YUVA - Musically Yours. Review on Yuva Songs

It takes one genius to recognize another - No No - I am not blowing my own trumpet - Mani Ratnam has always been brilliant at identifying the right people for the right job - A lot of eyebrows must have been raised when Mani chose a little known AR Rahman to set to tune the songs for ROJA in 1992. But ARR repaid his faith by scoring one of the most memorable scores I have ever listened to.

I would not consider myself competent enough to delve in detail about the various technicalities in music but one thing is for sure - I can appreciate great music when I hear it. From ROJA to YUVA , what strikes me most is the way ARR has constantly reinvented himself for Mani Ratnam - while melodies ruled in Roja, it was a mix of great sound and lilting folk in Chor Chor, foot tapping beats in Dil Se and haunting melodies in Kannathil Muthamittal(Tamil). I could go on and on about ARR but then pages wouldn?t be enough - So let me stick to this revu on YUVA.

Coming after so called duds like Tehzeeb, Meenaxi and Lakeer (atleast from a collections POV), the expectations from YUVA are sky-high. And if you are someone who is open to full fledged experimentation with techno sounds generated by electronic instruments, then YUVA is just what the DJ ordered for you. In total, there are totally six tracks including a purely instrumental piece. While this review is on YUVA, I shall try and compare the music with its Tamil equivalentAAYITHA EZHUTHUso that it gives you some perspective.

Track 1:

DHAKKA LAGA BUKKA- AR Rahman, Mehboob, Karthik

My rating: 9/10

Rahman, the sound engineer is in his elements totally in this spirited ''anthem'' kinda song. The sound effects - the guitars strumming behind, the bubbles bursting, the band-like drums, the glass breaking - all of them have to be heard in a good music system for the multi-layered instrumentation to be appreciated properly. The general feel of the song and the Oh Yuva Yuva chant does remind one of the Dil Se re track sung by Rahman himself. While the Tamil version boasts of definitely more meaningful lyrics, the Hindi one reminds me more of PK Mishra than Mehboob :-)

Track 2:

KHUDA HAFIZ- Sunitha Sarathy, Lucky Ali, Karthik

My Rating: 8/10

The songs starts off with very soft vocals from Sunitha - as if she is whispering goodbyes - sounds really sensuous - and then before you know what hit you, Lucky Ali starts off on a very high tempo. The resultant combination of the soft soothing female touches interspersed with the high pitched male vocals makes for a deadly combination. The song takes some time to grow on you but once one gets to appreciate the complexity, it becomes one of the more heard tracks in the album. I cant wait to see how this song will be picturised. The only complaint I have about this song is that I felt Sunidhi Chauhan would have been a better choice for the Hindi version - Sunitha, though, does a very good job in the Tamil version ably supported by Shankar Mahadevan with Karthik providing the supporting vocals.

Track 3:

KABHI NEEM NEEM- Madhushree, AR Rahman

My rating: 7/10

The humming by Madhushree at the start sets the tone for one of the more melodious, folkish tunes in this album. Check out the accompanying ghatam (clay pots) in the beginning. The lyrics are simple, uncomplicated and add to the charm of the song. The feel of the song offers nothing novel though and reminds one of Chalo Chale Mitwa in NAYAK. The Tamil version is very similar to the Hindi version.

Track 4:

DOL DOL- Rap and lyrics by BLAZE, Ethnic vocals by Shahin Badar

My rating: 6.5/10

If you are someone who freaks on techno and rap, then this one is the highlight of the album. A number which will soon be hot on the ramps and will probably be played over and over again in the club circuit - get set for stepping into your dancing shoes. (Someone though tells me this song is picturised on Abi baby - that will one heckuva laugh). What I loved in this number was the trombone piece and the mind-blowing manner in which ARR has mixed western percussion and traditional South Indian drums like the Thavil. I have never been a fan of BLAZE and the lesser that is said about the lyrics the better. The Tamil version is the same as the Hindi one with (what I suspect) the same lyrics too - Nonsense by any other name is still nonsense, right :-)

Track 5:

BAADAL- Adnam Sami, Alka Yagnik

My rating: 8.5/10

If I were asked to sum up this song in as few words as possible, then I would go for subtly seductive . Adnan's voice oozes sensuality and the simple yet heart warming melody takes the song to dizzy heights. The start with soft beats and the unobtrusive synthesizer with Adman crooning ''Socho Zara - Mere yaara''is something to really look forward to.

However if you thought it would be a full scale melody then you couldn't be more mistaken coz Rahman fuses in the techno beats pretty soon - Neat juxtaposition this !! The under-rated Alka also does a grand job in this romantic duet but one does wish Asha, in her peak, had sung this song. (sigh) Lyrics are also neat.

The Tamil version of the song is a disappointment since Adnan sings it and it?s very obvious that his lack of command over the language is a big minus. However Sujata in place of Alka is spell-binding and makes one wonder why ARR does not use her more often.

Track 6:

FANAA - AR Rahman, Sunitha Sarathy, Tanvi

My rating: 9/10

Being placed in a youthful movie, FANAA is a track dedicated to ''letting loose'' - It?s a song which appealed at once to the rebel in me - Its trance at its best in films - Its foot tapping, its hummable, its absolute chart busting music. You could even call it kinda disco. Sunitha is very impressive but quite clearly this song belongs to Rahman.

Every time he chants Fanaa, everytime he gets into his sa-ni-dha alaap, he serves us a timely reminder that he can sing well after all. At a composition level, the terse and minimal lyrics aptly let the complex instrumentation take centre stage.

Quite obviously, the experimentation in this song is more of the kinds that I like (reminds me so much of Thee Thee in Thiruda thiruda). The Tamil version is also sung by Rahman and Sunitha but the lyrics by Vairamuthu (would anyone believe it was a short poem turned into a song) are out-of-the-world. Picturisation of this song will be a real challenge and I just hope Mani comes up with something daringly different.

On the whole, YUVA is as ''hatke'' as it gets. It might not find favor with the traditionalists but there's no denying that YUVA has tremendous appeal for the youth. Go for it!