AUDIO SCAN
Pakistani flavour
Preeto (Tegson Records)

There is a mad race among wannabe Punjabi singers to cut discs. There are also recording companies galore to cash in on this craze and this has led to a glut of albums of dubious quality in the market.

Amidst so many half-baked products, if you get to hear a voice of even reasonably good quality, you cannot help sitting up and taking notice. Well, this album is one of them and right from the first song, you know very well that you are not listening to an upstart. The singer happens to be Abrar ul Haq, who has made a name for himself in Pakistan. This is his first album here but in a way he is already known here. The title song of his debut album, Billo Da Ghar, was an instant hit and was used in various forms in several Bollywood movies.

Encouraged by the success of artistes like Junoon and Strings, he has released this album of 10 of his most popular songs here. Most of them have the flavour of his native country, which is not much different from that of Indian Punjab. His voice has faint resemblance with that of Sukhvinder, while his style and the beats of the songs are similar to that of Gurdas Mann.

This is a well-rounded album. If Rang-Rang is pure Sufi, the rest are folk or bhangra-pop. Preeto lends a humorous touch.

Lyrics are from typical everyday life especially in songs like Assan Jana Mall-O-Mall. What matters is that all the 10 songs have a lilt and rhythm which was the hallmark of Punjabi songs till the last decade but got lost in recent times.

Nanak Aaya (Mystica Music)

The composite Punjabi culture never allowed division of the people along the fault line of religions. This album is an attempt to bring two communities — Hindus and Sikhs — even closer.

Anandmurti Gurumaa, an enlightened woman mystic, sings soulful poetry taken from Gurbani in her divinely resonant voice.

There are four bhajans in the album. The first one, which lends the title name, is the longest and perhaps also the sweetest. It is followed by Jagat Guru Baba, Guru Nanak Jin Sunya and Teri Jai Jai Kaar. All of them are suffused with love, harmony and truth of the highest order.

She sings with all the devotion and virtuosity of a true seeker. The music has been composed by Kanchman Babbar. — ASC