This is the week's best of Indian music across languages and states, covering more than 350 song releases from movie albums and the independent space1. Alle  Music: Ramesh Narayan Vocals: Haricharan Lyrics: Beeyar Prasad Language: Malayalam Genre: Melody Maybe this genius of a composer is like one of those Carnivores that only hunt when hungry. I mean Ramesh Narayan is a fantastic composer who is an expert in the field of Indian Classical music and when he scores in Malayalam movies, it becomes something to celebrate and treasure, if only he would give us that pleasure with more frequent projects. This week itself, we have two songs from the album 'Bermuda' with this Haricharan song topping India's charts. Some enticing notes get played on the acoustic guitars by Sanu PS and then Haricharan makes the grand entrance on vocals. He does possess one of the most likable, gifted and technically correct vocals in the Indian music space and it comes on full display here. You just have to nod your head in approval when he asks " Sugam alle" meaning "Yes everything is fine when we hear his voice". The string section is an important part of the sound that we hear in the song and it is by the Inspired Symphony Orchestra in Budapest. These segments in the opening lines remind me of the arrangements and grandeur of "Oh Butterfly" by Ilaiyaraja. We also now hear some strong bass guitar strumming by Brandon Trent, and woodwinds in the background and it is the same Orchestra responsible for the latter. The stanza is a way both these masters Haricharan and Ramesh showcase their skills with Hari showing his vocal range and Malayalam diction, and Ramesh enabling a wonderful tune with even better arrangements especially the strings in the background. The interjection of strings, woodwinds and Keys just takes the song into a different orbit altogether and there are immense contributions from Ajith A George on sound design and Music Programmer Sheron Roy Gomez. The sound engineers are Romy, Vybav, Bharath Arjunan and Pranay with Sujith Sreedhar on mixing and mastering. The second interlude feels like a separate chapter in a symphony and things start off from where they left at the end of the first stanza. Haricharan sounds even freer and tries to improvise with mild vibrato, compared to the first stanza.   2. Madhura Jeeva Ragam  Music: Alphons Joseph Lyrics: Joe Paul  Singer: Mridula Varrier Music Programming: Aby Tom Cyriac  Language: Malayalam Genre: Melody People I knew loved the movie 'Sundari Gardens', and it has Aparna Balamurali who not only has show potential as an actress but also a singer. This beautiful number is composed by Alphons Joseph and sung by Mridula Varrier, with lyrics by Joe Paul. Nikhil Ram plays the flute and the keys are played by Aby Tom Cyriac who handles the programming, mixing and mastering. Mridula's honey-soaked vocals take away all the pains and burdens of life as she sings with impeccable ease and when you wait a bit to hear the title line you are lifted into the heavens. Anu Thomas backs up as vocalist in the harmonies and the whole song feels like a walk in the Japanese Tea Gardens thanks to the tonality of the instruments and production. Nithin Sabu Johnson is the sound engineer with Anandu Pai, Amal S Varghese, Sreehari Raveendran and Feiga Meiphullung Gangmei assisting. The stanza has Mridula reaching into the higher scales and when you hear the strings, flute and rhythm programming and arrangements it is pure delight and shows why Mollywood music space is making the rest of the country feel left out, especially a deficit-stricken world of Bollywood. The outro segment with all the programming, vocals and flute brings a smile to your face.  3. Wajah  Singer: Pawandeep Rajan & Arunita Kanjilal  Music: Ashish Kulkarni  Lyrics: Rahul Kale  I have known Ashish Kulkarni since 2020 and I have been featuring his singles much before he shot to fame in Indian Idol, and it is not only his singing but his composition abilities as well. It is nice to see him provide an opportunity to two other co-contestants at the Indian Idol in Pawandeep Rajan & Arunita Kanjilal for the vocal leads in this number. It is Madhab Deka that shines in the beginning with the grand arrangements of Strings and rhythms and as the lead singers perform the closing stages of the opening lines sound as good as Ajay-Atul's "Yad lagla". It is just before the interlude that we hear Arunita sing a beautiful portion that sounds and feels like Raag Bilawal. The interlude has layers of Violins and Keys accompanying which give a very sober and "pathos" setting to the song. The composition is not straightforward at all, and one can hear all the unpredictable notes in the stanza which is why Ashish can pat himself on the back for trusting himself and not compromising with a mediocre and run-of-the-mill tune. The track needs a lot of effort in mixing and mastering the various segments and layers and this is where Rupjit Das comes into play. The recording engineers are Mrinal Das, Rahul Dayal and Pankaj Kaushik.   4. Pukaare  Composed and sung by: Madhubanti Bagchi Lyricist: Ginny Diwan  Music produced by: Siddharth Amit Bhavsar  Language: Hindi Genre: Indie-pop It is not the first time I am hearing and featuring Madhubanti Bagchi, and after almost a year she is back in my weekly India charts with a stunning indie pop number. It is also interesting to observe a sensational lyricist in Ginny Diwan who Madhubanti herself nicely addresses as her favourite bardess. The song has a very 1990s tonality to it like something that would emerge in a song from Sting. The guitars are resplendent and who else but Ritaprabha Ray and Ishan Das can come up with such sexy strumming? Madhu's tone is a mix of a sweet and a slightly coarse voice which makes the lower-scale notes that much better to listen to, and has this Shilpa Rao texture overall. Siddharth Amit Bhavsar plays no mean role in this song as he is the producer and if you listen to the song's sound it has some excellent rhythm and keyboard programming. I love how the decibel levels and arrangements drop at the beginning of the stanza, when all focus needs to be on the melody and the sharp and emotional delivery of the lines by Madhu. The stanza feels fresh and it has some excellent chords that remind you of the style adopted by Salim-Sulaiman for their scores. Oh and I love the way the stanza ends and the chords progress into the opening lines. Pankaj Borah has mixed and mastered the track at the Pavel Areen Studio. The introduction of the humming at the end is a nice addition to the guitars and rhythms.    5. Kelu Nee Composed and produced by: Narayan Sharma  Singer: Narayan Sharma  Lyrics by: Nagarjun Sharma Language: Kannada Genre: Melody, Semi-classical fusion Some of these musicians are really having a ball and I love it when the same album has a couple or more songs of superior quality. This movie "Nodi Swamy Ivanu Irode Heege", has 2 songs in the week's charts just like the Malayalam movie "Bermuda". Narayan Sharma has been a regular on my page and that is no surprise because he is one of the brightest musicians India has. He is a singer, Violinist and composer as well and he brings in all these facets to the forefront. The song is performed, composed and produced by Narayan with Palee Francis (from WCMT)and Narayan coming together and doing the programming. The initial Ukulele as well as guitars are played by WCMT's Achyuth Jaigopal who also does the music supervision for the track. Observe the bass lines gradually gain ground as the song progresses. I was stunned when the Violin intervenes and it is such a classical interjection into the scheme of things making the song precious within the first 1 minute. After this you will be surprised to hear the title line in a pop style with fast-paced guitars, that is some skilful composition. Narayan excels in delivering the song as he shows his wide vocal range as well. There is a jugalbandi with the Violin notes just following and playing catchup with the vocals. The outro has even better arrangements thanks to the vocal harmonies and catchy rhythms. The track is mixed by Palee Francis and mastered by Vivek Thomas. Nagarjun Sharma is the lyricist.   6. Taxi Driver Vocals, Lyrics, Composition: Prerona Producer: Zuboski  Language: English Genre: Alt-pop When Prerona reached out to me asking if I could listen to a new song, I began to without any expectations. Man, Did I get bamboozled by his vocals and the production. This is steamy thanks to the vocal texture and Prerona does a fine job in delivering the vocals with that uber-cool attitude. Just listen to him express  with a sensational set of lungs in the line "Right into the water, sick". Watch out for that drop in drop in pitch for the word 'sick'. I must appreciate the brilliant lines written by Prerona, and these are signs of a star in the making. Amidst the ordinary poetry I come across daily, he stands tall. Check out this line both lyrically and musically and it wants me to keep playing it on a loop, "So play your nightly hymns, I need a religion tonight". The acoustic and bass guitars are just fabulous layers but Zuboski kills it every second with his production. The keyboards and electric guitars come and play a mild interlude near the 3rd minute and then we have Prerona's vocals along with Anubis on backing vocals all through. Art-work is by Soham Joshi and Yaamini. The mixing is done by Zuboski who has also co-composed the track, and mastering is done at Gray Spark Audio.     7. Sab Kuchh Singer - B Praak  Lyrics & Composer - Jaani  Music - B Praak  Language: Punjabi Genre: Melody People who read my page know that I have always been a huge fan of B.Praak as a singer and producer. The fits time as a music reviewer I came across Jaani and B.Praak as composer-producer-lyricist was back in 2019 when I heard the amazing album of "Sufna". This time "Moh" is another testament to the great work these guys are doing in the field of Music in the Punjabi space. I will be doing an EP review of "Moh" pretty soon as I love 3 songs at least in it. This song is B.Praak's fantastic vocals being displayed and there is non like him to emotionally deliver a song. The flute by Paras Nath and the synth and keyboard programming by Gaurav Dev & Kartik Dev is mindblowing. We can also hear some strings in the background and it is this keen sense of arrangement that elevates the quality of the song. There is never a wrong foot kept in the song as every element like the Keys, rhythms and harmonies works so brilliantly to take the listener into an alternative space of tranquillity. The track is mixed and mastered by Gurjinder Guri and Akash Bambar.  8. Hona Mere  Composer & Singer - Dhvani Bhanushali  Music Producer – Abhijit Vaghani  Lyrics - Rashmi Virag  Language: Hindi Genre: Ballad Combinations work, and one can remember the last time when Dhvani Bhansuhali and Abhijit Vaghani worked together to give us that smashing number called "Radha". I sometimes get a little critical when singers pick bad songs to be a part of, like when Dhvani sings songs like "Candy" for Yuvan, and I feel even stronger about it when I hear some fantastic numbers like 'Hona Mere' coming from her own repertoire. Shomu Seal plays the guitars and we also have a layer of electric guitar mildly playing in the background. The strumming sets a very mysterious tone and Dhvani's vocals carry that extra bit of sadness meant in the song's messaging. This is a song on the protagonist thinking about her lover who she is separated from, so all these elements aptly create the scene. I am astounded by her vocal abilities and check out what she does when the line goes" Meri taraf mudh bhi ja", and the vibrato and attitude she brings forward with her voice is spectacular. Abhijit gets all the elements right, with the introduction of the Violins in the background, as nothing speaks pathos like that instrument. Abhijit's programming on keyboards and rhythms is perfect and he chooses moments of pause quite effectively. The track is mixed and mastered by Aftab Khan with Vatsal Chevli as the mixing assistant. The endearing and emotional lyrics are written by Rashmi Virag and the words convey the deep longing as much as the tune, singing and production. 9. Belakali  Music Composed, Arranged and Programmed by: Joe Costa Lyrics: Ramenahalli Jagannatha  Singer: Joe Costa  Language: Kannada Genre: Semi-classical Melody We have a massive list of regional songs this week, especially from the south, and this Kannada number is another semi-classical-sounding melody it is, even more, special because it comes from a composer I have not featured before today. Joe has composed, programmed, arranged and even performed the number with the lyrics penned by Ramenahalli Jagannatha. The song is from the Kannada movie 'Hondisi Bareyiri' and it has some stalwarts working as instrumentalists like Narayan Sharma on the Violin, Bhutto on Flute, and Varun Murali on guitars. The flute in the intro is pleasant and invokes feelings of divinity and I probably sensed some Ragam Kalyani (Yaman in Hindustani). It is accompanied by acoustic and bass guitars and Joe has a voice that suits the semi-classical style quite well. Narayan who already has his own composition in this week plays the stunning Violin solo in the interlude. Joe and Jathin Dharshan who have worked on the programming get the Keys and rhythm programming well executed. The second interlude is pure class with the flute in multiple layers and the Tabla by Venugopala Raju. Warren D Costa plays the additional guitars and the chorus we hear is from Manasa Holla and team. Abin Paul does the mixing and mastering. Towards the end of the second stanza there is a segment with the chorus, and the heart just swells in joy hearing this beautiful segment.  10. Shomudrer Dheu Music Director and Creative Producer: Neet Dutt  vocals: Durnibar Saha, Somlata Acharyya Chowdhury

This is the week's best of Indian music across languages and states, covering more than 350 song releases from movie albums and the independent space1. PariComposer: Gaurav ChatterjiLyrics: Hussain HaidryVocals: Neeti MohanMusic Production: Gaurav Chatterji, Ashish ZachariahLanguage: HindiGenre: MelodyCameos are never to be underrated. They are solid performances that turn around the outcome of an event single-handedly despite never getting the original shining limelight. Gaurav Chatterji to me is one of those unsung heroes who keep playing memorable cameos in Bollywood, and I sincerely hope he gets opportunities elsewhere in India where music composers are worshipped and celebrated. I did feature him in movies like 'Ginny Weds Sunny' where all the media focussed on 3 mediocre songs, but his two songs were fabulous. Even in a movie on Amazon Prime last year called "Jalsa" which was appreciated for the acting performances his music deserved more attention. Now in an Anurag Kashyap direction starring Tapsee Pannu, one can understand why this amazing song got hidden in the rubble of reviews, praise and criticism. The moment I heard this, I knew it was of supreme quality good enough to bag the number 1 spot in India. It starts like a run-of-the-mill number, but once you hit the 45-second mark and Neeti Mohan launches off into orbit with "Zidd hai meri". The guitars are fabulous to even say the least thanks to some phenomenal talents like Hrishi Giridhar and Ashish Zachariah with the former on acoustic and electric guitars, and the latter on nylon and acoustic guitars. The Ronroco is an instrument that looks like a guitar, but to me, it sounded like a Sarod and Tapas Roy enchants you with it in the interlude. The stanza is mesmerising and every cell in your body feels the magic of great music thanks to some amazing strings in the background. The strings are recorded by Roni Seiler and right through we have bass guitars played by Sajal Sharma. I have closed my eyes and nodded with every note and it is all because of the fantastic composition and arrangements by Gaurav. Can you imagine despite Neeti Mohan's steamy vocals, especially when she lands the low-scale notes in the stanza, the mind and ears still focus on all the live instruments around? This is because of the quality of the song, something that an AR Rahman or Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy would be proud of. Gaurav uses the keys in the second interlude predominantly and the bass guitars too come to be noticed more in the stanzas. Gaurav also performs as a backing vocalist in the song. The track is mixed by Alok Punjani, and mastered by Donal Whelan, with Jose Das as the studio assistant. @font-face {font-family:Times; panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}@font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}@font-face {font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"; panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}@font-face {font-family:"Helvetica Neue"; panose-1:2 0 5 3 0 0 0 2 0 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-452984065 1342208475 16 0 1 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"; border:none;}p {mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-margin-top-alt:auto; margin-right:0in; mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; margin-left:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Times; mso-fareast-font-family:"Helvetica Neue"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}.MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-size:10.0pt; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"; border:none;}.MsoPapDefault {mso-style-type:export-only;}div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} 2. Straight out the mud Performed by Ruby VelleWritten by Ruby Velle, Rune WestbergProduced by Rune Westberg, Ruby VelleLanguage: EnglishGenre: Jazz/BluesThis Canadian/American musician establishes her Indian roots with a very deeply religious and more accurately philosophical single. I couldn't think of anything positive when I heard the title, but when I read the message I was pleasantly taken aback. Based on Buddhist teachings the message is clear " The mud is needed for the lotus to grow". I m never a guy who pays too much focus on the lyrics, but this is gold. Ruby Velle & The Soulphonics keep performing together in the US as a band that was formed by Ruby, but this is her solo effort as she writes, produces and performs along with Grammy winner Rune Westberg. The guitars and the Jazzy soulful vocals of Ruby keep me glued, reminding me of greats like Tina Turner. The gospel-like harmonies work terrifically in the background, and when you hear them along with the Horns section, you feel inspired and satisfied listening to this beauty. Vocally, this is a supreme performance by Ruby and I have never heard such strong vocals other than Samantha Noella and Vivienne Pocha, up until now. @font-face {font-family:Times; panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}@font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}@font-face {font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"; panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}@font-face {font-family:"Helvetica Neue"; panose-1:2 0 5 3 0 0 0 2 0 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-452984065 1342208475 16 0 1 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin

1. FishMusic & Performance: Rum and MonkeysLanguage: EnglishGenre: RockThe great music from the Northeast never ceases to amaze me. At the number 1 spot, this week have a young band from Shillong called 'Rum and Monkeys' and I very much enjoyed their new album 'Tales of a Tasteless Kid'. The Shillong-based band has five, fine members, Meban Atom Marbaniang on vocals and rhythm guitar, Anon Cheran Momin on keyboards and synth, Shantre Mandy Lamare on bass guitar, Daniel Dian Kharumnuid on lead guitar and Vivian Kharumnuid playing the drums. I fell in love with the song "Fish" and felt "Blind" was another sensational number. The immediate impact on Synths and Keyboards hits you hard thanks to Anon and you start imagining that you are in the middle of a Coldplay concert. Meban has this voice that ticks all boxes for a rock band frontman, as shifts scale with great ease and has a fine falsetto mode too. Daniel comes on board to sizzle from time to time on the electric guitar and is accompanied by Shantre on bass. Vivian's drums are vibrant, and the best part is after the 3rd-minute when the guitars and drums pause and get smashing when Meban sings " Last fish is in the pool, but I'd rather swim with you" and he gives a sick evil laugh. "Thought I had the upper hand, but you played me like a fool" are great lines with a typical rock howl at the end. Get some face-melting electric guitar solo towards the end and the vocals and drums follow, but it's a finale on Synths, guitars and drums to revitalize you for the whole day. I'll be doing an EP review soon. But do listen to this slightly more fun and punk-rock-styled "Blind". Two things truly stand out for me from this band 1. Funky synths and 2. lyrics that make you smile and think. "They say the beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, but what if I am blind?". 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Gulebakavali Singer: Chinmayi Sripada Music: Chirrantan Bhatt Lyrics: Ramajogayya SastryLanguage: TeluguGenre: Dance A lot of period films depicting great kings get released these days, and music in terms of the background score becomes an essential part to drive the sentiment and portrayal forward. The songs are much less important because I think it is difficult to depict the timeline through modern instruments. 'Bimbisara' is one such example, where I feel the songs don't particularly feel like belonging to 5th century BCE. One can argue that since the movie is about the king time-travelling to modern-day India, the songs need not sound historic. Getting back to the songs I loved " Gulebakavali" and "Eeswarude'. Both these were composed by Chirantann Bhatt who I have featured before for a fantastic song called " Ankhein Mili" from the movie 'Sanak'. Chinmayi sings it like a breeze and I am so glad because more often than not she is handed out serious songs that traverse in the 'pathos' zone. This is supposed to be an item number and wow, you feel the pulsating energy thanks to the tune, rhythms, live instruments and vocals. Ramajogayya Sastry is the lyricist. The best line is the one that goes "dhimi tha dhimi dhhim tara" with lead and backing vocals aiding the delivery. One can hear the strong presence of synths and keyboards. The song also feels like "Chikkini Chameli" but that can only be a compliment because it was composed by Ajay-Atul. In fact, the ghamaka that Chinmayi does right at the end also feels like Shreya's delivery in the Ajay-Atul number. The rhythms and horns section also makes it one flamboyant number that feels like a massive endless party. "Eeshwarude" is another fantastic song and CHirantann brings in composer-vocalist Kaala Bhairava to lend his voice. Shreemani is the lyricist and the tracks are mixed and mastered by Vinod Verma and G Jeevan Babu. The grand orchestral sounds come to life and with a team of backing vocalists, we get terrific harmonies. I do sense some influence of Raag Malkauns(Hindolam in Carnatic). The strings and percussions are magnificent and I hope this album gets Chirantann the much-deserved attention down South. @font-face {font-family:Times; panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}@font-face {font-family:"?? ??"; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:128; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;}@font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}@font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"?? ??"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}p {mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-margin-top-alt:auto; margin-right:0in; mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; margin-left:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Times; mso-fareast-font-family:"?? ??"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}.MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"?? ??"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} @font-face {font-family:Times; panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}@font-face {font-family:"?? ??"; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:128; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;}@font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}@font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"?? ??"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}p {mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-margin-top-alt:auto; margin-right:0in; mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; margin-left:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Times; mso-fareast-font-family:"?? ??"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}.MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"?? ??"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} 3. Mohabbat ZindagiMusic: Mikey McClearyLyrics: Ankur TewariVocals: Lucky AliLanguage: HindiGenre: Indie PopI never thought about it that way, but I read that the song translates into "Life is love". I too, like this song's message, am a person who loves to celebrate the smaller moments in life but there is nothing small about this song. Just get up clap your hands and dance and listen to this belter of a song and start celebrating your existence from this moment on. Lucky's voice still sounds the same as it was 25 years ago and it feels like time has stood still. The combination of Lucky Ali and Mikey McCleary is really shaping up to be something ominous and I have featured the duo before with their single "Intezaar" back in April 2022. The Choir team sounds amazing and they are like a secondary soul to this song, the team has Alisha Pais, Ella Castellino Atai, Mimosa Almeida Pinto, Raynah Braganza, Marie Paul and Karen Rebecca Dsouza. The guitars and rhythms play second fiddle to some fantastic lead and support vocals. I just love the lines where Lucky pauses and sings " Suno,ooo oo ooo, ye pyaar sa silsila", and then when he finishes "jo khoya hua" followed by beautiful harmonies arranged and sung by the Choir team. Mikey is brilliant in this number and this feel-good song just sticks to your head for a long time.  @font-face {font-family:Times; panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}@font-face {font-family:"?? ??"; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:128; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;}@font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}@font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"?? ??"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}p {mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-margin-top-alt:auto; margin-right:0in; mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; margin-left:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Times; mso-fareast-font-family:"?? ??"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}.MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"?? ??"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} 4. Nammalani UndiMusic, lyrics - Kalyan NayakVocals: Haricharan, Ramya Behra, Kalyan NayakLanguage: Telugu

I'll tell you what is possible, a girl falling in love in her teens, and then maybe even facing the ignominy of a breakup. She could even be humiliated and harassed emotionally and she finds it hard to even move on with her life at that tender age. Being able to eliminate a troublemaker from your life is itself a herculean task. Now I'll tell you what is impossible, for a girl to go through all this, and at the end of its write, sing and release a song that makes it to the Top 200 of DRT charts, and Top 20 of World Indie music and European Indie music charts. I am talking about Aditi Iyer a 17-year-old Opera trained singer, now how cool is that? Now, this is not a representation of her own experience, but a visceral picture painted by her based on her friends. That is why it is even more difficult to be able to get the entire emotional element right like the way Aditi has achieved in this song.  She has already been featured by me for her work in the EP Dollhouse and I particularly loved and appreciated her song titled Tearing me open. Looks like Aditi is in no mood to relax and enjoy her past successes as her latest single is breaking records and entering global indie charts. I personally felt Aditi did a way better exploration of her own vocals in the EP, as she moved across either end of the vocal range in the songs as I once again hear her Tearing me open. As a reviewer who owns the responsibility of being constructively critical I can only say that Aditi must and could do much better vocally looking at her training and background. Having said that the theme of the songs, then and now, is different and in Aditi's defence the song is about one deleting her ex-boyfriend's number, so the calmness in her voice and delivery is justified. You hear her and you cannot fathom the strength and stability of her vocals at the age of 17. Electronic pop/dance appeals to the younger tastes across the globe and the lyrics are something that every teenage music lover will relate to. Hence it is no wonder looking at the popularity of the song and Aditi has been handed a huge helping hand with Rohan Solomon on board for the composition and production of the song. Rohan has been a regular with many of his scores being slower in tempo and involving an array of live instruments and the Strings section especially, but with this, it is his chance to showcase his diverse skill as a composer and he brings in elements like the female harmonies almost to suggest that Aditi is not alone in expressing her emotions. Rohan also mixes the track and Dan Milice masters it bringing a very fine end product and Anushree Chatterjee handles the artwork design.   I love how we hear a glass crashing against the wall probably indicating how the guy is now getting a similar treatment. The sound design and production are exemplary as just past the 2.30-minute mark there is a break in the tempo, and only the Piano accompanies Aditi's desperation and gravity maybe expecting the boyfriend's message asking for reconciliation. Thankfully her sanity prevails and the drums ante up to bring her back to reality. The layered vocals singing the same title line but with durational lags work well echoing the same thoughts of Aditi like her conscience asking her to stay strong about it. This song is a perfect recipe for global recognition, as the primary intent of a musician should be to connect with his/her audience and Aditi Iyer and Rohan Solomon team up to stay true to that cause.

