composer, and the entire team on production, programming and arranging these live instruments. Farhad K Dadyburjoor does the mixing and mastering. Partha Protim Das is the recording engineer. 5. I Dwell Fear was the previous track that absolutely stunned me and then I obviously had to set a high bar for this indie musician who can apparently sing in Tamil, Malayalam, English, Hindi and Arabic. Shilpa Ananth hails from Kerala but she was born, raised and also lives in Dubai. She just managed to outdo my expectations with her latest single. It is a global musical collaboration of sorts and brings in Shilpa and Aleksandra Denda who discuss the message of feminism, empowerment, female friendship and so much more and their roots extend to countries like India, Serbia and the Middle East. Shilpa’s vocals induce mystery and pathos all together and her vibrato is symbolic of the music that emanates from the Middle Eastern region. The backgrounds also are filled with instrumental sounds from the region but the eerie haunting effect cannot be denied. Shilpa and Aleksandra take up all the responsibilities in composing, writing, and recording too. Giosue Greco produces while Vladan Poppvic masters the track. The rhythms in the ending section are more promising with a different energy compared to the rest of the track. It is a song that will keep your attention and kudos to the duo for being creative in the melody and lyrics. Jovana Krstanovic does the album art work. 6. Chup chup ke We did hear a fantastic song with rock n roll styles last week from the album “Side A Side B� and it had such fantastic vocals by Rahul Rajkhowa. Here we have another stunner, which not only is the composer’s favorite from the album, but also something I love more. Sudeep Swaroop lends his own voice for this one and it is written by Nikita Agarwal. After the opening lines, the title line comes about with a relative pause in rhythm and then the electric guitar is just a wonderful instrumental expression for a period of 40 seconds. Sudeep voice and the latent coarseness is great to hear and suits the tracks tonality. Rohit Singh Bhau plays the guitars and also records, mixes and masters the track. Anand Ramakrishna’s saxophone solo plays in the background in the dying moments of the song but it creates more than a passing impact on the listener. 7. Heer ki kahani We all would have heard about Heer and Ranjha, a trahic love story from the lands of Punjab which has been shown on screens multiple times. This song is about a modern day Heer and some untold chapters in that love story. Nikita Ahuja was mighty impressive in her previous single called “Jaane tum kahan the� and this one too sticks to the mind thanks to the melody and lyrics both of which are Nikita’s contributions. She also sings this with her vocals, which are fraught with innocence and honesty. The line “who Ranjha Ranjha karti� is to die for as the notes just touch your heart. Arbaz Khan plays the guitars with Ishteyak Khan on the Tabla. There is a lot of excellent harmonies arranged and performed in the background especially in the stanza thanks to Shamita Bhatkar, Nikita and Shreya Phukan. The heartbreaking lyrics are penned by Aditya Gautam with Shamita producing the track. The programming is top notch as we also hear the Rabab in the background and Sparsh Agrawal does the additional programming and Pranav Gupta mixes and masters the track. Rupjit is the recording engineer and the project is managed by Chunky Ahuja. 8. Kaana kuyile The movie featuring Mohan Lal and Prithviraj already is a huge hit, and I also have featured one song, sung by both the male lead actors a couple of weeks ago. Deepak Dev composes an even better song this time around and he also produces and arranges the track. Deepu Sasidharan is on fire on guitars, which are the rousing, and then Evugin Emmanuel excels at the singing bits. His mild vibrato do just enough to please your ears. Anne Amie is one of my favorite singers and she does exactly what you will expect when you see her name in the song credits. The interlude is all Nikhil Rama's solo showdown as he plays the Saxophone and it feels like listening to the genius Kadri Gopalnath in AR Rahman's Anjali Anjali. The end of the interlude as a Veena bit, totally unexpected and then Anne Amie excels at the lower scale singing. You will also enjoy all the interventions in the woodwinds by Nikhil. Deepak records while Donal Whelan masters the track. 9. Laagni Like I said maybe it is just a revival or that he is spreading his wings wide with albums in Bollywood, and regional languages along with indie music in various languages under AT Azad. This is one of the best songs from the Gujarati album “Prem Prakaran� and it is a complete song with some excellent singing and live instruments. The way the song starts it sounds like yet another Amit Trivedi number we have heard, but as we progress the solo Flute by one other than Paras Nath sends you into oblivion and all you care about in the world now is music. The song is composed and performed by Amit, with lyrics by Niren Bhatt, but the highlight is Ishani Dave’s female vocals in the lead. Raja Rasaily a long time associate of Amit co-produces the song along with the composer. The rhythms are keyboards produce an effect that remind us of the 1990s pop like if you listen to bands like ‘A-ha’. There are definite traces of Raag Hamsadhwani, especially when you hear the flute bits in the segment before the stanza. After the interludes the segment continues into something even more melodious. The guitars also are excellent along with the drums and keyboards. The track is mixed and mastered by Shadab Rayeen, with Pukhraj and Milan assisting on mixing. Urmila Sutar works as the sound engineer. 10.Deewane A Punjabi melody that is devoid of gunshots and usual rhythms, and when that happens the melody in these tunes stand out. Surtal Kulaar has written and composed this under the music direction of RS Kaushik and Surtal. Kamal Khan produces this along with Sammy Oberoi and Kamal also lends performs with his unmistakable voice. The guitar solo in the interlude is classy and you can hear the Flute interventions with Shivranjani Kaur’s soulful singing. The song has some influences of Raag Pilu ( Kaapi in Carnatic) according to me. 11. Ghuri Suasunn Papon has been very active during the last 2 years and I have loved some of his original compositions. IN fact this whole new EP called “Jajabori� was created and ideated during the lockdowns and finally it sees the light of day. Of all the tracks in the EP I loved this song the most. Papon composes, writes, produced and programs it while Ayan De has mixed and mastered it. The song has an American country song tone and ring to it. It is breezy, and you could just slow dance to it and bask in the sun without a worry in the world. Ishan Das plays the guitars and adds glitz and style. 12. Tera Mera Anwesshaa and Abhay Jodhpurkar make it two in a row, as male and female leads and coming up with a very enjoyable number. The highlight is once again the singing, which is effortless and oozing with style. Raja Chowdhury is perfect on guitars and even better on bass guitars right through as you can hear a non-stop layer of notes below the main vocals. Unlike “Besabri� which was composed by Anwesshaa herself, this one is composed and arranged by Ananjan Chakraborty. The song probably got me thinking if there was some influence of Raag Desh, but it also had similarities to the fantastic song by Pritam “Aaoge Jab Tum� which was based on Raag Tilak Kamod, and apparently there are similarities between the two Raagas. Kohinoor Mukherjee mixes and masters the track and Anasmita Ghosh writes these lovely words. 13. Back 2 reality Namita Anand a.k.a. Nami composes, writes and performs this number and other than the mood that the song creates, the innovative rhythms really worked well. It begins with a slow tempo and that too a Tabla and then shifts into some modern percussions. The track is produced by Gokul Anand and Ranjith Govind. The track is mastered by Chennai based producer and musician Michael Timothy. Nitin Raj directs the video with assistance from Vinu Krithik. There are some traces of Raag Jog when you pay a little attention and the guitars keep the melody in tact for the track. The video credits are as following with Murshitha Sheereen as DOP, Ritesh Rohan on editing, Arya Giri on styling, Paavana Mohan on make-up. 14. Take me easy The song begins and I almost assumed it is a single by Dhruv Visvanath. That is how the resemblance of the voice and the style of music was, and it is only meant to be a compliment to the youngster Fieto Rohit. He writes, composes and performs this very engaging number and it is produced by Jonathan Edwards. The humming portions are excellent and I love how the drums just intervene with an intensity. The track is mixed and mastered by Keshav Dhar and the whole output becomes quite hummable and it definitely is one for your solo car drive playlists. There is potential and it will be interesting to see how Fieto does in his future projects. 15. Move on The Pune based progressive rock band has been in the thick of things for a while now making some fantastic singles and wholesome EPs. The latest album Dear Diary has some good music as well but I particularly loved Move On. The band comprises of Collin Francis on vocals, Abhishek Mujumdar on drums, Robert Alex on bass and Siddharth Amarnath on guitars. It begins with such a scintillating effect as Collin's vocals and the guitars compete for the listener's attention. The track is produced by the band and Shubham Gurung who has also done the mixing and mastering. Collin's vocals are cathartic and a source of trance like calm as he sings his own words. All the artwork is done by Deekshita Jagdish.

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 500 tracks released in the week ending 27th February 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. 1. Rebellion Road Friends from Moon sounds like there are many musicians working on this project and that belief continues to be dominant when you hear the music. Well it is just the creation and execution of one individual called Ritwik Shivam from Delhi and this singer-songwriter creates a massive impact in this single. He has written, composed performed, produced, mixed and mastered this rock-centric number with help on illustrations alone take from Shruti Rustagi. The electric guitars and drums are prominent, but elements like the bass guitars and harmonies also add variety to the tone. The electric guitar solo interventions are a treat and the singing is exemplary to budding artists in the rock genre. Like he correctly describes, the song is ideal for playing in your home or car with full blast and when you want to open up and feel cathartic. 2. Saacha Sahib This is apparently the first single Kanishk Seth’s upcoming EP called ‘Surmayi’. He has got pedigree alright, being the son of one of the most established vocalists in Hindi Kavita Seth. But that is not all you can credit him with, and I have probably witnessed that much before his prior single turned out to be a raging hit on the internet especially among Instagram ‘Reels’ makers. I reviewed and rated “Rang Saari� back in May 2020 as one the best songs in India and here he not only matches but does eve better. Kanishk is the producer of this tantalizing semi-classical fusion set in Raag Shahana while Kavita ji has composed and sung it with impeccable grace. Being an amateur in identifying Raagas I was tempted to call it Bhimpalasi, but apparently Shahana too comes under the Kaafi that, hence my confusion hearing the tonal proximity. Javed Bashir adds that masculine touch along with the aalaps that take the song closer to the classical loyalties. The electric guitars are played with thumping energy and execution by Marco Pisani, and closely listen to the soothing Violins by Wei Xiao. The Tabla and Tabla Bol are played by Chaitanya Natu, but the rhythm arrangements and production is fabulous giving it an EDM touch as well. The outro is a great confluence of all these styles, with the Kanishk doing the mixing and mastering. Kabir is the lyricist and the acoustic guitars and Duitara are played by Kavish Seth. Shikha Sharma and Adarsh Panicker create and direct the concept of the video while Shikha, Adarsh and Anisha Panicker handle the animations. 3. Naan Pizhai I can say that this is probably Anirudh’s best composition in a while, and this beats the rest of songs released in the last 2 years by a fair distance. I only feel a resemblance to his early days when he could also compose melodies. Suddenly all that vanished with more dance numbers to please the larger section of listeners, while there is no harm in that, except that it does also not hurt to create such wonderful pieces like these. This song is already becoming a rage among Instagram reel makers, and it is without a doubt probably January's best song. Anirudh has composed and arranged with lyrics penned by Vignesh Shivn, which are quite impactful. The movie ‘Kaathuvaakula Rendu Kadhal’ already had a good number released last year. It is nice to see that other than the opening lines and a few more sung by Anirudh, he gets in Ravi G to probably sing the complex notes where the composer would probably have sounded less convincing. Shashaa Tirupati becomes a great choice for the female lead and she does deliver with a punch. The keys at the beginning are like the flowing breeze or the ocean waves that gently tough our feet and with the keyboard, synth programming by Anirudh, Arish and Pradeep PJ perform the additional keyboard programming. The song does evoke memory of tunes like “Malargale� by AR Rahman and maybe that is why there is a hint of Saranga, or maybe even a bit of Raag Hamirkalyani like we can relate to “En Uyir Thozhi� by MSV. All said and done this is a brilliant song with some great Orchestra scores by Balasubramanian G(the composer of the movie N4 and song “Thaniyae Kadhal�) and he has also co-ordinated working with the Budapest Scoring Orchestra. The conductor is Zoltán Pad, Bálint Sapszon as contractor and co-orchestrator being Abhishek Vishwanathan. The librarian is Agnes Sapszon and recording engineer is Viktor Szabó, with Rajesh Kannan as pro tools editor. Anirudh’s voice has a magnetic effect on you and it is on full display in this and the best line of the song is probably “azhaga siricha mugame�. Navin plays the flute in the interlude and I love the humming that follows. Keba Jeremiah can be heard playing the bass and electric guitars, and the grandeur of the orchestra comes to light due to some programming also by Ishaan Chhabra. The rhythm programming is by Anidudh additional engagement by Shashank Vijay. The track is engineered by Srinivasan M, Shivakiran S, and Pranjal, with mixing by Vinay Sridhar and Srinivasan and Stem mix and master by Sai Shravanam. 4. Rabba Just last week Hemachandra Vadala was involved in a smashing song called “Chal Chal Chalo� which was in my top 15 in India. Well here he does one better singing his own composition which is a clear home-run on all counts. When it comes to Sufi-style music it was AR Rahman who set the gold standard, and then Salim-Sulaiman were a close second and even today they have taken over as the pioneers, but Hemachandra has created magic here. He has produced, sung and composed this heartwarming number that elevates your spirits every-time you hear it. The Telugu lyrics are written by Kittu Vissapragada, with Hindi lyrics by Himani Kapoor. The combination of the Piano, bass guitars and Tabla is simply scintillating, and something that you can only enjoy through an auditory experience. There is a 20 second solo on the drums by Kuberan which will just get your head nodding in approval and then the song progresses into the charanam. NC Praveen plays the piano, and Vikram and Santhosh play the percussion. The beautiful lines singing the Title is by a team comprising of Arun Kaundinya, Naresh Mamindla, Bharath Raj, Hymath, Jayaram, Harsha, Sai Madhav, Chaitu Satsangi and Manikanta. The vocal performance comes to light in the stanza where Hemachandra is quite impressive in the higher scales. Deepak SR is exquisite on the electric guitars giving it a rock genre effect and Abin Paul has mixed and mastered the track. The vocal arranger is Sai, and Mastan is the recording engineer. 5. 31 It is interesting how artists pick the title of their songs, and here we have Hyderabad born artist Niteesh Kondiparthi saying “31�. I was assuming it would probably be his age, but I presumed wrong. It has got to do with the last day of the year when a song was about to be released by him. The guitars by Niteesh himself raise the curtains but the noticeable bits on the bass guitars by Rohit Eragula keep your attention keen. The song already is a hit in my books with the intervention and arrangements of the Horns by Advait Mahesh. There are layers of the horns section and I’m thoroughly impressed with the composition and production of this song. Kalmi does the co-production along with Niteesh and plays the keys synchronously with the drums by Akshay Athreya. Sanjay Das does the mix and master while Vihari Cherukumalli does the editing Meghana Veerapaneni handles the photography. 6. Gehraiyaan The movie wasn’t all that bad and actually seemed better than most reviews. However I have been more critical of its music compared to the general populace, which went nuts over the OST. Maybe it was because I have heard the prior works of OAFF and Savera before, and I hold them to a higher standard. If you don’t follow what I am talking about, check out “Duur� by OAFF and Kamakshi Khanna which appeared in “A fame game� on Netflix, and listen to “Landfill� and “Swim� by Savera. Having said that I loved the title track of the movie the most and here is my review of it. The strings by Yoed Nir and the shiver in Lothika’s vocals are the two key elements that impress me in this track. OAFF and Savera hold so much promise as composers and producers and I must salute the movie producers for trusting new names in the indie space, and it hopefully will be like the light at the end of the tunnel for aspiring musicians. Feel the Organ sounds that is something out of an “Interstellar� OST and the production and rhythms look spotless and stellar as well as we have Prathamesh Dudhane on mixing/ mastering and Ankur Tewari on musical supervision. After the opening lines, there is a pause, and the Strings are simply mesmerizing at this point and the poignant vocals of Lothika are aided by backing vocalists OAFF and Savera. Krina Shah is the recording engineer with Ganesh Nabaria assisting. The Hindi lyrics are penned by Ankur. 