The most awaited and hyped album of the year of the film ?Meenaxi? directed by M.F.Hussain is out now. ?Meenaxi? with a caption a tale of three cities Hydrebad, Jaiselmar, Prague dragged the attention of the bollywood mainly because of this man A.R.Rahman, the legend of Indian Music.
A.R.Rahman came with classy ?Tehzeeb? last year which was appreciated only by the critics and not by the masses and then with ?Lakeer? album this year he was able to satisfy the masses to some extent. The problem with ?Lakeer? was the only three among the six songs were good and the rest went unnoticed and even those three songs were the Hindi version of the hit songs of the Tamil album ?Rhythm? scored by him.
So with all the hype the music of A.R.Rahman in this film is expected to be his magnum opus. Let us see how far the album meets our expectation.
Let me make a point clear in the beginning itself.
?Yes? the album meets the expectation and even he has delivered more than what expected. Undoubtedly this album is a master piece of A.R.Rahman. There are totally 8 tracks in this album. Let us analyze the tracks one by one.
1) Yeh rishtha kya keh laatha hey
Lyrics: Rahat Inodri
Lead singer: Reena bharadwaj
Strings: John Themis
The song slowly starts with the sweet voice of Reena. Reena has sung well especially the way she ends the line as ?hey? is simply superb and has ARR?s punch. Within 30 seconds the beats of something like a tabla start which is very usual but it sounds unusual and different in this song, there lays the magic of ARR, I think he knows mass mesmerism technique. The usage of Guitar and other strings in the middle of the songs sounds good. Suddenly in the middle the song moves to sound of water flowing which gives a feel that Tabu is taking bath in a river and being the introduction song of Tabu in the movie it is necessary. The electronic sounds at the background give a different flavor to the song.
2) Chinnamma Chilakkamma
Lyrics: Sukhwinder singh
Lead singer: Sukhwinder singh
Music of Hyderabad (One of the three cities).This song is an excellent fusion of western and Telugu folk. The very first line of the song ?chinamma chilakamma? is very catchy. The electronic pad beats takes careof the western feel of the song and the flute and percussions takes care of the Telugu folk of the song. The percussions are again different in this song with a hydrebadi flavor. Sukhwinder singh has sung it very casually as there is no any high pitch lines like that in ?chaiya chaiya? song and as usual he has done a good job. He has penned the lyrics for the first time (I am not sure).
3) Do kadam aur sahi
Lyrics: Rahat Indori
Singer: Sonu Nigam
Strings: Rashid Ali
Flute: Navin Kumar
Excellent melody which will reach both the classes and the masses. Sonu Nigam is coming with best melodies these days following the ?Kal ho naa ho? song. He has done an incredible great job by singing in a husky voice. His rendition of voice is excellent which elevates and emotes the feel of the song to a great extent. ARR always uses some additional vocals in all his songs what ever may be the kind of song and it is rare to listen a song like this which has only one voice all through the song . The tune of the line ?Do kadam aur sahi? is so simple but catchy. There is no hard beats in the song. The mild violin interludes are good and well composed. The trumpet playing the ?Do kadam aur sahi? tune at the end with the violins at the background leaves a grand feel at finish. The whole format of the song reminds you ’’Nahin samne’’ song from Taal.
4) Dhuan Dhuan aag hey kahan kahan
Lyrics: Rahat Indori
Singer: Asha bhonsle
Additional Vocals: Kunal Ganjawala
Percussions: Shivamani
Additional Grooves: James Asher
Music of Prague. A foot tapping number with rocking percussions by Shivamani. Asha shows her versatility in this song .In the beginning she starts with a stylish longing voice just listen to the way she sings ?Na na naa? piece and slowly when it ends she has sung the last para in Hindustani style. A lot of percussions has been used in this song which is very well organized and conducted by Shivamani. Kunal who has sung ?Om hum dum suniyorae? song in Saathiya has done a great job in this song even though his part is very short, the way he starts the song with so much modulation in the voice along with beats is different and unique. From the first beat till the end the song is fresh and sounds great.
5) Rang hai
Lyrics: Rahat Indori
Lead singer: Alka yagnik
Additional Vocal: Dallinda
Percussions: Hassam Ramzy
Music of Jaiselmar. The beats of this song has some traces of that of ?Rangthey? song in Thakshak, this time the percussions are handled by Hassam Ramzy who has done a good job. But the resemblance doesn?t distract the fresh feel of the song. This song is a fusion of western and rajasthani folk. Dallinda?s shivering voice and her unusual humming in the start and in the middle gives a fresh and different feel to the song. A different wind instrument is used at some places in the song which gives rajasthani feel. The tune of the song is good and Alka yagnik is pretty good in this song too.
6) Noor-un-ala-noor
Lyrics: M.F.Hussain
Lead singers: Murtaza khan, Quadir khan
This is a typical qawali song. The song is fully packed with alap?s and swaras by duo khan?s with lyrics distributed here and there. Again the tune of the first line ?Noor-un-ala-noor? is catchy. The song sounds good even with usual tabla, harmonium and clapping sounds. Who are these guys? You can find these two voices in all the recent albums of ARR. They have done a great job in this songs. The song has some traces of ?sona sona? song in Bombay dreams. I think this song well blends with the situation in the movie which we can feel only when we watch the visual. But the beats are same from start till end and that becomes boring after a point.
7) Cyclist?s rhythm
Percussions: Shivamani
Strings: John Themis
For us the cycle bell sound is just a sound or even a noise sometimes but for a musical genius like ARR the cycle bell sound is also music. He has done a good experiment with cycle bell sound in this track. The track starts with brilliantly composed flute piece of Navin with mild beats in the background then the sound of bullock carts adds to it and then the cycle bells alone creates some rhythmic music and suddenly the percussion beats starts to play a perfect southern folk (Tamil) feel with whistling sounds in the background and then slowly the tempo increases and at the end the percussions leave thundering strokes and beats. Well arranged and conducted by Shivamani. On listenning to the track, I can guess the situation of this rhythm which may be a Cycle race in a village.
Continued in Comments........