Omkara

This weekend, I went to watch the movie, Omkara, 15 mins into the movie, I was itching to go buy the soundtrack. The movie was very nice. Othello, has been one of my favorites, mostly because of my feministic tendencies. But more about the movie and Othello at some other times, this is about the music.
It has been a dry season as far as new hindi music is concenred. But the wait is so over!
Ah! I couldn't believe, I did not buy this CD earlier, with music of Maachis, Satya and Maqbool under his belt, I should have known better.

Omkara. Sukhvinder Singh
Uma’s favorite track in the album. It has captured the iterant –singer-retelling-a - folk-lore element very well. Very very nice.
The song starts with a jangly sound akin to an ektara . The music wells, as a metallic clang of a matka and percussion join and then tinkling of ghunghroo, the beat is taken on by the Nagada and unexpectedly, sound of clapping hands. The beauty of the song is in how the beat is carried forward on varied instruments, like a relay race the baton is passed from the booming drum- to the war drums to the matka- to the clapping hands- to the wooden stick- to the voices of the chorus and then back- to the booming drums. The song relies very heavily on Sukhvinder Singh’s voice which waxes and wanes and moves thru the octaves effortlessly. There are plenty of modern tricks like multiphased echos and reverb and the synth filling in spaces; it is done with subtlety, cleverly disguised by overlaying chorus. Masterful.

O Saathi Re Shreya Ghoshal, Vishal Bharadwaj
Starts with keyboard piece which with a very subtle use of the metal kabbas, transitioning to Shreya’s voice. Flute, subtle beat and occasional twirling of the kabbas. There is a full orchestra in the background( a bevy of violins in tow), but it doesn’t overwhelm the song. The short synth piece in the middle seems false. The guitar is nice, Vishal and Shreya’s voice blend well and convey the languorous, sensual mood of the song very well. The ending piece when the orchestra lets off is very nicely done.

Beedi Sunidhi Chauhan, Sukhvinder Singh, Nachiketa Chakravorty, Clinton Cerejo
The raunchy lyrics are uttered with a relish! Sunidhi is awesome, the song utilized her vocal chords well as she backs up Bipasha’s seductive eyes with her voice. Sukhvinder Singh is himself ( love the way he rolls his r’s :)). Nachiketa Chakrotrovorty is an interesting find, the male voices blend well except for the first few lines where hand offs have an edge. Somewhere in the middle the song switches for a bit to good old harmonium and dhol, and the song carries on as if nothing happened. The end is nice and abrupt.

Gulzar out did himself in this album, I never expected this from him. The dialect is perfect, the imagery, leaves you a little stunned. The vocabulary is a little arcane; you feel the impact, rather than understand it. Very in keeping with wordsmith image.

Jag Ja Suresh Wadekar
I haven’t heard the guy in a while, in the movie the lullaby-like song doesn’t have any musical accompaniment, in the CD the music is at its minimum. The minimalistic style adds to the song very well. The words are amusing, the guy is trying to wake up the girl, calling her a doll, a princess, a fairy a queen and then things like ‘ Mooi’ and ‘Maari’ ( god forsaken). Very pretty.

Namak Rekha Bhardwaj, Rajesh Pandit
Sung by Rekha Bhardwaj, a fully trained classical musician ( and Vishal's significant other), it has definite makings of the 'item' numbers. She has rich trained voice. Song is sung in a semi-sufiana style ( with the back ground chorus a-la- Qawali), with harmonium, tabla as the instruments of choice. The training in Rekha’s voice is very obvious as she renders the semi-classical vocal gyrations with ease. The pace is controlled, as always, by the percussion.

Naina Rehat Fateh Ali Khan
Of the ‘Rahet Fateh Ali’ style, strong on vocals and

minimalistic in music, yet it manages to distinguish itself. The overwhelming sense of betrayal; helplessness, anguish is palpable, some of it is the words-some of it is the music. Naina thag le ge…
Haunting.

Laakad Rekha Bharadwaj

Laakad jal kar koyla hoye jaye, Koyla hoye jaye khak;
Jeya jale to kuch na hoye re, naa, dhooa naa rakh

Nice rendition, in keeping with the tone, wistful, melancholy ….
The song starts with a sound of a oars dipping in the water, the dhak carries the beat of the oars. Synth backdrop, mostly keyboard, violins. Rekha's voice emotes better than Kareena's face. The song ends with a huge audible sigh. Very well done.

Tragedy of Omkara
Short piece, instrumental. Stands up on its on an not just a medley of the soundtrack. Ominous, overwhelming cresendo. What seems like the marching army, or is it Othello’s destiny?

Verdict? With this one album, this guy is now on my list of composers to buy before I listen. One of the best albums I have heard in a while.