Touch of Romance - Farid. Review on Folk Music In General

Disclaimer: Lest fingers start pointing and tongues start wagging, I wish to clarify that this review has nothing to do with my relationship with Farid. He’s as much a friendly stranger to me as he must be to most of you. He hasn’t asked me to review the fruits of his labour, it’s purely out of my own prerogative and volition. No favours were asked and none given…Amen!

Upon hearing the songs for the first time, one might be tempted to comment that it’s another of “those remix albums” that are raining so heavily in the market these days. It definitely comprises many popular Hindi music numbers but that’s where the comparison ends. Having said that, where this album stands apart is in it’s “Music Ideation”. Farid has made an earnest attempt to fuse the basic structure of the original songs with a fresh tinge of orchestration and thrown in lots of vocal harmonies(including a few lines in English) to give it a totally fresh and novel touch. I don’t know about the Anu Maliks of this world but most other music composers would consider themselves successful if they have been able to show a lot of variety and experiment liberally with their talents without sacrificing the quality. By that count, Farid must be a great deal contented with his work on this album.

The Songs

The album comprises 11 romantic tracks, most of which have been picked from Hindi movies spanning from the 1970s right till the end of the last century. Raju Banagli, who shows a good sense of taste for music, has selected the songs. This being his first release, Farid must have intended to show his variety and versatility and Raju Banagli has done an admirable job by that reckoning. The music ideation, composition of English lyrics and rendering of the male vocal portions have all been done by Farid himself. Ritika, Radhika and Suhasini give him able support while rendering the female vocal portions.

Side “A” starts off with the title track “Jab koi baat bigad jaaye” from the movie “Jurm”. An all time classic number, this track stands out for its simple lyrics and soulful rendition of the original by Kumar Sanu and Sadhana Sargam. Ritika co-renders this track and lends an earnest touch by singing well in tandem with Farid. “Sambhala hai maine bahut apne dil ko” from “Naaraz” has been rendered by Farid and speaks of the pangs of separation from one’s loved one. The simple use of the piano coupled with the guitar at the beginning of the song as well as for the interludes in between lend it a good romantic touch. “Dil kya kare” from the movie “Julie” is an evergreen number and appears to this day in most of Kishore Da’s compilation of best hits. Another solo by Farid, he does a good job by jelling the English lyrics that run “it’s a silent love…speaking through the eyes”. The other tracks on this side include “Aake teri baahon mein” from the movie “Vansh” rendered by Farid and Radhika and “Kahin din se mujhe” from the movie “Ankhiyon ke jharokon se”.

Side “B” begins with “Tujhse Naaraz” from Shekhar Kapoor’s “Masoom”. This track has been rendered by Farid and Prof. Najma Mahmood(Farid’s mother). I liked Farid best in this track because the song and its tenor suit him perfectly. He, in fact sounds a lot like Nitin Mukesh here, though I’m sure it’s not intentional but is purely coincidental. “Mujhe choo rahi hai” from “Swayamvar” is the only fast track in the album and one might be tempted to sing to one’s dear one while riding a bike on the expressway. The other tracks on this side include “Tumse badhkar duniya mein”, “tadap tadap ke” from “Hum dil de chuke sanam”, “dil deta hai” from Mahesh Bhatt’s “phir teri kahani yaad aayi” rendered by Radhika and “Ankhiyon ke jharokon se” from the movie of the same name rendered by Suhasini.

The album lives up to it’s name as the selected songs cover the entire gamut of emotions associated with romance – falling in love, courting a loved one, conveying true love and heartbreak at the time of separation. Truly… A “Touch of Romance”!

Rendition and composition of additional lyrics

Farid’s sincerity and earnestness are obvious in every track, be it in the conceptualization of music, rendition of the songs or simply in the composition of the English https://lyrics. Inspite of a creating a totally new orchestration, the magic and candy-like feel of the original songs have been preserved. The English lyrics complement the flow of the songs well and make for an enjoyable listening. Being blessed with a soothing voice is not a privilege that all of us are endowed with. His voice suits most of the tracks that he has rendered.

It’s difficult to abstain from making comparisons with the original versions and benchmarking the remixed versions against them. Doing that would lead to some obvious criticisms that the music and rendition of the songs were perhaps not upto the mark. However, one needs to bear in mind that this is an honest endeavour by an upcoming artist to present his interpretation and version of those songs. Listening to the tracks with that thought in mind would enable us to appreciate and applaud Farid for his efforts.

I couldn’t hold myself back from picking a few areas where there’s scope of improvement as seen from my side of the field. Firstly, he needs to work on his voice modulation to truly lend the edge of versatility to his work. There are a few instances where he’s required to raise the tenor of the song by a notch and I detected some sort of mild difficulty on his part to do the same with ease. Secondly, I also noticed the lack of “feeling” or “emotion” while he rendered a few songs. There are a few songs in which he sounds mechanical and appears to have been concentrating more on other aspects like tune and adherence to the beats. Check out “Aake teri baahon mein” on side “A” for instance. One can literally feel Radhika singing with a lot of genuine feeling this one whereas I felt Farid didn’t quite match the same level of intensity. Thirdly, Farid has experimented with some background “singing echo” effects to good effect but has shown a tendency to repeat it in quite a few songs which makes it sound repetitive.

Jacket design & Music video

The cassette has been recently released and features a loving couple looking into each others eyes with a red heart adorned with a yellow rose forming the foreground. Quite unfortunately, Farid has not been given the credit for rendering the male vocals in the cassette…the music company(Vale Music) seems to have left it out by oversight. The video has not been released as yet but if someone else has the inclination to review this album, they could probably cover it.

Overall, it’s a very good album and has this tendency of “growing” on you the more you listen to it. Had the album been released earlier, I certainly would have gifted it to her as a Valentine’s gift. For now, I’m content with listening to it and dreaming of Ash;-)

I take this opportunity to wish Farid all the very best in his future endeavours! He has made a great beginning with this album, I'm looking forward to more such invigorating work from him in the future.