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 24th April 2022, 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. 1. Swimming They are like the pride of women indie musicians in India and their singing and compositions represent the best of talents we have in this country today. If only Indians who think it is pretty cool to listen to a Ellie Goulding and Selena Gomez just took a few minutes of their lives every day to listen to songs like this!!! Kamakshi Khanna and Sanjeeta Bhattacharya are A-listers and they have been obviously featured on my playlists and reviews numerous times, not because they are popular, but they ooze quality. The duo write, compose and perform together with production by Kamakshi. Kamakshi starts off the vocals with her delectable and soft tones and you fall in love with the song, and just then to make matters worse for your vulnerability Sanjeeta broaches on stage with her Opera-like thrust in her voice. Kamakshi herself plays the Piano that you hear along driving the songs sober and lullaby-like undertone, and she also plays the live Ukulele in the track. Listen to her trembling voice as she singing “against the flowâ€? and you hear notes of the song flowing like the water itself. Ajay Jayanthi kills you with his solo violin playing mildly, almost as if he is putting his fiddle up and when Kamakshi sings “can somebody help me up. Ajay also handles the live strings in the song. This is a well-written song about the female bonding and friendship which gets drowned like needle in a haystack among all the love songs. I love the thump in the drums produced by Karun Karunapilly, and something I felt and noticed was how Kamakshi’s voice sounds vulnerable calling for help, and the assertive Sanjeeta comes to the rescue as her friend and all this gets expressed through the vocals. Adil Kurwa was just here on my list last week with the band ‘The Colour Compoundâ€? is at his best on the bass guitars and Apur Isaac plays the tender acoustic guitar. Behold the moment when Sanjeeta sings “She knows, the tide is lowâ€?, but I felt like I was downing in a high tide of musical goodness. The closing stages are a treat with the vocals, harmonies, strings and drums all in unison. The wonderful mixing for the track is done by Ashyar Balsara. The video is directed by Parizad, with Tithi Rohilla as the AD and Abhinandan Sharma as the DOP, Sonal Garg as HMU. Ashna Katoch does the beautiful choreography with Tanya Suri and Ashna as dancers. Aanchal Rai is the stylist, with Pritiza as the photographer and Akshiena Khanna as the art work specialist. 2. Theher I was so impressed with Gaurav Chatterji for his 2 songs in ‘Ginny weds Sunny’ but unfortunately some of the other songs which were far inferior in quality and pure remixes got more attention. If you haven’t kindly listen to “Phoonk Phoonkâ€? and “Rubaruâ€? from the album. He is now rising with every new composition and “Theherâ€? is the perfect example of his prowess. Shilpa Rao is the perfect vocalist for this endearing yet mysterious number that is rich in emotions and quality. The use of the orchestra and especially components of the strings section really kept me hooked and obsessed and kudos to Gaurav for the score and production. The 3 instruments that stand out are the Violin and Viola played by Jitendra Hansraj Javda, and the Cello played by Leo Olavio Velho. The words and the musical tone and arrangements are apt, as she sings “ Theher, Saas le zindagiâ€?, and the pause is used to fill the void with the flurry of Violin and Viola. The Budapest Art Orchestra deserves applause for this symphonic exhibition with Peter Pejtsik as the conductor, David Lukacs as the Protols engineer, Gabor Buczko as the recording engineer and Miklos Lukacs as the Session Producer. Alok Punjabi does a fabulous job mixing for this track, as it so difficult to get the sounds and amplitudes right amidst all the instruments. Donal Whelan has mastered the track. Jose Das has assisted on the mixing and Sandeep Gaur writes the meaningful lyrics. The outro on guitars and Violin and Viola is stunning and makes you wish it never ended. 3. Njan Aara Avial the Indian alternative rock band can never be forgotten and despite the many changes that have transpired in terms of band members, thankfully their brand of music hasn’t gone through any decay. In the last released album, there are 8 tracks and I found this to be the absolute best. “Who am Iâ€? is the existential question that this song is trying to ask and Tony John's captivating vocals draw you into the number. Rex Vijayan, a composer I have really fancied thanks to some of his scores and production capabilities plays the lead guitar and bassist Binny Isaac and accompanies him. In-fact Rex slays rather than plays, and that would be an appropriate description of his prowess. The lead and bass guitars are so stunning that after the initial vocal segments, it feels like an instrumental on a standalone bassis. Mithun Puthanveetil blasts away on drums as Tony reaches for the high scales singing the title lines, and his precision in the emotion and delivery is befitting the lyrics. There is some synth related sounds as well and that too is by Rex. The harmonies towards the end are well arranged and provide a breather from the other wise hard rock content 4. Moonrain I over the last couple of years have really taken a liking to fusion, especially the Indian classical/ Rock fusion and Param the band falls right smack in the center of this genre. They call themselves a Hindustani Progressive Rock Act and Moonrain is a perfect depiction of that. It starts off with a disco-like duel with Shreyas Urs on lead guitars and Sanketh Kumar on bass. Vijay Hegde then begins his very classical Hindustani delivery and it apparently an extraction of Raag Bhoop which is known as Mohanam in Carnatic music. The percussions are a mix of both Indian and western worlds with Mayur GS on drums and Vishal Kalbad on Tabla. Vijay is simply excellent with every aalap he delivers and nothing seems overdone or forced. The interlude progresses in the disco style but the bass guitar solo is invigorating, just after the completion of the lead guitar bit. Vishal does some magic with his fingers on the Tabla at break-neck speed and the last minute feels like one scintillating ride on the roller-coaster with guitars and drums taking us in to the heart of rock genre. I am eagerly awaiting their next as this one truly won my heart and the whole song is like a fantasy like wondering how it would feel and seem to have rain on the moon. 5. Zameen We complain and crib about the life in a concrete jungle, but its all haphazard like an incoherent though. Listen to sing splendid number that combines the lyrical mastery of Psya and singing and composition of Dhi Harmony. The guitars are splendid and they are not just sidekicks, but equal heroes for the output of this track. Pratyay Mishra handles the guitar arrangements and Anand Masrani can be heard sizzling away on the bass guitars. Shanaia Puskar Shrotri and Prarthana Wagh hit a nice emotional nerve on the harmonies and we get some good accompaniment on the drums thanks to Baajewala’s recording and Aditya Ranga’s Rhythm arrangements. After the 2.30-minute mark we get a full blast rock genre energy and this shift is delightful and inspirational. Dhi is trained in folk and Indian classical music and that shows in his vocal delivery and understanding of music is reflected in the arrangements. Hersh Desai does the mix and master with Sarthak Ray as the recording engineer. And when all the storm perishes, the guitars followed by Dhi a.k.a. Tanmoy’s vocals is pure gold. 6. 'Naina' It Is some inspiring and tantalizing music and an even better story of a Gaurav Rudra who was determine to write, sing and record this despite some great hindrances to his physical being. I heard it from the horse’s mouth and I got a sense of the man's passion. Just listen to this song and that will do enough to please your heart as Gaurav writes and performs and Pallav Jyoti Mahanta plays the guitars and Keys. You might hear fragments of “Iktaraâ€? by Amit Trivedi at least I heard some notes where the scale resembled and I presume there could be an influence of Raag Khamaj. The guitars are like the driving force behind the song whether acoustic in the foreground or electric guitars in the background. “Tu Roothe aaâ€? and the notes here and that follow also remind me of RD Barman’s “Ek ladki ko dekhaâ€?. Amazer Sanger plays the bass guitars and Abhay Dohar is on the drums. The track is mixed by Arpan Jain, with Abhay, and Kartik Ganotra mastering. We can also hear maybe a Ukulele or pluck in the background to soften the emotions up but the moment that truly stuns you is the electric guitar solo in the interlude past the 2nd minute. It is in the stanza that Gaurav explores and exhibits a lot of his vocal range. Vadik Sehra does the lyrical video and Abhay Kalia handles the artwork. 7. 'O Manuja' He has been away for a bit and I really did miss Prashant Pillai’s scores, and finally he is back and that too for a movie that looks exciting just form the title and poster featuring Soubin Shahir. Prashant arranges and has programmed for the track as well. The clear front runner for claps and ovation is Sithara Krishnakumar the vocalist as she sings it in a fashion and tone you wouldn’t have heard or expected from her. I hear a strong sense of Raag Abheri but the background instrumentals are mind-blowing thanks to Prashant and the additional programmers in Sreerag Saji and Rakesh. The way she sings at the low vocal scales is astounding and creates mystery and a sense of a scare, and maybe that is intended. The electric guitar riff is good as it keeps coming about and the track is supremely mixed and mastered by Vivek Thomas, with Rahul Narayan as the recording engineer. Santhosh Varma is the lyricist. 8. Saamna I don't know if I have this before in my reviews, but Vayu is one of the best composers/producers around and just like he is named he breathes air and life into a song. Here he is writing, composing and producing, with Stav Beger co-composing for the track. AKASA who has worked with Vayu before once again performs with gusto and rock-solid delivery here. The song apparently deals with the trauma of separation from a loved one and meeting the person again. The rhythm programming is top-notch and the entire tone of the song is one that oozes of superior production values. What follows here around the 1.20-minute mark is truly stunning. It sounds like a stringed instrument but this programed sound with rhythms in the background is captivating and lets you lose control, and all you want to do is groove and dance. Stav does the programming for the track. You can hear some excellent flute sounds also intervening in the stanza. As a music lover, all I want is a brief episode of magic in every song and Vayu does that for me along with Stav here. Strangely enough, I felt that the tune had a mild influence on Raag Bhimpalasi and Vayu believes it could just have been unintended. 9. Chirakaarnnu Palavazhaiye How do they just keep producing melodies aty this incredible frequency, I am talking about the Mollywood music industry collectively. This one is composed by Rahul SUbramanianan and sung with that coarse husky tone by Narayani Gopan. The two instrumentalists who immensely impress in the opening stages are bassist Anuraag Rajeev Nayan who is killing it in the background and he also plays the guitars for this one. The other one is a composer I like Sachin Balu who plays the Veena, and wait for the interlude bit, to his proficiency. Arun Alat writes the lyrics and Rahul’s arrangements and programming keep the tone fresh with a tinge of pathos that is also apparent in the vocals. Harishankar V has mixed and mastered the track. 10. Sukoon Last week I mentioned Kashmira Khot the young singer-songwriter who has 3 on 3 of her singles reviewed and featured by me and just like that we have here Neyhal who is a star for the future and just like his 2 earlier singles that both got featured, Sukoon is here to bring a smile to your face. It starts off with some wind instrument magic as Harmish Joshi plays that Clarinet. Neyhal’s vocals are just tranquillity and love encapsulated, and as he sings these beautiful lines that we all can relate to, Meera Desai joins in on the backing vocals adding some beautiful layers. Neyhal writes, sings, composes and plays the guitars, but one cannot quantify the immense contribution of Raag Sethi as he produces, arranges, and also plays the bass guitars. The home of some of India's best music a.k.a. Compass Box Studios is where the magic transpired and got recorded. A brief bridge is introduced where all the drums by Shivang Kapadia come to a halt and only Neyhals voice and guitars guide us through. It is symbolic of the volatile emotions that run through our veins and hearts as we glance at someone we like. This part reminded me very nostalgically of “Papa Kehthe hainâ€?. Kudos to Protyay Chakraborty who does the irreplaceable work of mixing and mastering so many elements and instruments. Neyhal does so well when he alters the notes just a tad to sing Lage sachh tu the second time around. The song simply signs off in memorable and stylish fashion thanks to the clarinet again just like the start.  11. Phase The title of the song is apparently the English words phase, which refers to a period in time, during a feeling of longing for happiness, success or love. I thought the title however was the Hindi word meaning “getting caughtâ€? and since the lyrics come in both English and Hindi and I assumed I was right, because with every second that passed, I was ‘getting caught’ in the song’s web of melody. Sarthak Saksena has written, composed and performed, and his vocals are soft and tender and could just rock you off into sleep. Shahzan Mujeeb has worked on the programming, arrangements as well as mixing and mastering. He does bring some mastery as the Hindi lyrics begin and the percussions take over brilliantly. That is not all, there is a brilliant interlude with a Sitar Solo and it give me vibes of Raag Yamuna Kalyani. The way the song transforms at the end of this interlude like a western Pop is truly scintillating and this where the composer great skill and versatility. Mustafa RK has his contribution in backing vocals and harmonies and he doesn’t miss the target either. The percussion element is the Cajon Box probably along with programmed drums. 12. Zindagi The song is by Goyell Saab Collective and it talks about the pandemic and its lasting impact on humanity. The song has a stylish and cool coloring that mainly oozes from the vocalist’s delivery and attitude. Goyell Saab is the singer and he also has written, and produced this track. The rock styled texture is brought about thanks to Karn Kapoor on drums and Srived Datta on electric guitars. Kunal Kambli is the bassist and he delivers all the oomph non-stop and you can imagine the efficacy of this whole set up when Goyell sings “ koi jeeth na sakeâ€? so casually. The humming too comes off quite well as an extension of the track’s main vibe. 13. Icarus Rushaki Ghosh has written, composed and performed this synth laden and Piano heavy piece and ever since I opened myself up to all styles of music I have appreciated Lo-fi and modern sounds of the electro variety and this song is exemplary in that regard. There are a zillion sounds here and I can only have words of appreciation for Rushaki and Bharg Kale who have produced the track together. They fly high definitely like Icarus towards the sun, but unlike the mythological character, the duo certainly succeeds in reaching higher and higher. The last segment where they sing “That’s what we’ve been told to do, with the Keys, harmonies and all the sounds feels cathartic with a drop of a tear rolling down my cheeks. 14. Entra Adhrushtam Mark K robin produced the best song in India on my list last week with “Reppe Vese Logaâ€? and now he has made it to the list with another out-of-the-box kind of song from the film ‘Mishan Impossible’. He ropes in superstar Haricharan for the male lead vocals and the two do a fabulous job here. It starts off in perfect Reggae or Calypso style with rhythms and bass guitars doing the needful along with the trumpets. Mark composes, arranges and produced the single while also accompanying Haricharan in vocals. Keith Peters is the bassist with David Joseph on drums and Allwyne on percussions. It sounds like a UB 40 song and a good one at that. Mark also plays the Keys and we can hear some excellent interventions on the Harmonica as well. Full marks to creativity! The track is mixed and mastered by Toby and lyrics are penned by Sanapati Bharadwaj. Some of the vocal arrangements and improvised singing is just quite catchy towards the end. 15. Jalwanuma Is it ok to blow my own trumpet? Well fine let me go ahead and still do it. I am quite elated and cautiously proud that Pooja Tiwari, who I rate highly as a singer/ composer, has sung for AR Rahman as the female lead vocalist, but she has featured in my list and my reviews multiple times since 2020 and in fact just last week I reviewed her single amongst the top 5 Indian songs called “Rang Daroongiâ€?. Ok now let me come back to earth, and state this is a fantastic number by the genius, and it has been long overdue. Pooja Tiwari sounds fabulous as she sings it with a mix of tease, sadness and confidence and she sounds nothing like if you hear her talk. I wish Pooja all success from here on in and hope she capitalizes on her big break. The song reminds us and shows fragments of his early works and this has a strong influence on Raag Charukeshi. There is another point I will like to notify here, Sarthak Kalyani who too has been a regular on my lists and reviews does the additional vocals along with Swagat Rathod and the boys easily match up to what is expected of them. Pooja Tiwari blows away in what has to be a golden debut and she has the seasoned Javed Ali on male vocals. The percussion and rhythms are a major component in the success of the song and we have a huge ensemble, comprising Keyur Barve, Satyajit Jamsandekar and Omkar Salunkhe. Satyajot plays the gentle Tabla and heavy Dholak as well, with Ratnadeep Jamsandekar also on Dholak. OMkar and Parag Chhabra conduct the rhythms section and hence a huge round of appreciation to them. I am surprised I am able to write so much considering I have been swooned away by Pooja's high-pitched delivery of the title line. Tapas Roy plays the Bazuki and Mandolin which come to the fore during the interlude but Omkar Dhumal steals the show right towards the end with his Shehnai solo. Be wowed by Pooja's display of vocal range and how she is in the lower scale in the stanza. Chris Jason plays the electric guitar and the technical team is pretty strong as well with Hiral Viradia as the music supervisor, TR Krishna Chetan on mixing along with Pradvay Sivashankar and Pradvay the mastering. The mastering for Apple Digital is done by Riyasdeen Riyan, and the sound engineers are Suresh Permal, Karthik Sekaran, and Aravind Crescendo. Mehboob and Jyoti Nair are the lyricists 16. Try Again SURII is an Indian music composer/producer and he first caught my attention when he featured the singer Sid Sriram called “You’re not aloneâ€?. That totally floored me thanks to some excellent creative vocals by Sid, and to make matters more tempting for the listener it had Shilpa Rao as the female vocalist. This one has endearing and thumping sounds and SURII a.k.a. Surya Giri has written, produced arranged and performed this number. Musicians from Chennai Ashwin Vinayagamoorthy and Sivanesh Natarajan who have been featured multiple times on my website and lists come in with their strong points of mixing this track while Alex Gordon at Abbey Road Studios masters the track. The Chennai duo of Ashwin and Sivanesh are also the recording engineers. SURII’s vocals are mesmerizing, as he goes into falsetto and executes it brilliantly and I am always reminded of Chris Isaak, the American musician who sang “Wicked Gameâ€?. The rhythms are just what the doctor ordered, and the guitars are spectacular and feel like a booster shot to the ears. This is one of the best electro-pop/ dance numbers I have heard in recent times.

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 17th April 2022, I have rated and reviewed the 17 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. Reppe Vese Loga It has been a while since Tollywood music really cranked up things a notch, and finally just as I was getting worried, this smashing number came about. Harika Narayan sings like Tina Turner in Golden Eye OST and her vocals are rousing like an Opera performer. The strings are another highlight in the track and Mark K Robin composes and arranges this humdinger. He also plays the rhythms and guitars in the track. Chennai Strings Orchestra blows you away in the interludes with B Yensone conducting it. The orchestration which deserves massive applause is by Antony Karuna and he also mixes for the track. The strings remind me of an Ilaiyaraja song, that is how magnificent the score is. Harika continues to sing and captivate further in the stanza, despite all our attention on the multitude of instruments. The bass guitars mildly accompany and they are played by Naveen Napier. In the far end, you can also hear that solo violin, making you wonder if this is Britney Spears’ “Toxic�. Sai Shravanam does the Stem mixing and mastering and Harika sings Krishna Kanth’s words. This is one wholesome number and anyone who loves an experience of a symphony of live instruments will fall for this track. 2. Isolated There was a time, maybe a few years ago I used to wonder who Papon is! I was raised in the south and to many like me, Ilaiyaraja was the only musician worth even talking about and so singers like Papon were unknown to me. The reason I entered the field of music reviews was to stop being the frog in the well, and then decide on the best in music. After 3 years now I can say with certainty that there is no one like Ilaiyaraja around, but Papon is a fabulous singer and since 2020 I have also enjoyed his compositions and featured many. This is one more of those splendid vocal performances but a lot of the credit must go to Arnab Bashistha who has produced and composed the music. The way the song carries that attitude and coolness of a modern sound, yet when the lines are sung it transforms into a classical rendition. That piece of Sitar introduced in the interlude is so sudden and sounds magical, with Subhankar Hazarika playing. It follows a soft and pop-like harmony and that is why it amuses me even more. The influences seem very much like Raag Bilaval, but upon speaking with the composer I get that it is based on Raag Khamaj and Raag Desh and the Sitar is aided by string arrangements in the background. Kaysee is the female vocalist in the song. The interlude doesn’t stop here, as there is one more moment of magic with Ustad Murad Ali Khan on the Sarangi. The casual yet very committed way of delivering the lines is why Papon shines. The guitars are played by Ishanu and he also produces the track with Arnab. Pankaj Borah does the mix and master and the sound engineers are Pinku Das, Rajbir Singh, with sound design by Debajit Gayan and assisted by Sulagna Handique. The way the Saramgi continues all along in the stanza and in the outro feels like an angel reaching out from a distance. Hiranjit and Anshuman are the lyricists. 3. Holding on to the hope It feels like good old American country music as Rohan Mazumdar sings with his confident vocals and excellent diction. He also plays strongly charming acoustic guitars. Aditya Ashok on drums has complete control of the tempo of the song and it moves and shifts beautifully from slow to catchy. Aditya also joins Bradley Tellis on vocals with Bradley playing the electric guitar. You can hear those minor yet mindful interventions on the electric guitar. It feels amazing to listen to the singing when Rohan sings “Maybe we could get there� and you really want to feel the hope that the band is expressing through the words, vocals guitars and drums. The faster tempo is symbolic of a scenario of rising hope I guess and Adil Kurwa supports adequately on bass guitars. The Colour Compound as the band is called clearly has heightened expectations for me. 4. Intezaar It has been a long wait or Intezaar for Indie music fans to listen to that man Lucky Ali again. In the 1990s when Bollywood music was sticking to a set formula, musicians like Lucky explored out of the box and gave us fresh resplendent music. It is only fair that legends like him get a shot at the indie scene now, and last year I featured his collaboration with Israeli composer Botzer for a song called “Amaraya�. Here we have Lucky and his old time associate Mikey Mcleary giving us a taste of novelty and breaking away from the monotony. This Chennai born NZ musician has been around making waves in Bollywood movies and commercial jingles. Unlike Amaraya which had a mesmerizing and serious tone, Intezaar is like joi-de-vivre. The acoustic and bass guitars are bursting with energy, but I also particularly loved the resonator guitar which has its unique sound in the mix of things. IP Singh and Lucky write, while Mikey produces and composes the track along with Lucky. It is straightforward but the humming bits and the introduction of the Trumpets and vocal harmonies along with a shift in scale do enough magic to keep your attention hooked. It is shocking to hear Lucky sound exactly the way he did and he hasn’t dropped from his A game in the last 30 years. 5. Kahi Katai Songs about the mental state and how humans understand and treat those with mental fatigue and depression are thankfully coming in plenty these days. Apurva Tamang has written, composed and performed this lullaby and I don’t follow a word of what is sung in Nepali here, but I’m in 7th heaven. The title line sung in a slightly higher scale with bass and acoustic guitar sounds galore elevate the sentiment and purpose of the track. This song has a fairly elaborate stanza that keeps you wondering where the trajectory of the scales and notes would lead to. This Darjeeling born musician never lets your interest or mood shift away and when he ends the song, his vocals are soothing like a good hot cup of Darjeeling Tea itself. The songs tone and background flourish feel like “Puthu Mazhaiyai� sung by Shreya Ghoshal and composed by Gopi Sunder. The track is recorded, mixed and mastered by Chandan Tamang, and the video is shot and edited by Aahan Mewang Rai. Aadarshika Hangma is cast in the video 6. Chaand Tare 5 of the 6 musicians in this weeks top 6 are new to my page and list and that makes me feel confident about the abundance of talent and my method and mode of song listening and reviewing. Razik Mujawar impressed me within seconds when I hear this track and it does feel like viewing a starry night on top of that when Razik performs we get a full moon to go along with it. This is the 3rd single in his upcoming EP called ’24’ as Razik writes, sings and composes the splendid tune. Ashish Bajpai showcases his abilities with his musical production and he also does the tedious job of mixing and mastering along with it. Strings start things off but soon we hear a pluck and Razik’s ravishing vocals. The array of sounds from the strings section in the background as Razik sings “Janoon itna Main, hua hai pehli dafa, fills your heart with joy and enchantment. The introduction of the Tabla following this line is unexpected and pleasant. The production tends further to a classical style as the Harmonium is played in the interlude. The arrangements of instruments and vocal harmonies both are quite exquisite and well-timed. The song is co-written by Zorawar Sangha, and the guitars are played by Razik himself. 7. 259 This is a one-man show, as Akash Chopra writes, composes, plays the guitar and performs this manic beauty. The man's voice is like an addictive substance/habit you just can’t stay away from. He sings it all in the lower scales and executes every note with utter mastery. He also does a fine job in the arrangements and programming as we hear a strings section in the background along with Keys all acting as eye-catching garnish. A few months ago I had shared my feedback about his strong vocals, and I am glad I got an opportunity to feature and showcase this number to the world. 8. Muklawa When people over-simplify Punjabi music into something that is redundant and lacking creativity, they are entirely right. Here every week the effort is to pick some of the best of Indian music leaving aside any biases and preconceived notions, and when music like this comes through, I hope listeners can break away from their misconceptions as well. This EP "Ve Geetan Waleya" has a few good numbers but "Muklawa" was my favourite. The Keys are just fabulous, and it is just not that the rhythms are impressive Bir Singh uses elements of the strings and brass section that glorify the experience. You can hear even the upright bass and that is this is like no Punjabi Melody you will hear. Bir has written and composed the music with Gurmohh being the producer and Ranjit being the vocalist. 9. Ee Mazha Barkha We have heard him before sing and perform with noteworthy finesse for young composer and the likes of AR Rahman. It is however a new page when someone goes that extra mile to compose a song, and when I opened the song, I was nervous for Sreekanth Hariharan. Within seconds I felt an easing of pressure with his soothing voice and the tone of the song. Sreekanth and Srinath Nair compose and sing the number which has influences of Raag Kalyani (Carnatic). The Keys and the Konakkol merge well and when the humming also begins the beauty of the Raaga comes to the fore. Srinath Nair sings the Hindi lyrics and that feeling of a moist and flourishing rainy season is created in our imagination. The Malayalam lyrics are written by Sreekanth and he also arranges this initial portion, while Srintha arranges the Hindi portion of the song with lyrics by Avinash Sharma. Srinath impresses with his mild aalaps and it feels like listening to a Hindustani Classical piece in Raag Yaman. Sreekanth captivates you with the stanza like we have known him to do as he also produces the number. Balu Thankachan the expert engineer, mixes and masters the track with Avinash Satish, Sanjai Arakkal as recording engineers. Pavisankar works on the album art and Akash Nath does the lyric video. The outro portion with Sreekanth singing, and Srinath accompanying in the deeper layer in Hindi is memorable. 10. Aapki yaad Saacha Sahib was gold, and it just blew me away, and now the second single from his upcoming EP “Surmayi� is here with not an iota of disappointment from Kanishk Seth. So strangely the song reminds me of “Aapki Aankhon mein Kuch� and the first few notes and the first words of both songs are a 100% match. Maybe that is what I am tempted to say that there is some Raag Kedar influence. The words are from the original poetry by Faiz Ahmed Faiz and they simply go speechless. The song is about remembering your loved one, and when music and lyrics are this wonderful what else can once focus on? Kanishk is at his emotive best in his delivery as the vocalist and he also has produced and composed the tune. It is heartwarming to see a global union of musical talent like Luca Bordonaro on the Clarinet, Steven Stoffels on all Orchestral arrangements and Nicholas Phang as the recording engineer for the vocals. The interlude has apathos-laden solo on the Sarangi by Momin Khan and as it ends we have a brief intervention on the Clarinet leading into the antara, and it follows in the background layer with some excellent backup vocals. Some synth programming is heard as we approach the end, but the live instruments take the cake, who would have thought that the Clarinet and Sarangi would go hand in hand this well. Kanishk has mixed and mastered the track. 11. Saiyara Nikhil Dsouza is to my mind quite under-rated as a musician, as I feel he doesn’t get deserved recognition, following and praise. I have featured his song on at least 5 occasions and he never tends to disappoint me as a music listener. This one is composed and performed by Nikhil and truth be told, my expectations are sky high and so I always end up wanting more from the artist. Nathan Thomas produces this very soft number with Pinky Poonawala as the lyricist. Chinmay Harshe does the mix and master for the song. Thank God for his vocals which are not an imitation of some of the major Hindi Vocalists which has now become a regrettable trend. The pain and passion are both telegraphed effectively when Nikhil sings a love song, and it is dreamy how he lands the falsetto. The guitars and Piano intermittently touch on the emotions of love and gravity and Pink does write these wonderful words that touch a nerve. The use of backup vocals in multiple layers works amazingly. 12. Tum Tejas Gambhir is the front man of the Pune based rock band Amritaansh, and he composes the tunes for them. It is like he continues from where left things off in his previous hit single “Muskuraiye�. The vocals straightaway entice you and some clever harmonies aided by Keyboards makes this song a delightful listen. There is a clear attempt to compose a tune, which is just not mundane, with the line “Aisa lagta hai, mere zindag mein� which is a concatenation of notes you wouldn’t have expected. Tejas improvises vocally t many instances and they all comes off quite well. 13. Here I go I aim to go beyond the obvious geographical lines drawn between states, but sometimes it does feel nice that artists from your own backyard go on t achieve great things. I am a Chennai –bred guy, but when Sanjna Banik from Puducherry sings and composes like this, it brings a smile to my face that you cant wipe off that easy. Singer-songwriters these days are immensely mature and when you hear the words and the intention behind the song you are amused how at such a young age, artists like Sanjna want to talk about some intense philosophies of life. “Here I go� is meant to talk about the vicissitudes of life and how human beings should both stop feeling overtly attached and find a away to move on when plans perish. She writes, composes and performs this wonderful number but Mrityunjay Sathyanarayanan composes the portion on the Piano. Jerry Silvester Vincent plays the Piano and he hits things off from the very beginning. Sanjna carries the gravity of the songs message in her vocals and delivers with great honesty. Jerry’s production is fantastic as we also have a wonderful segment on the strings that kind of possesses you. He has programmed and arranged for the track as well and the quality is there for you to hear. Ishit Kuberkar does the mixing and mastering and Joy Srivastava handles the photography. 14. Museum of Innocence Musicians and artists take inspiration from every object around us, and pain, sadness, break ups are as good triggers as love, joy and success. Javaad Ahmed a.k.a. ‘Judy on the run’ names this song after a book which he bought with his girl who left for someone else a little later. Once can feel his pain through the words and the vocal delivery is a reflection of that anguish as well. As a listener, I am stoked as long as good music emanates from any feeling even thought my heart goes onto him. The Piano is strong and guides the track until the sadness sinks, at which point the song moves into more of an exasperated burst of energies bringing in the electric guitar and higher scaled vocals. Sparsh Jain plays the guitars and also is the music producer but the lyrics and composition credits go to Shaq. Manish das has assisted on guitars and he along with Sparsh join on the vocals in the track. The thumping drums are played by Keshav Chopra, and when all these combine it feels like a rock number by American band ‘Green Day’. Rushik Patel and Sparsh do the mix and master and with Atharva Kamat on album art and Joel Joseph on photography 15. Aakasham His music has been featured before and that too twice on my lists and website before with “Veyil� and “Castle in the Sky�, and they were both gems. Aromal Chekaver is a hot talent in the Malayalam indie space and he is living upto that hype. His vocals are really cool and casual without a hint of strain, and you wish you could keep listening to his voice. Aromal writes, composes, produces and performs in the track. The other highlight is definitely the Nadaswaram interventions by Siva Prasad and at cerrtain segments I could hear some Neelambari Raagam. You can also hear a mild Saxophone in the background and all these sync well with the rhythms. Jay Stellar co-produces the track with all additional arrangements by Nivedh CJ. Amal Mithu plays the guitars and Mahenth MB does the vocal supervision. The track is recorded by Jomon Joseph with Arun K Ramachandran working on mixing and mastering. BM Maheck assists on the mixing and Jijo SV is the musician co-ordinator. 16. Badalon se Vishal Khtari and Dhaval Kothari are flagbearers who really work hard and well to get Gujarati folk and indie music up and running. I have featured them individually before in a few tracks and her we have the combined skill set of both artists giving us a fabulous tune. Dhaval composes and performs while a good mix of guitars, Keyboards and harmonies accompany the vocalist. Vishal does the musical production and arrangements and there is an effort to combine some EDM amd modern Lo-fi sounds with a folkish tune. Unnati Shah just sizzles in her lines in Gujarati as here saccharine oozing voice compliments the soothing Hindi Vocals by Dhaval. Muzzafal M generic is the lyricist and Prasad Maha does the mixing and mastering. Palak Jain does all the artwork while the video is directed and conceptualized by Prachi Arya, with Pritesh Patel as DoP. 17. Last woman on earth Mrunal Shankar a.k.a. Mrunal S Dhole writes and performs this fantasy lyrical wondering how the world would see to the last woman on earth. Dhruvan Moorthy has produced, mixed and mastered the track. She ha skind of done it all, been part of a rock band from Pune, performed as a rapper and shes a singer-songwriter. This song requires some very capable singing and Mrunal is upto the task. She moves between English and Hindi lyrics with consummate ease and it is not only the rapping bits, but the high pitched singing which is where I was impressed. The Keyboard and rhythm programming is also amped up for this high octane number. Some of the lyrics are also nicely penned with thoughtfulness.

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 10th April 2022, I have rated and reviewed the 17 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. Payaliya Jhankaar I used to stay away from cover versions of songs and avoid new renditions of golden hits and classics. But that makes no sense, to review a song just because it is called an original. There is always some inspiration and some influence of an olden gem somewhere even in an original. So here is the best song of the week and it tops the charts beating a few others which would have topped the charts any other week. There cannot be a greater moment of pride when your offspring & disciple gives a fantastic rendition of your original composition. Here there are two mind-blowing vocal performers viz. Anjali and Nandini Gaikwad singing the bandish created by their father and Guru Angad Gaikwad. This is a soulful tune set in Raag Puriya Dhanashree, and the Raag itself boasts of a nature that will taunt you and compel you into surrendering to your senses. Kshitij Tarey is the man who re-creates this beauty and what we hear is pure bliss and creativity of the highest order. Modern instrumentals can add a color you never imagined and that is what has happed to this original even Pt. Angad Ji will be proud of. Vinayak Pol blasts away on his drums and Abhishek Dasupta adds function and style with his guitars. The violin solo intervention by Manas Kumar is like the bridge between the traditional and the modern elements of the song. The sisters bring such poise and passion through their voice and the aalap they produce is next to unimaginable in difficulty levels. The track is mixed and mastered by Reena Gilbert and one can imagine the work that has gone into mixing the track with so many elements. Strumm Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. Is the music label. Stop read now and just enjoy the magic and thank the heavens that creativity and fusion music continues to carry our gems to the wider listening audience. 2. Theeyanu He is a well-respected and dependable musician in Mollywood and Kollywood and when he shared one of his recent compositions for me to hear, I was thrilled. Most of Jakes Bejoy’s scores have a modern color suiting the tastes of the younger generation, but he never deviates from the core melody, while doing that. This is a mild and teasing melody and he gets one of my favorite vocalists on board in Kapil Kapilan to deliver the lines. The song is produced by Jakes, Alan Joy Mathew and Glady Abrhaham and I have featured Alan multiple times on his forays into indie music. Goutam Vincent starts proceedings on the Melodica, soon enough Godfrey Immnuel’s guitars set the tone and mood. I can only stick to my claim that Kapil is the hottest property now in India amongst all male lead vocalists, and you just need to listen to his singing where he caresses you with his voice. The chorus arrangements are precise and interesting thanks to Amal Anthony Augustine. The stanza is so unpredictable as the trajectory of the notes is like nothing that you can foresee and it is a huge compliment to Jakes’ skill. Napier Naveen plays the bass guitars, and Joe Paul is the lyricist. The line “Ethethan Thottam, Aarum thannalum� is an exhibition of A-grade singing. The song ends on a beautiful pacified note with the Keys. The track Is mixed by Sujith Hyder Thaha and mastered by Pradeep with recording engineer Midhun Manoj. 3. Saiyan More We are amidst greatness, with another genius Purbayan Chatterjee at the helm now composing a thumri in the classical-rock fusion genre. This is set in Raag Charukeshi which is one of those scales which has an innate sadness attached to it. The Sitar played by Purbayan replaces the electric guitar in the usual rock performances and Anusha Mani is the vocalist. Purbayan’s finger dexterity is awe-inspiring and the tempo is maintained by Darshan Doshi on drums and Ishaan Ghosh on Tabla, especially you will enjoy Ishaan’s mastery in the stanza after a massive drop in pace from that we heard in the interlude. Nakul Chugh can be heard playing the Keyboards behind the low scale vocals of Anusha. Can you imagine it is the same person who sang catchy fast pop tunes like “Nafarmani� and “Hua Mera� released in the last year or so. It is a testament to her prowess and diverse skill. Priyani Vani is the lyricist and Megha Rawooot and Joy Sengupta handle videography. 4. Tera Uthke Yoon Here we have duo who simply were one of the best composers/producers in 2021 giving a smash melody every couple of months and each and every one of these slow numbers made a steady and saccharine impact on our hearts. Aabhas and Shreyas Joshi have composed the music for this web-series called ‘Ranjish Hi Sahi’. They continue the trand of creating pathos-laden gems and who better to emote it than Rekha Bharadwaj as the lead vocalist. The Keys play slowly to give context to the emotion but the strings in the background add depth and gravity. The aalap and the way Rekha holds the breath for a few more seconds than you would expect all work so well in conveying the message just like Ravi’s solid words. Every element speaks volumes about the helplessness and vulnerability seeing the metaphorical ‘forbidden fruit’. The song gives you pain that you want to experience time and again! 5. Rang Daroongi Festivals in India are not just about celebration and family gatherings, but also about music and dance. New releases around such events always start rising and Holi is definitely one of them. Here comes one of my favorites Pooja Tiwari who is not just a fabulous singer but also a talented composer. I have featured her multiple times and almost every time she releases a new single it gets featured. Her precocious skill comes out in the refurbished rendition of an old folk song based on Raag Pilu (Kaapi in Carnatic) as she adds a R&B style instrumental arrangement and production. The original is by Ustad Gulshan Bharti but the strong bass guitars and rhythm influences make the song sound uber cool. Bhargav Gandhi works on the production and Advaitham works on the additional production work. The Harmonium along with the bass guitars is something we rarely hear in the same audio output and IM blown away by the creativity. A lot of rhythms follow a Latin Jazz style. The interlude on the Sitar is inspiring and it is so easy to focus on all these elements even though Pooja is simply at her flowy best delivering the lines, making improvised vibrato. She is destined for higher and better things and as we read this Pooja is already makes with the best in Bollywood music. Alena Darmel has worked on the video 6. Canvas Young musicians are fearless and when they have their sight set on the prize, they go straight for it. That can never be misunderstood as haughtiness and this applies perfectly to Kashmira Khot. She now scores a hat-trick with 3 releases and all 3 being featured among the nation’s best music. It is no ordinary feat considering the competition she is facing. What is even more amazing is that ever since her debut single, I have been rising the bar and she just crosses it with great comfort. This one is written, composed and sung by Kashmira and she oozes confidence and quality in each of these aspects. Adity Gopalakrishnan joins the bandwagon with his guitars and drums and he also plays the strings. The composition and arrangements are not run-of –the-mill and it is this intent to create something fresh that sets Kashmira apart. The joy of live instruments shows up in every note and corner her as Ojas Bangale plays the bass guitars, as well as Organ and Piano. We can also hear a layer of background vocals well arranged. There is a short solo on the electric guitar by Aditya and what follows is a terrific detour of notes in the most unexpected fashion singing “Say that you can’t erase�. Aditya has produced, mixed and mastered the track and Canvas is that single which paints a different picture in every listener’s heart. 7. Knight in Shining Armour Klanjan Borah, I’m hearing him for the first time, and this was like a bashing baptism. The song moved from strength to strength as the string guitars, harmonies act as base for Klanjan’s vocals. The singing style kind of felt like a Calypso to me as Klanjan writes, produces and performs this energetic and breezy number. The humming just lets the hearts soar with Klanjan showing immaculate control and his vocals. Kalvin Sinam on bass and Sanket Pahurkar on drums simply elevate the song and stay true to its intent to lighten and inspire the mood. The way he sings “ I…. will always be true� just is an icing on an already delicious cake. Manish Bal and Sashank Sahu are the recording engineers and with Vivek Thomas working on mixing and mastering, Klanjan does all the additional mastering. Vidhi Maheshwaro does the choreography with the Teen Hearts as the cast members comprising of Kimmy, Pranjal, Zillie, Kassi, Bisola and Evelyn. 8. Udhero Na When I listened and picked this song for the week, she was just nominated, but by the time this article is getting published, Arooj Aftab becomes first ever Pakistani Grammy awardee for Best Global Performance. This was a song created back in 2005 but unreleased, and thankfully it finally found the light of day. The project is features Indians artists and half sisters Anoushka Shankar and Norah Jones on the Sitar. The vocals are deep and create a feeling of mystery as Arooj sings in the lower scales. The sitar interventions are apt and to compliment the pathos in Arooj’s voice the instrumentals add some life and joy, so the combination works well. Arooj has produced, composed, written, sung, and arranged for the track. There is also that mild and delightful Harp being played by Maeve Gilchrist and he also plays the Snyth bass. Around the second minute mark the Sitar interludes soud more like Raag Bhimpalasi to me and are just a celebration of great music and life itself for a good minute. She sings ‘Udhero Na’, apparently meaning ‘Please Undo’, but how can this magic and impact of the song ever be undone? There are also bits of the Flugelhorn played by Nadje Noordhuis right at the start of the song. Joshua Valleau has mixed and Damon Whittemore has mastered the track. Petros Klampanis has worked with Arooj on the arrangements. 9. Bill Hilly & Fools will learn This 3 piece Bengaluru based band simply brought me back the good old days of simple, soulful and stunning all at the same time. I really wished I was a guitarist so that I could do this kind of magic and impress people. Anirudh Ravi plays the guitars and sings like he’s walking on the clouds. I can understand and see that it is not easy at all to sing at this break-neck speed and still hit every note perfectly. The whole EP “Rooftops� is probably named so, because the brand of music is simple without any massive complex apparatus needed like how it could be performed on a rooftop. Abheet Anand plays the bass guitars and Bharath Kasyap accompanies on acoustic guitars. The writing is so funny and impressive and that deserves a special mention as well. The best track for me was ‘Fools will learn’, which had a strong and witty messaging snuck into the lyrics. The melody element was rich in this song and interplay of acoustic and bass guitars was more evident and creative here than any other song of the EP. I still strong recommend everyone to check out the EP, especially guitarists and those wanting to get some attention and love! 10. Dhom Thana Aditi Bhavaraju is experimental purely because she not only sings in mainstream Tollywood, but she keeps the listeners engaged wither indie projects. This is her vocal endeavor for the musical score by Achu Rajamani. He also does all the programming and there is that fine introduction of the rhythms, sounding like the thavil, which is proof of the quality of programming. The harmonies and Kazoo also are well interlaced in the interlude with Achu also on backing vocals. Kadali is the lyricist and all the mixing and mastering is done by Ijaz Ahamed. Aditi’s singing is of the highest order with she executing the high scale segment with splendid ease. RR Dhruvan another noted composer does the vocal supervision in this song produced by Neptunes Music. 11. So Late so soon Alan Emmanuel Ebenezer a.k.a. Alan Ebe is a singer songwriter based in the UAE and he plays the guitar for a Dubai-based band called F.I.S.H , and although I have heard some of his songs before this one was screaming for a review in front of my eyes and ears. The song had straightaway taken me to Savage Garden’s “The Animal Song�. The singing along with the guitars is top-notch, but the drums and humming elevate the song. The rhythm and overall arrangements deserve an applause, as I love how the background elements take a breather when Alan Ebe sings “How did it get so late so soon�. Allan Samuel Vetha and Aaron Dev Sherlin and Alan produce the track with Allan also doing the mixing and mastering. Serena Joseph does the artwork and Richie Roberts does the digitization. This is a fresh sounding number that deserves your time. The lovely write up is by Neelima Menon, while the description of the song to press and others is by Shreyaa Lakhminarayanan. 12. Guzarish I have featured them before and absolutely loved it so much that the single was the number 1 song in India for that week for a song called “Sanware�. There is no stopping this composer duo of Garvit-Priyansh and they tunnel through the charts with another fusion number that is bound to steal your hearts. The core melody of a song determines everything else that that song goes on to achieve, and that is precisely what Garvit Soni and Priyansh Srivastava understand and execute to perfection. The Piano at the start creates bliss and sets up the stage for what follows. Priyansh and Garvit serenade us with their vocals, without ever overdoing any portions and Garvit produces the track from start to finish. If ‘Sanware’ was slightly more tilted towards a classical side, his single promises to be a mix of pop and some fragments of classical music. The aalap in the interlude is followed by guitars, drums and the flute, with guitars played by Priyansh, and he also writes these lyrics about continuing on your desired path in life. The lovely artwork is by Rhea Suhag and Abhinandan Bhargava does the video. 13. Ilaveyilolo Nee enn Dr Sunil VT has composed this melody and thanks to Samson Silva’s arrangements, the first minute of the song itself has so much to offer in terms of live instrumentals. Anil Govind’s Flute and Soundara Rajan’s Veena solos make way for KS Harishankar to met our hearts away with that voice. Abin Sagar plays the acoustic guitar and Jackson Jacob is on the bass. Renju S Mosses is on the percussion. The song slowly progresses into somber mode in the charanam with apt lyrics by Dr. Sheeja Vakkom. Harikrishnan R does the mixing and Shadaab Rayeen does the mastering. To me the Veena, Bass guitars and Flute interventions stand out the most. 14. Home July 19 – Hmm not a specific date that I should remember, just a wonderful song title that impressed me so much that I have been looking forward to this singer-songwriter’s next release. Well wait no more, it is here! This Piano-predominant single called ‘Home’ does live up to if not surpass my expectations. Shweta Srivastava stuns you with her vocals and composition. The writing is something that anyone will relate to when you hear it and adds to the likability of the track. The production is clearly the work of Keyboardist/Producer Himonshu Parikh who is one of the main hubs of the wheel called “The Yellow Diary�. The rhythms and synths/keyboards add a texture to the song that reminds me of “Dreams� by Fleetwood Mac. Faraz Haider plays the guitars while AJinkya Dhapare does the mixing and mastering. The album art picture is clicked by Soham Joshi and designed by Neha Rustagi. I could be off and I don’t see if the composer intended it, but I definitely feel a striking resemblance to Raag Hamsadhwani. 15. Freightliner A two-piece rock ensemble come and just move fast and break things, and it sounds like “Dire Straits� performing. Shantanu Shende is the man behind those tantalizing vocals and guitars while the smooth and savvy bass guitars are played by Manas Pimpalkhare. The song if you pay attention has sounds of bikes and trucks on the road and it is apparently the duo’s dedication to such road movies of the 1960s and 70s. Shantanu writes, sings, produces and records the track as well and the do have Harsh Kumbhar to thank for the cinematography. The electric guitar and bass guitar tussle is one to cherish and when you hear the songs tonality feels like “Sweet Home Alabama� as well. The electric guitar solo after the 3-minute mark sets the stereo on fire. The song has some nice harmonies executed and arranged. 16.Run This is a pop number that reminds me of my days as a student in the US back in 2002. These were the days when Avril Lavigne and Vanessa Carlton were scoring and singing great and popular tunes. Priyanka Nath sings, writes this very nostalgic number and her singing is probably even inspired by these stars. I especially love the lines when she delivers “It’s such a shame, what we could’ve been, but you chose to run, from the things we could’ve done�. Sidharth Bendi has mixed, mastered and produced the track. The guitars are played by Sunny Ebenezer and Chris Anderson is on bass guitars. The harmonies in the background also complement well.

