narenmusic

BY NARENDRA KUSNUR  Stebin Ben/ Mohabbat Hai Label: VYRL Originals  Rating: ** 1/2  After starring in the music video of 'Baarish Ban Jaana', popular TV actors Shaheer Sheikh and Hina Khan get together on Mohit Suri's 'Mohabbat Hai'. They play three generations of romantic lovers, though the script doesn't make much sense. The song has been composed by Jeet Gannguli. Singer Stebin Ben, who has been doing some good stuff of late, starts off well but the song gets monotonous.  Lyricist Kunaal Verma writes, "Dil ki baaton ko dil sun lega, tum yeh kaho na kaho". The song's attraction is the presence of the two stars, but on its own, it's very average. -- Ankit Tiwari/ Ishq Faqeeri Label: Warner Music India Rating: ** 1/2 After film hits like 'Sunn Raha Hai' in Aashiqui 2 and 'Galiyan' in Ek Villain, singer Ankit Tiwari has had a steady stream of songs. He has now released the single 'Ishq Faqeeri', a simple love song. Shabi...

BY NARENDRA KUSNUR  Artiste:  Wadali Duo Details: Live streaming of Gamak, at Tansen Samaroh, Gwalior  Date: December 25 Rating: *** One remembers becoming a sudden fan of the Wadali Brothers in the late 1990s, when the Sufi music wave was in full swing. Over the next few years, they did memorable shows at the Tata Theatre, Taj Lands End and the Ruhaniyat festival at Horniman's Circle. Puranchand and Pyarelal Wadali complemented each other perfectly, and one always had gooseflesh on their rendition of Shah Hussain's 'Ni Saiyyon Assi', Bulleh Shah's 'Ghunghat Chak Ve Sajna' and Amir Khusro's 'Chaap Tilak'. The duo attracted packed houses, but sadly Pyarelal Ji passed away three years ago. Now 81, Puranchand Ji is accompanied by his son Lakhwinder, and they are carrying forward the tradition in all earnest. Though one misses Pyarelal's distinct timbre, Lakhwinder acts as a perfect partner too. On Christmas evening, one had the chance to see the...

BY NARENDRA KUSNUR  Thermal And A Quarter/ Inside Out Label: Self-released  Rating: **** On first listen, this doesn't sound like the Thermal And A Quarter we know. Even singer Bruce Lee Mani sounds different. Instead of their familiar rock sound, the Bengaluru boys go in for a 1980s funk-dance-pop meets acid-jazz style reminiscent of Average White Band and Jamiroquai. Yet, in its own genre, this song has been brilliantly done, with bassist Leslie Charles, saxophonist Gautam David and drummer Rajeev Rajagopal coordinating perfectly. The sax solo is stunning, the guitars by Tony Das are fluid and the vocal harmonies between Mani and Ananya Raja hold the tune tight. The video shows studio shots of the musicians. This is more of a groove song than a lyrics song, and one doesn't really mind the flippancy of the words. It's an interesting, though slightly unexpected, way of celebrating the band's silver jubilee, and it showcases their derring-do. -- Rohan Solomon/ It's C...

BY NARENDRA KUSNUR  Usha Uthup/ Wokay Promoter: Jazz Goa Rating: ***** The evergreen Usha Uthup sings the blues.. and how! She dons a curly hairdo, puts on a western attire and begins, "Woke up this morning to a brand new day". Slowly, she moves to, "I get that funky feeling, that I'm feeling wokay.. woh-oh-oh-oh-kay". Three incredible solos adorn the song, as harmonica player Rohan Singhal, guitarist Salim John Sadiq and keyboardist Xavier Peres take turns. Bassist Colin D'Cruz and drummer Clifford Siqueira man the rhythm section. Usha comes out as a natural charmer, as she returns to her trademark saree and bindi for the curtain call. She's been on the scene for over five decades, and is as energetic as ever. Wokay? -- Tubby & Samantha/ Christmas Time Label: Inkk Audio Rating: *** Over the past year, Mumbai singer Samantha Noella has regularly released a stream of singles. She has now teamed up with composer Indrajit Sharma 'Tubby' on a Chr...