7. Sohneya Manish Sharma sings this Punjabi melody that fuses some of the Classical Rajasthani folk elements with the suave solo on the Sarangi by Farhan. Aditya Agrahari is the composer of this soul-stirring number that reminds me of the Raag Maand. As the stanza opens up, we have the Keys and flute by Raghavendra helped by the Tabla but the introduction of the drums in the later stages is inventive. The team at music label Yaaram have mixed and mastered the track. 8. Mere Maahiya It is a great time for musicians and music lovers, well I say that because regional musicians are moving up and getting to score and be heard by a larger audience. Just like the great Ajay-Atul scored for the Bollywood movie Jhund (It is not their debut though), we have the pair of Rohan-Rohan who wave their magic in Marathi cinema and albums, now have a Hindi music video. Alamghir Khan rises and soars in to the skies from the very start and if his vocals imbibe spirit, the keys are neutralizing that fervor with more of tranquility and hence they go well together. The song is written by Rohan Gokhale and the pair have produced and composed this song along with all the additional arrangements. The main arrangements are spectacular and we have Shon Pinto and Madhur Hatiskar to credit for that. The song begins in a way that automatically makes me assume the next lines are “Kajra Re�, that uber hit by Shankar Ehsan Loy. The way the high-pitched singing by Rohan is followed by Yashita Sharma on the bass scale sounds nice and the vocals are very arranged. The tonality and structure also sounds a lot like Pritam Da’s “Kabeera�. The guitars and bass are quite effective with that layer of drums keeping the tempo up right through. The track is mixed and mastered by Shadab Rayeen. 9. Aaya ye Jhund hai We just spoke about the stalwarts Ajay-Atul and here they are creating a smash hit that absolutely raises the adrenaline just on hearing. The use of local traditional percussions with the trumpets works like sheer magic and that is something I have come to learn and appreciate from the musical repertoire of Santhosh Narayanan. Atul Gogavale is the lead vocalist with Jay, Mallhar Sarja and Ajay Gogavale on the backup vocals. The pair also arranges, produces and conducts the variety of instruments used in this track. I did appreciate the percussions, but another unmistakable reason for success is the use of the chorus, which comprises of Umesh Joshi, Vijay Dhuri, Swapnil Godbole, Jitendra Tupe, Janardan Dhatrak, Rahul Chitnis and Vivek Naaik. The track is recorded and mixed by Vijay Dalal, and mastered by Gethin John. The stanza uses the pause in singing quite effectively and it is followed by a nice humming and the way the stanza land on the opening lines is through bridge which is already used in the pre-stanza part called “anu pallavi� in traditional Carnatic music. Even without all this analysis, the best way to enjoy this song is to keep it on full volume and let the body lose control. A big Kudos to Satyajit Jamsandekar, Raju Kulkarni and Ashish Aroskar who have played the percussions. 10. Namaste Funky to the core, and I was stunned when I heard it the first time and it took me less than 15 seconds to keep the song in a separate folder of potential weekly chart-toppers. The group calls itself Groovedarshan and what an apt name for the groovy music it is delivering like this one here. The electric guitars are psychedelic and drive me crazy in a very good way that is. The use of the bass guitars in the layers beneath constantly and use of vocal giggle that sounds like laughing are all very creative. Sundaresh Sankrith has recorded mixed and mastered the track, with Prashin Jagger on photography and art direction. Aditya Ashwath who is the lead vocalist has also produced the track and written it. There is a brief moment on the guitars where the song’s tone turns a little classical and I am not sure if I heard a bit of Asavari Raag. The band is also comprised of Yash Chittal on guitars and bass, Shabarish Garg on drums and Pankaj Tak on guitars and bass and he also does all the artwork and visuals. 11. Kho Na Jaana Vivek Singh has written, composed and sung this extremely feel –good song that you will just want to play on loop more than a few times as the tune tends to stick to you head. It is a very hummable number without too many complications. Love tracks like these just don’t fade away too soon from your memory and the song is co-composed by Junoo. There is a strong use of the Keyboards for this one and the title line is the best of the lot and so is the humming that follows. Karan Harplani as director and Piyush Bhalothia as DOP do their roles quite well. It is no wonder that the music label is Merchant Records, can you expect anything less in terms of the quality then? 12. Blood starved Beast His video was so outstanding, that it later got nominated for many awards in the US especially, but I was so impressed with his track ‘Kohima’ that I featured and reviewed it as one of the best Indian songs released for that month. This one is another excellent number in the ‘metal’ genre with Saahil Bhargava composing, performing and writing the song. The song is produced by Eric Emery and he also does the mixing and mastering with additional production duties handled by Keshav Dhar. The song is dark and almost gothic with its content and idea based on a video game steeped in action and horror called ‘Bloodborne’. The singing is reflective of the emotions a player feels as he goes through the stages of the game trying to defeat a monster, and the drums and electric guitars keep the intensity at a high level. The best moment for me is when the Piano plays in the foreground at a brisk pace, with the electric guitars in the deeper layer. 13. Raatein Soyi Hain A common theme that seems to have captured the minds and imagination of many musicians is the separation of two lovers geographically, and that ha sonly been one irrefutable truth especially during the lockdowns of Covid-19. This one too takes inspiration from a similar situation, but without some catchy music and confident singing, no message really gets through. That is why Pragya Sodhani writes, composes and sings this soft and hummable song that delivers the message of longing and love 100%. Things move into a zone of strength and likability when you have the support of another trusted and able musician on board, and that is where Dhruv Visvanath adds sheen to the track through his production and guitars. Some meditative humming begins the show, quickly aided by Dhruv’s strumming, and obviously Pragya’s able singing, which shows a wide vocal range within a short span of time. The layers of vocals, with harmonies, are beautiful in their arrangement are probably the highlight of the track. Ayan De does the mixing and mastering and the solidity of the track lies in its singing, production, arrangement and execution. 14. Sister Superior I listened to the whole album called “What a life� and the songs definitely did appeal to me but the one that stuck and stayed the longest in my head was this. The singing is par excellence and I guarantee that you wouldn’t have had head a better male vocal performance in the last few weeks yet. Aakash Mehta explodes and exhibits his potential in delivering with great finesse and creativity as well, he also has written the lyrics. Shashwat Bulusu of Vadorada comes on board with his arrangements and also produces all the tracks of the album. But there is no credit getting take away from the solid drums played by Jyotirmay Menon, Uday Bhardwaj who sizzles and sets the stereo on fire for me with his solo guitars. I also hear the Organ being played right through, and Shrujal Patels bass guitars. The track is mixed by Krishna Rao, and mastered by Donal Wheelan. 15. Dhokha At first glance it could sound like a million tracks that keep getting churned out in Hindi and Bollywood space, yet there is something different about the tune, or atleast fragments of it, which make you want more. Manan Bhardwaj writes, composes and directs this tune with Arijit Singh’s vocals making it a fine combination. One definite takeaway from the track is the variety of percussions used and that too with excellent arrangements thanks to Manan and Sarthak’s programming and arrangements. Shreedhara Chari plays the Tabla, Dholak and other percussions, with Shashikant Sharma also playing the Dholak. The track is mixed and mastered by another stalwart Eric Pillai, and Surajit Ghosh Mazumdar records. The music supervisors working on the track are Raj Chanana , Shivam Chanana , Sonal Chawla & Vivin Sachdeva. The percussions go exceedingly well with the bass guitar support and some nicely executed backup vocals. It all sounds like a little bit of Raag Asavari to me.

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 500 tracks released in the week ending 14th & 21st February 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. 1. Oo Aadapilla There are some voices you will travel miles and pay money to hear, and yes to me Ram Miriyila is one of them. His voice has been a huge reason for me liking many of the new Telugu songs, and this one too is an absolute delight. Manonmani’s Sarangi adds a great layer of accompaniment but let us not forget Babu and Maxwell’s Trumpets and Trombones, which make it cool. Jay Krish deserves the credit for creatively bringing the traditional Sarangi and western Horns into the picture. It is not just that, Jay also handles the keyboards synth and rhythm, which are all crucial elements in the composition. The use of beats and then the Mridangam as well work quite effectively. The track is composed, arranged and programmed by Jay with lyrics by Ananta Sriram. The guitars both acoustic and bass definitely make the journey worthwhile and Roshan Sebastian mixes and masters the track. The song in my opinion has traces and influences of Raaga Aarabhi in Carnatic music, and it is a bit more apparent with Ram’s singing style. Jay impresses in converting a classical raaga base into something modern and breezy like this, and he has now got a good string of compositions like “Madhura Wines� and “Raaja Vaaru Raani Gaaru� where I liked the songs. 2. Besabri Anwesshaa is a fabulous singer whose capabilities are well known to any listener who has been following her since her childhood days, but of late she has started showing her potential as a composer as well. I did really enjoy the track “Balcony� she composed and performed more than a year ago, and now she does it again with this track as she also writes the lyrics here. The song has been a huge hit on Youtube, and it is quite justified as well. The highlight is definitely the singing where Anwesshaa and Abhay Jodhpurkar battle it out with their superior vocal abilities where they each do vibrato at lightning speeds. The track is produced by Akshay Menon and mixed and mastered by Kohinoor Mukherjee. I hope I am not wrong, but I did sense elements of Raag Kaapi as it is known in Carnatic, known as Pilu in Hindustani. The Piano is played right through and it along with guitars makes it one very melodious number. 3. Isai After moving away from Masala Coffee the band, both Sooraj Santhosh and the band have been prolific enough with their new releases, and hat is good to see and hear. The song is conceived, composed, arranged and performed by Sooraj and I can assure that this is one difficult number to compose and perform. The Keys and the Kazoo make for a great intro piece When you hear the song, you can sense the notes being very unpredictable and that is why you need to hear it a few times to get a hang of its trajectory and progress. There is definitely some influence of Raag Sindhubairavi in the track. Girishh Gopal pens the lyrics while another excellent Malayalam composer Varkey has also arranged and produced the track. The keys are beautifully arranged, while Sandeep Mohan on guitars and Josy John on bass have a field day in the background. You can also listen to harmonies in the background, which add a very classical texture, and you hear the bass guitars stunningly adorn the background layers. Sayanora is the female vocalist whose singing creates the element of pathos and mystery. Rithu Vysakh plays the Violin and Cello, and Finny Kurian mixes the track, while Idania Valencia masters it. 4. Priyathama Shekar Chandra just appeared a month or so ago on this list and blog with his score for the movie #Bro, for a wonderful song performed by Yazin Nizar and set in Abheri Raaga. This one for a new movie has Sid Sriram enchanting us on vocals, with lyrics once again by Anantha Sriram. Shekar and Samuel excellently play the Keyboards. The stanza is devoid of any rhythm percussions, as it opens up, and this tranquility mixes well with the rest of the track which has some energetic rhythms by Shekar. The song reminds me a famous Harris Jayaraj number “Azhagiya Theeye� from the movie ‘Minnale’ sung by Harish Raghavendra. Sandilya Pisapati waves his usual magic in the interlude on the solo violin, and his fiddling appears even in the stanza at the perfect junctures. Prateek Naganatham is on the guitars and he fills is aptly when needed and Raam Gandikota has mixed and mastered the track. 5. All Divine Very few people in India, really appreciate Hip-Hop and rap music, and even fewer can actually create enticing music in that style. Many stars in Bollywood and indie space sing rap with horrible lyrics and absolute no creative style or substance. Brodha V knocks it out of the park with this amazing number. This song is very personal to him and you can feel inspired by the English lyrics written by himself and the words in Malayalam penned by fellow singer-songwriter Benny Dayal. The song also features international icon Steven Knight from the group ‘Flipsyde’ and the Violin is another deal-breaker for this track thanks to Aditya MP who plays it like divine intervention. The introduction of the Malayalam lines is also gold and it sounds a lot like Raag Karaharapriya or Reethigowla to me. After ‘Neeye Oli’ last year by Santhosh Narayanan and Shan Vincent De Paul, this track has once again re-ignited that love for Hip-Hop. Akash Shivakumar has both mixed the track with Brodha and he has also recorded the track. Chris Gehringer has mastered the track. 6. Manasantha Jen Martin and Sathya Narayanan are two budding musicians and they do more than well with their indie releases in many of the south Indian languages, and I have reviewed and featured them as well. This one too is extremely catchy with some splendid live instrumentals especially Trumpets and Trombones played by Martin Vijay. This is in-fact the highlight of the track and Jen must be applauded for all his arrangements and composition as well. Anurag Kulkarni is the lead vocalist and he sings it without breaking a sweat with some support from Jen on additional vocals. The Trumpets and Trombones keep playing in the background layers and they keep your interest levels from dropping at any instance. The song has some excellent programming as well and you can make that out in the interlude, which has an elaborate arrangement of Violin sounds, and this is all the work of Pranesh S. Sathya Narayanan and Kalyan M are the music advisors, and Haresh Harsh plays the role of creative consultant, with Hari Shankar mixing and mastering the track. The stanza continues to titillate the ears just like the opening lines with Vijay on acoustic guitars and words by Bhaskarbhatla. The song ends with some excellent improvisation on vocals by Anurag and the horns section. 7. Drift along & Seeing faces I came across Keshav Iyengar more than a year ago when he worked with Finix Ramdas the violinist in this mind-blowing track called “The great escape�. After following him and writing reviews and featuring him previously, we have him in an all new EP called “Seeing faces�, where I enjoyed 2 tracks viz. ‘Drift along’, and ‘Seeing faces’. Listening to him sing with the guitars sounds like a bit of Eric Clapton himself, and each of the 3 numbers offer something different and engaging. Jeson Marion Jose Filip plays the Keys while Keshav composes, produces, sings and plays the guitars on all the tracks. Drift along is simple with exquisite strumming. The title track is another excellent number with absolutely cool bass-lines and Keys, but the high point is the classical Hindi vocals by Nagesh Adgaonkar and how the two extreme ends of the musical spectrum conjoin seamlessly. 8. Waisa Hi Tha He calls himself a bad banker, but he definitely is a very good musician, according to me. Many months ago I reviewed and featured Aditya Kambhampati’s single ‘Lalten’ and I loved it, this time the song is got a tinge of pathos to it, but it still score pretty well for me. The track is composed, produces, arranged, and performed brilliantly by Aditya, with lyrics by Aditya Karhadkar. The Viola or strings are programmed I think and they keep playing in the background creating all this tension and mystery. The guitars are like the backbone of the song with portions in the interlude. The song offers great scope for singing as well as Aditya moves across the vocal scales and he is ably supported by some excellently arranged harmonies. Saurabh Kajarekar mixes and masters the track. 9. Vannu Pokum We know of their acting prowess over the years of watching Malayalam Cinema but to hear them singing musical notes so well comes as a real surprise. Mohan Lal and Prithviraj deliver their vocals with a lot of confidence and honesty and Deepak Dev, the composer, must be lauded for his faith in these actors to perform the song. Deepak plays almost a single-handed role in the output of this number as he composes, arranges, produces, records, engineers and mixes the track. He also delivers the backing vocals along with Evugin. Over the the last couple of years when I hear songs dominated by the Ukulele, they generally end up being very simple without any creativity, however this one surprises. The backing vocalists play a solid role in adding elements that uplift the quality the song. Vinod Varma plays the guitars and Ukulele, and while singing Prithvi shows that he is more comfortable with his Vibrato as well. The song doesn’t have a formal structure of pallavi and charanam, but that does not take away anything from its overall tune and likability. Madhu Vasudevan is the lyricist and Donal Whelan masters the track. 