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 3rd April 2022, I have rated and reviewed the 17 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. Love Safari Rarely do songs impress you so much that they make you go crazy about it. It is all you can keep playing on your mind and you wait for the first excuse to play them with your headphones. ‘Love Safari’ is right smack at the center of that category and I knew it is going to end up being the best track of the week across the nation. Job Kurian is the man for the job, literally as well and he is in full control of the vocal delivery like he can do no wrong. The emotive singing at the beginning and the swaras he sings in the interlude just feels like a gift from God. Turning to the composer Kiran Jose deserves a huge round of applause for creating, composing, writing, arranging and programming this little wonder. It has come influences of Raag Durbarikanada and Kiran makes this song so worthy that it will find a place among gems for 2022 for sure. The Guitarlele is playing in the background and Arun Krishna not only does that, as he plays the guitars, and plays and arranges the bass guitars as well. The intervention on the saxophone is like an icing on this marvelous cake and it is played Nikhil Ram who we know as a flautist. Subin Kumar plays the Violin while Paachu is on the Tabla and Shree Shankar handles the Melodyne. Shree also has mixed and mastered the track. The highlight of the track is that interlude bit where the song deviates from just be a romantic slow melody into a qawwali, all this shows the skill of the composer. 2. Rongo Koro na This one is a very close second and it would have topped the charts on any other week, if not for ‘Love Safari’ at number 1. The Baul genre of folk music is very addictive and meditative style of music and when you hear someone like Raju Das Baul sing it you will go into trance. I have lost a sense of myself and just kept moving my head every time I play the song. The guitarist Ritaprabha Ray has produced, arranged and of-course played the guitars for this masterpiece. It is written by Ray Kedar with mixing and mastering duties performed by Rhitabrata Kar and all the lovely calligraphy and artwork done by Joyjeeta Bose. The rhythm and percussion right at the beginning along with the guitars possess you and whe you hear Raju sings these lines I feel like all the great miseries of life have vanished. Cizzy just intervenes writing and singing the rap portion and how well it conjoins with the rest of the song. This is an exemplary bit of how Rap should sound, considering all the poor Hip-Hop we hear in the name of expletives and womanizing we hear from many famed celebrity artists. The guitars and all te keyboard programming come together in the background with Cizzy asking you to “Awaaz koro na�. There is some clear influence of Raag Sindhubhairavi ( Asavari in Hindustani). The video is well shot as well with Joydeep Das on cinematography and Rahul Guha on editing and direction. Ritaprabha and Amita Ray produce the video as well. 3. Cicada Anju is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from the US and this song is a number of years of work, planning and creativity and we should be thankful that it has finally seen the light of day. Anju has written, sung, composed and done the string arrangements for this. But she claims she has waited long for this dream team to assemble and Atlas Finch has co-produced and worked on the instrumentation while Leonardo Vásquez Chácon plays the Viola. Within seconds you know the work that has gone into a song, and the guitars and other instrumentation entice you. To make matters worse for you if you were already distracted by the song is that Anju now begins to vocalize and you just need to surrender. Like she says in the song “you linger in my lungs�, this is deeply romantic and also holds true of the effect she creates with her voice, as it lingers in our eardrums. The bass guitars add so much meat even as Anju takes a pause and breath between lines. John Mark Nelson does the mixing while Alec Ness handles the mastering. Lily Xie does all the artwork and this project is symbolic of global music and artistic talent coming together. Anju explores her higher vocal scales and the way she hits the falsetto is like a tough gymnastic move and she lands perfectly. The Viola by Leonardo adds that layer of pathos and gravity and you cannot afford to miss a second of what happens in the audio. Closer to the 4th minute is when we first hear some rhythmic intervention on drums and the instrumental arrangements are truly world class. Cicada the large insect can never be ignored as it will make its presence felt with its massive sounds, just like that Anju and the team have created a number here that can just not be ignored! 4. Theera Nadhi Dhibu Ninan Thomas can do no wrong. At the moment. Here he scores music for the movie “Nadhi� and he gets two dependable performers in Kapil Kapilan and Srinisha Jayaseelan as lead vocalists. The brilliant flute intervention between the lines “Jal jal kolusoli� is Dhibu showcasing his talent and it is played by Nikhil Ram in a teasing fashion. Dhibu composes, programs and arranges as always but this time is with the words of Thamarai. Listen to the savvy Shehnai by Pt. S Ballesh and you will least expect it amidst all the synths and keyboard programming. Keba Jeremiah plays the guitars and plucked strings as well. This segment feels a lot like listening to “Kabeera� by Pritam. The momentum suddenly drops as Srinisha sings and it is only Keba accompanying on guitars and then we are back to a hearing some more catchy lines including one of the best lines of the song in “Theerathathe nam vazhvu thane�. Avinash Sathish and Hariharan are the recording engineers and we have Balu Thankachan mixing and Shadab Rayeen on mastering duties. 5. Zama There is a compromise to quality and hard work, and it reflects in the output. Maybe not in likes, trends and shares but it makes you heart grow fonder when a magician is at work. Here we are talking about composer/producer Meghdeep Bose as he produces this album “Main Tera� by Azaan Sami Khan which has close to 10 songs. He has got pedigree being the son of Adnan Sami but he doesn’t rest on those laurels. Azaan is a celebrity performer in Pakistan and surely carries a voice that you can connect with. I loved this song the most and it immediately made an impact on me. The composition, lyrics and vocals are by Azaan Sami, while Music is by Meghdeep. Zaland Khan is the original lyricist for this beauty, but I wish I understood the meaning of these lovely words. The song has some astounding rhythm thanks to Arun Solanki who has performed percussions. Meghdeep dazzles on the acoustic, bass guitars and all modular synths. The texture is so Middle Eastern owing to the Strings, Woodwinds and Brass all performed by the Turkish Orchestra in Istanbul. This too feels so nice as it is a collaboration of musical talents across nervous and tense political and geographical borders. Hanish Taneja does the mixing and mastering. The interlude is a symphony with the woodwinds first followed by Strings and I feel like Alice in Wonderland. Azaan in the stanza elevates his scale and sounds so fresh and authentic. 6. Dhaage I listen to around 400 songs a week, and if I have to make time amidst my life, profession etc. I have to keep my headphones on during most of my activities. So during one of my recent sessions I keep listening but showed no great interest to some of the mediocre music that was playing. I knew somewhere in the list that there was this new composition by Anurag, but my playlist was on shuffle. The moment this song started played I somehow guessed from the instrumentation and humming and just the feeling that the song created, that it had to be “Dhaage�. I communicated this story to Anurag telling him it was a huge compliment to his brand of music. To me “Khwaab� was a tad more special but this song is not too far off as it has elements that I cherished every time I played it. The humming for starters is pensive and the synth programming is just splendid. Vaibhav Pani a producer and guitarist who has appeared many times on my lists has played a huge role in the output of this song. He has played the guitars and produced the track bringing it to a standard that Anurag’s composition and vocals deserve. Anurag has also written the lyrics with Alok Ranjan Srivastava who provided additional lyrical inputs. The way the notes move and the way Anurag sings “Baaton hi, Baaton mein� is just pure delight for the ears. When I hear “Banaate hai Dhaage� being sung at that higher scale I obtain answers to the question “Why do I even like to do music reviews�. Anurag tells me that he composed this with an intention to explore his own vocal range and feel in shift in energies not tested in some of his earlier compositions. It is a Win-Win for the musician and the music lover! Vaibhav Pani has mixed and mastered the track. It is also a lovely video with Ashish Langade working on Cinematography, Bijoya Mukherji on Screenplay and Rishi Agarwal on Editing. 7. Feels like eternity ‘Catch em young’, they say when you want raw talent and nurture it we end up witnessing the growth of something marvellous. This Mumbai bred singer/songwriter Ruhdabeh learnt music at a very tender age and apparently started writing songs since she was 12. She has self-taught to play the Guitar, Ukulele and even the Piano and that is why is her debut EP �Of Dissonance and Peace� she goes solo and does everything by herself. When I listened to the work there were a couple that really impressed with ‘Feels like Eternity’ being my top pick. Ruhdabeh, has written, composed, arranged, performed, mixed, mastered and recorded all at her home studio. The Keys start things off and Ruhdabeh sings with such eloquence and control hitting every note with poise and perfection. The arrangements of the Strings in the background do wonders to the feeling of the song and truth be told I was dreaming of that song that plays in the concentration camps shown in the movie “Life is Beautiful� giving me all the positivity and strength to carry on with life, unnerved by externalities. 8. Akhiyaan Laiyaan It sounds to me like this splendid number is based on Raag Charukeshi and the elaborate symphony of instruments nail the opening. Dr. Jaspinder Narula is performing at the heights of her powers, producing mild vibrato at will that is sure to kill! Kamran Akhtar has done the music with lyrics by Lt. Ustad Shaukat Manzoor. The Harmonium is played to such great effect, but it is amazing how the electric guitar comes into fray in the second interlude and blows you away. The song’s Executive Producer is Amirr Roshan Nadiadwala with Pramod Kaul as the director. The way the Harmonium and Tabla come together along with Jaspinder’s vocals is just bliss. 9. Teri Baatein Hi Jazim Sharma needs no introduction, as he if one of the finest classical/semi-classical vocalists around and his involvement in projects, ensures there is a reinvigorated spirit and liking for Indian Classical Ragas, but since it is presented with a flavor of modern sounds and tonality it just gets a better acceptance among all demographic Category of listeners. This one is apparently set in Raag Mishra Darbari and Yogesh Rairikar is the composer for this number. Arbaz Khan is scintillating on guitars and Mir Desai oversees the whole project with his production. The original lyrics are by Poet Ahmad Faraz. Ghazal music sounds so delectable with Keys, guitars and drums in the background replacing the harmonium and Tabla. This is where Yogesh exhibits his skill as a composer, as we also a get a brief intervention on electric guitars. All this ornamentation adds beauty but the core strength is the tune and singing. Rakesh Munjariya has mixed and mastered the track with Manvir Kalsi as Project Manager and Kirpal Sain as Director. The outro has a nice harmony portion in the background along with Jazim’s classical aalap as well. 10. Feel How brilliantly this song has been titled! I feel so much when listening to this, a plethora of emotions ranging from hope to despair, love to disdain, and joy to pathos and it is because of the way Yasmine Gill delivers these lines. She is this Italian/Canadian Soul/R&B/Jazz artist but she has an Indian surname. So let us leave aside all that and stop getting confused because none of it matters anyway. Especially when you can write, compose and sing like this! David Vondermort plays the keys teasingly along with Hanzo on drums tapping the hi-hat. Collin Steinz adds every element of funkiness on the bass guitars but David Fischer on Organ creates fresh new perspective of the song. It creates a gateway for the song to deviate from being branded purely as Soul or R&B and even maybe pushes into a genre of Gospel. Fox Graham plays the guitars and the whole project assumes a fantastic form and shape thanks to the production of Andreas Kolakoudakis and he also mixes & masters the track. This song should be what a young aspiring singer should listen to and practice along to attain better vocal strength and stability. 11. Noor Elahi I chanced upon this EP by Rishab Nair and it truly has some outstanding music, and I especially loved “hey Daata� and “Noor Elahi� the most. Vedanth Bharadwaj is the vocalist for the latter and he has this thumping voice that doesn’t let your attention drift even briefly. Rishab gets on board some excellent musicians and singers and it is the collective brilliance of one and all that shines through. The music score and lyrics are by Rishab and although I had a hunch that there were influences Raag Khamaj or even some of Raag Dwijavanthi, Rishab tells me the influence is of Raag Kalyani. The strings in the background catch my attention but then it is the tantalizing drums by Sai Hruday Pidatala and John Paul Frappier on the Trumpet who completely turn the tables upside down on this composition. The Keys provide the perfect medium for tranquility because after that mild interlude the songs energy shifts especially with Vedanth moving to the higher scales. There is a strong chorus team comprising of Sarang Pathak, Omkar Ingale, Rahul Ghoderao, Riddhi Joshi, Siddhi Joshi, Hemant Jawale, Narayani Jawale, Ayushi Shukla, Shreya Reddy & Pratik Rajankar. The use of the Tabla and Dholak by KR Mahadevan, creates a rustic flavor amidst the trumpets in the background. The second interlude past the second minute is just a piece for John Paul to showcase his skill and Rishab maneuvers well to get the track from a Jazz set up to a Classical tone. 12. Russeya Na Kar This is some splendid electronic pop in Punjabi, the kind that will compel you to listen on loop and make you sing if you don’t understand a word. Azaad’s voice is mesmerizing and he almost casts a spell on you and Tasho is the music director with this tune showing glimpses of Raag Yamuna Kalyani according to my limited knowledge. The line especially “Saare zindagi mein tere naal� gave me this indication, although it also sounds like that smashing hit from Coke Studio Season 14 number called “Tu Jhoom� which is apparently set in Raag Pahadi. This song takes you on a high like a chant that won’t leave your mind, and despite all the fancy rhythms and sounds the melody is strong. There is a nice interlude on the Keyboards and Noshrain will take credits for the additional arrangements along with major portions done by Tasho. Azaad delivers the song like he is on penance and he also writes the lyrics. Suyash Singh and Yograj Singh do the mix and master. The project is directed by Karan Maini. 13. Tu The song is a slow melody that is all about the guitars and hence the arrangements bear a huge say on how the song sounds and feels. Amitrabh Barooa and Siddharth Barooa do the arrangements and this gets the guitars and drums and to go ahead in tandem. Simanta Choudhury plays the drums and the Barooa duo work on the mixing and mastering. The portion with the electric guitar solo closer to end of the song is wonderful and shows quite a bit of dexterity on the fingers. The song is written, composed and sung by Aditya Goenka and he also has worked on the arrangements. Rishi Paullah and Pritisha Borthakur are the executive producers, with Priyom Borah as the Production head. 14. Memories This is a rock ballad that one can feel happy and proud of to sing along, play and claim that we have something of our own after listening to some of the great numbers like “Unforgiven� by Metallica and “November Rain� GNR and so on. Anish Nair writes, composes and performs with a deep sense of gravity and passion and the one hearing it will get sucked into the number. I even feel like I’m listening to a bit of “Blackhole Sun’ by Soundgarden, just that this is softer and calmer. Gunjan Soral has produced the track. The voice of Anish and his delivery is exemplary. The energy that the drums build up at different phases of the song is just about perfect and the arrangements of the electric guitars is done so as to not take away any attention from the vocals except that solid solo right at the end. 15. Kahaani I listened to this number and remember telling myself this has to be based on Raag Puriya Dhanasree, then when I had a little chat appreciating Santanu on his score, he told me that it is actually Raag Basant but it is close in structure to my original guess. The song is brilliant delivered by Anirban Chowdhury and if the song is in itself an A in grade, Anirban’s singing and vocal purity makes it an A+. Santanu Ghatak has written, composed this stunning beauty as it reminds me of some od Maestro Ilaiyaraja’s songs like “Andhi Mazhai Pozhigirathu� & “Piraiye Piraiye�. Akshay Menon is the producer and the track is mixed and mastered by Shivam Gupta. The instrumental arrangements, a small solo on the flute and rhythm programming all keep the song fresh despite being a very popular Raga. Rupjit Das has recorded the track, with Chitrangada Satarupa capturing the frames, featuring Kallirroi Tziafeta. 16. Chekele This Delhi based singer-songwriter, Asish Zachariah, takes an old and famous folk song from Malayalam, and presents it on a platter with some exotic garnishes. The song is a modern rendition with heavy synth and keyboard and rhythm programming. I have always maintained that it is good to have such versions to promote and popularize an older gem. The Keyboards are fabulous and it befits a situation with you driving fast and the audio system playing it in full blast and windows rolled down, feeling the wind on your hair and cheeks. 17. Better Subhi has been featured before on this website and I am proud to say that her music has appeared her. She is a singer-songwriter of Indian origin but residing in the USA, who has tried multiple things at music and theatre. Subhi has composed music for Indian movies and series and has been a winner for Chicago City’s musical grants presented to talented musical artists. This song is just a reflection all that she is and there is now amusement when I hear her vocals because she is expected to do that being a trained Hindustani singer, but what is fabulous is that 180-degree shift is style that western pop demands and yet she delivers with better than a 100%. ‘Better’ is written by Subhi and Natania Lalwani who she has worked with before and here the duo write the lyrics with Chris Wright composing and producing the song. The song is about what makes us better every day, well good music especially that unites people, makes me better every day! The guitars tempt me so much that I wish I learnt playing it back in my childhood. The synths jog in as Subhi starts singing “You know me better than I know myself�. Ideally the rhythm and the tone of the song is not one of a romantic love track, but it’s a wonder how Subhi, Natania and Chris have achieved it with their words and melody. Kudos to Subhi as her vocals generate an emotional connect and I immediately picture my partner and wife when I hear it.

