Here’s a list of the “not so famous” Indi-pop songs which are really good. I don’t see any new good pop albums these days, well there are one or two albums which are decent enough but nothing compared to the time when the likes of Lucky Ali, Shaan, Adnan Sami, KK and Sonu Nigam ruled the charts. They’ve all delivered hits, but there are many songs of theirs and others which went completely unnoticed. So, here’s a post to all those rare songs which deserve a mention.
(not in any particular order)
1. Agnee:
This is one Indian band which very few guys have heard of. And to whatever they’re known, we should really be thankful to MTV, for publicising their acts and bringing out their talent to audience. Till date, Agnee has released just one album, but most of the compositions from that are really good. My top pick among them would be Shaam Tanha– it is such a lovely ballad, it always lifts my mood when I’m alone. The lyrics are perfect, the video is great and the vocals are awesome.Among the other songs, Sadho Re is really haunting and so is Ujale Baaz. The MTV Roadies theme perfectly suits the mood of the series; the quotes by Raghu are funny. Recently, they have done a single, atheme for MTV Splistsvilla. This doesn’t have any lyrics, it is just the humming by the lead vocalist, but the guitar chords are really nice and it sounds great.
2. Amit Sana :
I still believe that the first season of Indian Idol had the best contestants - Abhijeet Sawant, Amit Sana, Rahul Vaidya and Prajakta Shukre to name a few. Whereas Abhijeet Sawant walked away with the glory, it was Amit Sana who raised many a heads with his awesome vocal range. The title track of Chal Diye was no doubt good, but I really liked Mohabbatein Lutaonga just for its awesome lyrics (written by Vishal Dadlani, music by Vishal – Shekhar):
“.....mushkilon mein zindagi se kabhi jo na hare, bigda naseeba yahan wohi to sawaare....kehkashan wo khwabon ka zameen pe utaare, bujhi bujhi akhiyon mein umeedon ke khwab phir se main sajaaonga...jo haar gaya wo jung jeet ke aaonga......ek pal hai gham ka to doosra khushi ka,khile raat ki baahon mein rang chandni ka....saath mein andheron ke hai saaya roshni ka,neele neele ambar se chahaton ka chand tod ke laaonga....jo haar gaya wo jung jeet ke aaonga....mohabbtein lutaaonga....”
Of his other album (Yaadein), ‘Woh ho tum’ and ‘Khalish’ are really good piece of work.
3. Avadhoot Gupte :
I haven’t heard many compositions from this guy, have just come across two of them. First one being “Tujhe dekh ke meri madhubala” and the other one “Khamakha” . The first one is just okay, but I really liked Khamakha when I saw its video for the first time on TV.
4. Ganesh Hedge :
This talented guy took all of us by storm when he released his album G. The video of Main Deewana was par excellence. I wonder as to why he didn’t release two or three other videos from this album. There were two really good songs – “Zindagi” and “Aa Bhi Jaa” . The former one is a soothing number which has some really inspirational lyrics, whereas the latter one is a fast paced emotional track, Kailash Kher and Sowmyah Rao have given backup vocals for this one.
5. KK:
His first album Pal had some really nice tracks – Pal, Yaaron and Aapki Dua to name a few. After like years, he released his second album Humsafar, which didn’t do that well. Just during this time, he had come to our college (NIT-K) for our cultural fest and all of us had this craze about his songs. So, we checked out all of his songs and that’s when I came across this beautiful track - “Raina Bhai Kaare (Maajhi)”. This track describes the path of a river and compares it to our lives. Here are the lyrics:
“sagar ko jaati hai, dhoonde hai ye kinara, deewani ye nadi gaati hai har dhaara, behte hi jaana,jism jhoome kisiki,raahein banana jaise ho tum nadi (palamdani palamdani)....behte huye raahon mein kabhi mile phoolon ke sang pathar kahin, kabhi unhe baha ke le chali, kabhi to woh bach ke bhi chali, magar ye ruki na kabhi......sagar ko jaati hai.....dil maajhi hai, zindagi hai nadi, sapnon ki nau sajde hi chali, ye haule haule jhoomegi kabhi, ye hichkaule khayegi kabhi, magar ye toote na kahin.....haath tore more maajhi, bole more raja, zindagi ki nayya nadiya kinara....raina bhai kaari kaari, din ujyaara, nayya to dekhe nadiya ki dhaara,haath tore maajhi zindagi ki nayya...”
6. Raghu Dixit Project:
Again, thanks to my college, I came across this artist. His album Antaragni had some really interesting compositions. “Thousand voices”, “No man will ever love you”, “Father (wish u were here)”and “Hey Bhagwan” to name a few. “Thousand voices” is just like A.R. Rahman and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s “Gurus of Peace”, though it isn’t sung by Raghu Dixit, but by some children.