10. Ek Mutho Icchera Akash Bhattacharya writes, composes and sings this sweet melody that is such a breath of fresh air, especially if you are someone who follows and listens to Bangla music. There is a tendency to sound very classical when it comes to music from this region but Akash creates a number that can be appreciated by the younger lot of music lovers as well. He is also the produces and plays the guitar along with his vocal performance in an very delightful fashion. The mixing and mastering is by another very accomplished musician Rupak Tiary who has been featured multiple times on my list and blog. Listen to an excellent interlude by Akash on the guitar as he excels at improvising along the way and the notes traverse into some classical touches. The stanza is well written and we have some backing vocals, and strings all beefing up the track. 11. Pride & Joy Soham Pathak a.k.a. Yush! A few months ago was featured and reviewed with his awesome track called “Indian Summer� and his style of music falls under the genre of electronic pop, which is not very complex, and sticks to a relatively shorter duration. The song’s rhythm and tune makes up with any other shortcomings if at all. Yush! And Rahul Kannan produce the track with the latter mixing and mastering, while former writing, composing and performing. The synths and keyboards are effective and keep the cool quotient up, and I am impressed with the humming portions as well. 12. Khwaab I used to think that covers of songs/originals were not of great value. I am wrong for two reasons, viz. 1. A singer or producer can add layers of creativity that can at times sounds better than the original as well and 2. The artist showcases the talent and at the same time, imitation is the best form of compliment to an original. Anumita Nadesan is one such star who rose to fame with her cover of AR Rahman’s song from Jodha Akbar, but when I hear her original I understand why the internet world loved her. There cannot be any greater validation when two stalwarts Rajan Batra and Himonshu Parikh (of TYD) get involved in writing and production respectively. The way the song transforms from the lines “Har zubaan mein naam mere� says a lot about the message of this track as well, as Anumita fantasizes a future of stardom and how every artists would dream of that day. It is somewhere here that I sense some influence of Raag Hamsadhwani. Shikhar’s guitars are resplendent here and Hanish Taneja does a fine job on mixing and mastering. 13. Story to tell The reason I keep expanding my musical coverage is so that no genuine talent misses out on a feature. Its is not only Indians inside this geographical boundary that I focus on, but a Panvi Podder living in Ireland also deserves an audience and appreciation for her work. This is het debut single, but sure doesn’t feel like it as she shows the skills of a seasoned campaigner in writing, composing and performance as well. The song talks about marriages and how a couple needs to reinvent to keep the bond growing stronger. Panvi’s singing is fraught with minute elements of vibrato and her technique and stability in delivering the vocals irrespective of the scale is well on display. The Piano by Archit Anand is like a companion that will never leave your sight, enhancing the songs class and substance. Ananda Dhar James is on the bass guitars and acoustic guitars and he also has produced, mixed and mastered the track and certainly played a part in the songs impeccable outcome. Piya Podder, Archit and Agransh Anand sing the harmonies to great effect and that keeps playing in your head. Panvi’s freewheel styled singing in the outro section is a stupendous effort. The song’s video credits go to Pooja Sreenivasan. 14. Chal Chal Chalo Hema Chandra Vedala is zany, absolutely on fire singing this track with loads of energy, exuberance and elan. Anudeep Dev is the composer, and he mixes some classical Carnatic with electronic pop and modern sounds , and that too with finesse. Sandilya is the go to man for violins in Tollywood and he creates a piece here mostly set in Raag Bhairavi in Carnatic music in the interlude, and Hema Chandra does a short and savvy aalap to go along with it. Arun Chiluveru strums the guitars, and they are all on fire as the stanza comes to end, you will be tempted to shake your body and move your feet. Pramod plays the flute and all the programming is handled by Bharath Madhusudhan. Abin Paul has mixed and mastered the track with lyrics by Simhachalam Mannela 15. Kahin Mat Janna There is no better feeling as a music reviewer than coming across a fresh name and you get blown away by his/her work. Sudeep Swaroop is the composer for this new album Side A/Side B and the very first song itself was a humdinger. The track has one more hero and that is the performer called Rahul Rajkhowa and it is right smack in the middle rock-n-roll music, something we only are accustomed to from the US back in the 1960s and 70s. Raja Sen and Sudhish Kamat are the writers for this track with recording engineers Rohit Singh Bhau and Sudeep Sinha. The drums and Keys with the trumpets completely bamboozle you and it is only matched by Rahul’s startling vocals. The electric guitars are another indispensable element and you can hear the solo being played I the background, so I suggest you wear some good earphones to enjoy the magic happening in the deeper layers.

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 7th February 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. 1. Gaye Mausam I listened to this song a while back, and I straight away out in one my folders to be reviewed later, as I knew this was good enough to be a chart topper in any week/month. Somehow due to an error a few days later as I was getting ready to write my reviews I was stunned because I knew this song was missing from that list. Yet my retention and the songs quality were both so high that I knew I was missing out on a super song. Thankfully when I read the name of the artist and the song my memory helped me recall this song on a spotify playlist. Otherwise I would have missed reviewing this song forever and that would have been criminal. Here previous single called “Saiyyan Bina� was splendid and here she does one up on that. Avanti Patel composes, arranged and performs in this superlative track that makes your love for music grow multi-fold. Zaee Manerkar plays the Piano and completely handles the string section, and you can hear the viola by Shruti Bhave fiddling you into submission right from the very beginning. Akshay Jadhav makes it two weeks in a row as he mildly plays the Tabla. The female harmony which has Avanti herself, is a beautiful layer and it is existent through the track, which shows the creative composition and arrangement skills of Avanti. I could sense some similarity to the Sindhubhairavi Carnatic Raag and hence there must be some influence of the Asavari that. The interlude has the Viola, Keys and humming all beautifully set up to open up into the Antara where Avanti does some excellent aalap without ever overdoing it. The bass guitars keep playing faintly and Rahul Deo lets his strings do the talking on the acoustic guitars and bass. The second interlude involves a string section in the background as the tempo also slowly heightens and the second verse has the Tabla absent for a brief while where the acoustic guitar shows up more prominently. Ayan De does the mastering and Rishi Bradoo is also the sound engineer. The track is a wonderful modern Ghazal and it keeps you wanting to play this on loop more than a few times. Parveen Shakir writes the lyrics and Vivek Chaturvedi directs the lyrical video. 2. Dil ka Gehna You come across so many songs these days and just a poster and title can sometimes make you judge before even listening. I almost did that mistake here, but as I heard this I was pleasantly surprised. That is why I listen to every song I can lay my ears and eyes on without prejudice or any preconceived notions. Then when I saw the composer’s name I was even more convinced, it was Rajat Nagpal whose prior songs I have come to like, especially “Dil ko karaar aaya�. One more interesting observation is that this song uses the Mridangam as the percussion medium, it is a south Indian classical instrument. Since the 1950s itself more than countless songs in Tamil movies have used the Tabla, yet why is it so rare to hear a Mrindangam in Bollywood. Well this is a topic of debate for another time, but I am just glad about the arrangements. Rajat composes, produced and programs the track with the scintillating voice of Yasser Desai who grabs the opportunity with both hands. The guitars are solid and show a touch of class thanks to Rhythm Shaw but you know the Strings truly steal the show thanks to Anna Rakita who is part of the quartet and she also arranges it. Rahul Sharma with Samir Dharap assisting records the guitars. The strings don’t perish even for a second and the sound of the quarter against the backdrop of the Mridangam is just treasure to the ears. Rana Sotal is the lyricist, with mixing by Rajat and Rahul Sharma, mastering by Naweed and sound engineering by Dmitriy Zaytsev  3. Kamukipattu It is nice to see Sooraj Santhosh sing more, and he does these vocal performances for his own compositions and other as well. This song strikes you at the right points of your heart the very moment the female voice begins. The song is from an upcoming film called ‘Sabaash Chandrabose’, with the musical scores by Sreenath Sivasankaran. The way these lines are sung, reminds me of hat famous song called “Manamagale Manamagale� by Ilaiyaraja composed for the movie ‘Thevar Magan’. I could be wrong, but maybe that is why there is some Suddha Saveri influence here. Sooraj hums his way into the song and you know what he is about to deliver. I think the flute that accompanied the female vocals was excellent in notes, execution and arrangements. The guitars along with the percussion are extremely folkish and soothing. Sreenath Sivasankaran is someone I haven’t heard before and he already created a massive expectation for his future projects. As we movie into the verse I am reminded of “Bridavanamum Nandakumaranum� sung by AM Raja and P.Sushela from the movie ‘Missiamma’, and now I’m positive it is set in Raag Suddha Saveri. However when I discussed about this with Sreenath, he believes there is a stronger influence of Aarabhi Raag in it. VC Abhilash is the lyricist and the track is mixed and mastered by Abin Pushpakaran. The track has some subtle Keys and Ukulele as well added to the mix. Haritha Balakrishnan is the female vocalist who fills in all the gaps quite well, and she does a savvy job with the limited opportunity in the track.  4. Kaise main kahoo Geetesh Iyer probably was a household name back in the day after his ravishing performances in the Indian Idol contest, and he then moved to a fancy job in the Bay area. Stand up and give your appreciation for the way he still keeps himself deeply connected to music and comes up with these worthy numbers from time to time. I have already featured him before and this is his best yet according to me. The style is probably a modern take on a Ghazal and it is probably classified as Lo-fi Ghazal to be precise. Geetesh writes, composes and sings this and maybe the purists will complain, but I find this as evidence of creativity. The singing is spotless with his mild vibrato and teasing ones in between, but the Keys are a great addition to this track along with the beats. Nirmit Shah mixes, masters and produces the track and he’s been doing pretty well with Ananya’s “State of the art� and Yohan Marshalls “Act like� both of which have been reviewed by me. Geetesh goes beyond than just fusing Lofi and Ghazal, he also gets English rap sort of a segment and when the swaras are floated around I sensed some Hamsadhwani. Apparently it is his favorite raaga, and he named his daughter after it, Dhwani. Deepakshi Aggarwal does the animation for the video.  5. Bheega Bheega I released a post on Instagram a few days ago appreciating the music composers of Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein and specifically mentioned Bheega Bheega and Monk Theme as favourites from the album. The composers are new age musicians Shivam Sengupta and Anuj Danait and Anuj himself sings this tranquil track. The violins and guitars are out-of-this-world good and Anuj has a certain element of simplicity and honesty in his voice, which is what keeps this track grounded yet soaring at the same time. Look at the Keys and mild humming in the background and you are sure to fall in love with the track. The choice of percussion and the way they alternate and improvise on the beats is something very interesting. Yadnesh Raikar will rock you to sleep with his sleight of hand on the solo violin, just wait for the end of the track. This is accompanied by the Ghatam on the percussion creating almost a Carnatic texture. Simone Scazzocchio is the mixing engineer and Jett Galindo masters it. 6. Sajni The Yellow Diary is becoming like the big book of good music these days. I have always enjoyed their brand of music and singing especially by Rajan Batra. Rajan and TYD just created a fabulous track couple of weeks ago called ‘Udaan’ which was featured and reviewed here and now this slow-burn killer of a track. The lyrics are written by Rajan himself, we have some Kosher Keys played in the track by Himonshu Parikh who has also produced the track and provided backing vocals. The opening half is all about the mild tempo, Rajan’s singing and strong presence of the Piano. The notes are creatively written and not something that u can sing along and predict what is about to come. Sahil Shah slowly makes his presence felt with the drums and we have Vaibhav Pani the producer/guitarist on electric guitars accompanied by Stuart Da Costa on bass guitar. The last 1-minute is a super fun ride tat will take your vehicle at breakneck speed right to the edge of the cliff with rock-styled drums and guitars. Sid Sirodkar has mixed and mastered the track with Abhishek Khandelwal and Dilip Nair on recording. 7. Bandish Blues & Run I only know him as the drummer, who almost stamps this presence in every song composed and produced by Salim-Sulaiman, but he is also part of a band called The Darshan Doshi Trio. When I came across this album by the trio I found to be exhilarating, as I anyway love pure instrumental pieces, and so this is a gift to anyone who enjoys the dominance of these masters performing live during a tour. Darshan plays the drums, Rhythm Shaw is on the guitars and Avishek Dey is the bassist and when you hear 5 of the 7 tracks you live and feel the absolute freedom with which Rhythm Shaw freestyles and improvises without any shackles. Darshan binds the 3 together and the energy and adrenaline oozes in all directions providing terrific rhythm and percussion to the proceedings. Avishek underlines the prowess of the bass guitars as his strumming is like the soul of EP, calm, consistent and celebratory. I specifically loved 3 tracks viz. “Night in Tunisia�, “Bandish Blues� and “Run�. For this week’s top songs in India, I have picked the latter 2, as in “Bandish Blues� Varijashree Venugopal performs with scintillating precision and passion. The song is set mostly in Raag Jog and she feels much at home literally in Bangalore with her aalaps sometimes making you shake your head in total approval and appreciation wishing you were in the crowd. Rhythm sizzles on the electric guitar and Avishek is a close accomplice if playing such killer guitars was a crime. Darshan alternates the tempo as and when needed and this track is proof that even classical Indian music can be presented in a different style to suit audience tastes. ‘Run’ is Vasundhara Vee’s composition and I have already featured and reviewed it in this space many months ago and here it is Jazz fusion at its prime performed live in Delhi. The percussion straightaway sounds much different to “Bandish Blues� and The Darshan Doshi Trio offer evidence of their versatility working with various vocalists and performers. Vasundhara is simply setting the stage on fire singing in a tongue-twisting fashion, which is difficult to even fathom let alone perform. I get the image of an Aretha Franklyn when I hear Vasundhara and she makes Indians proud. All the tracks in the album are Mixed & Mastered by Abhishek Ghatak  8. Khatm Khali Raatein Pune must be like the breeding ground for some of India’s most talented musicians, just like the North East and Kerala have been for a long time now. Old Highway is a 4-member band hailing from this city are soon releasing their album called “Ziist�. And this is their first single and does it even sound like a debut single? Absolutely NOT. Juliee Sakhare who first founded this band is the vocalist and Pianist and she raises the bar with her vocals. She exhibits a wide vocal range and is ably aided on the electric guitar by Amit Bhatia. The two make a lot of improvisation, which is extremely riveting and effective. Let us not forget the drummer Jeet Sharma who picks his own moments to shine and shy away as well like in the mid-segment when there is a brief lull with only Juliee’s singing audible. It all on gathers steam back again as the song gets back to full swing with Amit on electric guitars and Sidd Sharma on bass guitars sizzle in this guitar tete-a-tete. The track is mixed by Nitin Muralikrishna, mastered by Ronak Runwal and recorded by Rohit Shrivastav, Samarth Kale and Akshay Raut. 9. O Re Jiya Maati Baani is oen of my favorite bands in India for sure, as this duo has impressed me on more than a couple of occasions with their singles. I loved ‘Garje’ and featured and reviewed it here because their style, purpose and execution is one of a kind. The duo comprising of Nirali Kartik and Kartik Shah use their musical potential and talents to bring this world together through that same medium. When we collaborate, we tend to coagulate As one inseparable binding force.Maati Baani does exactly that by getting some global musicians on board in their musical pieces and now they are on a journey to experiment with Folklore, where they will be releasing 3 singles and Anubha Bhat is the Project Manager. The first one is like a grand opening and one can only assume things to get even better as the other singles release. O Re Jiya is many of India’s own musical styles connecting with each other and also adopting some of the western influences like Rap as well. Shruti Nayak is the lyricist for this original composition by the duo. Nirali is the one who is profusely talented and she renders her Hindustani vocals here while Kartik Shah plays the guitars and Keys. The track starts off with some stunning Konnakol by Somashekhar Jois and just bass guitars by Paata Chakaberia. The clap sounds are the rhythm providers and you now in the first 15 seconds what kind of a joy ride this is going to be. Amit Mishra is the expert percussionist in te track who also plays the Tabla later on.  