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 27th 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. Kabhi mai Kabhi tum I listened to this song and I was blown away, and very rarely do I straightaway allocate the number 1 position for the week, but this time it was inevitable. As I did my research I figured that this was a Pakistani production with all performers hailing from our neighbor country. Should that stop me from publishing it in this week's list? As a policy, I have been reviewing the best songs by Indians inside India or living abroad or even musicians outside but of Indian descent. Since this song was a part of one of Spotify India’s playlists I am going to go ahead and review this magical number, as music breaks all boundaries, clichéd but true. I tried to dig deeper but couldn't make much headway into the full song credits. The plucked instrument used in the beginning is delightful and soothing just like Asim Azhar’s voice. The string section that joins in the background along with the title line is what raises the quality. Asim along with Hassan Ali write the song with Qasim Azhar producing it. The way the song transforms into Sufi-styled Tabla and Harmonium is magic in the interlude. The stanza is just more exhibition of Asim’s vocal strength with bass guitars and a solo flute in the background. I hear a faint resemblance to Pritam’s splendid “Shayad� sung by Arijit Singh. 2. Bindiya Le gayi, Tere Dar se & Le chali Taqdeer This one weekly list will never be enough to praise this superb work by Rahul Deshpande, the grandson of Vasantrao Deshpande ji. The movie on the eminent Classical vocalist is releasing this week and his own grandson has played the role on screen, and composed and sung in the album. I'll be making a special post on all 22 songs, the Raag influences and the impeccable singing and arrangements in every piece. For now here are the 3 favourite numbers Bindiya Le Gayi sung by Priyanka Barve, Tere Dar se sung by Himani Kapoor, Rahul himself and Le Chali Taqdeer sung by Rahul. Bindiya Le Gayi is set in Raag Pilu (Kaapi in Carnatic) and here Priyanka shines in this original delivered by Vasantaro ji. The Esraj is a constant companion played by Arshad Khan and Prashant Sonagra plays the Tabla to set the perfect rhythm. Priyanka is so effective with her aalap, her creative vibrato and her improvisations. Listen to the strings, Sitar, bass guitars and flute all accompanying in style. The second song I love is Tere Dar se sung by Himani Kapoor set in Raag Yaman. The Sitar is like the second hero in the track and it nicely reminds me of AR Rahman’s “Ae hairathe�. The Tabla and Harmonium adds that classical color to the song. The second stanza has Rahul joining in on the vocals with some elaborate aalap. Le Chali Taqdeer is the final recommendation from the album and it is set in Raag Khamaj. Rahul has composed and sung with assistance from Bhushan Mate and Sarang Kulkarni. Mayuresh Wagh has penned the lyrics while Sourav Roy has arranged and programmed for the track. The strings section we hear in all the songs of the album is thanks to Macedonia Strings, and here too we have a splendid interlude aided by Varad Kathapurkar on the flute. The guitar plays all along romanticizing the number with Sanjoy Das as the protagonist. Vijay Dalal has recorded and mixed with assistance on recording from Chinmay Mestry, Tushar Pandit, Ishaan Devasthali and Adwait Walujkar 3. Fakeeri Its Himani Kapoor again, what a week she is having! This is in an indie project singing for Rimi Dhar's score. The vocal texture is very similar to that of a Kavita Seth, something we don’t hear often. It is paradise when she sings the title line and hearing the Tabla you cant stop tapping your feet. I listen to these lines and maybe there is an influence of Raag Khamaj, because there is a connection to that song “Mitwa� by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. The interlude is a solo on the Harmonium by Kumar Satyam and some sorcery on the Tabla by Aqid Husain Khan Niyazi. It is that man Sanjoy Das again on the electric guitars leading us into the Antara. The stanza starts off in a Indian classical fashion, but the second half is a very unexpected Western classical sort of a tone which is why the score is great. Saaveri Verma writes the words, and Sanjoy sizzles all along in the background. The track is mixed and mastered by Dipesh Sharma Batalvi. Vanikki Tyagi is the creative and executive producer and this one fabulous project with women artists all the through. It is so enriching to see a woman composer helm the role and score so well, and I cant wait for Rimi's forthcoming projects. 4. Narazgi I do know that the music coming out of a Rajat Nagpal score or production has to be good, and thank God it is. Just listen to his previous song called “Dil Ka Gehna� and you will know what I mean. Neha Kakkar impresses me with this melody unlike the plethora of run-of-the-mill Punjabi numbers she releases. The most satisfying fact for me now is that number 3 and 4 are two amazing numbers, both are composed by women. Girl Power! Sonal Pradhan has written and composed the song set in Raag Yaman, and once again kudos to Rajat for promoting great young talent. You would think this is an English soft pop number when it starts with the vocals and Shomu Seal’s guitars, but wait for the transformation. I just love the lines written filled with love, the female lead asking these questions to her lover. The wonderful percussions are played by Dipesh Varma while the traditional Dholak and Tabla are played by Babbu Saral. The Tabla with the bass guitars is a fine combination, and Neha's savvy singing is just the perfect choice for delivering this. Rajat has arranged, mixed and programmed the track. Shomu’s acoustic guitar intervention in the antara is just what piques our interest further. The track is recorded by Rahul Sharma with assistance from Samir Dharap. 5. Nira Ravil A Malayalam number is bound to always make it to the top 6 every week on my listing and here it is from KR Rahul's composition for this week. The song immediately resonates of Raag Reethigowla and it is refreshing to hear Akbar Khans voice, from a novelty standpoint and a few more solid reasons as well. The solo flute by Biju Kottayam and Kottayam Strings make a grand start to the number. It is the bass guitar by Sumesh Parameshwar and blissful voice of Akbar that drive us forward despite there being a zillion songs based on this Raag. The opening lines somehow remind of the stanza of Ilaiyaraja’s “Guruvayurappa�. The interlude is loaded with a few more live instruments as OK Gopi plays the Nadaswaram, and Balakrishna Kammath plays the Mridangam. The other traditional percussions like Thavil, Ghatam and Kanjira are played by Thrippunithura Sreekumar. After all this that has transpired in the song, the legendary KS Chitra then starts singing and how on earth does she still sound this good, does age never affect a few? Sumesh is stunning on acoustic and bass guitars and all the functions and funk will make you fall in love with the music. The Kottayam Strings comprising of Violinists Mathews P John, Subinkumar A S, Sasikumar A,Danny John,Shyjo Mathew, Vinod Jacob and Violas played by Subinkumar A S, Danny John, Shyjo Mathew completely make your heart get attached to their strings and you just are puppet dancing to their tunes. Renjith C Rajan has mixed and mastered the track. The lyrics are by Akhila Sayooj S 6. Naino Waleya Nothing can stop him from making good music, and he is now producing them like a conveyor belt , except that every end product is based on a different Raag and has even better arrangements than the previous. This is the 4 th single from Anirudh Varma’s collective album and I most certainly assumed it was based on Raag Yaman. Later when I had a word with Anirudh he told me that it was based on Raag Maru Bihag but it is close to Yaman. He has directed this musically, with arrangements and playing the Keyboards, while he ropes in the supremely talented Pavithra Chari and Hindustani vocalist Kshitij Mathur as lead vocalists. It is a galaxy of stars here as Darshan Doshi plays the drums, Kamran Zafar plays the bass, and Shrikant Biswakarma is on electric guitars. You can do nothing else but surrender to the glory of the music that is just playing in front of you. Anirudh also excels in arranging the harmonies and he has this massive army of vocalists on the choir viz. Anushree Mahindra, Arjun Pandey, Aaromal Rajendrababu, Shraddha Shree, Santur Kundu, Bhakti Kalidhar, Anmol Kumar, Aathira Gopi, Vaibhav Sakshi, Kavya Mohan, Vidisha Sharma, Ram Visakh, Sree Rag, Shruti Parthasarthy, Aronjoy Das, Gatha Akashkamini, Sanchayan Joarder, Hari Krishnan, Neethu Krishna, Kavya Mohan, Ashanis Tuteja & Mayank Mittal. The Sarangi solo in the interlude is by Ahsan Ali and listen to how well it mixes with the bass guitars and all the drums and Tabla by Saptak Sharma. Kavya Singh another usual suspect in Anirudh’s collective has done all the additional composition. The lyrics are penned by Arjun Pandey and the recording, mixing and mastering is by ace engineer Anindo Bose at Plug ‘n’ Play Studios. The last bits where the lead vocalists sing in unison is unadulterated goodness! 7. Maira Muheet Bharti is a renowned guitarist and composer and he works closely with Salim-Silaiman on their compositions and productions and it is so heartening to see budding instrumentalists go on to things like composition especially if they are this good. His earlier single “Dil Kya Kahe� was at number 7 in the country for that week back in November 2021, and it seems that 7 is his lucky number. Muheet goes all out for this one, singing, composing, writing and producing it and it is presented by Merchant Records. Listen to him sing and you feel like you are in the presence of a version of Arijit Singh himself, singing with all that freedom and improvised vibrato. The background vocals are teasing you even as Muheet just finished delivering those lines about the estranged lover “Maira�. The song lacks a meaty middle part, but the lines that play offer so much in style and substance that all those flaws are glossed over. The Keys, and strings in the deeper layers are too emphatic and enchanting to ignore. Aftab Khan mixes and masters the track with Vatsal Chevli as the mix assistant. 8. Akasham Pole He is one of the best young talents in the country right now, and wait I could be talking about either of them and it still would fit. Well the composer Sushin Shyam and male lead vocalist Kapil Kapilan are both hot cakes in their own fields and when they come together, it is nothing short of wizardry. This is song from the well-appreciated movie “Bheeshma Pravam� is one of two I loved, the other being “Be Notorious�. The clarinet is just captivating much like how Santhosh Narayanan uses a lot of the instruments from the Brass section, and Hamsika Iyer is fabulous in her low scaled vocals and with Sandeep Mohan’s guitars in the background. Nadhan plays the clarinet and Naveen Napier is on the bass guitars. There is a texture of some of Sushin’s work from ‘Kumbalangi Nights’. Kapil Kapilan is at his usual best and he gets every emotive element of the song spot on. Nadhan’s clarinet solo gets more intriguing in the interlude, and there is a Choir team sounding angelic in the background along with Rithu Vysakh’s one -man quartet strings. The choir comprises of Amal Antony, Agustin Geo C Anto Alex Peter Mejosh Joshy Jasil MJ Aarya Janardhanan , Preethu Mary George, Anjali Sanoop, Nithya Aljo . A cat and mouse between Keys and guitars ends with the Tabla and we have the charanam. Kapil’s vocals gather energy and authority with like a crescendo on the strings in the background. Rafeeq Ahammed is the lyricist. I was blown away with the line “Akasham Pole� supported by these bass guitars and taking me back to Ilaiyaraja days. The track is mixed by Abin Paul, and mastered by Donal Whelan. Let us not forget to clap our hands for Anand on the Tabla and KD Vincent for all the music co-ordination. 9. Rain Shivash Chagti threw me a splendid surprise the last time he worked with Saptak Chatterjee and gave us “Porcelain�, and I did mention to him that when the next song comes about Ill have him against a higher benchmark. Well guess what, he passed and hat is why this beautiful number is in the top and where it belongs. This one is composed and written by Sameera Bharadwaj and produced by Shivash. We have some repeat performers here in the week as Anirudh Varma plays the keyboards and Saptak Sharma is on the Tabla. The mixing and mastering duties fall on Aditya Paul and Aabir Singh does the artwork and animation. It begins with the sound of guitars and Shivash’s dewy vocals. The way the Tabla sets off suddenly shows how beautifully things area arranged and mixed in the track making it a worthwhile fusion number. When the layers of vocals together sing “let it rain�, I can sense the drops on my skin like a 4DX movie hall. There is an eerie resemblance to a great song by Phil Collins and it is called “ I wish it would rain�, weird aint it? The keys and Tabla form a very unique but enticing combination. Sameera after a brief aalap opens her lines in Telugu and she adds this classical Carnatic color and this is where I felt a Raag Hamsadhwani influence. The pause when everything comes to a standstill with the cue of the guitar, and then the lines sing “Let it rain� is a wonderful touch. 10. Bas Mein Nahi The good days are here, I am not sure politically or economically for India, but for music I can vouch as a listener and reviewer. Chances are being offered to musicians who have been killing it in the indie scene, and now movies and web-series on OTT are doing just that. Clinton Cerejo and Bianca Gomes who are a duo called “Shor Police� just did a fabulous job for “Bob Biswas� a few months ago, and now they are scoring for another movie on Zee5. The song that I loved the most from the album “Love Hostel� is this sung by Clinton himself and he also plays the guitar. The track is mixed and mastered by Keshav Dhar with lyrical contribution from Siddhant Kaushal. The singing is excellent with very brisk electric guitars, not only accompanying but also improvising in solo interventions. The song is short and devoid of too many varying segments, but it offers a good feeling listening to the lines along with the humming that adds to the energy. 11. Ik Tu Hai Here is another example of an a musician I know more from the world of indie music, scoring now for a mainstream Bollywood movie, and Shashwat Sachdev has impressed me with some excellent Lo-fi induced songs that carry a Indian classical base, “Dobara� first comes to mind. The plucked instruments we hear are played by Youngmin Kim, Shashwat Sachdev and Taba Chake, and when Jubin Nautiyal starts singing we feel a resemblance to “Manwa Lage�. The stuff I loved most in the initial stages are the rhythm and sounds like a water droplet, along with the Keys that mildly accompany, played by Marshall Robinson. Shashwat himself produces and mixes for the track and the fabulous output is audible as proof, and he also joins in on the vocals along with Jubin. The inspiring lines are penned by Kumaar. The interlude opens and Salman Khan is on his Sitar and if I am not wrong we hear a piece influenced by Raag Sarang first and then moving on to Maand. The transformation of the song after the 2nd minute into something more like Progressive rock piece is interesting and unexpected. The use of various percussion instruments and harmonies also make the song a worthy listen. Vivek Hariharan is the executive producer. 12. Rongbahari Bangla music is always in the race to excellence and that is why rarely do we see a week without any songs from that region in my list. And like they say, when it rains it pours, we have two back-to-back numbers in Bangla and that too from some very popular musicians. Iman Chakraborty is the singer and it is her delivery that stuns you and keeps you on a hook that you cannot release yourself from. The Humming bit is mesmerizing and it rocks you to sleep, brings a tear down your cheeks. Ranajoy Bhattacharjee has written, composed and produced the song. There is not too much of background instrumentals, and that keeps the focus on Iman. Ranajoy stole my heart last year when he composed “Swapno perie� featuring Mekhla Dasgupta. Just go listen to that track as well. 13. Putul Ami One of my favorite musicians in India today is Anupam Roy, because what I look for are consistency and versatility in scores and he has got them in surplus. The song is a pop number in Bangla with his usual vocals that tend to be so breezy. Anupam has written, sung and composed this, with Rishabh Ray’s fabulously groovy guitars. Kaustuv Biswas adds all the style on the bass guitars but what I also love is Nabarun Bose on the keyboards giving it a 90’s pop feeling. Sandip Parial is the drummer and the track is mixed and mastered by Shomi Chatterjee with recording engineers Sayan Ghosh and Subhranil Bose. 14. Lie to me The debut EP is special to a band or any musician and I did really like some of the tracks here but loved “Lie to me� to the most, and it reminded me of a fantastic series featuring Tim Roth. Anyway I digress, so this song was the pick of the lot for a lot of reasons, and before I forget the music is not in Bangla, but this makes it a hat-trick of Bangla musicians this week, as Turnback Cave is a rock band from Kolkata. The electric guitars and drums which are like the spine of a rock band truly excel in this song and the band is lucky to have such gifted musicians. Let us not forget the lead vocalist who is like the brain and every word uttered is loaded with the perfect emotion, style and diction that a rock song in English demands. The band members are Arsh Das on vocals and guitars, bassist Pradyut Naha and Diptopaul Chatterjee on guitars. Akash Singha has mixed and mastered it. Do listen to their EP "Letters to another Life". 15. Banjara Nabeel Khan’s vocals drive the song forward with that shaky vulnerable touch he adds with his voice. It makes the song very honest and personal and you want to stay invested, and the guitars only deepen the love for it. Nabeel has written, composed and sung this one, while Atul Gupta and Prashant Marathe produce the number. The guitars are played by Atul and he handles the arrangements as well while Prashant is on the Piano. Oh when Nabeel sings the words “narazgi� the scale shifts and the notes flow into my ears and head reminding me of that flute interlude in “Kannukku Mai Azhagu� scored by AR Rahman back in his early days after his debut ‘Roja’. 16. Thaaruzhiyum The flute show begins and you know you are hearing a special Raaga based piece, and as far as my knowledge takes me it belongs to Raag Aarabhi and as it progresses I could sense some Sri Raaga also. Rahul Raj whose work I really adore has composed, arranged and programmed this song, along with all the keyboard and rhythm programming with Nikesh Chembilodu writing the lyrics. Listen to his fabulous number sung by the legendary Sujatha Mohan called “Neelambale� from the movie ‘Priest’ something even Ilaiyaraja would be proud of. The big guns come on for the vocals as KS Harishankar and Poornasree Haridas play the lead roles. Haritha Raj plays the Veena right at the beginning as well while it is Nikhil Ram on the Flute and Ethnic Winds. There is quite a lot of support on the Mridangam by Ganapathi, Balakrishna Kammath while Umashankar is om the Ghatam, and Shruthi Raj is on the ethnic percussions. The vocal exhibition is on with Harishankar delivering it with total ease. Sumesh Parameshwar plays the guitars and bass along with Naveen Napier on the bass guitars. When I had a chat with Rahul, he tells me that there any many raaga influences in the song, like Atana, Suddhasaveri, Mohanakalyani and Devagandhari. 17. Kyun Hain This is one slow sober lullaby that just provides the perfect break from all the other genr