7. Silk Route:
This is one band which I felt should have gone a long way, but it’s no more, except for Mohit Chauhan. They released two albums – Boondein and Pehchaan. Their debut track, Dooba Dooba was a runaway hit, but none of the other songs did well. One song which I really liked from Boondein was Humsafar, it has great lyrics:
“hum jo chale tum bhi chalo saath, phir kya khabar ke din hai ke raat, bas mein nahi rahenge jazbaat, tum jo sanam hamare chalo saath, hum jo chale....sur se saji geeton se tere yaad, tujh bin sanam bhaaye naa koi baat, kaise kaho akele chaloon aaj, aao sanam soone hain dil ke saaz, kaisi bhi raahein ho kaisi dagar ho, koi bhi rasta ho koi safar ho, chalte rahe hum jo tu humsafar ho...hum jo chale...din ye kahe baitho hamare paas, aao idhar ishaara kare raat, humko magar chahiye wahi shaam...hooo...jis par sanam likha ho tera naam, chandni raatein ya khilti seher ho, chahe din ka wo koi peher ho, chalte rahe hum jo tu humsafar ho...hum jo chale tum bhi chalo saath...phir kya khabar ke din hai ke raat, bas mein nahi rahenge, galiyon mein phirta banjara dil ye, tujh ko hi dhoondega awara dil ye, karta hai jaane ishaare kya dil ye....galiyon mein....”
Some of the other songs of Silk Route which deserve a mention arePaheli, I’m just a child, Sapnay (Ek Pal), and Woh Subah.
8. Sona Mohapatra:
This is one artist whom we should hear more often. Her first album Sona was, literally, a gem and still very few know about it. Songs likeTere Ishq Nachaya, Abhi Nahi Aana, Bolo Naa, Aaja Ve andSapnay are awesome piece of work. The music for this album was given by Ram Sampath (her husband). Tere Ishq Nachaya is an excellent adaptaion of the original one. Abhi Nahi Aana sweetly describes the joy of waiting, whereas Aaja ve is the just the opposite of it. Bolo Naa and Sapnay are equally good. Apart from these, Sona had released a single with Aussie band INXS – Afterglow being the song. The original is a masterpiece, but the one with Sona is equally mesmerising. The use of Sitar and Sona’s vocals bring Indian touch to the song.
9. Zubeen Garg, Shafqat Amanat Ali and Chitra:
His album Zindagi was a decent piece of work. The main track Jia re Jia was good, but the tracks which I really loved from the album were Shafqat Amanat Ali’s Tu Hai Tu Hai and Chitra’s Pal Pal Bekal, though I wonder why these two songs were included in Zubeen’s first solo album.
10. Shaan:
He’s the perfect Indi-pop package; he writes his own song, makes his own composition and, of course, sings for them. His albums include Loveology, Tanha Dil, Bhool Ja, Aksar and Tishnagi, apart from whatever he has sung for Dance Masti (or is it Instant Karma?). Some of his good songs which went unnoticed are Har Taraf (Aksar), Is Pyar Mein (Aksar) and Shuruaat (Tishnagi). Har Taraf features Samira Said, a renowned Arabic singer – the song is decent, check it out to hear Shaan sing in Arabic. Shuruaat was featured in The Chronicles of Narnia OST, it has beautiful lyrics. Shaan is one artist who has done quite a few songs with international artistes, like Kya Maine Socha(with Blue) and Take Me To Your Heart (with MLTR) and the other one being Har Taraf (with Samira Said).
11. Shubha Mudgal:
Everyone knows about her songs Ab Ke Sawan, Aayo Re Aayo Maro Dholna and Pyaar Ke Geet. Some other songs like Ali More Angana, Bairie Chain and Kya Yeh Pyar Hai are equally good.
12. Sonu Nigam:
I still remember his album Deewana, all the songs from that album were really good. Of the albums which he released later (Jaan, Yaad, Chanda Ki Doli, Classically Mild), none did as well as Deewana. But there were few good songs from these albums like Mohabbat Kabhi Maine (Yaad), Chanda Ki Doli’s title track (really love the shehnaipart in this one) and Sochta Hoon Main (Classically Mild).
13. Lucky Ali:
Most of his songs are known to everybody. There are these three songs which not many know – Nahi Rakhta Dil Mein, Tu Kaun Haiand Behti Nadi. Tu Kaun Hai describes the nature of wind whereas Behti Nadi describes the flow of a river. Nahi Rakhta Dil Mein is a sweet melody with adorable lyrics :
“nahi rakhta dil mein kuch, rakhta hoon zuban par, samjhe na apne bhi kabhi, keh nahi sakta main kya sehta hoon chupa kar, ek aisi aadat hai meri, sabhi to hai jin se milta hoon, sahi jo hai in se kehta hoon, jo samjhta hoon, maine dekha nahi rang dil aaya hai sirf ada par, ek aisi chahat hai meri, bahaaron ke dhere se laya main dil sajaa kar, ek aisi sohbat hai meri, saaye mein chaaye rehta hoon, aankhein bichaye rehta hoon, jin se milta hoon...kitnon ko dekha hai humne yahaan, kuch seekha hai humne unse nayaa....pehle fursat thi ab hasrat hai sama kar ek aisi uljhan hai meri, khud chalke rukta hoon jahan jis jagah par ek aisi sarhad hai meri, kehne se bhi main darta hoon, apnon ke dhun mein rehta hoon, kar kya sakta hoon, de sakta hoon main thoda pyar yahaan par, jitni haisiyat hai meri, reh jaaon sabke dil mein dil ko basa kar, ek aisi niyat hai meri, ho jaaye to bhi raazi hoon, kho jaaoon to main baaki hoon, yun samajhta hoon....raste na badle na badla jahaan , phir kyun badalte kadam hai yahaan.....”
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