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A complete and GOOD REVIEW, IMHO:
A.R. Rahman's Magnum Opus - Meenaxi - complete review
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Posted by armundra on January 30, 2004 at 05:54:29:
Written by Suresh Mechrit at arrahmanfans (Yahoo groups)
The most awaited and hyped album of the year of the film "Meenaxi" directed by M.F.Hussain is out now. "Meenaxi" with a caption a tale of three cities Hydrebad, Jaiselmar, Prague dragged the attention of the bollywood mainly because of this man A.R.Rahman, the legend of Indian Music. A.R.Rahman came with a classy "Tehzeeb" last year which was appreciated only by the critics and not by the masses and then with "Lakeer" album this year he was able to satisfy the masses to some extent. The problem with "Lakeer" was the only three among the six songs were good and the rest went unnoticed and even those three songs were the Hindi version of the hit songs of the Tamil album "Rhythm" scored by him. So with all the hype the music of A.R.Rahman in this film is expected to be his magnum opus. Let us see how far the album meets our expectation.
Let me make a point clear in the beginning itself.
"Yes" the album meets the expectation and even he has delivered more than what expected. Undoubtedly this album is a master piece of A.R.Rahman. There are totally 8 tracks in this album. Let us analyze the tracks one by one.
Yeh rishtha kya keh laatha hey Lyrics: Rahat Inodri Lead singer: Reena bharadwaj Strings: John Themis
The song slowly starts with the sweet voice of Reena. Reena has sung well especially the way she ends the line as "hey" is simply superb and has ARR's punch. Within 30 seconds the beats of something like a tabla start which is very usual but it sounds unusual and different in this song, there lays the magic of ARR, I think he knows mass mesmerism technique. The usage of Guitar and other strings in the middle of the songs sounds good. Suddenly in the middle the song moves to sound of water flowing which gives a feel that Tabu is taking bath in a river and being the introduction song of Tabu in the movie it is necessary. The electronic sounds at the background give a different flavor to the song.
Chinnamma Chilakkamma Lyrics: Sukhwinder singh Lead singer: Sukhwinder singh
Music of Hyderabad (One of the three cities).This song is an excellent fusion of western and Telugu folk. The very first line of the song "chinamma chilakamma" is very catchy. The electronic pad beats look after the western feel of the song and the flute and percussions look after the Telugu folk of the song. The percussions are again different in this song with a hydrebadi flavor. Sukhwinder singh has sung it very casually as there is no any high pitch lines like that in "chaiya chaiya" song and as usual he has done a good job. He has penned the lyrics for the first time (I am not sure).
Do kadam aur sahi Lyrics: Rahat Indori Singer: Sonu Nigam Strings: Rashid Ali Flute: Navin Kumar
Excellent melody which will reach both the classes and the masses. Sonu Nigam is coming with best melodies these days following the "Kal ho naa ho" song. He has done a great job. His rendition of voice is excellent which elevates and emotes the feel of the song to a great extent. ARR always uses some additional vocals in all his songs what ever may be the kind of song and it is rare to listen a song like this which has only one voice all through the song . The tune of the line "Do kadam aur sahi" is so simple but catchy. There is no hard beats in the song. The mild violin interludes are good and well composed. The trumpet playing the "Do kadam aur sahi" tune at the end with the violins at the background leaves a grand feel at finish.
Dhuan Dhuan aag hey kahan kahan Lyrics: Rahat Indori Singer: Asha bhonsle Additional Vocals: Kunal Ganjawala Percussions: Shivamani Additional Grooves: James Asher
Music of Prague. A foot tapping number with rocking percussions by Shivamani. Asha shows her versatility in this song .In the beginning she starts with a stylish longing voice just listen to the way she sings "Na na naa" piece and slowly when it ends she has sung the last para in Hindustani style. A lot of percussions has been used in this song which is very well organized and conducted by Shivamani. Kunal who has sung "Om hum dum suniyorae" song in Saathiya has done a great job in this song even though his part is very short, the way he starts the song with so much modulation in the voice along with beats is different and unique to listen. From the first beat till the end the song is fresh.
