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Aasma: A high-powered launch
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Aasma
(Times Music)

Aasma is a band comprising debutants Sangeet, Jimmy, Neeti and Vasudha. In their debut album, the winners of the Coke [V] Popstars hunt have sung everything from soft ballads to peppy dance tunes and from bhangra to retro sounds.

It is a high-powered launch no doubt, what with leading music composers like Jatin Lalit, Vishal Bhardwaj and Palash Sen adding their touch to it. The local angle is that some of the lyrics are by Chandigarh boy Munna Dhiman. Most of the other songs have been penned by Sameer, Deekshant Sehrawat and Abbas Tyrewalla.

Music as well as the lyrics are peppy and simple. If the opener Chandu ke chacha is a cheerful and spirited dance number, Tumse hi pyaar which comes next is a soft ballad. Pyaar is a rock ballad, while Life mein lafda is a punchy bhangra song. The two boys and two girls comprising the band may not be great singers but they have the finger on the pulse of the in generation, to which they themselves belong.

This is an assorted collection of eight popular nazms by Pankaj Udhas. These have been penned by some of the finest contemporary poets like Zafar Gorakhpuri (Ek wo bhi tha zamana, ek ye bhi hai zamana), which tells the story of four generations in four verses, and Mumtaz Rashid (Sawan ke suhane mausam).

In fact, five of the nazms are by Zafar Gorakhpuri. The album also includes the evergreen Chitthi aayee hai from the film Naam. Incidentally, this song was chosen as one of the 100 best songs of the millennium by Mid-day.

The album is a fine slice of Pankaj Udhas’ 23 years as a ghazal maestro.

As the title itself makes clear, this is a compilation of prayer . Since the sounds involved in the utterance of prayers are as important as the contents, there is stress on proper diction, sruthi and bhava.

The two-volume album has 44 prayers sung by Sunanda and composed by R. Sampath Selvaa.

Sunanda has been singing regularly in South Indian films. Her Prabhat stuti and Durga stuti are particularly moving.