Midival Punditz/ Love And Machines

BY NARENDRA KUSNUR 

Midival Punditz/ Love And Machines

Genre: Indi-electronica/ electro-fusion

Label: Gravity Sounds

Rating: ****

The brainchild of Gaurav Raina and Tapan Raj, Delhi duo Midival Punditz has been at the helm of India's electronic music scene for almost 25 years. What's impressive is the way they blend western arrangements with rootsy Indian sounds, often through collaborations with contemporary vocalists.

The new Punditz album Love And Machines uses love as a theme, fusing synths and soundscapes with ghazal, Sufi, folk or plain balladry. There's a certain chill-out vibe throughout the 13-song, 56-minute record, where known names like Shubha Mudgal, Malini Awasthi and Papon appear along with some upcoming talent.

The album opens with a beauty on 'Dafatan' as Shruti Pathak sings Indira Verma's lines, "Dafatan aaj mere naam ucchaale kisne, kar diya dil ko mohabbat ke hawaale kisne". It's got a kind-of-Nitin Sawhney feel and and Shruti has a unique huskiness that makes it perfect for clubs.

'Dafatan' is one of the picks of the album, along with Papon's 'Na Jaane Kyun'. The Assamese singer's voice brims with emotion as he sings his self-written words, "Sajni ko dekhe saalon beete aaj bhi na jaane kyon, yaad uski kyon sataaye aaj bhi na jaane kyon". The song has some smooth sarangi passages, and so does the version of Bahadur Shah Zafar's classic ghazal 'Baat Karni Mujhe Mushkil Kabhi Aisi Toh Na Thi', sung here by Vishal Vaid.

Uttar Pradesh folk singer Malini Awasthi appears on the pathos-filled 'Jogi', singing "Jaavo re, jogi jaavo re", and 'Koyaliya', which talks of how a koyal's cry can lead to pain. Shubha Mudgal's 'Sakhi' uses rain as a theme, beginning with intense alaap before moving into Ajay Prasanna's flute. The main lines, by Nadim Shah Warsi, are "Chalo sakhi jhoole baaris saiyyaan sang, saawan ke ri rut aayee".

While the album is dominated by Hindi, there are forays into Bengali ('Rangeeli' by Sukanya Chattopadhyay), Rajasthani ('Panihari' by Hansika Pareek) and Punjabi ('Pukaar' by Subrat Sharma). Two instrumentals add variety. 'Novum' builds up slowly, and is a kind of a ambient interlude, but 'Encrypted' is an out-and-out banger featuring tabla player Bang It Paaji. The duo conclude in a loungey fashion with Vidhi Sharma's 'Space' and Hansika's 'Kajariya'. 

Though the Punditz have always been influenced by the Chemical Brothers, Prodigy and Asian Underground, they use a lot of traditional Indian music in a rather balanced way, retaining the vernacular dialects and embellishing them with trendy sounds. Love And Machines is a glowing example of electro-fusion, and its effect keeps growing on repeated hearing.





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