BY NARENDRA KUSNUR  Neil Young/ Barn Genre: Roots rock Label: Reprise Records  Rating: **** At 76, Neil Young shows no signs of slowing down. Have spent the pandemic days putting out old live recordings and previously unreleased material, he now comes out with 10 new songs on Barn. And nothing seems to have changed - this sounds like any of his work 30 or 35 years ago. This is his 41st studio album, an obvious sign of his prolificity. For the 14th time he teams up with Crazy Horse, comprising guitarist-keyboardist Nils Lofgren, bassist Billy Talbot and drummer Ralph Molina. And to add to the melodic aura, he's recorded this at a specially constructed barn up in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, with co-producer Niko Bolas working out of a mobile recording truck nearby. In fact, Colorado was the title of Young's 2019 album, and like in that case, he talks of American landscapes, lifestyle and environment, besides making autobiographical references and narrating love yarns. The s...

BY NARENDRA KUSNUR  Atrangi Re/ Hindi film soundtrack Music: A.R. Rahman Label: T-Series Rating: *** Music director A.R. Rahman began 2021 on a fairly good note with the film 99 Songs, creating an impact with 'Jwalamukhi', 'Humnawaa' and 'Soja Soja'. In Mimi, he had a semi-hit in the item number 'Param Sundari', though the rest of the soundtrack didn't create much of a dent. Now, we have the much-awaited Atrangi Re, a setof seven songs featuring, in typical Rahman style, a varied mix of singers, with Irshad Kamil doing the writing. Individually there are some good numbers but what's lacking is the X Factor of the ARR of yore. The sequencing is such that you begin with an overdose of drum-heavy songs, beginning with  Daler Mehndi's 'Garda', which has lines about some "chhora' and the punchline "Arrey garda uda diya re". Shreya Ghoshal comes up next singing "Haay chaka chaka chaka chak hai tu, hai chaka chaka cha...

BY NARENDRA KUSNUR  Euphoria/ Saahiba Label: Self-released Rating: *** With the songs 'Dhoom Pichuk' and 'Maaeri' over two decades ago, New Delhi band Euphoria were at the forefront of the Hindi pop-rock scene. In September, they released the album titled Sale. Frontman Palash Sen is again in good form on 'Saahiba', a song about unfulfilled love and betrayal. "Tum jo gaye toh aisa laga meri ishq ki bekadri hui", he sings. The song has writing contribution by Prem Nikaju. The video, starring Barkha Bisht and Palash, is filled with emotional moments. The ending, where he says "Main achcha aadmi hoon, bewakoof nahin", packs a punch. Euphoria has a sizeable fan following and this should please them. -- Salman Ali/ Mohabbat Ke Kabil Label: BJS Music Rating: *** 1/2 The winner of the 10th season of Indian Idol, Salman Ali is a singer to watch out for. We heard him sing marvellously on the Dabangg 3 song 'Awara' and now he does the independe...

BY NARENDRA KUSNUR  Tadap/ Hindi film soundtrack  Music: Pritam Label: T-Series Rating: *** It's one of those soundtracks that hits you with its first line, as Arijit Singh sings, "Mohabbat mein yoon hadd ko paar kiya, tumse bhi zyaada tumse pyaar kiya, dard ki haddon ko bhi paar kiya, tumse bhi zyaada tumse pyaar kiya." Composed by Pritam, the writing has been credited to Irshad Kamil and Ashish Pandit. The song has a melody that sticks. Though Pritam has had many allegations of plagiarism in the past, there have some glorious soundtracks from him, Jab We Met, Barfi and Kalank being three examples. His songs in Milan Luthria's Tadap are impressive too, specially where he uses modern arrangements. Check out 'Tere Siva Jag Mein', which has a techno club backdrop that is persistent and infectious. Shilpa Rao is joined by Darshan Rawal, who sings, "Tu na mile mujhko toh jeena hai bekaar, tere bina khaali hai khwabon ka bazaar" with a rap stretch taking ...