Tarli Digital - #Digitaal

#Digitaal is Tarli Digital’s latest album. At eleven tracks and an intro, it’s a hefty album. I like the title and the colourful album sleeve with its sharp straight lines, so the first impressions are good.

Tarli doesn’t mess around with his Bhangra, which is a good thing. Songs are kept simple and traditional. They have a classic feel to them and nothing sounds out of place. But there were a few tracks where I felt Tarli could have experimented a just a little more.

There is a good mix of singers on the album, but disappointingly there are no female ones to add a bit of variety and contrast. Dalvinder Singh sings on three of the tracks on the album. He has collaborated successfully with Tarli before and this working relationship shows in the music. The songs that Dalvinder provides the vocals for have a more modern feel and were the better tracks on the album.

The first track with Dalvinder Singh was also released as a single. Mittran De Naal Karde is made for the dance floor with plenty of dhol thanks to The Dhol Foundation who feature on the track. There is some nice bass and I expect to hear this a lot over the current wedding season.

Dil Dhak Dhak Soniye was also released as a single. I first blogged about it here at the end of January and I am still playing it. With the current weather, it’s summery vibes have come into their own and it is one of the best songs on the album.

PBN - Saa Charju

Last summer, no party or wedding was complete without a round of PBN’s Fitteh Moo. It was refreshing, innovative and cheeky. As well as giving us a new catch phrase, Fitteh Moo revolutionised the dance floor. There were dance-offs between the guys and the girls which were fun to watch as well as take part in. So when PBN announced a sequel, I was curious to how he would do it.

Saa Charju is what PBN came up with. It’s been pretty successful and reached the top spot in BBC Asian Network’s chart. It is a good song, but I am disappointed with Saa Charju because it sounds the same as Fitteh Moo and I’m surprised that more people haven’t noticed.

There are  few differences between the two songs. The lyrics for Saa Charju are new but they borrow many lines from Fitteh Moo. PBN sings the male vocals on Saa Charju instead of Balwinder Bhatti but he manages to sound a lot like him. Both songs have the same structure, same tune, same bassline and same dhol beat. Plagiarism is a problem in Desi music, but I think this is the first instance that an Asian producer has copied his own song.

The video for Saa Charju is better and seems to have had a bigger budget than Fitteh Moo. It was right to use the same actors and dancers for continuity reasons and I am glad that the location was new and different to the usual club. However the choreography and the interaction between the girls and boys was again the same as in Fitteh Moo.

Surely an artist as innovative as PBN could come up with something new? A sequel involves developing the story and carrying it on, not just repeating it and I don‘t think PBN did enough to move the story forward. The action could have moved to India, involved other members of the couple’s family or shown them having children.

Arguably PBN has given his fans exactly what they want - more of Fitteh Moo. It’s a good move to connect with his fans and shows PBN is catering to their needs. Saa Charju is a good track, but only because it sounds like Fitteh Moo and I wonder which one DJs will prefer to play at events. If DJs play both Fitteh Moo and Saa Charju back to back, that will be over 10 minutes of PBN. Can a dance-off last that long?

Ek Tha Tiger Review

Starring Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif, Ek Tha Tiger is about a secret agent called Tiger and is set to release on August 15th. Sohail Sen composed the soundtrack, apart from one song which was put together by Sajid-Wajid.

With 8 tracks including three remixes and an instrumental, Ek Tha Tiger sounds shorter than it actually is. I generally dislike remixes as they make the album sound repetitive. None of these remixes were better than the originals or good songs in their own right and I was disappointed they were included.

Shooting for Ek Tha Tiger has taken place in ten far flung exotic locations including Iraq, Russia, Ireland, Egypt and Turkey. Three of the main four songs seems to have a different ethnic influence, probably matching the different locations that the film was shot it. The variety is nice but there is no common thread between each of the tracks.

Take Five: Sports

The Olympics kick off this Friday and the whole world seems to have gone mad for the games. Even Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachan is a torch bearer. Here are five songs which are related to sports.

Lagaan - Mitwa

A film about beating the British at their own game of cricket which was India's entry for the Oscars. During Mitwa, Amir Khan persuades his fellow villagers to play cricket with him to get out of paying their tax. Brilliant soundtrack from AR Rahman.
 

Azaad - Kabadi

Even though it was played at the Berlin Olympics in 1936, Kabaddi is still not an official olympic sport. But if it was this song by eighties Bhangra band Azaad would be its theme tune. Pack full of eighties guitar and retro beats, this original version appeared on an album also called Kabadi. A slightly different version was released on Azaad's Greatest Hits compliation, but the original is the best.

Sukshinder Shinda - Rock Da Party

Rock Da Party is the latest release from Sukshinder Shinda. At thirteen tracks and no remixes, Rock Da Party is a hefty album. It follows on from Jadoo which released at the end of 2010.

Sukshinder excels at traditional Bhangra without making it sound clichéd. It’s no surprise that songs which are more traditional are the better tracks on the album. Amongst the traditional songs, Saari Raat Nachdi Rahi is the best. It has an energy to it which should translate well to the dance floor. Mucch Khari is also worth a listen.

Four of the songs open with speech dialogues. Dialogues are a pet hate of mine as they aren’t usually funny enough to listen to more than once and need fast forwarding. They can also interrupt the flow of songs in a playlist. The worst dialogue was from Zamana Fast Hogaya which took over a minute to do. There is an interesting irony in the song. The artist is bemoaning technological advances, some of which he uses to promote his music.

Rock Da Party has two singles already released by Sukshinder. Hurr has been widely played and the opening dialogue to Hurr is an annoying attempt at self promotion. Nanka Mail is the better single of the two. But I thought that this song was overlooked because it’s video acts like a full blown film. The chorus brings in a nice contrast to Sukshinder’s vocals. Even though it is over eight minutes, there was enough in there to hold my interest right to the end.