10 awesome Indipop collaborations

by Sujoy on August 30, 2010

in Music

Remember the age of just two channels on TV viz. Doordarshan and DD Metro? Remember the golden age of Indipop when it all began with the likes of Baba Sehgal, Remo Fernandes, Parvati Khan, Sharon Prabhakar and Alisha Chinai scorching the idiot box in our living rooms? Indipop has come a long way. Or has it really? We’ll discuss that in a separate post. For now, let’s concentrate on what we set out to achieve.

10 tracks, many contributors. Since time immemorial, collaboration or jugalbandhi has been synonymous to musical awesomeness. And Indipop is full of such awesome gems. Here I have listed 10 of my favourite ones from the top of my head. There is no such criteria involved in the selection. Just the first 10 which I could easily recollect. If you have some more in mind, you can always shout it out in the comments section. Right-e-o, let’s begin. And please, do not fill the comments section with hate mails. I can understand your passion for music, but that does not mean that since I left out a song, I should be considered as a punch bag. Thanks for keeping it clean :)

Clarification: Indipop -> Not necessarily pop. Collective name for Non-film music album.

10 Awesome Indipop Collaborations.

Euphoria – Shubha Mudgal – Dhoom

euphoria-shubha-mudgal.jpg

The debut album and song of Euphoria, this song features Shubha Mudgal singing a Maajhi interlude which is undoubtedly the best part of the song. Coupled with teracotta colours of Banaras by the banks of Ganges, this is a track to die for. DJ Bhaduri’s bass rules the pulse of the song, and Palash’s vocals supply the high-fuelled energy of the song. And above all, the awesome elements of the Rajasthani folk strings complete the experience.

[Continue Reading…]

{ 5 comments }

Tweeting the Movie: Aisha (2010)

by Sujoy on August 9, 2010

in Humor,Reviews,movies

Disclaimer: The intention of this post is not to mar any person’s dignity or self esteem, dead or alive. Its just a piss take and please take it in the best of the spirits. Please don’t sue me. I am not a rich dude. KTHXBAI!

Ok, I am the occasional chick-flick visitor. I have watched the likes of Notting Hill (who hasn’t), Bridget Jones Diary etc etc. On quite a few occasions, I have managed to even like them. Not because of the underlying romance, but because the characterisation was very well dealt with. Be it the failing travel book store owner or the dumped writer who falls for the Portuguese girl or even the dancing Prime Minister (I know you know all those references). Which now brings me to Aisha, an adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma (as the publicity press releases say) and unofficially copied from Clueless. I have neither read the book, nor seen the Alicia Silverstone movie. So what I write here, is just judging the movie by its own strengths and flaws.

Well you remember the first of the series – Tweeting the Movie – Veer( Part 1 and Part 2) . So here I am, with Chapter 2 – Aisha. Its always fun to take the piss out of movies which make you realise about the two hours of your life that you’ll never get back. And so here I am, spending more than 2 hours to get this post done.
P.S. The language on this post can get a bit too colourful for your taste, if you know what I mean ;)

Aisha - Sonam Kapoor Hiya @everyone. I am like totally awesome chick.

I like, spend my rich Dad’s hard-earned cash for a living and have nicknamed it ‘Event Management’. How cool! #winwin

And like, I totally dig true love. Its so cute to see MILFs getting hitched with DILFs innit. #AishaIsAwesome Pls RT. kthxbye ;)

——————————————————————————————————————–

Aisha - Sonam KapoorP.S. I like animals, I pretend to like Polo coz its totally upmarket.

Quick, time for an Elle makeover twitpic.

I’m having a hangover from that party I had last night. Hence the glasses.

Also, I can’t remember which movie I am in right now. Is this ‘I Hate Luv Stories’? #hangover

Also, I so love sobbing whilst I watch that Kajol-SRK dancing in the rain scene from K2H2. That movie is my Bible.

——————————————————————————————————————–

[Continue Reading…]

{ 11 comments }

Rewind: Suniyo Jee Araj Mhaariyo – Lekin (1990)

by Sujoy on August 5, 2010

in Bolly,Music

I have a love/hate relationship with the rains. I love the rain when it means a relief from the scorching heat that burns the day. At the same time, rain also means floods, damp and battered roads and splish splash on clothes. I hate going to work when it rains. None of this makes any sense with the title of the post. So, I’ll try and explain.

Suniyo Jee Araj Mhaariyo from Lekin(1990) is one of those rare songs which create a rain-like ambience with extreme ease. It is not a Raag Malhaar song . Based on Raaga Maand, this song depicts of the pathos and longing of a woman longing for her beloved. It is the rainy season – Saawan, which has been portrayed as the season of love, and with the advent of the season, the woman pleads to her lover to take her home. The sensuousness and feeling of loneliness occupy the emotional outcry of the woman.

[Continue Reading…]

{ 2 comments }

The Essential Euphoria Playlist

by Sujoy on August 4, 2010

in Music

EUPHORIA !!! The word itself fills my thoughts with splashes of colours and happiness. And that’s how Euphoria’s music is  - vibrant, melodic, beautiful and very Indian, and not in a dumbed-down way. And along with the upbeat songs of the folk genre, they have also some really heartwarming love ballads and even Qawwalis. Euphoria’s spectrum of music genre is spread wide and can be defined only as what Palash calls it – Hind Rock! And each of their videos has a story to tell, a proper story, like a mini-movie of sorts.

For the uninitiated, the band line-up as of now is :

Back row: Palash Sen (lead vocalist, standing)
Front row L to R: Ashwini(drums), Benny (Keyboard), Irshad(dholak and percussions), DJ Bhaduri (Bass Guitar),
Reshu (dholak and percussions), Hitesh (Guitars).

I, personally, have seen them perform live once at my college campus (NIT Silchar), and there is only one thing which I want to say bout it. Man, they performed for almost 3 hours straight. And what a flawless set. They sing their favorites from the albums released so far, and apart from that do covers as well such as – Another One Bites the Dust, Every Breath You Take and Smoke on the Water. It has been almost 4 years now since that concert, and I can still vividly remember the wild fun that I had.  And so,  in memory of that awesome one wild night, here I list down 10 of my favourite Euphoria songs.

10. Raja Rani

This begins with a high pitched Palash belting out a Rajasthani folksy lyrical syllable. The instruments used are also reminiscent of Rajasthani folk. And so is the video, which is filled with beautiful deserts, puppets, colorful turbans and a cutesy love story. And the lyrics has elements of national integration – Multani, Bangaali, Dogra. How can you not love this?

[Continue Reading…]

{ 1 comment }