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Feb 7th - Dj A-Sen @ BeatsFromTheEast!!

This week was just awesome thanks to Dj A-Sen coming down to the station and throwing down an awesome session for us. Cheers again A-sen!! Be sure to stop by his myspace page <http://www.myspace.com/anuragsen> to keep in touch with some new remixes that are coming out as well as some original production thats in the pipeline.

 

Dj A-Sen is one of india's uprising Djs/Producers and has had quite a following with all the bollywood bootleg remix albums as well as some of his own original hits. Other djs love to throw down the A-sen remixes because the remixes that have sick basslines and awesome production work that really make A-sen's work stand out. Be sure to check out his new single "Nagynn" that just got released today -> http://www.play-digital.com/

Incase you missed it here is the podcast:

 

Or Download it here

Right-Click <this link> and choose "save target as..." or "save link as"

And here is the tracklisting of all the tracks used in the mix:

Billu Barber-Love mera hit hit(Dj Mazzr Remix)
Awarapan-Mahiya(Dj A.Sen Remix)
Race-Race sason ki(Dj A.Sen Remix)
Jhoom barabar-Jhoom barabar(Dj A.Sen Remix)
Race-Khwab dekhe(Dj A.Sen Remix)
Hey baby-Mast kalandar(Dj Dev Remix)
Johnny Gaddar-Move your body(Dj A.Sen Remix)
Om Shanti Om-Dard'e'disco(Dj A.Sen Remix)
Haal-E-Dil-Aag lage fashion nu(Dj A.SEn Remix)
Aja Nachle-Aja nachle(Dj A.Sen Remix)
Jane tu ya jane na-Kabhi kabhi Aditi(Dj A.Sen Remix)
Tashan-Chaliya chaliya(Dj A.Sen Remix)
Bachna-E-Haseeno-Lucky boy(Dj A.Sen Remix)
Kidnap-Mit jaye(Dj Dev Remix)
Dj Dev-Return of the ram(Dj A.Sen live mashup)
Dostana-Desigirl(Dj A.Sen)
Anurag Sen-Nagynn(Original mix)[StereoFx Digital]
Billu Barber-maarjani(Dj Rohan Remix)
Welcome-hoth rasiley(Dj A.Sen Remix)
Jab we met-mauja hi mauja(Dj A.Sen Remix)
Imran Khan-ni Nachle(Dj A.Sen Remix)
Bhool Bhulaiya-hare ram hare ram(Dj A.Sen Remix)
Awarapan-toh phir aao(Dj A.Sen Remix)
Omkara-beedi(Dj A.Sen Remix)
Lawaris-Lawaris theme(Dj A.Sen's 2007 Electro Remake)
Dostana-Ma da laadla(Dj Dev Remix)
Monsoon wedding-Kawa Kawa(Dj Dev Remix)
Disco Dancer-I am a disco Dancer(Dj Dev Remix)
Amar Arshi-Kala Chashma(Dj A.Sen Remix)
Cash-Naughty Naughty(Dj A.Sen Remix)
Kismat Konnection-Aai Papi(Dj A.Sen Remix)
Ta Ra Rum Pum-Ab toh forever(Dj A.Sen Remix)
Ugly aur Pagli-Talli(Dj A.Sen Remix)
Singh is kInng-Jee karda(Dj A.Sen Remix)
Hey Baby-Hey Baby(Dj A.Sen)
Bachna-E-Haseeno-Bachna-e-haseeno(Dj A.Sen Remix)
Dhol-Dhol bajake(Dj A.Sen Remix)
Tashan-Dil dance mare(Dj A.Sen Remix)
Rab ne banadi jodi-Dance pe chance(Dj A.Sen Remix)
Thoda Pyaar thoda magic-Lazy Lamhe(Dj A.Sen Remix)
Company-Khallas(Dj A.Sen Remix)
Jane tu ya jane na-Pappu cant dance(Dj A.SEn Remix)
Oye Lucky-Oye lucky oye(Dj A.Sen Remix)
Kal ho na ho-wheres the party tonight(Dj A.Sen Remix)
Woodstock villa-Sawan mein lag gayi aag(Dj A.Sen Remix)
Manak-E-Dhoor(Dj A.Sen Remix)
Welcome-Kiya Kiya(Dj A.Sen Remix)
Kaho na pyaar hai-Ek pal ka jeena(Dj Mazzr Remix)
Raaz 2-Maahi(Dj A.Sen Remix)

Taare Zameen Par - Music Review

Taare Zameer Par is Aamir Khan's first movie as a director. He's also producing it, and of course, he's the main lead. See picture.

