Pakistani raga and roll
ASC

Virgin Records has joined hands with Elle 18 to come out with Pakistani band Fuzon’s peculiar blend of "raga and roll" in this album. The band comprises Shafqat as the lead vocalist, who is son of the legendary Ustad Amanat Ali Khan and the ninth generation of the Patiala Gharana, Imran and Shallum Xavier, who is the lead/ rhythm guitarist. The trio belt out romantic ballads as well as peppy rock numbers.

Their album is a fusion of Indian classical ragas like Malhar, Madhubanti and Khamaj with rock music.

The tracks include the catchy Punjabi number Akhiyaan and the melodious Aankhon ke saagar and Tere bina. Aa chaand is based on Raga Madhubanti, Jhoom jhoom on Raga Malhar and Mora Saiyaan on Raga Khamaj.

This album compiles some of the most popular bhajans of the past many decades, but these have been sung by talented upcoming artistes.

On offer are Vaishnav jana to tene kahiye (by Manish Khullar), Saancha naam tera (Anindita Menon, Nitya Ganapathy), Sharan mein aaye (Namita Devidayal), Govind Bolo (D. Mahadevan), Ghat ghat mein (Deepashree Samant Suresh), Thumak chalat Ramachandra (Manish Khullar), Pag ghungroo baandh Meera nachi re (S. Balakrishnan), Payoji maine Rama ratan dhan payo (Anindita Menon, Nitya Ganapathy), Allah tero naam (Anjuman Saxena) and Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram, Patit Pavan Sita Ram (D. Mahadevan, Manish Khullar). Manish Khullar is a disciple of Pt Rajan and Sajan Mishra and has lent his voice to many jingles, TV serials and music albums.

Music has been provided by Kedar Pandit, who has been associated with Sangeet Martand Pandit Jasraj.

Punjabi music scene is overcrowded with singers. Anyone who can come anywhere near a mike aspires to be a Punjabi pop artiste. It is quite difficult to find one’s feet in this melee.

One such singer is Gulzar Lahoria, who not only has a promising voice but also has the knack of picking up good lyrics. At least this album points to a good future for him.

Whether he is singing Mirza or more contemporary songs, he is the man in command.

Music is by Charanjit Ahuja. The lyricists include Sahib Sabi, Kuldip Nihaluwalia, Lal Athouli Wala, Gurminder Kaindowal, Vinod Shayer and Satta Kotli Wala.