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 20th 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. Tun Ani Ami As a concept Zombies are taking over the world, with a plethora of Hollywood movies already dealing with that post-apocalyptic scenario. Movies in India have been experimenting with this concept as well and we have had very interesting titles like “Zombie Reddy� in Tollywood and now “Zombivili� in Marathi cinema. The film apparently is a very fun and worthy watch, but since we focus on the music here, I think this song atleast is a smashing number deserving the top place in the country for last week. AV Prafullachandra (A hereafter) is an ace musician and he shows why with a song that has more substance in the portions before the antara itself and many songs these days don’t offer so much in the entire length itself. AV also has programmed, produced and mixed the tracks of the number. If you can count, you will hear 5 segments of notes in almost an Ilaiyaraja-like composition. Nakul Abhyankar is the male vocalist and he is now probably a well sought out performer in both Kannada and Marathi singing both languages with amazing ease. Kasturi Wavare’s voice and delivery is resembling Shreya Ghoshal’s and that is the best compliment I can think of now. The innovative sounds, and rhythm variations are also fantastic. The interlude is elaborate and sounds like a dream for any music lover and you will need multiple plays to get a grasp of the zillion sounds we hear. The stanza goes on to impress more with shifts in energy and style between melody and modern. The lyrics are written by Vaibhav Deshmukh and Rahul Sharma has recorded the track, with assistance from Samir Dharap. The song is mastered by Shadab Rayeen with assistance from Vishal Sadhaphule 2. The spy who loved me It is strange how for the last 2 years or more that I have been tracking Indian music, and I only have heard of a Flute exponent called Lalit Talluri. Finally I come to know of his father a flute genius himself and guru of Lalit , Shri Nagaraju Talluri. He is also a composer and this track is testament to his skill bringing the world of Jazz into the Tollywood’s doorstep. The song also has a very Jazz like name maybe reflecting a James Bond Saga. If you thought the music is world class, listen to the vocals by Indian Idol performer Shanmukha Priya , as she just nails it with perfection. This is never an easy genre to sing as there is much demanded vocally but she is up to it and beats expectations as well. Lalit Talluri himself plays the woodwinds for his dad’s composition and the entire family of woodwinds, like the flute, bassoon, clarinet etc. is on display here right from the beginning. The Keys and gentle percussion add a very nice color just like the harmonies. The flagbearer is Shanmukha Priya with her incomparably good vocals and she flirts with that falsetto so much and so well that you just end up closing your eyes and nodding your head in appreciation. Kittu Vissapragada is the lyricist and the lovely guitars are played by Joel Sastry. The mixing and mastering responsibilities are taken over by Vinay Kumar, while Sathrian R does the Keyboard programming 3. Savaari This brand of music is like having some splendid south food, with one Dosa followed by Upma and then Medu Vada and finally ending with a hot filter coffee. Every item tasting better than the previous and makig you want to come again, well that is how I felt while eating at Mysore’s Mahesh Prasad restaurant and the 5 piece band called Mysore Xpress achieve the same effect in their latest EP aptly called “Made in Mysore�. This is progressive rock with a Carnatic flavor like ‘podi’ on top of a Dosa. Zubin Paul is the vocalist and also the engineer on mixing and mastering for this solid number. The flute by Samrudh Srinivas will blow you away, pun intended!, and there are wonderful traces of Raag Abheri especially during the flute interventions. Harshith Rao is solid and oozing energy on the drums while Raghunandan S Rao on guitars and Pramod Nayak on bass provide able and necessary support. Tanushree R is the backing vocalist and her humming is what we hear and all these elements combine seamlessly and brilliantly thanks to the composition, arrangements and mixing and mastering by Zubin. After the 3 minute mark there is a Flute solo with some high paced guitars and this will make you feel like you are listening to Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull. Ramdas Pai is the lyricist, and all additional guitars are played by Swaraj S. The other song I like is Nammoru which is a celebration of the city called Mysore and it features a flautist Sameer Rao with some engaging and local percussions Sujayendra Rao. The humming “thantha nena� is rustic and beautiful and an entire choir comprising of Anushree R, Sampada S Konnur Vaishnavi S Konnur, Vindhyalakshmi S Konnur, Disha, Unnathi, Charvi, Aagna, Supriya S Kelkar performs here. Vibvek Tomas who we all know well as a sound engineer does the mastering duties for Nammoru. 4. Realize Mahesh Raghunandan is a Bengaluru based singer songwriter and I am hearing him for the first time, but it certainly wont be anywhere close to the last. He has written this song apparently back in 2017 itself but before it has become too late Mahesh finally records and shoots a video for its release. The song is produced, mixed and performed by Mahesh himself and we have the wonderful Avalahalli forests as the backdrop shot picturesquely by Sabareesh Arumugam with Vishnujith Varma’s direction. The song is the first of an upcoming EP called “Change� and the very few seconds I hear I realized I am in for a world of musical pleasure. It is singing of Herculean standards and the minimal instrumental intervention allows Mahesh to explore and exhibit more of that gifted voice. Many a times a guitar aided vocal performance can be very run-of-the-mill, but not this one. The notes go through such a see-saw of scales without even sounding flat and boring at one point. The humming is a massive expression of so many emotions that he delivers to the point, and I felt every ounce of pain. Sidharth Sunil does the Color Grade with additional assistance from Nithin J Francis. Mahesh himself records and mixes for the song. 5. Kannadiye The South Indian music machine is on rampage now, with one more song from Kannada movie space here. Prajwal Pai has been featured before on this space before and here the composer once again creates some worthy melody. He is also the male lead vocalist along with one more super favorite performer of mine and she goes by the name Aishwarya Rangarajan. Prajwal not only has sung well he also has done a fabulous job in arrangements and programming. There is a tinge of Raagam Nalinakanthi reminding me of that great number by Ilaiyaraja called “Enthan Nenjil neengatha�. Shruthi is just unstoppable on the Tabla, while Sandeep Mohan’s guitars and bass are extremely essential in adding layers to the melody. The mandolin in the interlude is a gem and after that the stanza is where the Nalinakanthi influences show up, but apparently none of it was intended by the composer. Arjun plays the flute in the second interlude, and it is during the stanza that we hear the bass guitars to perfection. The song is mixed and mastered by Vivek Thomas, and lyrics are penned by Vishwajith Rao. 6. 1 last bye They are twins and imagine if one of them had a spellbinding voice, you just double that and what you get is Kiran + Nivi. Kiran and Nivi Saishankar are residents of USA and have been a juggernaut on Tik-Tok this last year garnering over 2 million followers thanks to their amazing covers of popular numbers. I have heard a few of them like the one on “Srivalli� from the movie ‘Pushpa’ and it almost sounds unbelievable. So here is their first official original which they have dedicated to their cousin who passed away. I had no idea about the twins before hearing this number but the track is not just about the vocals, it also has a catchy and captivating melody. The song is written with Michael Blum and Nilu and the former produces it. Listen to the delivery and the range they exhibit along with the apt emotive excellence. The song is loaded with synths and keyboard programming that augments but never goes overboard. The outro is te perfect sample of how supremely talented the twin are as vocalists. Someone recently wrote “ Mark my words, you’ll see the names Kiran and Nivi Saishankar on the Billboard Hot 100 chart one day. I concur and believe that day is not too far. The video has been shot by DoP Lucas Miller, with director Spencer D. Evans. Ambika does all the styling. 7. Tanu mana We have another duo now called Rakesh and Nilima a.k.a. Rak ‘N’ Nili and they have been around creating music since 2011. Here they create a ravishing number and who better to adorn it than Sanjith Hegde himself as the vocal lead. I aas immediately in love with the guitars and humming in the beginning and after Sanjith starts to sing, you only have to stay quiet in awe and fall in love. The strings used are like a cadence of water flowing non-stop with beauty and ferocity. The song slowly transforms in rock/pop genre with the prevalence of drums and electric guitars. The aalap is refreshing in the interlude. Rakesh UP has produced the track with mixing and mastering by Vishnu KJ. Sanjith can lift a song on his shoulders all alone and that cannot be told for many vocalists in India on a consistent basis. Praveen Prakash writes the lyrics and Ganesh N Rao does all the additional drum programing. 8. Mind Palace I am always fond of Niranjan Menon’s work and I feature both his “Castle in the sky� and “Wounded� and this is going to be a hat-trick with “Mind Palace�. He combines with Vimal Roy in both composition and vocals while the production responsibilities are held by Niranjan and Artemis Fall. Tejas SP and Ganga Pramod are the writers and all the artwork and creative are handled by Harris Paul and Rajeev Ninan. Rohan Raveesh like his name goes, creates a ravishing piece of electric guitar solo right at the start. The song has a lot of modern techno sounds and the composers take the fusion element to a new high with the introduction of the Flute and Thavil and this is where I heard some fragments of Raag Hamsadhwani. Sarthak Ray handles the mixing quite exquisitely and he also masters the track. I love how the vocals shift from English to Malayalam and then to Hindi. Namrata Hangala is in charge of the press release and communication. 9. Shishiram Pothiyum In a second you know you are hearing one of the most enriching and joyful Raagas in the form of Reethigowla as we know in Carnatic music. Ayraan is someone who I am hearing for the first time and he definitely impresses in the higher scales. The saxophone interlude by Josy was nostalgic and it reminded of Kadri Gopalnath’s performance for AR Rahman’s “Duet�. Nithya Mammen sings and then you feel like saying “all is well� and that is how pleasant yet powerful her vocals are, just listen to how beautifully she sings the word “deepanjali�. Swathy Manu has written, composed and arranged all the excellent live instruments for this song. Sumesh Parameshwar is stylish with his bass guitars while Nikhil Ram does a savvy solo in the second interlude and enjoy the concerted trio of Flute, Nadaswaram and Bass guitars here. OK Gopi is on the Nadaswaram and the Violin solo is played by . The stanza is simple with only a short segment but there are too many good elements to keep you hooked. Harishankar V mixes and masters with mixing assistance from Akshay Kakkoth and Manoj Medalodan does the programming. The final mix and sound design is by Hebin Benny and the track singers employed for this project were Minshad Zara and Anagha Suresh. 10. Gajro Nothing can be more pleasing to a music lover than listening to enjoying music without the barrier of language. Priya Saraiya has been on my radar and she is not just a composer but also a lyricist of immense quality. This song is composed and written by her and addressing the issues that crop up between a couple in love. Aditya Gadhvi is the male vocalist and his voice is like a breath of fresh air. Listen to the Keys, and the Sarangi by Dilshad Khan mildly playing in the background. Sanjoy Das, the master, plays the guitar adding to the romantic elements of the song and once the harmonies begin, we feel like the oomph factor of the song just got raised thanks to Vaidehi Painter and Jhanvi Soni. The interlude is a dominant show by Dilshad on the Sarangi and Aditya’s voice blends wonderfully thanks to programming and arrangements by Jay Mavani as well as the mixing and mastering skills of Eric Pillai. 11. Pogadiro Ranga One of my favorite composers in India is B. Ajaneesh Loknath, and he shows why with his great understanding and execution of scores loaded with intricacies, massive instrumental arrangements and at the core a solid tune. Haricharan and Chinmayi are the lead vocalists for this one, so there is nothing left to be written as far as this song goes. But it is impossible as the mind wanders and hands want to type so much in appreciation of the number. The use of the Nadaswaram starts of things in a very semi-classical mode thanks to Balasubramani but there is quick shift in tempo and style which follows a string section output. Ajaneesh does all the rhythm and keyboard programming. The title line sung by the chorus sounds a lot like Raag Abheri . KD Vincent is the music co-ordinator with some fabulous work on mixing and mastering by Sajayan Kumar. The lead singers take us a journey of joy with their mellifluous tones and the stanza for me had some Kaapi Raaga innuendos. Ajaneesh and Bobby CR produce the song and the words are written by Hari Santhosh with recording engineer Midhun Manoj. I also like Neene Neene from the same album ‘Bytwo Love’ and this is more typical Ajaneesh with a dominant Violin. Karthik sings this one and the number has so much mystery and unpredictability especially the way the notes line up for “Neene nann usiru�. 12. Kajwa One more Marathi song occupies the list this week, composed by Vijay Bhate and the song is produced, arranged, mixed and mastered by DEEPP C. Harshavardhan Wavre and Sonali Sonawane bot experts lend their vocals for this project. The song reminds me a lot of “Chand Sifarish�. Sonali’s voice feels like that morning dew falling on the skin and the rhythms right through the song create a aura of dance and joy. Deepp C also performed all the aalaps and backing vocals for the song. The recording engineer is Viraj Daki. 13. Beparwahi There are a few indie musicians who are consistent, even if their singles are separated by a few months or more. Gulshan Jethwani is one of them who had an excellent number last year called “Chalo� and I did review it here on this space. Now he is back with a soothing track which has influences of Raag Yaman in my view and that makes you heart bloat with joy and love. Gulshan, writes, composes and sings this while another known face in in the indie scene Onkar Tarkase produces the song. Gaurav Korgaonkar plays the keys as a trusted aid to Gulshan’s vocals. ONkar has produced songs like “Ek Din Kahin� and “Kosi Kosi� which were both excellent and I hope to hear from him soon. Abhinav Kumar is the bassist for this one and you will enjoy the introduction of the Harmonica in the interlude played by Nikhil Bailur. 14. Dhooreyetho The electric violin played by Joy has a nice unique sound that differentiates it from the usual violin and this can be heard at the beginning of this track. The tune does remind of me Raag Nalinakanthi, songs like “Sonnalum ketpathillai kanni manathu� from the movie ‘Kadhal Virus’ . This song is composed by Kiran S Shankar with all the programming and arrangements by MM Anumod. Soorya Shyam Gopal gives a fresh tone to this song with his delightful voice. The violin in the interlude is just mesmerizing and as Soorya rightly points out to me there is also some influence of Raag Bihag in the Anupallavi. Listen to the superior basslines right through thanks to Vishnu CV. All the sound design is by Shanush Nayanar with Syam working on the Melodyne and Harishankar V mixing and mastering the song. The lyrics are written by Din Nath Puthenchery 15. Blown Away The city of joy and immensely rich culture of music and arts and here we have a rock band to sizzle from there. With two EPs already in their kitty, the guys aren’t going to play novice. Varun Gujadhur plays the guitars and vocals and he excels on both especially singing the title line. Subhomoy Mitra sings too and his bass guitar contribution is like the backbone and second line of defense for the song. The track offers a lot of resemblance to famous punk rock bands like ‘Green Day’. The thumping drums are played by Sougata Hari and Prashant Gujadhur provides the backing vocal support. Abhibroto Mitra records and mixes the track at Blooperhouse Studios. 16. Starcity This youngster Aditya Rao, was born in New Jersey and got all that musical DNA from his drummer dad, but now he is settled in Chennai which probably has the same number of Tamil people living as in NJ, well it was a joke which could be very close to being a fact. Anyway this reverse Brain Drain is more than welcome and MANGAS as his new moniker is, clearly smashes this song. Aditya writes, composes, performs, produces and mixes too for this number with the brilliant bass guitars played by Mathew Panakal. Travel back in time to the 1990s and it feels like listening to that great band called “A-ha�. The vocals are matched by very apt backup vocals layered beneath. The sound of the Piano never stops to bring a smile and it has been well written and programmed along with the keyboard and synth parts. Listen to the closing segment and it sounds a lot like A-ha’s “Take on Me�. I love the energy on the drums and innovative beat shifts. 17. Safar The rock band is based out of the Capital City of New Delhi and although I am interested to know why the name was chosen for the band, the brand of music conveniently took my mind away from that mystery. The song title is a no-brainer as the number talks about the world of travel and great experiences associated with it. The guitars are more enticing to me that witnessing a cloud covered mountain and we have Gagan Kumar on electric guitars and Samar Yadav on bass. I am so glad Tanusri B Sengupta reached out to me one day with her upcoming single, and though she was open to all kinds of criticism and feedback, I only had one thing to say, “Fabulous�. I did have a complaint that there was a smaller segment of vocals in the track than I would have liked but apparently it was intended. Tanusri later explained to me that the band’s name was kept by the guitarist who wanted to pick a alternate name to Buddha. She still powers through with her falsetto and emotive singing in that shorter duration itself and the range of vocal scales explored is admirable. Rahul Rawat is flamboyant and also feeble in various segments based on the need. Deep Ak has produced and recorded it while ace engineer Anindo Bose mixes and masters the track at his Plug ‘n’ Play Studios. Navjot Nama does all the commendable artwork.

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 13th 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. Piharva Anumita Nadesan is on a roll for sure, and after a wonderful indie single a couple of weeks ago called “Khwaab�, this time is an even better track that climbs to the top of the charts. The song is composed by renowned musician Sachin-Jigar with Sachin Sanghvi also joining in on the vocals along with Anumita. To me, her vocals sound way better and more expressive at the higher scales and thankfully she is offered the opportunity here to sing that title line. Siddhant Kaushal writes the lyrics and there is a lot of thought has gone into it. The Tabla in the percussion segment is apt for the song. Bhagirath Bhatt’s Sitar solo plays in the interlude and in the background during the stanza. There is a definite trace or influence of Raag Harikhamboji in Carnatic music, and it belongs to the Khamaj Thaat in Hindustani music. “Piharva� apparently refers to the parental house of a girl who has now moved away into a new home with the in-laws, and all the safe space it offers. Sachin sings in the later stage of the song uttering the swaras. Sahil Vishwakarma does all the programming and plays the guitars as well. The last 2 mins or so is pure bliss with vocals and instrumentals especially the Sitar engaging in a Jugalbandi. Eric Pillai has mixed and mastered the track. 2. Mehfooz The capital city of MP, called Bhopal is not only a city of lakes but also some amazing musical talent. Aditya Rakheja seems to be one of them who was born and raised in Bhopal and learn music early on. He went on to study Genetics in the UK and he is proffer that the music inside you never ceases to exist and t is only a matter of time before it takes shape. Aditya sings it with total commitment to the words that he himself has written. Warren Mendosa is playfully present with his guitars while Darshan Doshi provides the mildest of percussion effects on drums. All this happens without taking away any limelight from Aditya’s vocals and rightly so. Aman Arakh has produced, mixed and mastered this gentle yet generous piece of music. There are moments when Aditya sings with absolute freedom hitting the Falsetto, and it feels liberating like listening to a Jazz saxophonist on a roll. Jarvis Menezes on keys and Warren combine well but the latter’s electric guitar solo is quite engaging. Vivian D’souza plays the bass guitars like an unsung hero and listen to the outro on guitars to understand why this song is wholesome. Apparently Aditya has been taking vocal lessons from Shannon Donald and Isheeta Chakrvarty and all that is paying off for sure. Aishwarya Abbot’s photography captures the essence of the song as well. 3. Love you too I have heard Raahi’s songs before, and he does really captivate you with his singing and scores as well with an unending melodic intent. The song here is composed and written by Vasudev Gandharav and it certainly strikes the perfect chords for a listener wanting to hear a love song. It reminds me of classics like “aawaz de humko� and “Pehla nasha�. Raahi sings, arranges, programs and produces the track while we have John Paul on bass guitars. The songs another positive is the harmonies singing the title line, which sounds ecstatic, thanks to Tiwari Harmony Group. The recording is done by Raghuvendra John Aryam while Bhaskar Sarma does the mix and master. The project by Sajid Shahid is produced by Abhijeet Singh. 4. Fall in Love Colleges all over India have bands that participate in inter-collegiate championships, but once they graduate and move onto the corporate world, it is all forgotten like the movie “Rock-on�. Now here is a Chennai based band of 5 graduating in Engineering and other streams, but they are living the dream. Isn’t that a wonderful thing? Laxman Arvind embodies that spirit of desire and fulfillment as he sings with his enticing vocals. The brand of Alternative Rock music that we can cherish, sing along and have it play in our heads multiple times. Rohit Surya hits the tempo perfectly on the drums and is that battery that never tires for the track. The lead guitarist needs a round of applause as he underplays in the background as well as plays solo with the same thrilling effect and so Vignesh Yaddanapidi take a bow. Sridhar Elamaran showcases his mettle on Keys as we approach the ending portion of the track and GD Vijay on bass guitars kills it like a silent assassin. Franklin Daniel mixes and masters the track, while Mervin T Thomas and VJ Ganesan do the recording. 5. Faces of the moon I can go on and on about this band and in my Opinion they are as important to the current Indie music scene as are the Western Ghats to the monsoon along the west coast of India. If you didn’t like the analogy, well then at-least listen to the song and fall in love with what these guys can do. Aryandra Shekhar has written and composed the tune and when he sings it like this you just can stop losing your senses. The way he sings “everyday� is testament to that. Sunil George on keyboards is on a high and he delivers the output with stunning beauty and he is also the man behind the arrangements. Ritik Suntwal on drums helps achieve a massive rush of blood to the head and when he combines with the guitars by Kaleb Shaji and Gordon Pereira, you are on cloud nine. To round things off, we have Rex David on bass guitars and this song is one for all seasons and moods. 6. Puriya Dhanashree I never want to miss out on any brilliance and that is why I don't restrict to hearing and reviewing domicile Indian musicians. This woman is a Norwegian Indian Violinist called Harpreet Bansal and I would pay to go and listen to her. Interestingly a foreigner plays the Harmonium here , Vojtěch Procházka, and we have Sanskriti Shreshtha on the Tabla. The Raag n focus here is Puriya Dhanashree which in itself will send you into a zone of catharsis owing to the pathos. If the main live instruments aren’t enough, the Norwegian Radio Orchestra sweeps you off your feet with the grandiose arrangements and performance. The flute and strings section and the Horns section sound enchanting thanks to Jan Mortin Smordal who is the Orchestrator. Once you have been mesmerized with gleaming music and a sunken heart, pay attention to the joyful Raag of Bhimpalasi as well in another outstanding segment. Here we have the Bassoon played by Embrik Snerte in the beginning and then Jon Ovind Ness orchestrates this gem. Behold the Violin solo that showcases the full extent and beauty of the Raag by Harpreet. 7. Nau Saal Ajay Jayanthi’s violin solo is so heartwarming that you already feel like you have a 100 years and here in this track he is accompanied by Ritu Gopal as well. Jimmy Francis John is the lead vocalist and Ashwin Syam is the composer and producer for this total humdinger of a number. Jimmy explores a lot of his vocal range especially hitting the Falsetto often. The violins speak to you better than words can and they way the soloists change the notes a bit to produce the effect of a vocal aalap. The track is mixed and mastered by Cyril Sajan and are words are penned by Gaurav Digga. The vocalist is someone I am hearing for the first time, and hence was pleasantly surprised. However when I tried to do more research, I realized that he was the frontman of Pineapple Express, and boy have I loved their work especially I have featured multiple songs from their EP "Passages". 8. Sombre Valley I haven't heard her singles under the previous moniker Barbie but when I heard this I knew that a name doesn’t matter as long as the quality of music is trustworthy. Dridha as she calls herself now has composed, written and sung this number. I love the strings in the background hence the whole production is unique and lovable. Aman Moroney has done the mixing and mastering while Debapriya Kar has done the artwork. That humming she sings is quite catchy and sticks to your head but it does remind us of Arijit Singh’s “Hawaein� composed by Pritam. The guitars too are melodic and all the harmonies add beautiful layers. 9. Humahun ka Khilab We all remember that name Rabbi Shergill and that uber-hit called “Bulla ki Jaana� back in 2005. It is one song that many across India would have heard and loved and he is back after a massive hiatus. This time it is a song for a movie called “Eight Down Toofan Mail� and the song is written, composed and sung by the man himself. The Keys start off the number and then that cherished and seductive voice shifts from high to low scales with amazing ease. You can hear some excellent programming and arrangements with the Keys, electric guitars and Strings. The song is true to his genre of semi-rock, semi-folk . 10. Log kehte hain A team of young musicians uniting not jut to create good music, but with a deeper purpose, straightaway grabs your interest and call for great attention and appreciation. Muhafiz the band creates these semi-classical numbers worded with pristine and Urdu poetry and just like the previous singles , this too is a ghazal you will want to guzzle up like cold water on a peak summer day. You can never enough of both! The track to me has traces of Raag Shudh Kalyan and it is composed by Sarthak Kalyani , while Sarthak and Siddhant Chopra produce the track. Neeraj Shetty is the project producer it with lyrics by Mushafi Ghulam Hamdani and Sarthak. The Tabla and the Keyboard programming fuse just brilliantly, while Sartha’s vocals are soothing both to the ears and heart, I have always claimed that such attempts to modernize some of our traditional music styles can do wonders to get more younger demographic listeners to follow and like. The high-paced Harmonium but towards the end is a nice addition to the scheme of things. 11. Sunshine on the street Pranati Khanna a.k.a. Peekay is not only got a style of her when it comes to her fancy moniker, but the style of music carries that too. This Hyderabad based musician works with another hot talent from our country’s music factor known as the North East. Andrea Tariang is from Shillong and has already acted with big stars like Amitabh Bachchan and Ajit Kumar on screen. This track is bound to immediately get you into the groove as Peekay and Andrea write and compose it. Zediah Hynniewta sparkles straight away on the guitars and he also plays the Keys for the track. The two lead vocalists have such amazing control and it is on full display right through. I love the harmonies playing mildly in the background and Leon Wallang’s bass guitars, which sound funky. The vocal textures are different with Peekay being more compelling and thrusting, and Andria breezy. The track is produced by Jonathan Edward and it is mixed and mastered by Meshac Daniel. The use of Trumpets in the background layers is well arranged thanks to Zediah. Vincent Tariang plays the drums. 12. Your best This 17-year old singer songwriter will strike you with his vocals the moment you play the track and you will feel possessed by the vocal stability, and creativity that Noah Avantkar employs in his delivery. The song is written, composed and performed by this musician who was brought up in Bangalore. Noah also plays his own guitar in the track and we have Niranjan S on al the sound engineering work like recording, mixing and mastering. The song was intended to be released on 31s December to help people forget the fact that they missed on the annual targets and goals, and they did try their best. Noah trembles and shivers and to get the vocals to sound so vulnerable and emotive and yet sound pitch perfect is pure genius. I can imagine someone just picking up a guitar and singing this jus to impress anyone around, and that is how much potential this song offers for anyone in love with music. 13. Muskurahat It is sad that the song was not in this movie, but that’s ok, because the song can live purely on its own score. The track is the best of the lot in my opinion in the album, and it is set in Raag Madhuvanti. AM Turaz writes this amazing words to the tune composed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Arijit Singh is in his elements as he does produce magic in every vibrato he delivers and thanks to Raja Pandit’s arrangements every note vocal and instrumental sound mesmerizing. Arijit explores so many areas vocally in this song and he is on a trip of experimentation doing all his aalaps and inventive deviations. Kailash Patra plays the solo violin while Sanjiv Sen plays the Urdu Dholak, Tabla and side rhythm. Sanjay Jaipurwale does the music programming and Kunal Dabholkar mixes and masters the track with assistance from Swapnish Jadhav. The violin interlude in the second interlude is truly enchanting and it will break into tears. Just listen to how Arijit sings “Jo Zyaada der� in the second stanza and you will wonder how he landed those notes so well. 14. Yu hi hum Here is another wonderful song, which is very similar in its classical Raga base like “Muskurahat�. Ruupa Raman is a composer who always wanted to try singing but only to accompany her brother. But after a long 20 year wait she takes the plunge, and we have a song that is superior in its score and arrangements and I hope the singing will definitely rise in leaps and bounds after this venture. I originally thought this was set in Raag Madhuvanti as well, and I wasn’t way off. Apparently upon speaking with Ruupa she tells me that it is based on Raag Madhukauns derived from Malkauns and Madhuvanti. Its Carnatic equivalent is Raaga Sumanesa Ranjani and the song that springs to mind is MS Vishwanathan’s “oru naal nilavu , pagal pol iravu� sung by P Sushela. Ruupa and Aajay K Chauhan pen the lyrics which describe the moment of how this song took birth. The programming of Keys and all other fragments are wonderfully done by Atul Raninga. The Sarangi is payed by Late Dhruba Ghosh while the Sitar solo that we hear in the second interlude is played by Sweekar Katti. Tapan Dewanji records, mixes and masters the track. Ruupa will certainly have a bigger impact if she gets to just be more expressive and confident with her vocals especially in the higher scales. 15. Kalia I always love Hip-hop and Rap as a style but it cannot be out of rhythm or just expletives thrown at me without any sense of music. Here is Samir Rishu Mohanty born to an Indian father and Japanese mother a.k.a. Big Deal who sings in Oriya and English. I loved two songs at least in his debut album with Kalia and a song named after him. In Kalia Big Deal features singer Kuldeep Pattanaik while the rapping, mixing and lyrics are by Samir. This song is a great fusion of rap, some local instruments and singing from Odisha.

