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
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.
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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.
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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?
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Now we have had the Guitar as a symbol of uber-coolness and what Anu Malik would point out as “The X-Factor” in a dude, or even in a dudette. Bollywood has always tried to incorporate this instrument of uber-coolness into the character of our main protagonists on whose responsible shoulders, lies the responsibility of carrying the ‘cool’ load. But more often than not, these shoulders tend to slip and the rather than looking like a confident weight lifter, they often tend to look like a malnutrition patient in an Atlas position [really horrible analogy I know]. Well, after all, our Bollywood heroes are not really good guitarists- not until Saif Ali Khan came into the scene and showed how it’s done [ just have a look at Piyu Bole for example, and you'll know what I mean ]. Neither can they mimic as passable mock rockers.
Now I am a Guitar Hero addict, and cannot play a single song on the Guitar except for a few bass riffs. And whenever I see these Bollywood ‘Guitar Heroes’ scoring with the chicks as they strum their fingers on the strings in a fashionable way which is miles away from the actual tune being played [ or sometimes they even don't bother to strum ], my blood boils [ a literal translation of a Hindi proverb : Khoon Khaulta Hai Mera ]. So, to take my revenge, here I list down 10 of those big criminals who have tormented me in many a nightmares in their horrible avatars.
Behold for the Guitar Villains of Bollywood
10. Bharat Bhushan – Tum Bin Jaau Kaha ( Pyar Ka Mausam ).
The confidence with which Bharat Bhushan jee strums that little Ukelele-ish instrument with his right pinky sticking out deserves a thousand claps. And he completely melts his wife with his music. Now, it’s a different argument that his wife is none other than Nirupa Roy. I love this song, and Kishore da’s falsetto is impeccable. But Bharat jee’s guitar skills are .. let’s not really go deep into it. [Video Link: Tum Bin Jaau Kaha ]Shall we move on to the next one
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