narenmusic

BY NARENDRA KUSNUR  Divyam Sodhi & Khwaab/ Piya Label: first.wav Rating: ***** Hailing from Karnal in Haryana, singer Divyam Sodhi has been hugely influenced by ghazals and Punjabi folk. He has a very pleasant and emotive voice, and his reels have a sizeable Instagram following. On the song 'Piya', he teams up with producer Khwaab. It's a simple song about companionship, set against a catchy guitar line. Divyam sings, "Laut aao ghar, piya tera kaandha mera sar; maanguta umar, piya tera kaandha mera sar".  The diction has a Punjabi trace. The variations he uses to sing 'maanguta' are fabulous. There are brilliant lines like, "Asar tujh mein hai, marham mein nahin, mushkil hoti hai, kurbat se sahi, jee le pal bhar, piya tera kaandha mera sar". Most important, the tune sticks. Mirande Shah/ Ranjha Label: Self-released  Rating: **** Talking of voices, Ahmedabad-based singer Mirande Shah has a texture that's as sweet as they come. Her latest s

BY NARENDRA KUSNUR  Mark Knopfler/ One Deep River Genre : Roots-rock Label : British Grove/ EMI Rating : **** The marvellous Mark Knopfler will be 75 this August. He's at an age when many fans would begin nitpicking about changing voice textures and inability to captivate with those pipes. But sorry, that's not the case with Mr MK. In his 10th solo album One Deep River , released almost 47 years after he's been in the business, Knopfler sounds as glorious as he always did. Maybe there's an extra avuncular zing that makes his current voice all the more charming, as he converses with and serenades his magical guitar in that trademark manner that he's owned. The 12 songs here are much in the fashion of many of his solo outings. There are no Sultan-like swinging solos or trips down telegraph roads through tunnels of love. Barring the first two tunes, and an odd one later, the songs are laid-back and brooding, using hints of country, Brit-folk and rootsy ruggedness. The

BY NARENDRA KUSNUR Tejas/ Museum (EP) Label: Misfits Inc  Rating: **** Besides his albums Make It Happen and Outlast . Tejas is known as the voice of Archie in Zoya Akhtar's Netflix musical The Archies . He now treads a different path on the four-track EP Museum . The EP is inspired by stories like The Lion King and Hamlet , besides referring to his relationship with his father, who passed away in 2021. Joining Tejas, who sings and plays guitar, are bassist Adil Kurwa, drummer Jehangir Jehangir and sarangi player Vanraj Shastri. The four tracks are covered in just under 11 minutes, using a mix of western arrangements and Indian back-ups. 'Exspiravit In Machina' is a mood-setter where the sarangi blends with electronic effects and the line 'I Remember', used on loop. The title track has a supple back-up vocal line, Hindustani vocal layers and harmonies, where Tejas sings, "I've been so busy staring at the future of my unknown maybes". 'The Clock&#

BY NARENDRA KUSNUR  MC Square & Mohito/ Chirmathi  Promoted by: Coke Studio Bharat  Rating: ** 1/2 Like many of its predecessors, the latest Coke Studio Bharat song 'Chirmathi' has many big names. There are Ankur Tewari as creative producer, Hashbass on production and bass, Karsh Kale on drums and main artistes MC Square and Mohito. It's a Harvanvi folk tune with a catchy start too, even mentioning poet Robert Frost in the beginning, for whatever reason. The problem is that after a while, it goes all over the place, despite having an interesting subject of a girl wanting to achieve her dreams. The effort is to pack in too many things into one song, and things go haywire. But why are we surprised? Paushali Sahu/ Sukoon Label: T-Series  Rating: *** 1/2 Last year, Kolkata singer Paushali Sahu had released the catchy number 'Haule Haule Piya' and the melodious 'Taaron Ke Sang'. She again teams up with music director Shamik Guha Roy on her new release '