I have heard many Jugalbandis before in Classical music, but never one before with the Konnakol and bass guitar, Kudos to Maati Baani and team. We have Varun Mishra and Nikita Deshpande on the chorus and Shankar Tucker engages us on the clarinet in a cool breezy fashion and these are not regular instruments we hear in the classical style.replacing something like the Nadaswaram. When I hear this union of musicians I sense that this is set in Raag Bhimpalasi. SIRI intervenes with her Kannada Rap and she just elevates the track with some style and chutzpah, I can only say OK SIRI well done! The track is produced and arranged by Kartik Shah while it is mixed by Francisco Nicholson and Mastered by Xavier Collado.  10. Tanhaapan Fresh music always enthralls me, and isn’t that why I am in the business of music reviewing? Aint’ it even sweeter when a new artist, at least to my knowledge, comes along and immediately sweeps you off your feet with his/her music. Dhruv Kapadia writes, composes and sings this beauty as I am playing this multiple times till it completely enters my system. The song has some excellent Keys that provide the fillip to Dhruv’s vocals, and Gaurav Kapadia’s hi-hat drums are like the mild salt to perfect the recipe. The Pianos are brilliant and I get a feeling like I am listening to “Believe� by Elton John. The guitarists too are on a roll here with Jeet Pathak on bass, Mayank Kapadia on lead guitar, and Nandish Chorawala on acoustic guitar. Nandish digresses into a solo act in the middle reminding me of that piece in “Hotel California�. The humming bits are effective as well with Mihir Bagdawala on backing vocals and he has also recorded the track. The track is mixed by Gaurav and Mihir with mastering by Anurag Singh. The verse has some interesting segments and notes and I love the Harmonica followed by a electric guitar solo  11. Jaiho Anthem Many songs get released on special days like the Republic Day, but very few make an impact. Most of the songs are redundant and sound more jingoistic rather than inspirational. This one impressed me as Suresh Bobbili I a talented composer in Telugu movies and this one is a single from the album called “Jai Ho Indians�. Yazin Nizar is at his best in such songs which demand much more vocally, than a soft tender song. Here he sings in such a high scale and he hardly strains a muscle. Suresh Bobbili has a good mix of live instruments and programming to keep the listener interested and engaged through the track. Balu does the programming and Malya Kandukuri is the co-ordinator. At the interlude after a charged up Pallavi and Anupallavi we get a more pacified interlude with Sandilya Pisapati on the violin solo. There are some catchy rhythms and the tune here at least reminds me of Raag Hamsadhwani. Anil Robbin and Chiranjeevi M handle the rhythms and Kasarla Shyam is the lyricist. The charanam is like a ride in itself with a slow start helped by Keys and it moves into a zone of aggression with stronger rhythms. Yazin’s singing beautifully explores the falsetto mode a few times and this is when the song exhibits rock-style tendencies with Subhani on Guitars. We have Ramachandra Murthy on the flute and finally this song is as much Yazin’s as it is Suresh’s. 12. Kapaas This is Aseem Sharma’s second single from the album “Kapaas�, and I did already love, feature and review the earlier single called “Jugnu�. This one is a beautiful Ghazal styled melody that is more eye-catching than the morning dew. Assem writes, sings and composes this song which to a great extent reminds me of “Zindagi maut na ban jaye� song from ‘Sarfarosh’, just that this one is gentler and slower in tempo. Gurpreet Singh’s Tabla and Adnan Ali Khan’s flute are two vital cogs in this wheel of music with Adnan really delivering a masterclass. The track is produced, mixed and mastered by Udit Saxena who himself is an excellent singer/songwriter. Upon hearing more of this and comparing with some great numbers from many geniuses in India like “Bada Natkat� by RD Barman, and “Pazhamuthir cholai� by Ilaiyaraja I sense Raag Khamaaj, and when I had a word with Aseem he believes this is more a derivative of the Khamaaj Thaat. Kashay Sharma is the guitarist whose strokes add a western flavor to this classical core. 13. A game for two Shrea Suresh a.k.a. Shrae sent me her song which was her debut single. I am always keen to listen to any new music and God was I elated when I heard “A game for two�. She is about to release a new EP and one cannot wait for the whole

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 30th 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. 1. Rangrezwa I heard this the first time, and maybe halfway through I messaged Meghdeep Bose saying that it was mind-blowing and I knew that I was just hearing the best song released for the week. That is the level of confidence you get when you hear music from Meghdeep who is the real deal. It is a pity that industries like Bollywood, which is running a huge talent deficit in music especially, cannot work with such amazing composers regularly. This is ne magical number and though there have been many tracks mimicking retro disco sounds, this one stands apart because the feel and tune sounds fresh. It is also not just some unilateral score with everything sounding jarring and unpleasant. The team of musicians is solid and you know that there are multiple layers of instruments all playing at the same time and this is the kind of work that inspires music journalists, musicians, and even listeners. Sonu Nigam is one of the most gifted vocalists of our generation and it is just a bigger gift to hear him sing for Meghdeep. Only Manoj Yadav could have inserted such wonderful meaningful lyrics in such a foot-tapping tune. Before I even get to pick all the great touches on the live instruments, I must say that the ones that stand out from start to finish are Bombay Strings’ and their group violins and when they play it is just 7th heaven. The violinists are Abhijit Mazumdar, Prakash Varma, Chander Makwana, Shyam Jawda Jitendra Javda, Dilshad Ahmed, Raju Padhiyar and Godwin Joseph. The percussions are solid and hugely charged up thanks to Allwyn Jeya Paul but it is the brainchild of Meghdeep who has produced, programmed, arranged, composed, played the syntheizers and vocorder as well. That deep voice of Sonu goes well, even when everything goes silent and you still hear the bass guitars by Ralph Menezes. Let us not forget Andrew McGuiness thumping the drums and driving the tempo of the track through all this. There is a moment when all the synthesizers stop, and all you hear are the bass guitars and a melody on strings to steal your heart away. Priyanshu Soni handles all the additional drum programming, and Japjisingh Valecha transcribe the strings scores. Listen to the last segment on Strings, which is just pure delight and Aditya Shankar accompanies on electric guitars. The strings are recorded by Manasi Tare, and Hanizh Taneja handles the mixing and mastering of the track. https://open.spotify.com/track/6sTtKG900vBBgMsTK4W6Tf?si=9103540df0324167 2. Tonight I first came across Pratika Gopinath when I heard about her singing for an American producer/musician Starita, and ever since she has had no looking back. She is part of an Indian music group called Easy Wanderlings whose music has been reviewed and featured by me right here on this website. She starts singing here and you are transported to a land where Jazz, Blues and R&B rule the roost. She possesses a voice that will send many so called singers to the cleaners, and make geniuses proud. This song is part of an EP called ‘Nightwing’ and although more than a few were lovely I found this track particularly inspiring. The track is conceptualized and composed by Jayant S who has also played the guitars, bass and synthesizers. Shreyas Iyengar plays the drums and he chooses to create the flow of the track with the heaviness and mildness as demanded like how he plays the hi-hat at times as well. The programming is excellent as you hear so many layers to the track and pay attention the solo on guitars by Jayant just at the halfway mark, and then we have further brilliance on the saxophone. Varun Venkit rocks your listening experience in the other track called “Circleâ€? as the percussionist. ‘Circle’ brings about a more peppy experience thanks to Latin Jazz style. There are 4 more tracks, and I might just include one more in the coming weeks. https://open.spotify.com/track/5U2lAhLpBlPMhyJUH3lqti?si=3090bf5418354672 3. I love you It is Go Goa Gone, as the small but developed state has produced two magical songs through some of its home-grown talents in two consecutive weeks. It was Kristian Bent with “Its all goodâ€?, and this one by Alexis D’souza is no less. This track is a part of a 7 tracl album called “You’re Nobody, You’re Perfectâ€? and although they were released back in 2020, this track has been streaming only recently probably because of the release of a new video. This is purely a song that showcases the vocal capabilities and delivery of Alexis, which are impeccable. It has a Soul style to it along with some terrific harmonies and almost present through the entre track. Ayan De does the mixing and mastering but despite all the vocal splendor, you will be enticed by the bass guitars and mild drums as well. There is a lot of keyboard programming adding essential layers to the track. The outro with all the lovely strings aided by guitars just makes you want more and more. https://open.spotify.com/track/13cgcxGgZR3qgDjmJcoHG3?si=4e49f79636c9434b 4. Oru Mathra Nin Father –daughter musical pairs like these don’t come at this level of performance so often but here is one to celebrate and cherish. After some magical songs composed for “Kolaambiâ€?, Ramesh Narayan who is an exponent of Hindustani Classical music takes up another venture here and just like an amazing song in that film called “Aarodum Parayukaâ€?, she delivers one here with stunning beauty. She received the Kerala State Award for playback singing for another song in the same movie. Louie Martin’s acoustic guitars make the opening marks with Josy John’s bass support. Madhushree sings like the most gentle breeze uttering every word of Vinayak Sasikumar with precision. The way Ramesh ji intertwines melody with instrumental creativity is unparalleled, especially the fact that someone who is always closer to Classical music can even produce such wonderful modern sounds. R Narayan plays instruments that I am hearing for the first time like Strumstick, and Backpacker guitar along with the Ukulele. The song is simple in structure with a shorter than usual verse length but it oozes quality. The track is mixed and mastered by Kiran Lal with Nishanth BT as mix assistant and the recording engineers are Vybav Hemkumar, Bharath Arjunan and Romy. We have Sooraj Santhosh on backing vocals for the song https://open.spotify.com/track/5VTYslFDAjj2QPhgL9xebC?si=efd0fb9629514ca8 5. Gaaname I have been meaning to write a full post on Hesham Abdul Wahab’s Hridayam which has 15 songs and that too like an old time cassette with Side A and Side B. It probably will be released soon but let us now focus on this wonderful melody once again showing the dominance of Malayalam music industry.  Let us enjoy this sung by two absolute masters of the vocal art in Sooraj Santhosh and Nithya Mammen. Nithya is singing with phenomenal frequency, I mean why wouldn’t she when she can perform with breathtaking quality like this. Josy’s flute is so inviting right at te start and nothing can match the serenading vocals of Sooraj. It does have the influence of Raag Desh, and the interlude is all a mix of Flute and guitars in this song composed, arranged and mixed by Hesham. The song had some outstanding sound quality thanks to Vishnu Raj who masters it and engineers like Amal Mithu and Vipin Lal who has worked on audio technical assistance. As the verse opens up in Nithya’s vocals we are once again exposed to her wide range and listen to the shift in tempo and change in rhythms as Anandan PK plays the Dolak, he also plays the tabla in the track. The second interlude is loaded with strings thanks to the team from Cochin Strings comprising of Francis Xavier, Josekutty, Herald Anthony and Francis Sebastian. Hesham wonderfully constructs a second verse which is different from the first showing his potential as a composer. The ending portions have these strings accompanying in the background layer as the vocalists sing. Vinayak Sasikumar once again is the lyricist and KD Vincent works as a music co-ordinator with Suroor Musthafa as the music assistant. https://open.spotify.com/track/4sMhRrxutsFK14MOeVzncs?si=40cf1254c68540b5 6. Naina Chhavi Sodhani is an indie musician who performs alone and also with her sister Pragya in their band called “Parindeyâ€?. She has been releasing singles and this one is her best work yet. The track is composed, produced, written and sung by Chhavi, focusing on the life of  a girl who has fallen madly in love, and other than the vocals I love the tempo of the song as well. The bass guitars are wonderful providing a separate layer of coolness to the track. If you play close attention we can also hear the Sarangi in the background and this probably adds a folkish flavor to the tune. We have experts like Keshav Dhar on mixing and Naweed on mastering. I listen to this song and I felt like it was the production and composition of Salim-Sulaiman, and that is one massive compliment to Chhavi. The composition is worth an applause as she brings in more traditional aspects with the introduction of Sitar sounds in the interlude. There are some EDM elements, with harmonies and rhythm arrangements also sounding nice. Aditya N plays a support role as the male backing vocalist. https://open.spotify.com/track/5SJ6qJaUj9jXLqRJzmUxQF?si=e5d7cb6e15b54ece 7. Ik Mili Mainu Apsara I have mentioned many times that I am a huge fan of BPraak, and it is not just his singing, which is obviously loved by millions of fans and even give credible acknowledgement through his National Award for playback singing. I however think his capabilities as a composer haven’t yet gotten the deserving credits. In my opinion he is one of the best in the land and he once again delivers a very different tune here which just raises the roof and sets the dance floor on fire. He combines with Jaani once again on lyrics and gets Gurinder Guri and Akaash Bambar to mix and master. Gaurav Dev and Kartik Dev make a huge contribution with their arrangements. It is an out-and-out dance number with terrific rhythms and harmonies accompanying throughout the song. BPraak’s singing is unquestionably flawless and he ropes in Asses Kaur to sing the female lead lines right at the very end. The scale change at the end reminds of AR Rahman’s songs, and also pay attention to the Keys and Bass guitars which come and go. https://open.spotify.com/track/39chWL7FFnxleLCBUXquv4?si=1a08da6de41b48d4 8. Don’t leg go The musician from Kerala calls himself Doctor Lincoln, and I feel anyone who can create some interesting piece of music is a healer too. This one is a track from his 2nd album called “Will see you nowâ€? and is dedicated to his friend and co-producer Santhosh Pulluvazhi who recently met his demise. The track is also produced by Lincoln, and Akshay Manoj. The guitars and vocals belong to Lincoln and he is driving this forward with a rock styled groove. The mix of the electric guitars, bass guitars and drums synchronizes well with his vocals and I love that he doesn’t sing with an unnatural tongue and accent. Steev Benjamin has directed the video along with donning the role of DoP. Palee Francis of WCMT plays the rums and does all the additional programming, and it is Steven C Mathison on Keyboards and bass guitar. When the drums and guitars fade away and Lincoln sings “Don’t Leave me here aloneâ€?, I could sense an influence of Raag Hamsadhwani and the composer later agrees with me as loves this particular Raag. It was listening to the uber famous “Colonial Cousinsâ€? back in the days. Kudos to Lincoln for composing something with sensibilities and tones of the east and west. We have the renowned musician Rex Vijayan on mixing and Ben Feggans on mastering. The actress in the video is Deepika Singh. https://open.spotify.com/track/2wKfQRv4kxSRd6suL1R9Cu?si=1fa086644dd64a36 9. Padhaa  Yazin Nizar is giving other established singers in Tollywood a run for their money as he has started recording with considerable frequency in the Telugu movie space. Sweekar AGasthi impressed last year with a very fine album called “Middle class melodiesâ€?, and he is continuing on that journey now. The moment I hear the song I once get a sense of Hamsadhwani or am I  also just so fascinated by this Raag? Apparently Yazin concurs that there are some influences if only mild. The interlude is very interesting with some techno- sounds and a nice harmony by kids, and I think credit goes not only to Sweekar who has composed, arranged and produced it, but also his team Balu S, and Nithin Jones who have done the additional programming and arrangements. The track is mixed and mastered by some foreign talent Martin Kano in Argentina and Mehraj is the sound engineer with Rehman penning the lyrics. https://open.spotify.com/track/0RuzRQf26NwIZy5ZPXvwDN?si=9f8e294973ec4c55 10. Chusanae Chusanae S Thaman enters my list after a couple of months of hiatus and the last we heard was from Bheemla Nayak I suppose. This too has stamp of his music and the singer’s pitch, the bass and synths and even the tone of the song reminds me of “Aruvamâ€? album’a