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Beatstreet

Times Music, Rs. 150

After peaking in the earlier half of this decade, remixes seem to have hit a nadir and no longer receive the same levels of adulation that they once received. In an attempt to break the trend, Akbar Sami, whose remixes in “Yeh Hai Jalwa” managed to start the remix era is back with “Jalwa Returns”.

The album includes, among others tracks, his signature ‘Dekho yeh hai jalwa’, evergreen classics such as “Hum kisise kam nahi”, “Paisa yeh paisa”, “Tu kya jaane wafa”, ‘Shaan se’, ‘Gangu taranya’ and ‘Tera to hu main deewana’ etc.

Talking about the remixes, one feels that this time around, Sami has tried hard to ensure that a balance is maintained and the remix version does not ruin the actual song, rather manages to add value to the song. The first number, “Yeh hai jalwa’ scores because it is a fairly fast track and the beats seem to go well with the track and does not seem out of place. The track has been done quite well and Sami’s finesse in matching the lyrics and the timing of the beats ensures that the beauty of the song is retained. Peppier tracks in the album such as the eternal favourite “Om shanti om” scores as the older beats are disguised well with the new additions. However, at certain points , the amount of time the actual song takes to play could also prove a tad unpredictable.

It must be pointed out that Sami does not dilute any song completely and does not destroy the original soundtrack, in an attempt to infuse freshness into the music.

The old music stays on, which makes his tracks much better than many of the recent remixes. The intro to the “Paise yeh paisa” number is not only fairly imaginative, but also scores on the music used.

Remixes are a genre of music that suits specific songs. Romantic numbers and slower songs are best left alone, and creating remixes on these numbers may defeat the very purpose of remixes.

“Jalwa Returns” does make an effort to bring remixes back into the mainstream. It succeeds to a certain extent in achieving its purpose.

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