Two sorts of people possess genius: those who think, and those who cause others to think.
Someday when you are tired, your eyes dropping sweat, your skin burning off over-exertion, your heart seems to have stopped pumping the fuel of life and you feel like you cannot take the pressure anymore, what do you do? Everyday is a fight. This life is a battlefield and we all are soldiers. Someday might be quite in the warfield but somedays have to be really gruesome. So how do you cope up with this never ending tug of war between yourself and life? Some people drink, some party, some watch television and some listen to good music.
Another question arise. What or which form of music do you call as good? A great song for one might be a poor and boring composition for another. So the simplest answer to the above question can be Whatever form of music suits your mood is good music.
Another question arise. If the definition of good music is so simple, then every song has to be great for someone and poor for someone else. Then why do we have geniuses? The answer is simple, there are some albums which everyone appreciates and they make geniuses.
Fortunately for the connoisseurs of good music, the album Ab ke Sawan by Shubha Mudgal falls in the above defined category. This album is a perfect combination of what we call ’’Music for the mass’’ and ’’Music for the class’’. This album proved that soft and simple, melodious music derived from the vast heritage of our country can be commercially viable as well.
This album was the first commercial venture for Prasoon Joshi, the lyricist and Shantanu Moitra, the music director. Both have travelled a long way now and on one hand where we have Prasoon writing lyrics for the highly acclaimed Rang De Basanti, on the other hand we have Shantanu Moitra been nominated for the best music director for Parineeta and Yahaan.
Writing about the album, this album belongs to Shubha Mudgal. She is fluent, eathy and sometimes even sweet with her vocals. The album has eight songs, each of them has a pinch of folk and a lot of fusion. I will go to the songs one by one :
1. Dere Dere
A wonderful mixture of Jamaican rhythms with Indian gayaki. It is a fast paced number with perfect singing by Shubhaji. The song has a few alaaps in between and they make this song a worth listen. A perfect song to start up the tour I must say.
Rating - 9/10
2. Usne Kaha
As you move ahead, and the second song starts, you feel that by mistake your CD player has changed the CD to some Enigma album. Indeed this song has a perfect blend of gospel, hip hop and again hindustani classical. The best part of this song - undoubtedly the excellent https://lyrics. This is the song which will relax your innerself.
Rating - 9/10
3. Seekho Na
Some rate this song as the best song of the album. This song starts up with a beautiful piece of sarangi and then paces ahead to find its rhythm which is again western R&B. The song is a fusion of R&B rhythm with classical thumri. The song describes the inner feelings of a woman who expects her lover to understand everything what she feels. The changes which lead from antara to mukhda are perfectly executed and the song is a treat for the ears.
Rating - 9.5/10
4. Bhai Re
In my view, the best song of the album. The song has all the ingredients to make it a masterpiece. Shobha’s soulful singing, powerful yet enigmatic lyrics, Baul style of singing and good use of bass guitars make this song the most powerful song of the album. I bet you, if you really have the taste for good music, this song will definitely make you cry someday.
Rating - 10/10
- Pyar to Musafir
Based on the same classical raga on which A. R. Rehman composed ’’Nahin Saamne’’ from the movie Taal. The song portrays love as a traveller who comes and goes with its own wish. This song portrays love as a human being more precisely a child. The best portion of the song is the transpose in the chord by half a note. Shubha kas kept herself away from her standard classical alaaps in this song.
Rating - 9/10
- Is Pal
The song tells you to celebrate this day that is today. The song has some excellent vocals by Shubha and the sargams in this song are based on raga kalavati. Honestly speaking, had this song been in some other album, it would have been the best song but as compared to the other songs in the album, it is a bit dull.
Rating - 7/10
- Bairi Chain
With pieces of tuba, pipes and violins, this song at first sounds too much scottish. It reforms into a purely indian song when sarangi and Shubhaji comes into act. This song sounds like a lullaby to me. It makes all your tensions go to sleep.
Rating - 8.5/10
- Ab Ke Sawan
The title song of the album. Most of you must have heard it and I am sure you all know everything about this song. It is a fusion of Indian styled singing with typical english rock-n-roll kind of rhythm. You can very easily witness the energy that Shubha has delivered to one of the most difficult compositions I have ever witnessed. Shantanu Moitra has himself played the keyboards and has done it to perfection.
Rating - 10/10
So that was my review for all of you. I wanted to be different this time and thus you will find a lot of new and different things in this review of mine as compared to my previous reviews.
To end with, I have a simple question -
What do you think is the reason for the deterioration of Indi-Pop music?
Cheers,
Himanshu aka madsadman