song called ‘Aagayam’. The guitars are emphatic and standout in the track thanks to two bigwigs who go by the names of Keba Jeremiah and Ankur Mukherjee, and they play all the three versions viz. acoustic, bass and electric guitars. Rita Thyagarajan is a well know vocalist in Kollywood and here she portrays her skills and wide vocal range, and one has to credit her because it is a tough one to sing especially with all the domination by the guitarists. The strings we hear are by Chennai Strings, conducted by Ravi Raghav, and the mixing and mastering is by Shadab Rayeen with Osho V working on additional programming. KK has penned the lyrics. https://open.spotify.com/track/2xHW93awd4qEytfPQBLWaT?si=070faea5bad14499 11. Kannod Kannod Very rarely can we love and remember a song for an instrument, its arrangements and constant presence. Noushad plays the trumpet and it is one of the most addictive and enthralling instruments around and it just keeps you hooked on. This song is composed and performed by Sajeer Koppam wo has a tone that resembles Sid Sriram in many spots especially the stanza. The song probably has some influences of the Carnatic Raagam Kaapi even sending me into dejavu listening to Kadhal Rojave by AR Rahman from the movie “Rojaâ€?. Faisal Ponnan writes the lyrics while Sibu Sukumaran does the programming and mixing. I love the acoustic guitar following the trumpets in the interlude. The Trumpet follows right through and it is played and arranged stunningly. https://open.spotify.com/track/3Tu4Ekuh0KxfEwZnwYfaQ5?si=4f43db59239e4ca8 12. Olosh Dopur Rishi Panda keeps creating these songs both originals and covers and I also allocate time tom listen to them and this time I was quite sure that the song will be featured and reviewed as one India’s finest for the week. This song is written to address emotions of longing when we think of and remember a loved one. Niladri Banerjee has written and composed this subtle yet substantial melody, which has some layered strings in the background. Rishi’s singing is perfect to match the tone and texture of the notes which has some excellent arrangements by Debayan Banerjee. He has also mixed and mastered the track and I absolutely love the Sarod in the interlude and this has traces of Raag Desh if I am not wrong. There is a mild but intriguing backup vocal arrangement as, and to hear the Sarod, Ukulele, guitars and Keys is a like living in a dream that you never want to see the end of. https://open.spotify.com/track/78KXFKcIXjCHYZXyg0iyAs?si=097531f43c7142d2 13. Pyaar Ya Sazaa Suhavi Kalsi is a trained Hindustani Classical vocalist and a student of Music at Delhi Univ, and you can easily sense the way she introduces fragments of the style into this otherwise very Jazz sounding number. Kudos to her for being able to compose this track fusing two very opposing styles but in music, there are no opposing forces per se. Suhaviâ&eur

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 23rd 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. Sanware The best song of last week according to me is this beautiful and outrageously melodious number that talks about a four-letter word called HOPE. Priyansh Srivastava and Garvit Sonihave composed this killer tune and they both have sung in this track as well. The opening lines showcase both of them and this is interesting as the vocal textures of both these vocalists vary tangibly. Priyansh does a bit more than just singing and serenading us as he has also written the lyrics along with Saurabh Jain and he also plays the wonderful guitars we hear all along. The flute solo comes in the interlude, and then we hear a nicely composed verse and though the song is complete in structure, the singing is probably what carries the track upward & forward, with some excellent aalap. Right after first verse observe the tempo picking up with some pacy guitars and the singing matches to it. The song is proof that if you have a melodious composition and some very able singers, you can create wonders with very little instrumentals and complexities as well. The track is produced by Garvit Soni. All the artwork is handled by Abhinandan Bhargava. https://open.spotify.com/track/4qBHgJWDMuWhgWwp2FFz7z?si=b38381689b154fa5 2. A twisted lullaby You see some names, and then you know what I in store for you when you hear their music. Vinay Kaushal is right at the very top of pecking order of Indian musicians, in my opinion and just as I thought, he immensely impresses in this new EP called ‘Duality’. I particularly loved this track and it is really music like that makes you believe that Indians can compete and conquer at the highest level no matter what the field. He also picks some amazing vocalists when he composes and produces these singles and just like Aditi Ramesh was at her uniquely outstanding self in “The elephant in the room’, this time Yamini Lavanian is ravishing and delivers a superlative performance. The song starts out and I was confident that Vinay was playing the slide guitars, but apparently it is just acoustic guitar tunes and tweaked to play in baritone. Doesn't it sound brilliant and like something we only hear in songs from the Midwest in the US? Vinay has composed, produced, stereo mixed and mastered, and even done harmonies. I cannot emphasize enough on how magical Yamini sounds, and I can only kick myself saying why haven’t I heard her before. The song is meant to be a lullaby, only a bit twisted to suit our current living conditions and times. Yamini also exhibits her wide vocal range singing on lower scales and then even hitting the falsetto in between. Uma Athale writes these beautiful lines and we have Ronak Runwal doing the spatial mix and master. Aditya Gopalakrishnan has assisted on the guitar recording. I felt a lot like I was listening to “The chainâ€? by Fleetwood Mac. https://open.spotify.com/track/4xhz57MCD4TfXjJbhl54p2?si=2a62af3f00e648ff 3. Ufaq He interestingly names his instagram handle as Bhaskarville, how very creative. Well you don’t need any Sherlock Holmes and his art of deduction to confirm Anand Bhaskar’s genius and abilities as a musician. Time and again, the band Anand Bhaskar Collective delivers and this is one of the best yet. Scintillating electric guitars welcome you and they are played by Hrishi Giridhar. Anand gets pumped up on his vocals and we have some really charged up drums to match the intensity of electric guitars, thanks to Shishir Tao. Neelkanth Patel is not going to be left behind and you can hear him simply sizzle on his bass guitars. Ajay Jayanthi another usual suspect produces and mixes for the track with Christian Wright doing the mastering and assisted by Andrew T Mackay. To catch a segment of magic wait for the 2 minute 50 second mark on the timer to hear Shravan Sridhar explode on his Violin solo. The lyrics are written by Anand  and Nidhi Sethia, with vocals recorded by Prathamesh Dudhane and Samarth Chawla being the other recording engineer. https://open.spotify.com/track/4j7u0CKnMKv9d4G6aPp5me?si=2af3261c977a48cd 4. Lat ulajhi Kshitij Tarey is making a name for himself for picking some old gems and re-creating them with excellent refurbishments. Last week it was a project called “Baju Bandâ€? with Sniti Mishra that made it to this list of top songs, and this week we have a singer from Indian Idol 12, who presents this version of Lat Ulajhi. The Piano start things off along with the bass guitars by Abhishek Dasgupta, but there is some excellent intervention on the Sitar by Chirag Katti. Anjali is impeccable in singing this and she does use some spontaneous and effective aalap to add beauty to the song. It is set in the beautiful Raag of Bihag and to add another layer of classical music we have Akshay Jadhav on the Tabla.  Reena Gilbert does a fabulous job recording, mixing and mastering the track and we have to thank the music label Strumm Entertainment for bringing back to life such old classics. https://open.spotify.com/track/77477vF5I3QnC4lgpwYKS2?si=72a8c688f69a428c 5. Chasm Indian musicians and listeners are blessed because the variety, and scope to fuse different styles is enormous and I am a big fan of fusion music specifically thanks to songs like this. This is how the future of Indian fusion music should be, Period. Pavitha Venkitachalam sings at this low scale so impressively delivering the Carnatic lines and notes with precision. I for a long time kept thinking that there was some Revathi Raag influence, but when I later spoke with Pavithra, she told me that it is based in Raag Vakulabharanam. Incidentally upon some research I found that Revathi is a derivative from the melakarta Raaga Vakulabharanam and maybe that is why I felt happy that I was not way off! The guitars are played Farish Reheman who also has produced the track and his strumming along with Sreekanth Ramesh on drums add the rock/metal elements in the fusion. Let us not forget Sreeram Sreedharan’s constant support on the Violin, which embellish the track, with the Carnatic flavors. Vishnu Shenoy plays the Mridangam and it combines well with the electric guitar solo in the middle, which is a touch of class. Nivin Raphael has mixed and mastered the track. The outro with the drums, Mridangam, Violin, and elecltric guitars in one super Jugalbandi takes away the cake. https://open.spotify.com/track/2zlcDr62sgX6s7RafPnqlc?si=a3b136ce3b96440c 6. Raahein I first heard about this duo when they worked with playback singer and musician Haricharan for a brilliant song called “Yaarum Illaiâ€?. I strongly recommend you guys take a listen as this is probably one of the best Tamil/Indian songs in the last few years. Anyway Pavithra Chari who is one of the duo is a Tamil singer who is trained in Classical Indian music and has a resounding voice and vocal potential to go with it. I am glad she has started getting some chances in Tamil movie albums of late. The other half is formed by Anindo Bose who is one of the busiest musicians around as he is involved with many bands, and indie musicians as their primary and trusted sound engineer. Just last week he was involved in two different songs that made it to my Top 15, viz. “Bihagâ€? with Anirudh Varma and “Shes like a Breezeâ€? with Rohan Prasanna. Now coming to this splendid score, which is apparently set in Raag Bhairavi we heard glimpses of Pavithra’s vocal prowess. The programming, production, sound design and Keyboards all are handled by Anindo and he mixes and masters the track at Plug ‘n’ Play Studios. These elements add wonderful fusion layers to an otherwise very classical sounding song. We even feel like we are listening to a synth pop track thanks to Anindo’s expertise. https://open.spotify.com/track/7CHGpAMZ4RuPXaZ0C811Ur?si=3d510a7abd634ece 7. Tera Mera & Beqaraar I just posted on Instagram, saying how pleasantly surprised I was listening to the album “Loop Lapetaâ€? after years of monotony and mediocrity from Bollywood music. I loved two songs ‘Tera Mera’ composed by Rahul Pais & Nariman Khambatta at The Jamroom, while ‘Beqaraar’ is composed by Santanu Ghatak. ‘Tera Mera’ has a very Western lullaby kind of a texture and tone to it and it is vastly helped by Sharvi Yadav’s singing. Siddhant Kaushal has penned the lyrics, and Rahul conducts the vocals. The duo called ‘The Jamroom’ also produce this track which is sober and I love the introduction of the Trumpets along with some steady guitar strumming. The recording engineer is Jarvis Marcedo who has also mixed and mastered the track along with Donal Whelan. As we approach the closing segment there is a nice strings section, with some dreamy humming, mildly followed by the trumpets as well. https://open.spotify.com/track/77Ho7A6XL7Rt0zcD71LoEG?si=b23e51cb5a6d4c25 ‘Beqaraar’ starts off like a retro song from the 1960s and sounds quite Latinized as well. I am reminded of RD Barman maybe because the song just like this yesteryear great had notes which weren’t all too predictable. The lines “Mehki raton mein, yeh behka khwabon meinâ€? are amazing especially the second half which has a twist. Raghav Kaushik is one of favorite Indie musicians and I am glad he gets an opportunity to shine here. Ronkini Gupta has been featured on my blog as well and she does the female vocal lead. Interestingly the dominance of the Accordion is replaced by the Piano after the opening lines and it now sounds fresh rather than retro. Mayank Chaudhary plays a great hand with his guitars, arrangements and programming, and as Saikat Sarkar plays the role of recording engineer, Vijay Dalal mixes and masters the track. Santanu Ghatak writes an composes this heartfelt melody. https://open.spotify.com/track/3PzN12aFmAdx40syySJM18?si=a35449ee787b4c35 8. Mujse ek baat Sarthak Kalyani does it again, and after his beautiful composition called ‘Saahiba’ a couple of weeks ago, he returns with another semi-classical number. He is focused on getting old ghazals written in the form of Urdu Poetry back to life through a project he called “Muhafizâ€?.  The trio has Sarthak, Siddharth Chopra and Neeraj Shetty. With the first two involved in the composition and Neeraj produces this track. As I was hearing this through the delightful vocals of Sarthak, I heard a strong sense of Raag Shankarabharanam in Carnatic music, which is called Bilaval in Hindustani. Then when I had a word with Sarthak, he tells me saying that there are many Raagas intertwined with Bilaval also playing a mild part. The original Urdu lyrics are written by Mushafi Ghulam Hamdani. The guitars and rhythms provide the right impetus to the song and modernize this rendition and a big kudos to the trio for all the programming and final output. https://open.spotify.com/track/6OsFtrUIxltsakTNYDR1LK?si=3c77a165c363461f 9. Imposter This Chennai based duo Pavithra Krishnaswamy and Goutham Kumar have been on my radar for more than a year, and this time they make it to the top songs of the nation with a super fun track which has more layers than you can follow at the first instance. The indie producer/composer Ashwin Vinayagamoorthy produces this one as the composition, writing and performances are handled by Coconut Milk Project. We at the very beginning listen to acoustic and electric guitars by Sridhar Varadarajan who also has played the Bouzouki. The rhythms are so catchy thanks to Ashwin and Siva Prakasam who play it along with Percussions. Pavithra’s singing is lovable as she doesn’t fake an accent and it does feel a bit like how an Indian would sing in English and that is admirable as she shows there is beauty in it. The mix of the singing and instruments gives a feeling of a Church Gospel and one can feel the underlying basslines thanks to Kabeeb Sivaprasad. Goutham joins on the vocals as well, and I love the lines that begin from “They are going to catch you soonâ€? and this and everything that follows sounds like a very melodious Indian tune. Nived Np can be heard doing an excellent job on the Piano, Synth and string arrangements. I love the part where the percussions take a breather and she singsâ€? There must be something at which I’m the bestâ€?. All additional keyboard and textural arrangements are by Ashwin with recording, mixing and mastering by Sivanesh Natarjan https://open.spotify.com/track/5FNT87UIyz9TehAbTpAdUW?si=9e0dfa14b79b46e9 10. Hope The last time Anubha Kaul and Aman Jagwani combines, it was ethereal as an EP and I loved “This placeâ€? and featured it as well. Anubha dindt stop there, her EP “Fractalsâ€? will probably be covered by me as one of the best EPs of 2021. Now they get together again, as Anubha writes and sings like a sorceress, with Fryderyk HD playing the solo on Keys and Benjamin plays the Vibraphone which is something like a Xylophone, and it sounds excellent in Jazz compositions. Aman is outrageously good as he produces, composes plays the drums and synths and even mixes the track. You can hear the drums so mildly behind all the vocals and harmonies, almost mesmerizing us into oblivion. Music like this should be promoted and popularized by the scores of OTT based content as stuff like this would be splendid OST of the highest quality. Well done Aman and Anubha, and finally Ayan De masters the track. https://open.spotify.com/track/300axL2BgjBWYPJpYjPYxm?si=0b0c7858d0414706 11. Its all good I had to read the credits a few times to ensure I wasn’t’ listening to some American singer-songwriter blast his way into my headphones. I was ultimately glad and proud that this guy hails from Goa. It is written, composed, arranged and performed by him and I recommend that you drop everything else and just listen to this song and be transported to Colorado or Idaho in the US. The guitars are solid and Kristian uses his vocals so brilliantly being gentle at times, like the humming, and then upping the ante when he has to. I promise you I felt like I was listening to Mark Knopfler of ‘Dire Straits’ especially when he vocalized in a speaking style like in “Money for Nothingâ€?. Play this, let your windows down and speed up on the highway and you will know why I picked this song. The video has been shot and edited by Mohit Sebastian https://open.spotify.com/track/3hEJZyCwAGzRsVujGhsbcR?si=a684d892a5e64ab7 12. Haiya Ho The Tapi Project did a fair job the last time with their folk fusion single and this time they earned their spot this list with a heartwarming and anthem-like song with a title even that sounds like one. This song apparently has taken inspiration from fishermen in Kerala, venturing into unchartered territories. You can hear the wonderful humming bits probably suggestive of the fishermen singing in unison.  The song is composed the band comprising of Yogendra Saniyawala, Swati Minaxi, Anand Joseph Mani and Gaurav Kapadia. Swati’s vocals are simply grand and she show amazing potential singing like a rock star in a folk song almost like she idolizes a Sunidhi Chauhan. Yogendra is strumming the guitars and also involved in the backing vocals and has penned the lyrics. Gaurav plays the energetic hand at drums and Biju Nambiar is the man on the Piano, electric Piano, and Keyboards. The backing vocals are done by all these band menmbers and you can even hear a children’s team of vocalists Kashvi Singh, Vedika Agrawal and Arjun Agrawal. Listen to a small section on the guitars which is just mind-numbing good after Swati sings “Barsa barsaâ€?. The electric bass is played by Don Manuel Iagullon, and as Hersh Desai records, Vijay Benegal mixes and Ashyar Balsara masters the track.

