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You can listen to the songs here: Tamil/Malayalam
Musician credits at the end.
World of Rudra
First of the four worlds in Bejoy Nambiar’s anthology film is the one that has every composer involved firing on all cylinders. Director’s most trusted composer Prashant Pillai kicks off the proceedings with the incredibly infectious Roshomon. Drawing from Russian folk music a la Vishal Bhardwaj in Darrrling (except in this case the whole song is Pillai’s own), the song just blows you away with its pace and energy! Among the two versions, I find the Tamil lyrics (written by Mohan Raj) a better fit than BK Harinarayanan’s Malayalam version (the former, around that Raja Raja bit, briefly took my mind back to Agni Natchathiram’s Raja Rajadhirajan). Electronic fusion outfit Filter Coffee’s Swarupa Ananth and Shriram Sampath present a snazzy makeover of their 2014 single Takita Dha, as Sajan More Ghar Aaye. The spellbinding take on the traditional raag jog based bandish retains most of the original setting – Jahnvi Shrimankar’s classical vocals, Mahesh Vinayakram and Swarupa’s konnakol/bols etc – what is new is Govind Menon’s work on the violin that fits snugly into the alluring mix. A reprise version of the song has Jahnvi and Aditya Rao going free-form, sans the vocal rhythms or the pulsating beats. The dominant atmospheric soundscape of Sita Kalyanam with the folk percussion making sporadic appearances is associable with composer Sooraj S Kurup’s past works, but the classical fusion angle the composer brings here is refreshing. While the composer also handles the vocals, it is Renuka Arun who dominates the department with her classical-flavoured singing.
World of Siva
Masala Coffee reproduce their 2016 adaptation of the anandabhairavi raga based Malayalam folk song Aalaayaal Thara Venam as is in the opening track of this segment. The highlights of the track are Sooraj Santhosh’s singing and Krishnaraj’s violin solos. They however give the song a fresh treatment in the minimally orchestrated reprise. This version rides largely on claps and Preeth PS and David Crimson’s fab guitar play; the guitar solo in the interlude sort of took me back to the guitar version of Thaalam from Job Kurian’s album of the same name (on a related note, the non-inclusion of Job in this soundtrack hurts; he would have been such a perfect and deserving addition to this lineup IMO). The devotional song Aigiri Nandini has seen a lot of adaptations in recent times, but Thaikkudam Bridge produce the most badass-sounding cover for Solo. With the band’s frontman Govind Menon and Meera leading the vocals, the dark song steps up its energy levels to manic at exactly halfway mark, and from there it is a hypnotic trip riding on Mithun Raju’s guitars! My favourite track from the set though is Govind’s solo act Shiv Taandav where he gives a trippy ambient setting to Saylee Talwalkar’s spectacular rendition of the song originally composed by Ragini Bhagwat. Bindu Nambiar sings the reprise version of the track titled Shiva Omkara, which almost feels like an extension of the improvised bit that acts as the prelude for the former.
World of Shekhar
Another of the album’s indie re-creations comes from Agam, who repackage the folk-rock fusion piece Boat Song from their debut album as Oru Vanji Paattu (Dhevadhai in Tamil). While Harish’s vocals continue to be the highlight in both versions, like in the original, the changes in the arrangement didn’t quite work for me. Quite glad that they decided to retain guitarist Praveen’s interlude solo though. Even the romantic angle introduced in the Tamil lyrics sits at odds with the song’s general vibe. The band however taps into the same aarabhi raga vein to create a beautiful, soothing piece called Thaalolam (Uyiraagi in Tamil) that even ties back to Oru Vanji Paattu with the boat chants towards the end. Riding on Shashaa Tirupati’s top notch delivery, this one is equally effective in both languages, and sees some lovely touches in its arrangement (loved the naadaswaram prelude). Ex The Local Train man Abhinav Bansal’s composition too comes in bilingual form. Thoovaanam/Kandu Nee Enne is a finely executed breezy track, riding on Vijay Yesudas’ vocal skills and some fab guitars (wonder if the faint breathing sounds during the interludes were a deliberate inclusion). Sez on the Beat’s Singa Kutty is the runt of this pack – the folk segment led by Chinna Ponnu is engaging, a lot owing to the lady’s vigour, but the hip hop fusion is just middling.
