.::Sarson ka Saag with Tortilla chips::. Review on Tehzeeb Songs

Ahaa! And you thought this review is some lesson in authentic cuisine fusion, eh! Leave that… now that you have actually landed (I’ll say bewitched and fooled) on this godforsaken review, reading it is the only left option. Sensible option that is. Ho-hum its yet another clichéd critique from my awfully clichéd stable… but the one which parallels taste and hearing. Gustation and audition. Those who can’t gulp down anything I just typed can stick to paras commencing with “The truth is..” Alright then, here I go…

Ready? Alright, now imagine the taste of a fizzled out coke on your tongue (I know its like bitter sherbat, but imagine it anyway!)

Hmm… now imagine dollops and dollops of rose(?) flavoured ice-cream sprinkled with bitter almonds (uggh!)

Anything similar? Ya ya, they both look bewitching (just like this review!) and leave you feeling bitter all over, haina? (I hope its not this review…lolz.) Ditto for Tehzeeb’s first song “Khoyee Khoyee Aankhen Hain” (got the hang now?!)

The truth is…Tehzeeb’s first number is shockingly hollow of any aesthetic musical charm whatsoever. My expectations soared as I saw Shaan printed in the credits, but alas! one hearing and you realise that Rahman couldn’t have selected a worse vocalist. Shaan’s talent can’t be doubted for sure, but his high-pitched voice simply doesn’t feel occupying enough while the brittle Urdu accent lends this awry bumpiness which is successful in destroying the melody quite easily. Traditional lyrics adapted from Shad Azimabadi do sport lyrical value praising a woman but sound too fermented, swollen and unconnected from Rahman’s fast arrangements. Coming to Rahman, the tune’s eerily similar to “Kaali Nagin ke Jaisi” (Mann), is remotely catchy and has an irritating chorus (which go rollicking Naari Naari!!!!???!!!). Its different alright. Its fusion alright. But it doesn’t work alright.

Time to rejoice, okie? Now imagine chicken tikka masala with Roomali roti. Done?

Now how about some creamy kheer dusted with saffron, cashews and raisins? All those slurps, the licks, the sighs and the empty gulps) you made just now isn’t much different from the eyes going misty with the ecstasy and bliss of Tehzeeb’s next ditty which is a smooth, warm ghazal christened “Aapko Mujhse Shiqwa Hota”.

The truth is… that the harmonical ictus successfully transforms to the era of “In Aankhon Ki Masti Ke” and “Dil Cheez Kya Hai”. Sung flawlessly by Sujata Bhattacharya whose weighty vocals do more than full justice to Javed Akhtar’s suggestively emotional lyrics with shades of retrospection, yearning and lightness, its Rahman’s composition that’s clapworthy. The sprinkled piano interludes to render solitude, the flute to accentuate yearning, the tabla to maintain the liquidity with the creamy vocals and the resounding vibrating percussion beats (this is the best part, believe me!) to infuse freshness—together they establish a melody that the memory yearns to delve and re-delve and re-delve. This one’s, I’ll spell it…p-e-r-f-e-c-t.

Spice up folks! Rightaway imagine spicy peppery poppadums with hot chilli sauce. More still, imagine a crispy masala dosa with floating-with-chillis sambhar. The sweats, the thrills, the kicks can easily compete with the thumps of the next ravishing dance number “Meherbaan Meherbaan”.

The truth is… This is sung in full gusto by Asha Bhonsle (A famine of adjectives on my part means that was an understatement.. she’s just too racy!) and Sukhwinder Singh (Once again, Rahman’s brilliantly realised and used the high punches in his voice throughout for that upbeat feel!) while penned by ever-illustrious Javed Akhtar. Rahman’s arrangements buds with so many electronic instruments, that a virtual discotheque sheaths the eye for those 8 minutes. The electronically arranged strings, beats, percussions and almost cryptical sounds (telephone rings, rap infusions, vocal harmonies) are brilliantly matrixed with the crest-n-trough laden vocals of Bhonsle and together the zany-zippy effect is so concentrated and amplified, that this easily can be crowned as the briskest and the bounciest number of 2003.

Time to slow down! Imagine slurping down tomato soup sans the crispy crumbs. Imagine a sip of lukewarm milk. Or how about gnawing at a slice of white bread sans butter? I am stressing on the word p-l-a-i-n. That’s “Mujhpe Toofan Uthaaye Logon Ne” for you.

The truth is..that the song has got some of the most awesome lyrics I have heard, adapted from Momin Khan Momin. Basically, perimetering around a woman’s hurt heart, the semantically exhilarating words are further scooped out with Sujata’s brilliantly pitched and fluid vocals. Rahman’s composition is quite surprisingly, devoid of any surprises and sounds quite similar to that of “Chupke Se” (Saathiya). Overall, the effect of ghazal is sublime without being glorious. Hummable, but paler to its swashbuckling counterparts.

And now for the real star of the evening! Prepare to experiment with your imaginations. Think Sarson Ka Saag with tortilla chips. Or Makki di roti with barbecue sauce. Or French fries with coconut chutney! Hmm, f-u-s-I-o-n is the magic word herein melody “Sabaq Aisa Sikha Diya”

The truth is…”Sabaq Aisa” is the album’s most unique, adventurous and powerful number. And its power lies in the immaculate fusion that dissolves the beigest of Urdu poetry and vocals with the sapphirest of electronic and thermionic arrangements. What’s laudable is the strange way both these threads of music are soulfully individualistic, each replete with its own magic with the other never interfering or overlapping leave alone outshining. The tune’s completeness is in its diversity. And then those https://lyrics. Ah! Penned by the famous poet Dagh Delhvi, there’s this unescapable vacuum of loneliness (remember Tanhaayee from DCH?) so efficaciously drilled with Sujata’s awesome vocals, that every subsequent listening sinks you deeper and deeper into it! Fusion was never so much music to the ears, believe me!

Apart from the five melodies, there’s a discotheque instrumental tune “I wanna be free” which is quite energetic though a tad stretched; a one-line snazzy induction of “Aapko Mujhse Shiqwa Hota (I can’t fathom why both of them were there!) and finally a pure carbon copy of the thumping “Meherbaan Meherbaan”

“Tehzeeb”, when deciphered in English means “elegance”. And elegance is present in tubfulls in those wonderfully worded ghazals where lissome Urdu poetry handshakes joyously with seducing, twisty, gyratory, thumpy electronic arrangements! Thumbs up to Rahman for his splendid fusion and for introducing a gem of a singer (Sujata Bhattacharya)!