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 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 3rd 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 Kettenâ€? 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 “Kaavalâ€? 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 “adiyeâ€?. 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 “Adiyeâ€? 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 Mounamaâ€? 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 doorsâ€? 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 upâ€? is downright marvelous.  7. Patient with me “Know your hail Maryâ€? 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 Greyâ€?. 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 nightsâ€? 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 “Jethrotulâ€?. 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 4th 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 seâ€? 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 yehâ€? 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 kiâ€?. 14. Barbaadiyaan This is the band’s second single and I have promised myself that Ill listen to the first single called “Kuch Iss Tarahâ€?. 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 onâ€? 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 Lifeâ€?. I particularly loved this track and remember he has already appeared in the second best song of this week “Tum Seâ€?. 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!

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 300 tracks released in the week ending 2nd 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. Christmas times It is more than 10 days since Christmas, but it is never too late to listen to the goodness of music relating to the festive season. Samantha Noella is one of the finest vocalists in the country and her vocal strength in delivering styles of Jazz especially is without parallels. Tubby is the music composer for this joyous score with lyrics penned by Samantha herself. There are a lot of backing vocalists ate play here and they are all students from the Scattitude Academy of music comprising of Sera Sanyal, Aarya Gadkari , Kiara Alemao, Ivaana Vastani , Alisa Pacheco , Rebecca Vaz and Bethany Pereira. The saxophone is constantly playing right through the track in the background layers, and just when you wish you heard more of it, Mark Hartsuch plays a savvy solo with his own improvisations. Vinayak Pol plays the drums, and there is a lot of emphasis on Keys and strings that keep the song alive. The harmony section is a beautiful segment that is quite a deviation from the main track. 2. Naad E Ali You hear this and you are transported into a land of calm and you feel like you are just waiting at the gates of heaven. Apparently this is a powerful prayer, calling Hazrat Ali and resonates the event of Gadeer E Khumm, in a traditional Qawwali form. The singing and its effective impact on us can be discussed at great lengths, but what about the Harmonium played by Bawa Sahni, Tabla by Navin Sharma and Dholak by Aslam Dafrani and Navin. Salim-Sulaiman are truly unstoppable and one cannot thank them enough for their contribution to music as they compose and produce one more fabulous track for Bhoomi 2021. The lyrics are written by Salim and Noor Vasaya and Raj Pandit as usual co-produces it. The scintillating vocals of Salman Ali is beyond par and he is ably supported by Salim,Raj and Vipul Mehta in the lead. Other than the traditional Table we also hear the drums and Darshan Doshi plays them, with some really keen observation you can judge the greatness of bass guitars’ notes played Rushad Mistry. There is a lot of sgments in the song where I am tempted to say that there is an influence of Sindhu Bhairavi Raag, which is known as Asavari in Hindustani. The harmonies add a great layer of depth and it has some inspiration vocalists there too like Rajiv Sundaresan, Rishikesh Kamerkar, Suhas Sawant, Muheet Bharti, Deepti Rege, Archana Gore, Aditi Prabhudesai, Jitendra Tupe, Umesh Joshi, Janardan Dhatrak and Dattatray Mestri. Jarvis Menezes plays the keyboards and we have Nzel D’lima and Muheet Bharti on acoustic guitars. There are also these middle-eastern flavors thanks to the Oud and Bouzouki played by Tapas Roy. The track is mixed and mastered by Aftab Khan, recorded by Aftab and Raj with Vatsal Chevli working as a mix assistant. 3. SAIYAAN NIKAS GAYE I have an upcoming post and blog article talking about how there are only two brands I will totally trust when it comes to musical releases, one being “Merchant Recordsâ€? ( Salim-Sulaiman) which has two songs in the top 6 this week itself and “Compass Box Studiosâ€? (Raag Sethi and company) who has worked on this track. The level of consistency with which these guys dish out new music is insane. This particular traditional Thumri has been delivered by many great artists before and although I did assume that there was some Sindhu Bhairavi in this as well, it is actually set in Mishra Bhairavi. We have Raag Sethi and his team cooks up a beautiful Jazz version of this Thumri and it is the Hindustani trained Mirande Shah who vocalizes the track. Raag has produced, engineered and played the guitars with Mirande as its creative producer. Shivang Kapadia is so gentle with his high-hat drums right fmor te beginning and it is only her voice that serenades us. Raag on acoustic and electric guitars and Marc Damania on bass guitars up the ante along with Nayan Kapadiya on Keys. Fusion music at its absolute best is how I can define this wonder and Mirande is  a shining star proving her worth because it is so difficult to be noticed above all these live instruments and arrangements. In this 8 minute long track there is more than 2 minutes of instrumental fun with the keys and then guitars like a Jugalbandhi. Protyay Chakraborty has mixed and mastered the track. The last 1 minute is just so enjoyable with Mirande’s vocals, drums and guitars that you enter a zone of oblivion about everything else. 4. Aaromal Shaan Rahman rises like the phoenix, and that is what I feel hearing this finger-lickin good song. The movie already has been creating a huge wave as a solidly entertaining super-hero movie and Shaan provides the music some super-human music to go along with. I have heard of these terms like one-man strong quartet and it is even draining my energy to just type it but if there is one man in India who can pull it off and sound uber-good at it, it has to be Rithu Vysakh. I feel like every element of this song is created by someone who possesses “Minnal Muraliâ€? s super-powers. The track starts off with the ravishing strings section and not for one second Rithu rests, smacking us with more and more of it and these are the sounds and tones some great musicians of yesteryears would be so proud of. Shaan has composed, programmed and arranged with lyrics by Manu Manjith. Listen to the whistles, and my god Nithya Mammen is kicking ass with that voice and delivery, and honestly she sounds like she has just attained another perspective to her tone, considering she is so delightful in all the melodies we have heard her sing before. Sooraj Santhosh has been one of my favorites and it is so nice to see him amongst the thick of things here. The playful lines where Nithya utters like a rap is interesting followed by a breezy humming that sticks to your mind like glue. Balu Thankachan mixes and masters the track. 5. Jallianwalla This is a dedication to one of the goriest massacres of British India rule when which British troops fired on a large crowd of unarmed Indians at the Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar on 13th April 1919. Clinton Cerejo and Bianca Gomes were last seen working in Bob Biswas the OTT film on Zee5, and now the duo who call themselves ‘Shor Police’ have composed a cracker here and when I hear it, I can feel the energy of a charged up solo ready to fight and stand up against an injustice.  This too comes under the Bhoomi 2021 collection and distributed by ‘Merchant Records’. The lyrics in English are written by Clinton and Bianca, with Punjabi words by IP Singh. Bianca’s singing is top-notch as single-handedly raises the adrenaline levels helped also by high-quality programming. It is seamless, the way Harshdeep Kaur joins in on the vocals and you will never know when Bainca’s English lines end and Kaur’s Punjabi lines begin. The main instrumentalists creating magic here are Anurag Sawangikar on drums, Zain Boxwala on Keyboards and Bhushan Chitnis on guitars. The track slowly shifts into one that more pacified and Harshdeep also modifies her tone to suit that segment. The chorus team is comprised of Deepti Rege, Jitendra Tupe, Archana Gore and Umesh Joshi. The track is Recorded by Pallavi Kedar & Zain Boxwala at The Groove Room, Mumbai, Mixed by: Clinton Cerejo at The Groove Room, Mumbai and Mastered by: Aftab Khan at Headroom Studio, Mumbai 6. Ruswaa One name that I consistently find among the best in Indian music is this Reeshabh Purohit. He is young, supremely talented and most importantly original. Here we have an original Ghazal composed and performed by Reeshabh with lyrics by Kalim Shaikh. Khwaab a.k.a. Nishant Nagar is one amazing producer who specifically works on original and rendition of classic Ghazals and he has done himself proud by creating this masterpiece. Mahavir plays the Tabla, and all the Sarangi we hear is played by Mudassir Khan. Reeshabh’s voice immediately invokes that feeling of unbridled love, as he just gets so inventive with his aalaap. I am kind of confused because there are some influences of Raag Pilu and Patdeep but Reeshabh believes he never composed it with a single Raag in mind. The Sarangi interludes are quite elaborate along with synth and keyboard programming. Reeshabh himself does the mixing and mastering with Shubham Valse doing all the artwork and lyrical video work. 7. Saahiba It is a treat to have these two musicians have their songs listed in the same week, after Reeshabh Purohit Sarthak Kalyani is another bright talent, who specialises in Classical Indian fusion music. This one is most probably set in Raag Jog, but the composer says that it is not true to just one Raag, moving and shifting into various forms.  It is composed, arranged, performed and produced by Sarthak. Akash Sharma assists musically with lyrics written by Satyansh Rajat. The song starts off with some really stylish and pacy guitars, and you can hear The Piano in the background as well. There is one nice segment with the Konakkol as well as then we have more guitars and Keys in the interlude. Mohit Shandilya and Divyam Mehrotra handle the additional programming as Mohit also mixes and masters the track. 8. Malebille What can stop Ajaneesh Loknath from creating great music? Wait , why should he be stopped? Let us celebrate this man’s genius! He gets in Haricharan to sing this song, and his voice is the epitome beauty in a male’s singing voice. Keba Jermiah plays the acoustic and bass guitars while the keyboards are played by Ajaneesh, Midhun Ashok, Ajay Joseph and Shyam Kumar AS. There are influences of Keeravani Raaga in the pallavi and ther glory of the tune gets magnified with Hari’s singing, the strings section and guitars. The flute is a part of the interlude with even  Veena playing in the background and dominating the second interlude. Chennai Strings is responsible for the strings section conducted by Yensone Bhagyanathan. Ajaneesh and Kalyan Chakravarthy handle the rhythms section and Biju James has mixed and mastered the track. Anup Bhandari writes the wonderful words in Kannada. The verses have a tinge of sadness attached and maybe it is because of the apparent influence of Raag Charukeshi. 9. Desert Island I have always been fond of Nikhil Dsouza’s work as he tries to reinvent himself and give us fresh music without churning and rehashing the same old stuff. The Synth is what invites us straight away into the track and it is Nikolaj Torplarsen who plays them both. The songwriting is a combined project between Nikhil and Jeff Cohen, with Martin Terefe producing it. The keys starts playing when he sings “Need you to come overâ€?, and then the acoustic guitars take over played by Nikhil and Martin. There is a beautifu bit on the Piano in between aided by Martin on bass guitars, but what sticks to you mind is the “oh oh ohhhooooâ€? humming. Nikhil exhibits excepetional vocals in the track and he also plays the electric guitars, and let us not forget the drums played by Kristoffer Sonne. The track is mixed by Ash Howes, mastered by Brian Lucey and recorded by Oskar Winberg. 10. Ishq Fakeeri We welcome some refreshing music from the Hindi belt as well, as this has a lot of similarity to the sounds of Bollywood, only better. Ankit Tiwari and DJ Phukan produce this pacy number with lyrics by another composer/lyricist Shabir Ahmad. Akit has directed ths musically while alos performing on vocals and that is what drives the song. The moment you hear those guitars you know, its coming from someone awesome and yes it is Ishan Das. Ankit has been a playback singer for a while now, and although he too sounds like Arijit Singh, it sounds less imitational. Madhab Deka assists on the music and you can also hear a wonderful layer of harmonies thanks to Pallavi Tiwari, Leena Bose, Lalkaar Abhishek and Ankit himself. The Sarangi comes and goes mildly in the background and all this sounds authentic and beautiful thanks to the sound engineering with Ankit on recording and Eric Pillai on mixing and mastering. The song does have shades of Pritam’s “Fakeeraâ€?. 11. Laddoo Song What do you call as healthy competition? When everyone around pushes and motivates one another for the betterment of one and all! Well I am trying to articulate here but an example can be seen of this in the Kannada music scene. Almost every week we have one song at-least in this list and it is always a few rivals fighting it out for the best. If Ajaneesh Loknath had a track, Arjun Janya cannot be far behind. This is a fabulous song with a lot of A Capella styles employed and credit goes to the lead vocalist Nihal Tauro as well as the Choir comprised of Judith Philip, Aniruddha Sastry, Pratham Bhat and one of my favorite singers Aishwarya Rangarajan. The choir arrangements are by Bruthuva Caleb. Nihan is someone I am hearing for the first time and he has got this accented Kannada going on but his vocals are pitch-perfect. David Selvam sizzles on electric guitars especially on this minor solo interlude but he also handles the Keys and Rhythm programming. The song speaks to me like a UB40 number set in the reggae style. Suni has penned the lyrics and David has also mixed and mastered the track. The verse is so stylish with excellent harmonies and finger clicks good enough to glorify the notes, but that’s not all, we also can hear trumpets and even an Organ. Aishwarya excels at the scat-singing bit towards the end. 12. Mehez Baatein His album was excellent and I have featured more than 3 songs from it and here comes one more. This is written and composed by Siddhant Mishra like the other tracks in the album called ‘Ehsaas’. The Keys are all you hear to invoke and grab your attention and then what follows is Pavithra Viswabarathy’s touching and striking vocals. She is incredibly emotive uttering every word and syllable from the bottom of her heart and that is why the vocals are effective. Siddhant has produced and arranged for the track as well, with Rupjit Das mixing and recording the sounds. The Piano totally dominates the scene, taking up the interlude space, and it adds to the gravity of the song. Pavithra explores the verse at much higher scales and she is equally comfortable and this song most suited for our special moments we like to spend only with ourselves. 13. Knaach Bhangaar gaan His name signifies the elaborate feelings that get triggered when I hear his musical compositions. He calls himself Joy Sarkar, and I have been waiting for months to hear his next project. To my mind, he is one of the finest in the land and definitely someone along with Anupam Roy and Nilanjan Ghosh who function as the flag-bearers of great modern Bangla music. Jimut Roy who dazzled in Joy’s web series compositions of “Tansener Tanpuraâ€? now sings ravishingly along with Shovan Ganguly. I was trying to figure out what this brilliant song is influenced by, and when I spoke to Joy, he tells me it is Raag Gujari Todi with a hint of Raag Lalit, and then as I research it, I realize that the Carnatic equivalent is Raag Subhapanthuvarali and no wonder I was constantly allowing my mind to go back to some great compositions down south based in this raag. Maestro Ilaiyaraja has two very different styled songs and I woul recommend that readers hear them to get a sense of this Raaga viz. “Vaigaraiyilâ€? and “Kandupudichenâ€? both sung by SPB sir. Joydeb Nandy is exhilarating on the acoustic rhythm. The Flute is played with consummate ease by Bubai Nandy and Rahul Chatterjee joins in on the fun with his Sitar. Srijato pens the lyrics, and Somen KuttySarkar and Sabuj Mukherjee work on the programming. The song has an amazing duel between Shovan and Jimut on swaras. Let us not forget the bass guitars that keep playing providing a stylish layer in between all this. The guitars are played by Joy while Goutam Basu has recorded, mixed and mastering. 14. T-shirt from every lover Jade reached out to me asking if I would be interested in listening to her debut single. I always am open to listen to explore newer artists, and that is why 2021 had me listen to 3800 different performers. So when I started listening I was profound by her singing and composition, and it kept taking my memories back to some of the best country music from the West. Jade sings, writes, composes and plays the guitars with arrangements by Jade and Rishit Chauhan. The track is mixed and mastered by Zac Abraham. The singing and guitars set the right tone but the background vocals that come as a humming beautifies the track even more. The drums and resonator guitar sounds are programmed into the scheme of things as well adding to that country music flavor. Though she only gets a Tshirt from every lover left behind, Im glad Jade has left behind a wonderful song for all her music lovers.   15. Aakhri Zarra Aditya Kalway probably composed and sang the best song of 2021 with “Kalabaaziyaanâ€?, and he certainly ends the year with another smashing number. I have a huge affinity for his original music and he does enhance it with his gifted voice. This is a love song but the couple fall out of love here, expressed lyrically and musically Aditya who has also sung and produced the track. Aditya soaks you in his emotions when he sings and that is something only a well-rounded singer can achieve. Ruthuraj plays the guitars along with Nikhil Sinha and all other instruments we hear are a result of additional production by Ravi Romana and Sarthak Kalyani. The bass guitars keep playing right through and just then we hear a layer of flute played by Sanoop S along with some mild humming. The track is mixed by Ravi and mastered by Ajinkya Dhapare with all the artwork handled by Anushika Luthra.

