This is a Malayalam musical album based on the Movie ’’Akale’’ directed by the upcoming & talented director ’’Shyamaprasad’’. The movie by itself doesn’t have a single song in it, and the album was released separately to co-promote the film.
Shyamaprasad’s creations, mops thoughts from the conscience drenched soul. The music by M. Jayachandran is a testimony to that and a true representation of the type of work the director has been doing in the past. It seems that this is the first Malayalam song that is sung by the Tamil playback singer, Karthik. I could not find any fault with his pronunciation, and I in fact wondered whether he knew Malayalam before!
Second, M. Jayachandran, through the years, has been trying to get far from his strong classical tinge. Having a classical bias is not bad, but sometimes the vocals take the spirit a bit away from the general trend of his instrumental background. To give you an example (from ARR Himself), hear the second (& third) paragraphs of the song ’’Teliphone Mani Pol’’ from Indian. The lines that Harini sings are based on the Raag Anandabhairavi. Towards the end of the lines she sings it a bit too classically, and I felt it somehow deviated from the spirit of the song, but as you all very well know, it did not prevent the song from becoming a hit. So, I feel this album showcases M. Jayachandran’s resolve and proves that he can do some pure western style numbers.
The first track, ’’Akale’’ starts with ’’Opera’’ style female vocals. It reminded me of the piece ’’Nocturne’’ from the Instrumental album ’’Songs from a Secret Garden’’. But, maybe it’s because I am not familiar with this type of music, and all sounds similar to me. Karthik sings the lines very carefully, slowly and blending his voice really well with the background sruthi. There are some wonderful orchestra interludes. In the second musical interlude, there is an awesome violin-flute piece. It also does bear some resemblance to ’’Nee Paartha Paarvai’’ from Hey Ram’’. But, in my book, this song has excellent orchestration, sensible use of violin and piano (by this I mean, it is present but does not drown the human voice).
The second track is the same as the first, but sung by K.S. Chitra (KSC). It is a masterpiece par excellence. Her voice has a philosophical depth. For example, hear Kannalane, or Engae Enathu Kavithai. There is that mysterious feeling of loss, sadness & disappointment. KSC had recently given birth to a baby, after many years of prayers and hope and hence the brief absence from playback singing. I am truly thrilled that she is back. I wish her the very best in her personal life and playback career!
The third track ’’Ararumariyathe’’ is sung by P. Jayachandran (not the MD, but the legend in Playback singing). I am pretty sure he is easily 50+. His voice is still as youthful and flexible and probably the most talented currently. The song is slow and melodious, and I guess is intended to be romantic but lonely. It seems like a poem written about a girl. But, in the pallavi and anupallavi has some confusion. It is slow allright, but does not keep the feeling alive. Sometimes it sounds depressing, and sometimes romantic. Maybe, MD is looking for both!
’’Nirasandhye’’ is a track which starts with some e-guitar played with sustain (the contraption that sustains the electric guitar’s sound so that the notes seem continuous). A new singer, Ganga has sung this track. She has sung it creatively, mimicking an anglo-accent (as though an English lady is singing it). That is done because the characters in this movie are Anglo-Indians. She definitely has some good talent. I felt that this was a pure western track. It ends with a good violin solo. Overall a good job!
The MD comes in to sing the next track ’’Pinneyumetho’’. Good starting, with narration by ’’Bagyalakshmi’’. The lyrics refer to Ghazals, love and romance. There is a slow rhythm to embellish the melodious vocals. MD purposefully drags his voice sometimes to give that ’’Hindustani’’-touch. Some light Santoor interludes provide a different environment. Good job overall. He should try some hand in singing slow numbers.
The track ’’Pranayini Njan’’ is sung by M.G. Sreekumar. The track gives us a glimpse of this MD’s range. But, to admit frankly, this track resembles Vishal’s score for Matchis as well as his score for the Malayalam movie Daya. But maybe it is the Raag that is biasing my evaluation. But, I have always like the MD’s use of Rhythm. He is very creative in almost all of his previous movies. The difference in these types of rhythm is the use of the ’’Raag’’ notes inside the beats. That gives a strange sounding rhythm, which is dead-western, but at the same time fused with Indian music. To hear this hear the starting of the song, and listen to the rhythm after the actual e-beats. The base guitar and keyboards (I guess programmed into the rhythm instrument) play notes with the rhythm. If you want to hear other examples, hear to the following songs: ’’Thanka Thinkal, from Indraprastham, Tamil: ’’Thanghamakan’’, from Basha (Batcha) (Hear the starting of the rhythm), Hindi: Habiba, Title song, Bappi Lahiri’s album, Gupt: Mushkil Bada Yeh Pyaar.
The next track ’’Pravukal’’ is sung by the Tamil singer ’’Chinmayi’’. I could just say two words, ’’Well sung!’’. The song uses a lot of classical ’’sancharas’’ (Note combinations) and Gamakas (Note Slides). The singer is at ease, with no detectable problems in taking even the most difficult ’’Sangathis’’ (Creative combinations of the song-lines). The rhythm used is similar to the one the MD used in a recent movie. Some flute pieces have been taken from the ARR number ’’Thoda Thoda’’, but the similarity ends in the sounds and that’s all. I guess, in the new breed of singers Chinmayi will stay for a long time!
The instrumental track ’’Romance-Theme of Akale’’ is good. The theme starts with male vocals blended with Keyboard notes, then proceeds to a soft & smooth Cello piece. This takes us into a full blown orchestra, which pauses for a few moments with a Cello solo. I have seen/heard this MD’s fusion program in Doordarshan. It was quite a treat to watch & hear.
The track ’’Rose, Blue Rose’’ starts with the Western classical piece by one of the past geniuses (Don’t know whose it is, just know that the composer is of the Mozart-Beethoven era). The song is in that tune. I guess, the MD clearly knows that it is so strikingly similar and maybe there is something in that Movie to give an indication.
Let’s see. Overall, an OK song.
’’Sharonile’’ is a track sung by two new singers: Vidhu Pratap & Preetha Prasad. I guess, the MDs of Kerala cine industry is going to have a tough time deciding which singer to pick. Both singers are awesome, for lack of a better word. Preetha sometimes sound like Sujatha. The song has Irish music in both the music interludes. The rhythm is hurried, but does suit the song.
Overall, I found this album to be different, and as said before, a fruitful attempt by M. Jayachandran to break off from his strong carnatic classical bias in most of his previous numbers. He is no doubt one of the most talented of the new generation of MDs in Malayalam Cine Industry. He has done a lot of research in fusion music (Carnatic & Western) and has performed on TV several times. Along with Alphonse Joseph, M. Jayachandran could provide a new face to Malayalam Film Music. I also liked the fact that he has used established singers like Chitra, Jayachandran, Sujatha, & MGS without forgetting to include upcoming singers like Vidhu Pratap, Karthik, Ganga, Preetha & Chinmayi. To cut the long story short, It is definitely worth the money to buy this album.