GIven that it's Aamir Khan, it'll probably be something you want to check out. I know I do. (It comes out December 21st, 2007.)

And the music. Hmm...

For this movie, Aamir Khan doesn't use A.R. Rahman as he has in the past for Lagaan, etc. Instead, he turns to Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy.

But first, I have to digress for a sec. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy just pulled off a brilliant soundtrack with Johnny Gaddaar .. A soundtrack as shockingly brilliant as the movie was. (I highly recommend the movie, by the way..)

Shocking because the last soundtrack from them that I can remember off the top of my head is Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham (...remember 'Where's the party tonight?' ) It's almost as if SEL were set free from their Karan Johar-ized chains for Johnny Gaddaar .. The result is brilliant - I'm sorry, but there's no other word for it. Check out 'Johnny Gaddaar', the title track, as well as 'Move Your Body' featuring HardKaur (both tracks have alternate Tamil and Telegu versions as well for some random reason.) My favorite, however, is the breakbeat version of the title track, 'Johnny Breakbeat Mera Naam' :

See what I mean ? Also, wikipedia informs me that Jaideep Sahani (ref: my Aaja Nachle review) did the lyrics for Johnny Gaddaar as well. I'm officially a fan.

On to Taare Zameen Par. I have mixed feelings about this soundtrack. I only really liked a couple of songs - the others seemed a bit, well, noisy.

The one song I really did like was the title track. 'Taare Zameen Par' starts off slow and then develops a rhythmn and takes on a new life when the chorus comes in. It's a beautiful, beautiful song, one that stays with you for a long time. The lyrics are poetic, comparing the miracle of children to little beautiful things like a familiar shoulder in a crowd, a short nap in the middle of the day, the sound of laughter breaking the silence.

Hindi is my native language, although I speak English more often than Hindi nowadays, so much so that I even dream in English sometimes, and think in it. But Hindi is my language, my own, part of my identity, and I've suddenly realized while listening to this song that perhaps that is why songs or poems or anything I read or listen to in Hindi always sounds so much more in Hindi than it does in English - everything just has more meaning.

The other really good song on the soundtrack is Kholo Kholo, sung by Raman Mahadevan. You have to listen to it a couple of times, then you'll know what I'm talking about. As it turns out, Raman's NOT related to Shankar Mahadevan at all. Here's Raman's Myspace page - he has his own pop album out, as well as soundtracks such as Heyy Babby (sp?) and Johnny Gaddaar (he's credited on the Tamil vocals).

Fyi, Aamir Khan has a blog, where he actually writes about stuff, and his life, and his movies, and no, it's not a promotional one-off thing for any of his movies. It's actually his blog. He recently wrote a post about how petrified he was because the music for TZP just came out, and he was so scared people wouldn't like it. He gets thousands of comments on every one of his posts, of course, but he reads every single comment, even the ones from random people pushing their scripts.

The film's website has the lyrics to all the tracks, along with an English translation. 

Dance with me!

When I sat down to write the very first Bollywood music album review for this blog, I was stumped. There's quite a few new soundtracks floating around that are good enough to merit a mention on the hallowed pages of this blog. The soundtracks of Om Shanti Om, and Saawariya, might be appropriate since they're both coming out this weekend, I thought. Or that of Jab We Met, which I just saw. It's soundtrack is pretty good, and a bit under-rated, in my opinion. I still couldn't make up my mind, so I put all of the possibles into an iTunes playlist, and set it to shuffle.

In an hour, I'd made up my mind. I was going to review Aaja Nachle, Madhuri Dixit's brand new flick, for the simple reason that my fingers itched to play the songs from its soundtrack over and over again. Aaja Nachle is Madhuri Dixit's comeback film. She took a break from her career for six years to get married, have a family, and now she's back with a bang.

Before I get down to the music, there are a couple of things that are interesting about the people behind it. The music producers are Salim-Sulaiman, who have done the soundtracks of Chak De India, and Fanaa. I didn't know that til I started doing some research for this post.  Mere Haath Mein from Fanaa's OST, is one of the most beautiful songs to have come out of Bombay in recent times.  About 10 seconds into the song, you fall in love with it.

Mere Haath Mein :

Chak De's soundtrack was really good as well. I especially liked this track. It's called the Hockey Remix, and Salim-Sulaiman collaborated with New Delhi-based remix/electronica group Midival Punditz on it. It's got a great sound, if you ignore the cheesy rapping by Shahrukh Khan in the beginning.

