Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | NXg | Friday Review | Cinema Plus | Young World | Property Plus | Quest |

Chords & Notes

Shravanachandrika

MC Audios & Videos,

Rs. 65.00

Onam or for that matter any festival is nostalgia time. It is also time for celebration and festivities. Most of the songs in this album of festival songs plunge into the throes of nostalgia, lost love, and romance. It is not just songs of joy, excitement or festival thrill.

This is certainly a relief from the clichéd images and tunes that one keeps hearing every year this time. These are rather haunting, soft melodies. There are a few ones, like the sparkling opening number which stands out with a brilliant violin piece.

Most of the songs have a tinge of romance, of love in the time of Onam. Of course, there is the indispensable fast number set to the typical beats of a boat race, a feature of the season.

The pick of the album are the soulful ‘Nilave…’ by M. G. Sreekumar, which is more of yearning for a Onam gone by and the memories it brings. Other songs that call for repeated hearing are ‘Swati geethasmruthi…’ and ‘Chayangal chalichu…’ both by Sreekumar. Two duets, ‘Vasanthapushpa…’ (Sreekumar-Sujatha) has an old-feel, something that reminds you of the sixties and seventies, and the other ‘Parayoo nee…’ (Bharatlal-Sujatha) are more of love songs with perhaps a few words strung in to make it topical.

Orchestration and music by Bharatlal is the best part of the album. It enhances the lyrics of M. D. Manoj. The music director is clearly inspired by the works of Raveendran in the use of percussion and violins. The tunes, use of choice instruments and crystal clear recording make it one that you would like to keep in your collection.

These songs are bound to stay in memory for long, if not as festival songs surely as value addition to the genre of light songs, sensitive, from the heart, given life through by good music.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail