AUDIOSCAN
For the soul

Aaja Ve Mahi (Music Today)

Those who know Hans Raj Hans only through songs like Dil tote tote ho gaya must hear this album to fully grasp the scale of his mastery. The Sufi singer has touched celestial heights while rendering these soul-stirring numbers. What adds to the effect is the live recording.

Quite fittingly, he pays tribute to the late Nusrat Ali Khan through the title track. Hans proves in the process that he is a peerless follower of the folk style popularised by the legendary Ustad.

The album ends equally powerfully with the evergreen Damadam mast Qalandar. In between, there are several other popular and new qalaams that bring unalloyed joy. Hans has sung Baba Bulleh Shah with much feeling in Ghunghat chuk o’ sajna.

Haq Bahu by Sufi saint Sultan Bahu has been rendered in qawwali style, and what an effect it has on one’s soul.

No less powerful is Allah hoo, which is sung by Sufi artistes. Shah Hussain’s kafi Mere saheba has been given a delicate treatment by Hans. The love of Heer-Ranjha is compared to divine love and Hans has sung the love lyric straight from the heart.

Suno Maharaj is suffused with a lot of rustic energy but is exceptionally sober and meditative in approach.

Here is another spiritual gem which takes you to an inner journey. The chanting of the name of the Auspicious One is considered the easiest way to salvation and here this pleasant task is made more electrifying by Anandmurti Guru Maa, renowned spiritual teacher and mystic. She salutes both the sargun and nirgun facets of Lord Shiva.

The sound design is novel. Instead of the traditional pakhavaz, tanpura and tabla, electronic groove, percussion, drums, synthesiser and flute are used. Yet, there is no change in the cosmic feel as Guru Maa recites Om Namoh Shivaya.

The music has been arranged by Kanchman Babbar.

Bappi Lahiri has reemerged in this private album, which is no compliment to his past status.

Some of the songs included in it might gain considerable popularity but do not have much to boast of by way of quality. Bappi has sung in a style entirely different from his cinema days. But he has been done in by his desire to be the composer and the writer too. The result is compositions like Hamne khayee mithai meethi chatnee.

Mujhko tu neta bana de is satire on today’s leaders. Besides a remix version of this very song, there are six other songs. — ASC

This feature was published on May 22, 2004