No new releases! What to listen?

It's been more than a month that there are no new Hindi movies releasing. And since there are no movies releasing, there are no new songs either. So, what should one listen to? Here are some good options.

Oldies: The best time to listen to oldies. Not that there is a bad time for that, but now there is no new, Old is certainly gold. Put on your favorite Kishore Kumar and Mukesh and Rafi and Lata songs and have a wonderful time.

That 90's Magic again: Remember that Chhupana bhi nahi aata of Vinod Rathod? Remember the great music of Saajan and Aashiqui? Pardes and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai? Sandese aate hain and Are re are? There is a whole decade to relive in those 90's songs.

Deewana, Jaan, Yaad: This one is for die hard Sonu Nigam fans. But I know that this huge community can never be fed up of these three albums. Play these 30 something songs in album order or random, and press the repeat button of your player.

Pop: From Alisha's Made in India to Amanat Ali's Kohram, there is a lot, lot to be heard which is sung by Indian as well as Pakistani singers/bands. In these private albums, not only there are hundreds of popular songs but also as many unknown songs which couldn't even reach general public.

Here are a few recommendations. Mostly for songs which have gone unheard by most. Try to find these songs and listen to them. I hope you will like them.

Door Kahin (Nine): Pankaj Awasthi
Khaireyaan de naal (Tabeer): Shafqat Amanat Ali Khan
Tauba Tauba (Iss dil se): Sukhwinder Singh
Rain bhai kaari/Maajhi (Humsafar): KK
Kaise Jiye Hain Hum & Nostalgia Mix (Maheru): Jojo
Jugnuon se bhar le (Huqa Pani): Ali Zafar
Har Jagah mein (Tu hi mere rab ki tarah hai): Mithoon
Aise Jaagi Re (Sona): Sona

Besides these songs, Shafqat Amanat Ali's Tabeer is an album which may be new for many people. And since the songs are really good, if you haven't heard, go for Tabeer. Also, Amanat's Kohram has some good songs. I hope you'd like them too.

For more, keep visiting. You may also contact me at musicalized [at] gmail [dot] com.

Quiz! Who composed that tune?

Their masters' voices

If it's the best, it's mine.

It's not a dialogue from Hitler or Napoleon (I don't guarantee though) but it's the policy of the music composers since time immemorial.

When I was a buyer of cassettes, I used to see the names of composers as they were brands to me. And most of the times these brands gave good results, Nadeem Shravan being the most consistent until they gave Jeena Sirf Mere Liye.

But soon the time of cassettes was over and I got digital format, that is MP3 songs. Now I had to find which were the best songs in every album so that I could listen to them first. To remain a leader in the hostel.

And that was when I got my algorithm to find the best songs.

My initial algorithm was made of two standard parts.

1. If there is a song sung by the composer of the album, it should be listened first.
2. The longest song of the album should be listened first otherwise.

The first part is generally applicable to movie albums only but the second one is applicable almost universally.

For those who believe in superstitions, I got a third part that says a song if 3 minutes and 28 seconds must be good. (Dus bahane and One love are examples)

Well, superstitions apart, the first two hold good most of the times and later I realized that it was an old formula that the best songs were always captured by the music composers themselves.

Want some examples?

Let's start with the King of Indian music industry, A R Rehman. Rehman has not sung many songs. But the best of the songs in almost all the albums he has composed are sung by Rehman himself. Be it 'Dil se', Guru's 'tere bina', or Jodhaa Akbar's 'khwaja mere khwaja'.

Other than Rehman, it's been Vishal from the Vishal-Shekhar duo and Shankar from the Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy trio who have given their voices to the best of the songs for the past few years. Both have been quite selective about the songs they sing and such songs have either had the best of lyrics, or something 'different'.

'Aazma le' from Taxi 9211 and Saaiyaan ve from Ta-ra-rum-pum are the best examples of Vishal's love for good lyrics. To some extent, the same can be said about Shankar Mahadevan for his Mitwaa and Jhoom Barabar Jhoom title song.

Even composers who have not been this regular at composing music for Hindi movies, have also tried the same. And succeeded to some extent, at times. Awarapan from Jism and Khoobsoorat hai wo itna from Rog sung by MM Kreem and a try of Adnan Sami at Sun Zara of Lucky have been such examples.

Vishal Bharadwaj has also sung the best of the songs in his previous movies Omkara (O sathi re) and U me aur Hum (title song).

But for a long time I was thinking that it was a new trend and only the composers of this age were trying to keep the best songs for themselves.

Guess I was wrong.

And I got this when I came to know that the song I liked the most in Guide, 'Wahaan kaun hai tera' was sung by SD Burman himself instead of a professional singer.

There were legendary singers like Mohammad Rafi, Kishor Kumar and Mukesh available at that time, but Burman Senior decided to sing it himself. And the result is there. A superb song.

In fact, now a new trend has started where lyricists have started singing their songs. This is about Swanand Kirkire singing Khoya Khoya Chand, even though his voice is not that good and the slow version of the song shows the discrepancies. I don't have any stats on the trend if this too is an old and is being followed since then.

Anyways, next time you see an album for the first time and you have to decide where to start, just pick the number sung by the composer. Hope it will be good.