Thursday, December 11, 2014

Ringa Ringa Rahman!

Listening to spotify Radio I found myself swaying to a host of songs that have one thing in common. Guess?

Ringa Ringa Ringa...
Tere Bin Tere bin Besuaari yeh raina...
Sona nahi na Sahi...chaandi nahi na sahi...
Rang De Basanti Chola...Mohe Rangde Basanti 
Khwaaja Mere Khwaaja...dil mein samaaja....


Each song a work of art in its own.

A kind of electricity running through each one of the that had the power if you let it to put you into a trance. “In the Zone…” as my co-worker said as I continued listening to a magician’s rich compositions while my co-worker wanted to draw attention to the mundane task of our production server being down! Trying to come out of this glorious trance... I knocked my  phone down, clicked on the window I was trying to hide, almost spilled my coffee, all the time still hanging on to one side of the earphone, not wanting to come out of the zone. A zone in which I could only hear : Basti Rang De…Hasti Range…Mohe Mohe tu Rang de Basanti!


What would I call these compositions. Each one different from the other in every way possible but each holding its ground in overwhelming my senses, as I paid close attention to the music in the background. There is so much going on, so many things almost like a cacophony that ripple in to create a crescendo that is knock-out awesome. One has to listen to these songs many, many times before one can even come close to enjoying what all they have to offer. I am still discovering new things as I listen to them almost every few days only to understand that I haven’t even scratched the surface.

I wonder what it is to have talent like that. To be able to come up with creations like these. Entirely your own. Overwhelm a normal person who does not know even know much about music to keep on taking in the richness of the melody, music and not the least, the man’s own glorious voice! 

My day has gotten so much more better because of you Mr.Rahman! Thank you.  

Ringa Ringa Ringa from Slumdog Millionaire - Throbs Intensely…showing bollywood’s choli ke peeche, khatiya etc songs how it should be done and executed - what wonders a master composer can do to a item song bollywood ishtyle. Pulsating, rhythmic and energy bubbling out…and I do have to credit to Alka Yagnik for coming in at appropriate moments to support the music admirably. Not an easy task if you ask me to match steps with a master composer’s work of art.

Tere Bina Tere Bina from Guru- Not fair that he can sing like this too and that too in a language that is not his mother tongue! Totally unfair…maybe not. If you want a total Rahman-isque experience, this is the song for you. No throbbing intensity here but like a deep dive that just keeps taking you deeper and deeper with no end in sight and when you finally reach the end, you feel like taking the dive all over again and when you do, you can see more experiences being added to your dive. 

Sona Nahi Na Sahi from 1 2 ka 4- This one is more of a conventional Hindi Romantic Song but with all the Rahmanisque touches that makes it stand out from a thousand songs of this sort out there. (and I absolutely am not crazy about the fact that I cannot listen to Hindi Music for long without stumbling on an SRK song!)

Mohe tu Rang de Basanti  from Rang De Basanti - This song features in my all time favorite list. I can smell fragrance of the “dhool mien...dharti ki mere watan ki” and feel the khushboo of my vatan’s (I am sucker for all those meta vatan cheesy songs) mast pavan as I hear this song. This song has so much going for it, that it needs its own solo review for itself. The background, the foreground and everything in between is so well organized, that I would term it as a song that can shake all your senses into submission. Foot Tapping, Jaw Dropping...awesome! The picturisation of the song is pretty awesome too wherein I always fail to understand how Aamir Khan can so effortlessly carry of the role of a collegiate even after 20 years of QSQT!


Khwaaja mere Khwaaja from Jodhaa Akbar - Being a love of Sufi music, this features high on my list. Once again this song also manages to induce a trance like submission as it does to Hrithik Roshan. Sufi music by itself is pretty intense, add Rahman to the mix and the result is a deadly cocktail. 

I will add more as I listen to more magic...