The other interesting thing about Aaja Nachle's music is the guy who wrote the lyrics, Jaideep Sahani. Sahani had no ties to Bollywood til a few years ago. He was working in an ad agency in Delhi, and had watched maybe 30 hindi movies in his whole lifetime. Then one day he came across Gandhi's script in a bookshop, and decided to take a few scriptwriting courses online. One thing led to another.. and he's the guy who wrote Company, Bunty aur Babli, Khosla ka Ghosla and Chak De India. Very cool.

Onto the music, finally. As soon as you listen to the title track, you know it has Madhuri showing off some slick dance moves - something which the trailor confirms. Thats her dancing to this song on the right. It's a happy, bubbly song that grows on you, and I know it'll be a lot of fun to watch on-screen. One of the many reasons to go watch this movie on a big screen ! Sunidhi Chauhan sang this song, and I am amazed at how she manages to change her voice and sound completely different in every song she sings. There's another version of this song, a reprise (and not a cliched remix, for once). It's a bit faster, and just different (better, too, according to Ashish).

Up next is the best song on this soundtrack, in my opinion, O Re Piya. I know it's almost become a requirement to have Rahat Fateh Ali Khan do a mellow, classical / sufi-ish track for every new soundtrack to come out of Bombay lately, but seriously, who cares, because he is just so good at what he does. O Re Piya is a beautiful song, and it does more than enough justice to his distinctive voice. Listen to it ! At least twice ! Then you won't be able to stop listening to it.

Show me your jalwa features two of my favorite playback singers, Richa Sharma and Kailash Kher, and they have so much fun singing this song that its infectious. This song is in the promos too, and has Madhuri chilling in a rickshaw. Definitely a visual song. Kailash Kher is especially good in this song, as he is in most of his songs, making it his own in a way thats hard to describe.

Jaideep Sahani's roots in Delhi, and North India in general, show through in Soniye Mil Ja . I love this song, and I don't know if I'm just biased because I'm from Delhi too [so if you think I'm crazy to even like this song, I'll understand!]. I used to spend a lot of my childhood summers with my grandmother, who lives in Roorkee, a small town in the foothills of the Himalayas, and this song reminds me of the many road trips from Delhi to Roorkee and back. Madhuri sings a bit in this song as well, and she, with her talk of chaat from Dariba and revri from Meerut, and the other singers and dancers would fit perfectly on any street corner or carnival in North India.

Next, there are a couple of slow tracks sung by Sonu Nigam, and Shreya Ghoshal. Is Pal is the better one of the two. Then there's the English track, Dance with me, which is ehh.

Im going to leave you with O Re Piya. Enjoy!

Aaja Nachle's official website.

Labh Janjua - Say Salaam India!

The man who brought Mundia To Bach ( Beware of the Boys ) to life - has recently ,over the last few years, expanded his scence from straight up UK bhangra to a newer trend of Bollywood-Bhangra. The craze of bhangra music has finally hit bollywood and now there is rarely any soundtrack without any form of bhangra vibes blended in. Labh Janjua could not have been a better choice to feature on some of these newer tracks - as its his vocals alongside Panjabi MC's sick beats that made mundia to bach as hot as it is now - so the product has been tested ;)

Now that its been 2 years and the tracks are out - the verdict....ITS WICKED! Bollywood producers have upped their standards and provided the man with some good vibes to sing on and its all doing real well. Some of the tracks to check out:

• Mundia To Bach (Beware of the Boys) - Panjabi MC // if you haven't heard this yet - you're probably at the wrong blog! ;)
• Chori Chori - Garaam Masalaa OST
• Pyar Karke - Pyar Ke Side Effects OST
• Let's Do Balle Balle (Ft Labh Janjua) - Naksha OST
• Rabba Khair Kare - Hattrick OST
• Chaal Murkhiyon Wali - Say Salaam India OST      **NEW**

Where to hear these tracks?
Most of them are featured under soundtracks on dhingana (great ad-free streaming website)

Bollywood & desiPOP in the Rain

There are just some tracks that just sound better when its dark n' raining...and if your driving in the mountains ;)

Song - Artist / Album

• Javeda Zindagi- Anwar OST
• Maula Mere Maula  - Anwar OST
• Woh Ajnabee - The Train OST
• Baarish (Unplugged) -Adnan Sami - Kisi Din
• Hey Shona - Ta Ra Rum Pum OST
• Bas Ek Pal (remix) - Bas Ek Pal OST
• Kuch Is Tara (remix) - Atif Aslam - Doorie
• Tanha Dil (remix) - Shaan