Various/ Jazz City OST

BY NARENDRA KUSNUR

Various artistes/ Jazz City original soundtrack

Genre: Bengali OTT series music/ jazz, regional

Label: Sony Music 

Rating: *** 1/2

In a sophisticated Calcutta nightspot, the resident vocalist Pamela sings lines like "The city of jazz, the city that moans" and "The winter's warming up, come on fill up your cup, a little bebop, a little bebop tonight". The piano and brass are very typical of the jazz sound of the late 1960s.

However, while the soundtrack of the Sony LIV Bengali language series Jazz City may appear like it's dominated by jazz, the truth is that the genre forms only half of the song-list. Director Soumik Sen's narrative is based on events that led to the formation of Bangladesh in 1971, and the Jazz City here refers to a popular (and fictional) club frequented by Calcutta's rich and famous. Hence, a good chunk of the music also comprises traditional Bengali songs, with a few penned by maestro Rabindranath Tagore.

The aim here is not to review the series, starring Arifin Shuvoo, Sauryaseni Maitra, Shataf Figar, Tanika Basu and Santanu Ghatak, but talk only of its songs. The only thing one needs to clarify, for those drawing their interpretation from its title, is that this story is not based on jazz music, stars and venues of Calcutta, and that the theme is political and historical rather than musical.  The Jazz City club's partner Jimmy Roy (Arifin) plays a pivotal role in the developments described in the storyline 

The jazz songs have been composed by multiple people - Diptarka Bose has three, and there are one each by Srinjay Banerjee, Amyt Datta, Anurag Naidu, Arko, Shrea Suresh, Soumik himself and Sebastian Andrade, who has produced most jazz tunes. Lyrics are by director Soumik himself, and the ones filmed on Pamela (played by Alexandra Taylor) have been sung by Komal Kuwadekar.

Some wonderful trumpet parts dominate the songs. Though there are different composers, there's a certain uniformity in style, barring Amyt's 'Victoria'. Komal's singing is easygoing, strong on melody without resorting to high energy scatting or histrionics. It goes with the relaxed atmosphere of the club.

Another fabulous English song, filmed on Sheela Bose (Sauryaseni), is 'Maybe', which has a Bengali portion at the end. Taishi Nandi's voice is filled with nostalgia and hope, as she sings Soumik's lines, "When we dance in the rain, will the streets smile again, like the aftermath of pain, but then maybe".

Taishi has also sung the Bengali classic 'Ekamor Gaaner Tori', written by Atulprasad Sen, and Tagore's 'Ogo Maa'. In fact, Tagore's verse finds relevance in the series, and other songs used include 'Ekla Cholo Re', 'O Amar Desher Mati' and 'Amar Shonar Bangla', set to tune by Arko. Aanon Siddiqua's vocals on 'O Amar Desher Mati' are soulful.

Of the other Bengali songs, 'Pal Uraiya De' by composer Girin Chakraborty, writer Abbasuddin Ahmed, singer Urmi Chaudhry and chorus is lively. While jazz and vintage Bengali fare dominate the soundtrack, there are two Hindustani classical pieces 'Nindiya' and 'Alaap' sung by Krishti Banerjee. The Hindi song 'Yahya Yeah Ya Yahya Yeah' and Arko's English take of K.C. Dey's iconic 'Mukhtiro Mondiro' add variety.

Like the series, which runs into 10 episodes of roughly 50 minutes each, the Jazz City soundtrack is pretty long, with 20 numbers spread over an hour and 19 minutes. But it's am album which can be heard on its own, without necessarily bothering about how the songs fit into script. Depending on taste, one can pick and choose.