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

Here is the list and review of the top songs in Tamil for the month of January, and they were picked from around 60 new releases in the month. The AMAZON playlist here has the full list in the same order of rankings shown below. https://music.amazon.in/user-playlists/700c6fb369ce485aa74d104de03b1fabi8n0?marketplaceId=A3K6Y4MI8GDYMT&musicTerritory=IN&ref=dm_sh_je2PCnPwp7ZuT3tTlYaPI3AKM 1. 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. 2.MugamoodiKaber Vasuki does well in the small opportunities he is given, as he did prove himself in “Dharala Prabhu� and the whole album of “Aelay�. This song is all him as he writes, composes and sings a wonderful number, which probably has the feeling of almost a theme or BGM score. Kaber sings with a huge investment in emotions and you can feel that as he soars into high scales, and the drums by Manu Krishnan and electric guitars by Sahib Singh accompanying are a treat to any ear, which loves the rock genre. He offers much more as we see a drop in the tempo and get enthralled by the solo violin, with bass and electric guitars in the background. The song will evoke emotions of various kinds like pathos, rage and celebration and that truly is to be credited to the composer. The outro on the violin by Akshay Ganesh is simply terrific. The track is mixed by Dilip Venkateswaran and mastered by John Tornblom 3.Uyir Thirandhu We just heard Balasubramanian G’s name working on the song “Naan Pizhai�. This time he is the composer and he shows he is qualified to be a composer creating this melodious piece. The song from “Infinity� is composed and arranged by him and it has the mesmerizing vocals of Pradeep Kumar with words written by Balamurugan. The guitars by Sam Solomon provide a fitting aid to Pradeep’s voice and they fill all the gaps when the vocalist takes a breath and pauses. Even during his previous composition called “ Thaniyae Kadhal� I did mention about the attempt to make music sound like Maestro Ilaiyaraja’s and here too Bala G does that. This is a massive compliment and I only hope the young musician sustains under the pressure of expectations. The song reminds me of “Poove Sempoove� at various instances, as the song has some great harmony as well arranged by Koshy Cherry.  The song beautifully drifts from the high-pitched and energetic title lines into the stanza. Abhishek B and Anu Koshy do the additional programming and mixing and mastering by Keerthivasan. 4.Arkali He is like the solar eclipse, coming not very often (wonder why, when his music is astounding) but creating an absolute spectacle when he shows up. Dhibu Ninan Thomas just a couple of months ago created one of the best Tamil (or even Indian) sons of 2021 with “Adiye� and he is back again with songs from “Kombu Vatcha Singamda�. We have two fantastic vocal performances viz. D sathyaprakash who is well known and Ala B Ala who has always been around in the back up vocals of most songs. Dhibu composes, arranges and programs with solid acoustic guitars by Vijay Joseph and bass support by Naveen Napier. Ala sounds a bit like Chinmayi Sripada and we hope she gets more opportunities to be the lead vocalist. There is a massive line up of Harmony singers including Abinaya Shenbagaraj , Sowmya Mahadevan , Deepthi Suresh , Nincy Vincent , Shenbagaraj G , Santosh Hariharan , Sarath Santhosh and Aravind Srinivas. The rhythms are strong and catchy along with strings by the Macedonian Symphonic Orchestra in the interlude and verse. The orchestra was conducted by Oleg Kondratenko with scoring by Collins Rajendran. Sathyaprakash delivers an impressive vocal performance. The recording engineers are Vishnu M, Mani Ratnam , Lijesh Kumar and Giorgi Hristovski with mixing by Kiran Lal and Balu Thankachan, mastering by Manoj Kumar and Shadab Rayeen. There are some excellent live instruments too in the song like Kishore playing the Sitra, Vishnu Vijay playing the flute and (Late) Thirumoorthy on Nadaswaram. The percussions are played by Krishna Kishore, Ganapathi , Venkat , Sruthiraj  and Kiran 5. Yennadi Seithai This looks like it is a bilingual film in Tamil and Telugu called “1945� and we have Yuvan Shankar Raja as the composer and Mohan Raja as the lyricist. Priya Mali just last month released a fantastic song on her own singing and composing “Patchai�. This time she delivers the female vocal lead wit great efficacy along with the stalwart Haricharan. The middle eastern influence is excellent thanks to the Oud/Rubab in the background and the interlude. The use of the tabla and Sarangi add to the classical and north Indian tradiational flavors. Haricharan singing in the higher scale and Priya in the bass scales in the stanza works quite well. 6. THOZHI The song opens up and you can sense the Govind Vasantha touch al over it, and that is not a bad thing at all especially since we know how Govind can be terrific in his compositions ever since 96. This is once again a Pradeep Kumar vocal special where he sings with immaculate ease any note that is offered to him. The use of the bass guitars and the strings draws you in as much as Pradeeps voice itself. When the Violin, which is most definitely played by Govind himself, you feel like the theme of 96 is playing and you fall in love all over again. We have Madan Karky writing the lyrics and Amith Bal and Rajan KS mixing and mastering the track. The way the track ends I did sense an influence of Abheri raagam in it. 7. Amma Song Just about month ago we had a song from “Valimai� talking about the irreplaceable relationship shared between a mother and son. That too was sung by Sid Sriram and as quite a lovely attempt by Yuvan Shankar Raja. This has the younger and new age composer Jakes Bejoy who is now becoming a pan-South Indian musician with regular releases in Malayalam and Tamil and now in Telugu. Incidentally it was Jakes Bejoy himself who made a song on the love of the Father called “Ilam Poove� from Anveshanam. The Malayalam song has no parallels and Sooraj Santhosh sang it brilliantly. Uma Devi needs to be give due credit for writing these touching words in this lovely dedication composed and produced by Jakes. Embar Kannan is at his splendid best on the solo violin with Nikhil Ram’s flute intervening. Sid Sriram excels at shifting between the lower and higher scales in no time. The female humming by Deepika Varadharajan and the Veena solo by Haritha Raj add great layers the interlude and somewhere when it ends I Was taken back to AR Rahman’s “Kannuku Mai Azhagu�. Godfrey Immanuel is solid as ever on the acoustic and bass guitars and they combine well with the flute and violin in union. Deepika’s cameo on the swaras sticks to your mind and I am thinking that there is probably some Ragam Maand in this song, and there is also an influence of Bihag in the track. The chorus arrangements are by Amal Anthony and he along with Jakes form the backup vocals. The strings we hear are fantastic thanks to Cochin Strings and we have Balu Thankachan on the mixing and mastering duties and Hari assisting him. The recording engineers are Daniel Joseph Antony, K.K.Senthil Prasath and Midhun Manoj 8. Veezhaedhae The movie is out and it has generated a lot of positive reviews, and how refreshing is it to see a composer become a director. Kudos to Darbuka Siva for ccomposing, arranging and programming some lovey music and this is the last track in this movie sung by Abhay Jodhpurkar and Keerthi writing the lyrics. One thank we should all straightaway appreciate Darbuka about is that if the movie is about the 1990s then the music should be representative of that without any of the modern tones and flavors we are exposed to. Every song is melodious and creates nostalgia just like this one here with the predominant influence of acoustic guitars by Keba Jeremiah who also plays the electric guitar in this one. Shyam Benjamin is on the keyboards and he provides perfect acocmpaniment to the guitar strokes creating a secondary layer. The song is simple without too many complexities and the Keys play a vital role in the second half of the song. Somehow the impact of the keyboards reminds me of the heydays of 90s English soft pop and maybe that too was totally intended by the composer.  Sanjana Kalmanje joins on the humming  in the end in this track mixed and mastered by Balu Thankachan with assistance from Elwin Joseph and Hariharan. The recording engineers are Dheeleben, Hafeez and Avinash Sathish. The way Keba plays it , I feel like I am listening to some Slide guitar from an American country song. 9. Pogathey It is difficult when musicians work hard to create a song and it really has a tough and delayed route to release. This excellent number was released on Spotify just recently and I loved it enough to inlcude in January’s best songs, but when I spoke to the composer I realized that it was composed and ready almost 5 years ago but is making its way into streaming apps only now. Like they say , it is better late than never , and you have some well known musicians working on this project. Singer Yogi Sekar has written the lyrics with guitarist/composer Simeon Telfer scoring the tune. Diwakar who was the winner of Super Singer 4 is the vocalist for this one and he really has brought his A game here. Simeon’s acoustic guitars and Napier Peter Naveenkumar’s bass guitars truly are perfect ingredients to make this final output sound brilliant. Diwakar delivers a fine performance in a song which doesn’t sound easy to execute in my opinion and when you hear the song it has a lot of tone and texture similarities to “Ennodu Nee Irunthal� by AR Rahman and sung by Sid Sriram. The track is mixed and mastered by Dr. Alfred. 10. Kaanal Neeraai The movie ‘Writer’ has been getting some rave reviews and it also must be appreciated for some excellent music from Govind Vasantha who has clearly been busy for the last few months composing in multiple projects. Pradeep Kumar is the vocalist and he has sung 3 splendid tracks this month making him the best performer of the month. Muthuvel is the lyricist, for this slow and simmering melody. This starts off with the wind instrument that is haunting, and it sounds very much like that great number “Life of Ram� from the album 96. The tempo is definitely different with this being much slowe still the resemblance is uncanny. The use of thavil and Jalra give the song a very pious and mysterious feeling together. 11. Thaalatum Mounam Ondril' Yuvan has clearly upped his game recently with releases galore and also composing and producing indie music in Tamil. The song is sung by tamil music’s own nightingale Swetha Mohan with lyrics by Karthik Netha. The song is from the movie ‘Kuruthi Attam’ which has a couple of good songs released earlier. The track is mixed and mastered by M Kumaraguruparan, and it has some excellent programming. The flute solo in the interludes at various points in the song is quite catchy and apt. 12. Alai Alai This remkae of the fantastic Malayalam movie is eagerly awaited and it has two popular Sri Lankan actors who particiapted in the Bigg Boss Tamil reality show Losliya and Tharshan. I don’t know yet about the movie, but it is a dependable bet that the producers have gone and taken Ghibran to score the music. GV Prakash and Deepthi Suresh are lead vocalists and the latter is now slowly rising as a lead singer , and moving away from the backing vocal experiences. Dr. V Sritharan is the music supervisor while Gold Devaraj is the music assistant as usual. The backing vocals are fantastically done and arranged comprising of Shenbagaraj, Sarath Santosh and Aravind Srinivas singing in various scales almost resembling a A Capella. The ethnic strings instruments keep playing in the background and interludes and it is by SM Subhani while Rithu Vysakh plays the solo violin. The song is mixed and mastered by Abin Pushpakaran and recorded by Wesley. Andria Miranda and Britto David produce the track with all additional song arrangements by Hary Nair, VM Bharath and LJ Vijay. GV Prakash has been pretty busy acting and composing and he delivers his vocal performances quite well too when they are offered to him. 13. Lol Lol Arasan He is one of favorite young talents Ajesh and he had a terrific album last year called ‘Sarbath’. Here he gives you one progressive /Alt rock kind of a number with some terrific synth and keyboard programming. How creative to get Baba Sehgal to sing this, maybe it was Ajesh’s dream to make him sing for his composition. The male humming that keeps coming often is way to catchy to get out of your head, and the interlude has this saxophone (played on a keyboard) which is splendid in construct and execution as well. Vivek is the lyricist and this song will definitely be playing most audio systems of cars for a while. Keba Jeremiah is on the electric guitars. 14. Running away 6091 is not just a number, it is the moniker of a musician whose pedigree should have actually taken him towards Carnatic music, but it is only the Carnatic space‘s loss that a talented young musician Gopikrishnan moves into indie music. He has been featured here before and he works with some excellent vocalists like Bindu Anirudhan here for this teasing and engaging number. The song is written by Bindu and Shama Ahmed and the song is composed by Bindu as wel. It discusses the mental state of an artist falling prey to externalities which end up driving the artist into a crazy fit. 6091 produces, mixes and masters the track and thanks to his contribution you can hear sounds that you never would in a traditional production. The ultimate purpose of music is to deliver a message through sounds and 6091 uses Lo-fi and instruments found in nature to perfect the output. Bindu’s singing creates a brdige for the listener to cross and enter the mind of this disgruntled musician, who is the subject of the song. Manu Mohan handles the album art.