Rang hai Lyrics: Rahat Indori Lead singer: Alka yagnik Additional Vocal: Dallinda Percussions: Hassam Ramzy
The beats of this song has some traces of that of "Rangthey" song in Thakshak, this time the percussions are handled by Hassam Ramzy who has done a good job. But the resemblance doesn't distract the fresh feel of the song. This song is a fusion of western and rajasthani folk. Dallinda's shivering voice and her unusual humming in the start and in the middle gives a fresh and different feel to the song. A different wind instrument is used at some places in the song which gives rajasthani feel. The tune of the song is good and Alka yagnik is pretty good in this song too.
Noor-un-ala-noor Lyrics: M.F.Hussain Lead singers: Murtaza khan, Quadir khan
This is a typical qawali song. The song is fully packed with alap's and swaras by duo khan's with lyrics distributed here and there. Again the tune of the first line "Noor-un-ala-noor" is catchy. The song sounds good even with usual tabla, harmonium and clapping sounds. Who are these guys? You can find these two voices in all the recent albums of ARR. They are good in this kind of songs. The song has some traces of "sona sona" song in Bombay dreams. I think this song well blends with the situation in the movie which we can feel only when we watch the visual.
Cyclist's rhythm Percussions: Shivamani Strings: John Themis
For us the cycle bell sound is just a sound or even a noise sometimes but for a musical genius like ARR the cycle bell sound is also music. He has done a good experiment with cycle bell sound in this track. The track starts with brilliantly composed flute piece of Navin with mild beats in the background then the sound of bullock carts adds to it and then the cycle bells alone creates some rhythmic music and suddenly the percussion beats starts to play a perfect southern folk (Tamil) feel with whistling sounds in the background and then slowly the tempo increases and at the end the percussions leave thundering strokes and beats. Well arranged and conducted by Shivamani. With the music I can guess the situation of this rhythm is a Cycle race in a village.
Potter's village Percussions: Hassam Ramzy Strings: John Themis
This track gives a feel like you are entering a village where the pot making is going on both sides of the street. The track mixes the natural sounds that arise while making pots with sounds of some percussions and strings. The strings starts the track playing a typical rahmanish village tune along with the natural sounds of pot making and then suddenly the percussions dominates all other sounds and for some 30 seconds you hear all the sounds together which is very complex to understand each and every sound and ends well with the strings again.
Some more observations about the album
1) I understand only a little bit of hindi so I didn't mention anything about the lyrics. But I asked my friend who knows hindi, he said the lyrics are good.
2) All the songs are catchy that you will like it immediately on first listening unlike other ARR songs.
3) Listen to the way he ends each song. He has never been lethargic while ending the songs, he even introduce a new instrument sound just for the last 10 second of the track. This reveals how much care he takes on each and every sound in each and every second of the song.
4) As he was a keyboard player he gives equal importance to all the instrument players as he gives to a singer and he treats each instrumentalist as an artist and extracts the best from them. This is the secret of success behind him. Can you think of an ARR's composition without Shivamani and Navin? It is impossible they are like two hands of ARR.
5) H.Sridhar takes credit for audiography. He has done a great job in all the songs. As all the songs have lot of instruments and sounds it seems to be complex but when you hear it in Cd with a good audio system you can hear even minute sounds added to the song very clearly.
6) On the whole the music has an international appeal with Classic Indian music.
7) A must buy album for all Music fans especially for ARR fans.
*** IMHO, meenaxi is exotic , different versatile and instrumental tracks are absolutely worldclass!!
On the other note, I personally think, that MUSIc/ORCHESTRA/BEATS etc is OVERWHELMING overshadowing VOCALS, mostly, taking melody away, very UNLIKE of REHMAN..but may be thats what HUSSAIN wanted?
ABSOLUTE, must buy for REHMAN fans..It is NO ZUBAIDA, but WAY WAY better than MEDIOCRE TEHZEEB and ABYSMAL LAKEER, IMHO..
SAATHIYA, was still better, if u ask me? 
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