THE title may not be very promising, but the cassette is quite a revelation. Nor is it devoted to maikashi alone. On the contrary, it is packed with one soulful ghazal after another.

Jaswant Singh’s singing has acquired a new polish. One problem with singers who are not front ranking is that the lyrics of their numbers also happen to be rather tacky. Not so in this cassette. Nearly all nine ghazals are well penned. Among the writers are Qateel Shifai, Zaheer Alam, Payaam Sayeedi, Qais-ul Zafri, Ibrahim Ashq and Sujit (who has written the title number).

Jaswant Singh’s voice at times reminds you of Pankaj Udhas’. But this similarity is so faint that you cannot accuse him of copying Pankaj at all.

He is impressive here not only as a singer but also as the music director.

Most of the songs in a Gurdas Mann album move at a breakneck speed. Only one or two have a slow tempo. But as he is maturing, he is ready to break the mould. In this album, for instance, he has reversed the order. Most of the songs move at medium clip, as it were, and only one or two are tailor-made for the dance floor.

There is another departure here. The lyrics of all eight songs are given on the dust-cover, but not in Punjabi. Instead, their English translation is printed. Obviously, the target audience is the people of Punjabi origin living abroad. The translation is not very faithful but it gives the essential meaning of the lyrics to those who do not understand Punjabi.

Gurdas fittingly sings of longing for one’s village, one’s mother and all those nostalgic things one leaves back home on going abroad. In the title song, Punjeeri, five ingredients of punjeeri become a metaphor for a number of five things, like the five rivers of Punjab, five loved ones of the Guru, five elements, five Pandavas, five deities, five Takhts, five prayers, and five symbols of Sikhism.

To tug at the heartstrings of those living abroad, there is a number, Veezee, which speaks of the dry lives of the women whose children have settled abroad.

The most relevant of the songs is "Allah walo, Ram walo..." which exhorts Hindus as well as Muslims to protect their faith from politics.

The vintage Gurdas bursts forth in the last number, "Yaar badnitiya, tun changi nahin keetiya..."