UNDER this series, Music Today has packaged the works of some of the finest artistes of India. Needless to say that Bismillah Khan is one of them. The legendary man who brought out the shehnai from the confines of wedding music to the exalted status of an instrument of concerts is still its finest exponent.

The young Bismillah mastered a variety of forms of classical music such as thumri, chaiti and kajri. Later, after an in-depth study of khayal gayaki, he incorporated it in his instrument. All this mastery is fully evident in this two-cassette set.

The album opens with the ancient Raga Komal Rishab Asavari and goes on to Raga Mishra Mel Ki Malhar, a free improvisation in which different ragas have been woven.

He then plays Raga Shuddh Sarang, providing a rich choice of emotional colours. The first cassette closes with Kajri, a folk form of the rainy season. Bismillah Khan retains the essentially rustic feel while stylising his presentation in the classical mould.

The artistes accompanying him are Nayyar Hussain, Mumtaz Hussain and Nanne Hussain on the shehnai, Basharrat Hussain on the khurdak and Nazim Hussain on the tabla.

The second cassette has only two compositions. Raga Hamir Bahar on side A is a combination of Hamir and Bahar. The former originates from the Kalyan thaat or scale while the latter is from the Kafi thaat. The combination evokes a sense of shringar or romance and playfulness.

Raga Hanskinkini on side B is an early evening raga belonging to the Kafi thaat. Bismillah Khan has played this old and not so famous raga to perfection.

David Dhawan must be in love with the title of his film. For, the title song is included in the album not once, not twice, but three times. And there is not much to differentiate between the three parts, except that the singers of the first and the last are Sonu Nigam and Shankar Mahadevan. In the second part, Marayam replaces Sonu Nigam.

That leaves out not much space for other songs. But music composers Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy give a better account of themselves in these additional numbers. The one with the most populist appeal is "Beimaan mohabbat …" (Gayatri, KK and Shankar Mahadevan), while "Thoda sone ka rang …" (Sneha Pant and Udit Narayan) is a soothing number. "O Dushmana …" (Soumya Raoh, Sonu Nigam) and "Yeh man mera …" (Abhijeet and Babul Supriyo) are run-of-the-mill stuff.

Lyrics are by Sameer.

Jazzy B is quite an enigma. The lyrics and the overall feel of his songs is 200 per cent Punjabi folk and yet he wraps it up in a modern garb. That is why we have here what has been called Jazz Bolly.

He uses rural idioms like gaddwan vakeel, which will hardly be understood by non-Punjabis but which evoke nostalgic imagery for a Punjabi. Music also is of a similar flavour. The rap that comes in between hardly digresses from the main theme. That is why he can sing about Ghuggian da jora and Pink flower in the same breath.

The album does not mention the name of the lyricist.