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 300 tracks released in the week ending 26th December 2021, 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 Oruthi Why doesn't he score more often? Vishnu Vijay is a renowned flautist who has worked with greats like AR Rahman, but I have been following and supremely impressed with his scores. If you don’t know or haven’t heard his compositions, listen to “Aaradhikeâ€? from Ambili and some of the songs in “Nayattuâ€?. In this new movie “Bheemante Vazhiâ€? I already love 2 songs with this one topping the all-india charts for the week, and the other one also is lovely sung by Haricharan. The title track has Hari in full flow and and it is slowly a testament to him becoming a pan-India singer, he just sang in ‘Atrangi Re' last month. The track is dominated by his vocals and the live Esraj played Arshad Khan. Haricharan stunningly delivers the stanza, with some alterations to notes that you would least expect. Coming back to the chart-topper, Oruthi is outstanding and the way it starts off in its slow pace and the predominant solo sounds of the Shehnai by Pandit S Ballesh. Vishnu himself sings it like in that Anthony Dasan style. The strings section is in top form thanks to Chennai Strings comprising of Vinay Kumar, Chandru, Fagan, and Seenu on Cello. Nellai Balaji conducts it but Vishnu handles all the arrangements. Keba Jeremiah on Acoustic guitars and Keith Peters on bass are so crucial in their roles in the interludes and the secondary layers through the track. The stanza has so much going on, behind Vishnu’s vocals and if you listen to it with your headphones on, you will be n for a musical treat. Just wait for the second interlude, which is laded with strings and it reminds of some of Maestro’s greatest compositions. Muhsin Parari is the lyricist, Divine Joseph and Kashyap Rammohan are the recording engineers, Sujith Sreedhar has mixed and mastered the track. The track is produced by Vishnu, and vocals are produced by Lijesh Kumar. Ramesh Vasudev and Rahul CR provide all the technical support and assistance. 2. Meera This movie album probably is one of the best in the country in 2021, and definitely along with ‘June’ the best Marathi music album of the year. Rohan Gokhale and Rohan Pradhan bring their A game for this album called “Piremâ€?, and I thoroughly fell in love with 3 tracks viz. ‘Meera’, ‘Man Jhala’ and the title track. Savaniee Ravindra, Harshwardhan Wavre and Rohan-Rohan are the singers. All arrangements and programming is by Aditya Kudalkar, with Rohan-Rohan working on additional arrangements. The flute is played by Shashank Acharya. These are the credits for ‘Man Jhala’ which is quite different from the other tracks in the album. Jasraj Jayant Joshi sings the splendid track ‘Meera’ which has some diabolical basslines and wait for the flute interventions in the background.  Jasraj delivers a superlative singing performance and probably the best of the year. The whole track has an inherent melody and that is continued in the verse. The change of tempo happens in a couple of places in the track and that is so subtle yet succulent. Shashank Acharya steals your heart with his flute solos. ‘Man Jhala’ is a very typical slow and mellifluent Marathi number. Rohan Gokhale and Ketaki Mategaonkar sing the title track which is a breezy fast-paced love song that’s heavy on guitars and drums.  3. Bondhe Maya Lagaiche Of late I am enjoying this new surge in folk music from all over the country and artists in an effort to resurrect rustic classics are presenting them in gift-wrappers that look dashing and entice us. The song was originally written and composed by Shah Abdul Karim. Sharoni Poddar’s singing is top-draw and she gives these subtle vibratos even in the higher scales and all this make for some delightful hearing. The Miliputs have truly delivered an extremely enjoyable number by just refurbishing an old lost classic. Without the guitarists, this would be incomplete and that is why Debmalya Dey and Shounak Das on guitars & Krishanu Halder on bass play a vital role in the supreme sound output. The track is produced by Debmalya and mixed & mastered by Anindit Roy. Debashish Das stuns you every second with his drums. The track shifts from folk to classical/ traditional Hindustani after the 2nd minute and I do sense some influences of Raag Behaag here. 4. Prison For Fears I am on a mission to pick best of Indian music every week, and now that 2021 has ended I also am going to pick the best Albums/EPs of 2021 and ‘Fractals’ is definitely one of them.  Here I am only featuring the one track that stood out for me but at least 3-4 were impressive in this 8 track album. Anubha Kaul's singing is magical showing immense vocal control right through. Kush Updadhyay is on guitars and is the man behind the composition and production. Larry Goldings is on the Organ, along with Jeff Babko on Organ, Rhodes and Piano. Gino Banks plays the drums and percussions for this track and you can sense   a very fluid composition where the tempo is not constant. IN the album however there is also Jay Row Kavi on drums and percussions and Andrew Kanga on just drums. Let us not forget to pay attention to the bass guitars, which are running in a parallel universe thanks to Tony Grey and Tim Lefebvre. Kush himself is scintillating in the middle where there is a solid electric guitar solo aided by some bass-lines and high-hat drums and I suggest you just enjoy the limitless powers of music. Kush and Anubha write the lyrics, with mixing by Jehangir Jehangir, Kuber Sharma and John Paterno. Shawn Hatfield does the mastering and Jayesh Joshi the artwork. For the album Anurag Naidu does the piano/string arrangements. 5. Sanchariyagu Nee Kannada movie space once again rocking it thanks to some super talent and I am soon going to cover a article and topic featuring the best young composers from all the South Indian movie space. As a teaser, I am announcing here that Nakul Abhyankar is there in it. I wont be wrong if I claim that Vijay Prakash has had one of the busiest years among Kannada vocalists and more importantly 90% of them are chart-busters. Keba Jeremiah’s acoustic guitars and Kareem Kamalakar lead the way on the solo flute sounding so serene. Raghavendra Kamath has penned the lyrics. Rakshita Suresh’s vocals are impeccable and sweet and when she sings the Anu Pallavi I get the feeling there is some influence of Raag Maand. Subhani can be heard playing the Oud, Mandolin and Saz in the background layers, especially enjoy the thumping rhythms by Sruthiraj. Arshad Khan once again for the second time in this week plays the wonderful Esraj, which is soul-stirring and generates all the pathos. Keith Peters plays the bass guitars, and Sunshine Orchestra handles the strings while Vijay Prakash totally soars in the stanza singing the higher scales. Ramya Bhat Abhyankar handles the supervision, and the track is mixed and mastered by Suresh Permal. 6. Inside Out Thermal and a Quarter a.k.a. TAAQ had a great run back in 2020 with a fabulous album called “A world gone madâ€?. I liked more than a few numbers in that and one of the topped the charts for that month across India. I am glad they are back, and as they say “with a bangâ€?. This one has been in the works right through the pandemic, and unlike their usual head-banging rock styles. This one can be called a soft pop, something we would heard a lot in the 1980s. Listen up and enjoy the groove and funk induced by Bruce Lee Mani’s singing, and Lesli Charles’ bass guitars. Within the first 1 minute of so you are already witness to so many instruments and the arrangements are spellbinding. Bruce has also written the lyrics and played the guitars along with Tony Das. Leslie is also on the keyboards but what grabs my attention is Gautam David’s Tenor Sax and Ananya Raja’s backing vocals. Its certainly the last in this order of credits but Rajeev Rajagopal breathes all the coolness into the track on his percussions. Leslie produces and mixes as well while Mrinal Anand and Leslie are the recording engineers. The harmonies are not only excellently delivered with styles but the arrangements deserve special credits. At the 2.43 minute mark there is a noticeable shift in the style moving from pop to Jazz thanks to Gautam’s solo on the Sax. The track is mastered by Kimberly Rosen and all the cover art is by Pia Meenakshi. 7. Sai Narayana One more song from Bhoomi 21 makes it to the list and this time the track is composed and written by not just one individual but a vast team i.e. Sri Sathya Sai Students. Raj Pandit lends his voice for this one and all the production and arrangements are by Salim-Sulaiman and Raj. The track starts off in a way of resembling Ghulam Ali’s “Chupke Chupkeâ€? and maybe that is why I sense a Raag Kaafi influence. Jarviz Mebezes is on the keyboards, and you will enjoy the harmonies which includes Rajiv Sundaresan, Rishikesh Kamekar, Yashita Sharma, Yashika Sikka, Deepti Rege, Archana Gore, Aditi Prabhudesai, Jitendra Tupe, Umesh Joshi, Janardan Dhatrak and Dattatray Mestri. The live strings add to the grandeur and they are orchestrated an conducted by Jpajisingh Valecha. ID Rao is stunning on the clarinet which adds that element of mystery. Raj Pandit’s vocals are pitch-perfect and the lyrics bring about unity through a respect for all faiths. The Big drum is played by Sulaiman, and Salim plays the Piano. Rushad Mistry handles the bass guitars, The track is mixed and mastered by Aftab Khan, with Vatsal Chevli assisting on mixing. 8. Nathni The track is a dedication to all the festivities surrounding the girl’s wedding. We have some massive starcast of musicians for this track, with Shravan Shridhar on the Violin, Omkar Dhumal on the Shehnai, and Sanjoy Das on guitars. Dipesh Varma plays a huge role in the track playing the live percussions, rhythms and also arranged and programmed for the track. This is a folk number that gets a massive face-lift. There might be influences of AnandaBhairavi raaga set in Carnatic music. The live instruments are terrific in portrayal and arrangements. The Viioin solo and Shehnai keep intervening with some wonderful basslines. Aishwarya is excellent in her delivery and how she gives those tantalizing vibrato sticks to your mind. The percussions are a crucial segment in the track. Stuti Karani, Mishel Shah ad Lipika Nag are the backing vocalists and the track is mixed and mastered by Tanay Gajjar. There are some influences of maybe Desh Raag and even Pilu during certain segments. The bass guitars are terrific and they constantly provide a funk t this folk. The verse is quite elaborate as well and seems more like a Bollywood melody. 9. Oh Penne Malayalam Indie music rises and shines bright, and we have had some awesome numbers in 2021, even though the movie music space is vast. Sai Menon writes, composes and performs this beautiful track and he sounds a lot like AR Rahman, and that is a massive compliment. Check out the clarinet which adds such a cool quotient and although the song is pretty straightforward and simple, it does keep you hooked for the duration. 10. Fly What do you do when you feel low on energy, and just a power boost or kicker? Well just take anything that provides a rush of sugar right! Yes that is what I can compare Dhruv Visvanath’s brand of music to. It is instant gratification and after consistently impressing since 2019, this time it is one more splendid track called “flyâ€? and I recommend that you not just listen but also watch the video which has some interesting and clever stuff going on. So for the video the credits go to Arsh Grewal who has written, produced, directed and animated it. Dhruv does almost everything else for the song, as he writes, composes, performs, produces and mixes the track. We have heard songs where the guitars are just sidekicks and add a nice mellow layer, but here guitar strumming is hard and strong and plays the hero. That’s not taking away any credit from Dhruv’s singing which is of superlative quality as usual. If you listen closely there is some element of the track “Toxicâ€? by Britney Spears. The track is mastered by Keshav Dhar. 11. Udd Chaliyan Jasleen Royal has been around for a while now, making forays into Bollywood, and there area few songs where her delivery is very apt and suited for the track and this one certainly fits that bill. This track is from the movie ‘Velle’ which has some good music and that track has Shahid Mallya has the male lead vocalist. Aditya Sharma writes the beautiful words. Unlike all the slow tracks, this one is slightly more peppier as a composition by Jasleen herself. The keys are played in the background constantly providing the foundation but Shahid’s singing is phenomenal especially they way he reaches the higher scales almost reminding me of B Praak. Lijin Jolly Alex mixes and Devang Rachh masters the track. The track has some tonal similarities to Swedish singer Emilia’s ‘Big Big World’. 12. Enthoram Naalayi We have a soothing melody from Malayalam here sung by Unnimaya Nambeesan. The way she sings “elelo eleloâ€? puts your mind to rest like any great lullaby would. Vimal Nazar and Reneesh Basheer are the composers for this movie “Mudiâ€?, and listen to the acoustic guitar and bass guitars, which act like the backbone for the track. Mehd. Maqbool is the lyricist, and Kiran Lal does the mixing and mastering. Again this track proves how simple music with basic instruments and arrangements can tantalize you. 13. Adhuri Kahani It is time for another Marathi melody, composed by Vishal Sadafule and Samadhan Vartak with lyrics written by Kedar Kotkunde. Acouple of months ago Hrishikesh sang a tamil song, and I couldn’t believe it was a Marathi vocalist who could deliver these words so well. The track has a beautiful piece on the Mohan Veena as the interlude played by Manas Gosavi along with the Tabla played by Shubhankar Kurlekar. The stanza continues melodically with some excellent vocal performance by Hrishkesh. The track is mixed by Samadhan, and the recording engineers for vocals and veena are Abhay Koyadwar, and Omkar Desai records the Tabla. 14. Why Arjan I heard this whole EP by Arjan Dhillon, but this one track was beautiful and mesmerizing. Arjan has sung, written and composed the track and Harwinder Sidhu has produced it. The singing is very good for sure but that programmed bit of a wind instrument is what really grabs your attention. It is an ideal song that can give you company in solitude and a drink in your hand. 15. Kde – Kde That is 2 punjabi tracks in a row. Wow listen to this and its gets your foot tapping for sure. The acoustic and bass guitars keep the track really groovy with some essential synth programming as well. The harmonies are also quite nicely arranged. Harvi has written, composed and sung the track. You don’t have to wonder why and how the guitars are splendid, well I could just explain in two words, Shomu Seal. The arrangements and programming is by Harmony, with Gurjinder and Akash working on the mix and master