The link below has the playlist on AMAZON PRIME https://music.amazon.in/user-playlists/557b4e2dd46a4d95a105e1440627cc45i8n0?marketplaceId=A3K6Y4MI8GDYMT&musicTerritory=IN&ref=dm_sh_crbGjJNs0b527ElXnBtf0tx4A 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 in Tamil. Sabin Suma Jose has mixed and mastered the track. The Piano is aided by bass-lines, rhythms and well-arranged harmonies. The solo violin in the front, and strings in the background have a scintillating interlude. This even continues into the stanza dominated by Aditi’s vocals. Aditi’s high-pitched singing and the way she emotes every word is worth listening to on loop multiple times. It is stunning how perfect her diction is in Tamil, being a Telugu singer, and it is a lesson for many budding singers. Ennai aalum pennilave Gopi Sundar is the master of melody and I am glad that his horizon has expanded from just Mollywood into Tollywood and Kollywood. This video stars Bigg Boss Tamil Season 3 winner Mugen Rao from Malaysia and more importantly it has the powerhouse vocals of Pradeep Kumar. The song is an enchanting melody straight out of the 1990s Tamil cinema, with a great set of live instruments as well. The acoustic and bass guitars are definitely playing a role here along with . The stanza is short and simple but it hits the right notes. The keys and strings dominate the second interlude along with the beautiful humming by Priyanka NK. She performs in the second verse. Gopi has arranged, composed and programmed the track, with Midhun Anand mixing and mastering the track. Uma Devi is the lyricist. Ivalai Polae M.S.Jones Rupert is a music producer, composer and Pianist who has been very busy and consistent with some good compositions in 2020 and 2021, and he continues in that trajectory here. He composes this and ropes in Priyanka NK to do the vocals and Navin B beautifully pens the words. The music video is excellently directed as well by Common Man Sathish but the choreography and presence of Akshitha Ravindran steals the show. Jones and Priyanka perform the vocals in harmony and look out for the Violin interlude which adds to the grandeur. There are elements of either Karaharapriya or Reethigowlai in the track. The flute and stynths become two more important elementary sounds in the track. Kanda Kanavu Anand Kashinath has been creating some very enjoyable singles in Tamil, and I also have been featuring them from time to time and here he combines with another usual suspect in Sublahshini to compose a very likable and loop-worthy number. The duo have composed this second single from “In my vazhkaiâ€? and thanks to her mesmerizing vocals, this one is an instant humdinger. Sajin Stanly has mixed and Joshua Daniel has mastered the track. The thavil gets introduced into the song and it reminds us of “Kathalikkum Penninâ€? by AR Rahman. The trumpets are a good addition to the mix of things in the interlude and keeps the fun and frolic high. Maayaavi This is another love song dedicated to lovers during the pandemic and the struggles they went through. Ashwin PM directs the video but more importantly Abu Thahir composes the tune. A very delightful melody which grows on you even stronger thanks to the vocalists Santhosh Balaji and Aishwarya Ravichandran. Keba Jeremiah’s guitars enhance the melody, and Karthik Vamsi gets the rhythms spot on through his drums and percussion. Abin Pushpakaran has mixed and mastered the track with mix assistance from Thooyavan. Lokesh and Avinash Satish are the recording engineers. Sowndharya K handles the make-up and Leela Jennifer works on costumes. If you pay attention the melody draws some parallels to “Anarkaliâ€? by AR Rahman from the movie ‘Kangalal Kaidhu Sei’. Mother Song A song from an Ajith movie is always eagerly expected from fans and it immediately becomes a super hit irrespective of its melody or emotional connect. This time I myself thoroughly enjoyed the number and even though we have a plethora of “mother-son sentimentâ€? songs in Tamil, this one can be definitely added to the list that makes an impact. Sid Sriram becomes an obvious choice right now in Kollywod for lullabies like this and he keeps the vocals solid without overdoing any of the aalaps. Vignesh Shivn is increasingly making a name for himself and a trusted and dependable lyricist and this is another feather in his cap. Yuvan composes and arranged this beauty, and once again it is Keba Jeremiah’s silken fingers on acoustic, electric and bass guitars that drive the track in to another orbital. KJ Vijay plays the flute in the interlude and M Kumaraguruparan records, mixes and masters the track Patchai Priya Mali has been around singing for various composers and she has been featured quite often. This time it is her own composition and she sigs with such finesse that you immediately fall in love. Lyrics are penned by ADK, and after that ravishing humming which tells me that is probably some “Karaharapriyaâ€? raaga influence. Listen to that splendid solo on the electric violin by Nataraj and Napier Naveen Kumar is on the bass guitars. The track is mixed by Sujith Hyder and mastered by Suesh Permal. All additional programming is by Vijay LJ, with recording by Vimal John and Lokesh Vijaya. There are also hints of “Nataikurunjiâ€? in the interludes. The Nadaswaram and flute also have been effectively and generously used through the track Poonja Kannazhagi This is a song that will stand the test of time. Yes I mean that, and this straight away jumps to become one of the best Tamil and Indian songs of 2021 according to me. Biju Sam has composed this stunner and also produced and arranged the live instruments. There are two talented singers who made a name for themselves at the latest Super Singer show on Star Vijay viz. Adithya R.K. and Reshma Shyam. Dhamayanthi is the lyricist responsible for writing these beautiful words. Gustavo Eiriz is just masterful on the acoustic guitar romanticizing the whole track and taking you back to your school days where you first fell in love. The string section reverberates in your ears and it feels like something out of a symphony. They are played by the Macedonian Symphonic Orchestra, conducted by Oleg Kondratenko and orchestrated by Srikanth Krishna. Biju himself plays the bass guitars and the track’s engineers are Jerbaraj on recording, Ishit Kuberkar on mixing and Christian Wright on mastering. Just listen to the interludes and background instrumentals like whistles, and strings and you will stand up in ovation appreciating Biju Sam. There are fragments of songs like “Love Polladhadhuâ€? by Sean Roldan somewhere in between, but nothing can take away credits from Biju Sam for this breathtaking number. If Adithya teases you, then Reshma mesmerizes you. Raegaigal Justin Prabhakar is right in the middle of a phenomenal purple patch I must say. A year or so ago he was just making inroads into Tamil and Telugu cinema, but now has composed for a Netflix Hindi movie “Meenakshi Sundareshwarâ€? and now a Pan India film called “Radhe Shyamâ€?. Sathyaprakash is the lead vocalist and there is a massive team of backing vocalists that includes Sam P Keerthan, Yogi Sekar, Shibi Srinivasan, Sugandh Shekar, and Pavan. The interludes are laden with the Saxophone by MSV Raja and Acoustic guitars by Arun Chiluveru. The live drums by Suresh Peters and bass guitars by Naveen Napier enhance the groove and funk quotient of the song. The additional keys are played by Anurag Saikia, Sebastian Satish, Bharath Dhanasekar C and Dishon Prince. The track is mixed by Balu Thankachan with Hariharan assisting, while Shadab Rayeen has mastered the track. Sadhikaariye It’s a return to composition for Diwacara Thiyagarajan after more than a year, and I have been looking forward to this. He does make a stylish return with Anand Aravindakshan and Sanjana Kalmanje playing lead vocalists. The sounds are really fresh and the guitar strokes provide much needed cheer played by Vijay Ganesan. It is not just the pallavi but the charanam as well that sound very hummable with Sanjana and Anand complimenting each other. The lines “Kanaa Kanaa nee thanadiâ€? are just wonderful and sung with oomph by Anand. Mohan Rajan writes the lyrics, and Shibi Srinivasan has given additional vocals’ performance and arrangements for the same. The track is produced and mixed by Vinod Ravi Sundar, with mastering by Rupendar Venkatesh and Divine Joseph, Kashyap, Shivanesh and Lijesh as recording engineers. Tappasu Neram Karthik is silently traversing into greater heights without anyone’s notice as a composer par excellence. So far it is only GVM who is offering him opportunities which is a little sad, considering Karthik is creative, like the way he did with “Guitar Kambi Mel nindruâ€? and solid in some of the Ondraga Originals. Anyway in this new movie featuring Varun from Bigg Boss 5, the song created waves when it was played as a morning song a few weeks ago, and now the more you hear it, the more you fall in love with it. Karthik composed, produced and arranged the track, sung by this phenomenal teen called Krishna K. The other lead vocalist is the famous Gana Guna who is well known in Kollywood, and we have some unbridled talent like Amrit Ramnath, Malavika Shankar and Manisha S as backing vocalists. Vivek is the lyricist, all the additional programming is by Ashok Sridharan, Balaji Gopinath and Sakkthivel. The vocals dominate the song with some interesting support from Keys and rhythms. The way Guna sings “pappa pa pappa ppaâ€? is just stylish beyond compare and he goes to deliver his lines with glitz as always. Joseph Vijay in on guitars, and all Stem mixing and mastering is by Sai Shravanam. The synth programming and production all work brilliantly to get perfect output. Aakash Rajan is the studio assistant and the track is mixed by Karthik and Aswin George John. Ullam Urugudhaiya Never keep this man out of the race, as Imman will somehow find his way into the best every single month. This time it is from the movie “Etharkkum Thunindhavanâ€? with Suriya as the lead. Pradeep Kumar is really making a remarkable comeback in to mainstream playback singing after laying low and involved in indie music. Vandana Srinivasan, and Brindha Manickavasakan are the female lead vocalists in the song. The Konakkol we hear at the beginning are by Ganapathy also plays the Mridangam, and the solo Violin is played by Manoj creating moments of nostalgia with the sounds. All the Indian percussions are conducted by Kaviraj and performed by Babu, Pradeep, Raja, Balu, Saravanan, David, Chiranjeevi and Azhagiri. Vandana and Pradeep totally grab the opportunity with both their hands and deliver a supreme vocal performance. Imman interestingly introduces he old version of “Ullam Urugutahiyyaâ€? in to the mix. Keba Jeremiah plays the acoustic and bass guitars while Subhani plays the stringed instruments. The Harmony team does a fabulous job and it comprises of Santosh Hariharan, Deepak, Shenbagaraj, Aravind Srinivas, Narayanan, Vignesh, Veena Murali, Sowmya Mahadevan, Deepthi Suresh, Abinaya Shenbagaraj, Ala B Bala and Soundarya Nandakumar. Let us forget to credit the kid’s chorus team as well comprising of Neha, Idhazhika, Dhanyasri, Shivathmika, Sahana. The Elfe Choir comprises of Roe Vincent, Angelin Nisha, Sheryl Suraj, Deepa Shankar, Nisha Sharon, Krithika Konda, Sneha Sathya, Padmaja Sreenivasan, Snigdha Chandra, Anuj Mathew, Rohit Sridhar, Reshwin Nishith, Aneesh Solomon Elfe Choir conducted by Maria Roe Vincent. Yugabharathi is the lyricist. Yenadi Penne Breezy, catchy, call it whatever you want, but it for certain will make you take notice of the inherent melody. The humming and solo violins by Balaji and Manoj strike you straight away and what else do you expect from one of the pioneers in Sam. C.S. I get a feeling from the opening lines that there could be some influence of Raag Saraswathi as the lines bear similarity to “Karpoora Bommai Ondruâ€?. Abhijit Rao’s vocals are fascinating and I am reminded of Balaram who has sung for AR Rahman, with some resemblance to the vocal texture of PB Sreenivos. The month is dominated by Keba Jeremiah who has appeared in multiple of these songs and here too he plays all the versions viz. acoustic, bass and electric guitars. Sam has written the lyrics and the song has a lot of Latino Jazz style to it. The Keys are played by Abey Terrence Antony. All the strings section we hear in the background in the verse are by Chennai Orchestra. The track is mixed and mastered by B. Thiru, with CD Anbumani as the recording engineer. Bhuvana Ananth is the music supervisor , Aishwarya and Kannan are the production managers.  The playlist link is https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnzHXmlVC7notAOhgldB0DHqPIpFd0ojf

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.  

This is the list of Top Songs released in India for the week ending Dec 12, 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 12th 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. Magician Alvin Presley was impressive a year or so ago with his EP and I loved the whole collection which had a track in Tamil as well. It was something fresh and his vocals stood out for me. Now I discover the band he formed back in 2016 and is their current lead vocalist is kicking ass. Attva was formed by musicians from around India but who gathered in good-old Chennai. Biadurya Banerjee is their lead guitarist, Shourish Biswas from New Delhi is the bassist, and the drummer in charge is Vinay Ramakrishnan. This track is a fast-paced rock single that straight away rises to the top of the charts this week. The bits where the electric guitar plays, I am reminded of the linesâ€? Ek suraj nikla thaâ€? from the track “Dil seâ€?. Is it weird that during certain moments, I hear some notes of Raag Jog or Naatai in Carnatic. The drumming and electric guitar are simply sizzling with some able support on the bass guitars. The harmonies are wonderfully arranged, and keep on the lookout for the electric guitar solo that extends for like a minute or so – truly inspirational work and kudos to Baidurya. The song speaks about a magician and I love the lyrics as well. The track is mixed and mastered by Toby Joseph and Nithin D’Mello is the recording engineer. Nayyha Sharma is the woman behind the artwork. 2. Hijabi The man who created the score for JOJI. That is how he will be known for his stupendous accomplishment in 2021, and in my opinion it is one of 2 Indian movies with the most outstanding OST’s of the year. If that is not enough for you listen to some of the awesome songs from “Thaaner Mathan Dhinangalâ€?, especially ‘Jathikathottam’. This is another smashing melody from Justin Varghese, and he has composed and programmed and arranged in this track, and it keeps ringing in your ears on loop sung so beautifully by Adheef Muhamed, and you can’t help but fall in love with this voice. A lullaby from a male voice has never felt this good. Suhail Koya is the lyricist. Subhani is terrific as expected on the string instruments in the secondary layers along with josy John’s splendid bass lines. Justin, SanDy and Amal Anthony join in back-up vocals and the interlude is one more elegant rendition on the strings. If you don’t pay close attention Nikhil’s intervention on the wind instruments could just whiff past you without you noticing. The verse is an extension of the melody with so many things happening in the background, thanks to Subhani’s skills and Justin’s arrangements. Varun Sunil of “Masala Coffeeâ€? plays the percussions here and Vipin Lal handles all the additional programming. The track is mixed and mastered by Justin, with additional mix by Nandhu Kartha, Avinash Satish and Justin are the recording engineers. 3. Premakke Kannilla He has had a terrify journey up until now, and I have always enjoyed his compositions in a very tight race among composers in Sandalwood music industry.  The use of the ghatam is a sure shot success, and in a slow song like this we have heard how AR Rahman used it brilliantly in “Innum Konjam Neramâ€?. Judah composes and arranges for this track sung brilliantly by Pancham Jeeva who sort of has this similarity in his vocal texture to that of Sanjith Hegde. Sarf Khan’s Sarod and the Bangalore Strings Ensemble are just excellent additions that keep enriching the track at every instant. Butto’s flute solo takes control of the interlude, and the verse is a simple but still the melody is maintained. The bass guitars provide some excellent backbone to the track and Shreya Iyer only joins much later in the track, but a nice little cameo it is. The lyrics are penned by Jayanth Kaikini, with mixing and mastering also by Judah. There is another track also which I love in this album called “Shuruvaagideâ€? sung by Sid Sriram who is slowly appearing more in Kannada now. This is too has some excellent live instruments with the flute again by Butto, Violin by Simon Augustine Sandhy, Nadaswaram by Nehru, and Veena by Mahesh Prasad. The Bangalore Strings Ensemble comprises of Simon Augustine Sandhy, Reuben James, Sarith Sukumaran, Sibi Manuel, Stephen Joseph, Aruna Duvvuri, Sam John Job. The Tabla is a constant presence played by Venkat and Dhanu, with Dholak by Dhanu and Shiva. Arjun Luis has penned the lyrics and Nigel Xandrina has mastered the track, with George Thomas on all the additional programming. 4. Wes Anderson Aditi Saigal a.k.a. DOT. Is rising every time she produces or composes or sings and after her super-impressive EP “Khamotionâ€? released in 2021, her ability to consistently deliver good music continues unabated. The Piano takes center stage right from the start, as James Gair arranged, co-produces, records, mixes and masters the track. The splendid keys are played by Aditi herself who soars higher and higher with her vocals, and you can see the adrenaline levels pumping as the keys and vocals get louder and higher in scale. The strings section comprising of Alice Teulon on 1st Violin, Miriam Dinis on 2nd Violin, Zach Reading on Viola, Anastasia Zaponidou on Cello, in the background is beautiful and rich and the arrangements are spot on. This is just one joy ride with its ups and downs and you can understand the genius in the youngster as she just conquers you with great composition and song-writing. The film was shot by Rory Alexander with Camera work by Matt Melling. 5. Kasiyoli This juggernaut called Bhoomi with musical production by Salim-Sulaiman is a brand of music that doesn’t cannot be stopped in its path. I have already featured 2 so far in this website in 2 different weeks, and one Tamil number on Behindwoods. This is composed by one of the brightest talents in India, Anurag Saikia. The title means ‘ray of light’ and he is the ray of light that Indian music industry should be proud of. The vocals are solid thanks to its lead performers Vivek Hariharan and Jutimala Buragohain. After the first couple of lines, there is a pause and the guitars electrify the stage and you just wait for what is about to come. Ishan Das has played the electric guitars and co-produced the track with Anurag. Nawaz Hussain is charged up and that is evident in the drums he plays along with percussions by Satyajit Rajaram Jamsandekar. The track is mixed and mastered by Pankaj Borah with drums alone mixed by Akash Sawant. The duel between the drums and electric guitar gets insanely good and this track feels like a wonderful Assamese folk song that has been given a fabulous refurbishment. The bassist is Rahul Putai, and Manoj Kumar Das plays the Khol. Rahul Gautam Sharma writes the lyrics and the backing vocals team comprises of Gauranga Shekhar, Bishal Sharma, Kavya Daga and Kriti Daga. 6. Kitabon The Western Ghats, are a band you better take notice of, and follow. The stamp of music coming from them is of the highest nature and I believe their music should be celebrated. Ritik Suntwal on drums gets the tempo and track going along with guitars by Kaleb Shaji, and Gordon Pereira. Aryaendra Shekhar has got some stunning vocals that he employs and the humming portion a minute or so into the track is delightful. Aryaendra also has composed and written the track. You can sense that the Keyboards are also heavily used here and Sunil George plays them along with other vital duties lie composition and arrangements. It might be much easier to just compose a very regular rock track, but this band pays extra focus on the tune that is being composed, and you can strip off all the accompanying instruments and you will still have an inherent melody worth singing and humming, Rex David is the bassist and the track is mixed and mastered by Jayakrishnan Nalinkumar. The outro on guitars, drums and keys is just way too enjoyable. 7. Anandham Yazin Nizar who used to sing regularly in Malayalam and Tamil, has of late started singing quite regularly in Telugu. He has got a vocal range not many can match upto and he displays that right at the beginning of the track. He is accompanied by Vishnupriya who does combine well in the romantic song that has a wonderful charanam portion that is both elaborate and elegant. The guitars start off the second interlude portion which then is taken over by a wonderful solo on the violin and when you hear all this you get the impression this is a beautiful rendition with influences of Abheri Raaga. The track is composed by Shekar Chandra and with lyrics written by Bhaskarabhatla. The flute keeps playing on and off especially in the first interlude, and I love how Visnupriya sings at the end of the charanam with a subtle vibrato that lands on the pallavi. The track has some excellent arrangements on the bass guitar, and Piano as well. Krishnaraj Arumugum has mixed and mastered the track. 8. Cut to the chase That’s two in two for Kashmira Khot, after a super single released back in July called “Break Throughâ€?. This one is an equally smashing single written, and performed by her and her close aide Mayank Katare has produced and played the acoustic guitars and bass. The fabulous drums are played by Saurabh Lodha and he has also mastered the track. Her vocals are beyond par, and the singing as well as the guitars give me a texture of country music popular in the US. The arrangements are splendid and I love how in between the guitars and instruments take a pause with only Kashmira’s vocals and Saurabh’s drums performing. The guitar notes that keep playing every-time Kashmira finishes singing “Cut to the chaseâ€? are memorable and stick to your mind. You will wake up in the end when she sings “wake up darlingâ€? and Saurabhs ups the tempo on his drums. 9. Little plastic raincoat Second sight is a duo that settles in a very niche segment focusing on Jazz, R&B primarily. The recent album which is apparently their debut creation has some terrific number, a couple have been already featured by me. Here I want to mention about two particularly 1. Little Plastic Raincoat which is a bonus feature and 2. Helpless. Anusha Ramasubramoney and Pushkar Srivatsal are the duo and I recommend that listeners hear the whole album and get a taste of their classy music. The tracks are written and composed by the duo and in the first track here they both lend their vocals, that just is soothing.  Pushkar himself plays the guitars, and watch out for the Cello played by Akoto Goto, that instils the pathos and gravity of the scenario right into your heart. The way the duo sing in unison and in different octaves. Ralph Menezes is the bassist with Puskar also handling all additional synths. The next track featured Ranjani Ramadoss a.k.a. RANJ and here Second Sight enters their seasoned territory of R&B. The singing is impeccable as Pushkar and Anushka improvise and use vibrato so effectively and spontaneously, something that never quite comes off well in other genres. RANJ begins to rap as we touch the halfway mark and Ralph’s bass and Pushkar’s guitars provide the backbone for the foot-tapping rap she delivers. Jaykrishnan Unnithan plays the Keys, and Jigar Shah is on the drums. All vocal arrangements are by Anushka, with Pushkar producing and mixing the tracks. The mastering is by Thomas Juth, and the recording engineers are Keyur Bhagat, Sameer Shah, and Hersh Desai. 10. Hot Cauldron Ragtime It is an interesting Album by evermoon and it is certainly worth your time with at least a couple of tracks sounding brilliant. Abracadabra as this one-man act calls it, gave me one amazing track to cherish and it is this. It feels like a retro swing number but classified as an electro- swing style. Adithi Sagar smashes this one with her flamboyant vocals and it is aided by some high value production and programming by evermoon. The trumpets and Keys play in the background turning this into one hot wild dance number and maybe that is why the title. Tejas Ramakrishna a.k.a. evermoon from Bengaluru experiments and he does that how well with varied musical styles and textures in the album and he also sings here along with Adithi. The bass and electric guitar sounds also electrify the whole environment and kudos to Tejas for his production, composition and arrangements. 11. Karon Aamra Aakashe Rupam Islam is like a legend in Bangla indie music and would you believe that this particular had been written a decade ago and happy that it is finally being released again. Rupam has combined forces with Allan Ao and Neel Adhikari to compose this breezy rock number. Prasenjit Pom Chakrabutty’s bass guitars and Neel’s acoustic guitars stand tall along with some very peppy backing vocals featuring Neel, Allan and Ujjaini Mukherjee. Rupam is almost performing like it is just a walk in the park, and his cool attitude and style transmits over the track in a wonderful way. The drums programming is done by Allan, and that too is quite effective considering it is very essential to carry the tempo of the track forward. Rupam has written the lyrics as well. The outro is Rock-N-Roll like the old times as Allan does some sorcery on guitar strings. 12. Notun Alor Piyashay Bangla music has always been running ahead of others, in the country especially in the rock genre. But the diverse styles that composers explore is worth appreciating. Take this track for example, as Joy Goswami writes, sings and composes this fabulous retro-sounding number that cheers you up with positivity with every note sung and played. I get a feeling there is a similarity to Kedar Raag or may be in the Chayanat or Gaur Sarang framework. Dipesh Chakraborty excels at arranging and mixing and mastering for the track, but the vocals stand out for me. The way he suddenly shifts from lyrics to swaras is interesting and lovely to listen to. The choice of percussion and the guitar strokes add to that retro feeling as well. All the guitar design is by Sugata Roy Palodhi and Debojit Sengupta is the sound engineer. The use of the electric guitar adds a fresh element to an otherwise very traditionally melodious number. 13. Inaaya A song talks about love and tenderness especially how a child sees the world, full of life, innocence is what this song discusses this aspect. The moment the song starts I am reminded of that beautiful old number called “Tere Mere Milan kiâ€? from the movie ‘Abhimaan’. Saurabh Trivedi and Suyash have written, produced and composed the track. Shikhar Agrawal’s flute solo starts off things, and with the vocals and Keys in unison the track is tranquility exemplified. Sagar Saluja plays the guitars, amd Ronit Sejwani is on the drums. The humming in the end is like a bridge that takes the track into a more rock-styled song and all the arrangements and basic likability of the tune keep you hooked on. Arpita Singh takes care of the album art. 14. Mukh Feraye Na Mon Wow what a week for Bangla music, the 3rd track emerges in the top 15 and this has to go to the vocalist for that sweet voice which does lifts my spirits up. Sahana Bajpaie is the singer and she sings this one composed by Amit-Ishan who have done some wonderful arrangements of the Piano and guitars right through the track. Subbhamoyy plays the guitars and strokes with such amazing control and the feeling love and romance blossoms with every stroke. The interludes are relatively simple, and the composition depends heavily on the tune, as the basslines also sound spot on in the verses. Barish is the lyricist, and mixing and mastering is done by Amit Chatterjee. 15. Across the Universe It is going to be featured in my list of Best EP/Albums of 2021, with already 3 tracks being featured in the album inspired by ‘The Beatles and India’. Tejas Menon and Mali (Maalavika Manoj) are two splendid indie artists and many a times I have written about their singles and Eps here on my website, and when the two combine it was always going to be dynamite. Tejas debuts as a producer here and if you thought their vocals are spell-binding just wait and pay attention to Shravan Sridhar’s majestic solo on the violin. The combination of the Violin and guitars is splendid and it immediately feels like a beautified version of the original itself. As Mali begins here vocals, Tejas too joins in, and I can understand how important this is for the musicians, who get to perform on a classic of the legendary Beatles, but it is also a great opportunity for listeners of this generation to hear such classics. The arrangement of harmonies and the instruments are perfect to let the 4-minute track never lose a second of inspiration. 16. Hold on Tight ‘Change’ was the last time I featured Gouri and Aksha in my rankings and they have once again impressed me enough to appear in this list. The vocals are beautifully layered when they sing in unison and the Keys add a necessary layer that ‘Jazz’ifies the track in my opinion. The way the vocals are arranged with one following the other is something that always catches the attention and it works here too. The track is produced and mixed by Rohan Ramanna while it is mastered by Shawn Hatfield. The stylish trumpets are played by Aldrin Dominic Alexander and it is a ‘wow’ moment for sure. It is thins kind of innovative arrangement and thought that makes me believe the duo have much more to offer and impress in the world of music. Hersh Desai as the recording engineer, Snehi Shah handles the art direction and Meghna Bhalla takes the photography credits. I cannot think of a better song in recent months, to play in the twilight and have a lovely dinner and dance with your better half.