This is the list of Top Songs released in India for the week ending Dec 19, 2021. 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 300 tracks released in the week ending 19th December 2021, I have rated and reviewed the 16 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. Doorie Twin Strings is a very respectable band creating fantastic music, and its lead vocalist Manav from time to time goes solo and impresses too. This one is peerless in this week's list as the track climbs straight away to the top of the charts from all musical releases across the nation. There are strong influences of Raag Yaman and maybe that is another additional reason why one just falls in love with the track. Mohit Deen is the percussionist and mixing engineer while Sahil who is also the Keyboardist produces the track along with Manav. Sagar plays the guitars and quite brilliantly at that, makings sure every note catches up with Manav’s vocal bliss. Surrender to the voice that embellishes this track and how he manages to improvise so much with all the vibrato at even the lower scales is why sometimes music can create magic. Sahil just provides crucial support on the keyboards and listens out to the retro percussions that Mohit introduces. The harmonium further adds to the nostalgia of listening to great songs of yesteryear. The stanza is a brilliant fusion of drums and Keys westernizing the track while the Harmonium and Manav’s singing keeps things closer to home. 2. Don't break my heart RR Dhruvan is proof that the south Indie music industry and Telugu specifically is thriving and spreading its wings wider. I have featured him a few times and I am not at all surprised by the quality that emerges from him. Aditi Bhavaraju is a stunning singer and it is a heavily competitive space. The keys and her vocals drive the song forward with all the programming done by Achu Rajamani. The lyrics are written by Rakendu Mouli and Raghuram, the composer itself. Sabin Suma Jose has mixed and mastered the track. The Piano is aided by basslines, rhythms and well-arranged harmonies. The solo violin in the front, and strings in the background have a scintillating interlude. Aditi’s high-pitched singing and the way she emotes every word is worth listening to on loop multiple times. 3. Majhi Amarabha Banerjee sings, writes and composes this folk fusion number that just steals your heart. The guitars start strumming and the flute solo is endearing at the beginning. It very much sounds like a Bangla folk, with the only difference being that this once is sung in Hindi after some initial lines in Bangla. The flute makes me wonder if there is some influence of Raag Hamsadhwani and it is played brilliantly by ID Rao who generally sizzles on the saxophone. Nilanjan Samadder plays the acoustic guitars and Abhinav Bora is on the bass guitars adding such funk to the track. Amarabha is just at his top game singing the lines, with his timely aalap, and listen to the bass solo by Abhinav which is breathtaking good. Sayantan Dutta supports on the Keys and it is a excellent execution of fusion music all around. Aslam Khan mixes and masters the track produced by Surmai music. The ending portions with the rendition of swaras is pure bliss.   4. Kalle Kalle I just put out a post on my Instagram account reviewing “Chandigarh Kare Aashiquiâ€? and though I liked 3 of the 6 tracks, this one was my favorite. Priya Saraiya sings and writes lyrics for this fabulous soft and tender love song. Simetri provides the backing vocals in what sounds like a very pleasant and enjoyable folk song from Punjab. Sachin-Jigar excel in creating a wonderful track that’s filled with some nice sounds and live instruments as the duo compose, arrange and program for the track. The Assistant Programmers are Abhishek Singh and Hrishikesh Gangan and the Music Production Head is Romil Ved. Indrajit Chetia is on the guitars and that feels fantastic along with Strings played by JItendra Javda. The female harmonies singing the title and male harmonies in the background with Sahin and Jigar themselves acts like a nice bit of interlude music. The second half of the verse sung in harmony is a beautiful line and probably the most melodious in the track, and it also lands beautifully on the opening lines. Listen to the wonderful solo on the Sarangi in the background played by Dilshad Khan, and Naven Kumar plays the flute. Eric Pillai has mixed and mastered the track, while Michael Pillai is the mix assistant.   5. Stories of raw love Jhanvi Soni has been on a break for 6 months and staying idle, in her own words. But then on just one night of inspiration she writes this song talking about love, especially raw love, and what a brilliant song this is. Jhaniv and Biju Nambiar once again work together after their terrific hit called “Underwaterâ€? earlier in 2021. This one is written and composed by Jhanvi and Biju has produced and arranged it. The beats are thumping and your heart starts beating hard and heavy in expectation of what’s about to come. Jhanvi’s singing is solid and it slowly drifts into falsettos neatly placed and performed. The guitars are stroked wonderfully and they constantly keep producing a ring in your ears. The brilliant ethnic strings and sounds of wind chimes add a rustic element, with full marks to creativity. The song was later recorded at the extremely efficient Compass Box Studio and Protyay Chakraborty has mixed and mastered the track. Sonali Chorawala does all the artwork. The female harmonies in the background are nicely arranged as well.   6. Thaniye I love this guy, and he has created a name for himself, as a singer, composer, director etc. Niranj Sureash is the lead vocalist of the Kochi based rock band called Motherjane and he has sung under every big musician in Malayalama, like Gopi Sundar, Prashant Pillai, Shaan Rahman etc. Pathivo Maarum scored by William Francis is one of my favorite songs sung by him. This splendid indie track is composed and performed by Niranj with lyrics by Shabareesh Varma. The Piano and the low-scaled vocals make a solid debut and then Niranj opens up further, exploring higher scales and greater elements of improvisation. The track loaded with a lot of synth work and the humming also adds a nice layer. Abin Paul has mixed and mastered the track. The song gives me a feeling a pop/dance track that we would all have heard and enjoyed back in 1990s like the band “A-haâ€?, but obviously with a lot of EDM influences added to suit modern tastes. The animation team of Shaan Nelson, Ajay Ghosh, G Nimesh, and MS Shyju Kunnoth deserves credit for the great work as well. 7. Influence Can she do anything wrong right now? Well the simple answer is NO. Sejal Kumar is an uber-famous You-Tuber, Digital influencer, Vlogger Actor and now a musician. She has been leading a life of inspiration, and funny that she chooses to name her song “Influenceâ€? considering she herself is a social-media influencer, and she decides to talk about it in the song.   She even acted in a Netflix hit show called “Engineering Girlsâ€?, but it is this song that has made me take notice of her. Natania Lalwani and Sejal write this song which delivered with unbelievable style, and oomph-factor. I am glad to see another favorite musician of mine, Saptak Chatterjee, contribute as a vocal engineer here. The arrangements of vocals, the finger taps, the way she enters a zone of speaking rather than singing, the change of tempo, and I could go one for long about what I love. Austin Armstrong has produced the track. 8. Lamhe Zaroori Neyhal was quite impressive and he grabbed my attention in ‘Mere Tum’ and he did possess solid control over his vocals and he probably is only going to get better with time. The youngster writes, composes and performs and also plays the rhythm guitar. If you ask me how do you judge if the music produced by someone is good enough to spend all your time and energy, ill answer it two words – Compass Box. Anyway Raag Sethi and his trusted friends produce this heartwarming track which is possibly one of the rare ones which has a faster tempo than the rest which is all sober, slow and succulent in content. Raag done multiple roles as usual viz.  Producer, Arranger, Engineer, and he plays the Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Bass Guitar, Slide Guitar as well.Neyhal is pepped up and full of zeal in his delivery and I love how the notes transform as he sings “ Kahaniyon ki tarahâ€?, and hear the guitars, and drums adjust accordingly. Shivang Kapadia is the man playing the foot-tapping drums, and the backup vocals team comprises of Meera Desai and Protyay Chakraborty who also is the mixing/mastering engineer. Wait for that twist of creativity past the 2 minute 25 second mark as Harmish Joshi picks up that Clarinet and he blows us away literally.   9. Kaarmekham Moodunnu Ranjin Raj is an extremely under-rated composer in my opinion, and his music can truly compete with some of the best in the country, and the proof of that pudding is in the fact that so many of his new releases have been featured and reviewed here. This is a brilliant song from a new movie called ‘kaval’, and Ranjin as usual never compromises on the melody. Santhosh is stunning in his delivery and he just reaches out to your deepest portions of your heart to get that bottled up emotions flowing. The strings are a huge plus for the song and they are played by none other than Francis Xavier, along with Josekutty, Herald Anthony and Carol George of Cochin Strings. I felt a lot of similarity to two of Ilaiyaraja’s amazing tracks viz.’Thulli Thulli nee padamma’ and “Oh Maane Maaneâ€? and apparently both are set in Madhyamavathi. However When I had a word with Ranjin, there are influences of Brindavana Saranga to a greater extent. In the interlude I hear trumpets and they are probably programmed by Anthony George but credit to Ranjin himself who is behind the arrangements and production. The keys take full control of the backgrounds as the slow stanza sets forth, and as Santhosh splendidly performs every note with subtle vibrato and great emotion. The track is mixed and mastered by Balu Thankachan with Jisto George on recording. The lyrics are penned by the indomitable BK Harinarayanan   10. Jaate Jaate This is a very Bollywood type of a song but that doesn’t mean that the tune isn’t worth your time. Raahi composes, produces and sings this very melodious number. The singing is top-notch but a lot of credit must go to the vast array of live instruments used in the track and hence Nabeel Zubair and Bibhash Buragoain (Billy) who are involved in arrangements and programming along with Raahi have definitely done a fabulous job. Sajid Shahid has written the lyrics and directed the video providing visual delight. To bring in an element of a Choir group in his type of a melody is a master-stroke for sure and the singers in the choir Preeti Tiwari, Sagar Tiwari, Vaishnavi Tiwari, Priyanka Tiwari, Gopal Tiwari all perform exceptionally. Tiwari Harmony Group gets the choir arranged themselves with bass guitar played by Rahul Putai showing its class from time to time. Billy plays the acoustic guitars and you do hear the strings in the background and all that delightful on the strings ensemble comes from Zubair. Sarabjeet Singh Shibu gets the percussion elements spot on. The stanza is also nicely composed carrying the melody forward but how the percussion instruments change from Tabla to Drums at the end of the stanza is very creative. Guri is the recording engineer and Hanish Taneja has mixed and mastered the track. The final humming and lines add kind of a Qawwali element. 11. Karoon bhi kya? He is one amazing performer and I was astounded by his vocals in Anurag Saikia’s  â€˜Ek Tukda Dhoop’ which showed that these two musicians were meant for mainstream Bollywood popularity. Ever since I have been following him closely and I have reviewed a few of his indie singles like “Faasleâ€? recently. This particular song is a slow-burner, as it takes its own time to catch your attention. Raghav has gone solo on this track as he composes, produces, sings, mixes and masters the track with lyrical contribution from Aditya Joshi. The strumming of the guitars, and that melancholic voice both grow on you and the ultimate winner here is the inherent tune. The title line bit saying “Main Karoon bhi kyaâ€? is excellently delivered with the Piano mildly playing in the background. As we approach the end of the track, we get rhythms added on and a layer of mild strings , all beautifying and emotionally touching.   12. Teri Akhiyaan This New Delhi based singer-songwriter was quite impressive back in 2020 with her single “Matwariâ€? and now she is back again withy probably an even better number and it now appears in this week’s best music from across the country. Sh says she has written this song about raw love, but I ask her, is there another kind? All that aside, when you hear this number you tend to concur with Samhaita and music and lyrics together is a treat for your ears and soul. She has written, composed and performed this number with all the mixing, mastering and production handled by the expert technician Keshav Dhar and the video has been shot by Aninya Gangal. I love how the track is subtle and almost is underplayed with only her vocals in a mild tone and acoustic guitars. Then after the first minute or so, we get the pause, and bass guitars and drums joining in, and together you hear some magic, and I love the linesâ€? tujse na rooth paaon, tujse na jeet paaonâ€? both musically and lyrically. The vocals are also added in a couple of layers towards the end which works very well and the way she sings the line “tum era junoon haiâ€? is the clincher for me. The use of strings and harmonies at the outro section is creative and interesting. 13. Zindagi She is going places, and although she has been popular and doing some great songs, m I think 2021 has been one of her best. She rose, at-least in my books. To great heights as a indie musicians, with a top-notch EP earlier this year and then with a magical composition for the Marathi movie “Juneâ€?. Bheems Ceciroleo has composed this track that features Shalmali’s voice and maybe this is now she getting into Pan-India mode. The strings at the beginning of the track are heard across many layers and then Shalmali slowly opens up in Telugu, and maybe it takes her a few lines before she becomes comfortable. The title line is sung in multiple layers and I love how the drums and Harmonium combine beautifully. The second half of the stanza that goes “Athuvaippu , Ithuvaippuâ€? is amazing followed by synths and electric guitars landing on the title line again. Suresh Gangula is the lyricist. 14. Uddne do This album came out of nowhere, and I was pleasantly surprised by the music, because there were at least a couple of very enjoyable tracks, and I picked this one as the best of the lot. The composers are Kaushik Guddu and Akashdeep and this track especially deserves an applause, with a lot of credit to be attributed to Amit Mishra the singer. The best apart the music is that there are some excellent known musicians all involved in this and as they say, the final product is greater than the sum of all its brilliant parts and contributions. Roland Fernandes, who is a master on guitars plays the acoustic, bass and electric versions. The lead vocals are fantastic, sounding energized and inspirational and they sound even better with all the back-up vocalists singing in harmony thanks to - Akash Mukherjee, Dev Arijit, Mukund Suryavanshi, Subhashree Das and Antara Bhattacharya. Akash has designed the backing vocals and he along with Subhashree and Aaroh Valenkar are the recording engineers. The track has some excellent instrumentals and I especially loved the drums and brass section components, which make it all sound like one nice anthem. Gibson George has arranged and produced the track with Subhadeep Mitra working on mixing and mastering. The lyricists who have penned these wonderful words are Siddharth-Garima Wahal & Bipin Das   15. House of cards Kudos to the sound technicians for making it seem like I am hearing something on an old radio or TV set, and then it transforms into splendid clarity and impeccable acoustics. The track is mixed by Luke Nicholas Foo and mastered by Carlo Camera. Naina V writes the lyrics and the composition is by Rishabh Sharma and her. The beats are very peculiar following a different pattern and it is quite interesting. It is just a simple acoustically rich song depending on guitars and vocals 16. Exile Siddharth Basrur is a singer-songwriter who is the main man of the progressive metal band ‘Goddess Gagged’ and he is featured here in this progressive rock/pop track. Siddharth’s vocals are the focal point of the track and musicians Aniket Kate and Zion Mathew produce this one. The usual suspects and masters of the art and science of sound recording are present here and that is why the song has an impeccable output. Ronak Runwal has mixed and Nitin M Krishna has mastered the track. The fantastic words are written by Yashodhaan Burange and Gaurav Tophakhane , who happens to be one of my favorite Indie artists, also has contributed initially to the composition bits. The track pauses and slows down at about the 3rd minute and how it gets a push and ante up a few seconds later is adrenaline-pumping good.