World of Trilok
Gaurav Godkhindi, another of Nambiar’s long time collaborators, composes three of the four tracks in this part. Two of which – Karaiyaadhe and You are basically variants of the same song. Sidharth Basrur does a commendable job of singing both versions of the well-realised pensive track that has an interestingly dissonant interlude (not sure if it is a violin/viola that is playing there). Godkhindi’s other composition is an instrumental titled The Cyclist Theme, a sombre tune that slowly but effectively builds up towards a crescendo. The final track of the set, Separation, comes from Govind Menon – a haunting and minimally orchestrated melody whose highlights are Govind’s own splendid violin playing and Ashita Ajit’s humming.
I have said this before too; nobody does multi-composer as consistently right as Bejoy Nambiar, and in Solo he has outdone himself, both in his choice of musicians and songs. Outstanding soundtrack this!
Music Aloud Rating: 4/5
Top Recos: Too many to name, just go listen to the whole thing!
Musician Credits
Roshomon
Music – Prashant Pillai
Lyrics – Mohan Raj/BK Harinarayan
Singers – Ashwin Gopakumar, Arun Kamath, Niranj Suresh, Sachin Raj, Rakesh Kishore, Alfred Eby Issac
Guitar – Alok Kulkarni
Chief Assistant & Additional Programmer – Sreerag Saji
Mixed & Mastered By – Hari Shankar
Recording Engineer – Sai Prakash
Assistant Engineer – Akshay K
Studio – My Studio, Kochi
Musicians Co Ordinator – Murali Nair
Sajan More Ghar Aaye
Music – Filter Coffee
Lyrics – Traditional
Vocals – Jahnvi Shrimankar, Mahesh Vinayakram
Additional Vocals (Konnakol) – Swarupa Ananth
Song Arranged & Programmed By – Shriram Sampath
Violin – Govind (Thaikkudam Bridge)
Special Thanks – Earthmoments
Mixed & Mastered By – Harishankar At My Studio, Cochin.
Sita Kalyanam
Composed & Arranged – Sooraj S Kurup
Lyrics – Sangeeth Ravindran, Sooraj S Kurup
Singers – Renuka Arun, Sooraj S Kurup
Violin – Francis Xavier
Mixing & Mastering – Kiranlal
Recording Engineer – Binil Eldhose
Studio – Nhq Kochi
Aal Ayaal
Band – Masala Coffee
Singers – Sooraj Santhosh, Varun Sunil
Guitars – Preeth P.S & David Crimson
Keyboards – Joe Johnson
Violin – Krishnaraj
Bass Guitar – Paul Joseph
Percussion – Varun Sunil
Drums – Daya Sankar
Arranged & Produced By – Masala Coffee
Mixed & Mastered By – Jayakrishnan, Mumbai
Manager – Sarath Chandran
Technical Assistance – Binoy B.T
Aal Ayaal – Reprise ( Walk & Kill Mix)
Band – Masala Coffee
Singers – Sooraj Santhosh, Varun Sunil
Guitars – Preeth P.S & David Crimson
Keyboards – Joe Johnson
Violin – Krishnaraj
Bass Guitar – Paul Joseph
Percussion – Varun Sunil
Drums – Daya Sankar
Arranged & Produced By – Masala Coffee
Mixed & Mastered By – Jayakrishnan, Mumbai
Manager – Sarath Chandran
Technical Assistance – Binoy B.T
Aigiri Nandini – Eye For An Eye
Additional Lyrics – Dhanya Suresh
Singers – Govind, Meera
Kids Chorus – Thaikkudam
Mixed & Mastered By – Amith Bal
Recording Engineer – Sai Prakash
Recorded At – My Studio, Kochi
Produced & Performed By – Thaikkudam Bridge
Shiv Taandav
Original Composition – Ragini Bhagwat
Adapted, Composed & Produced By – Govind
Singer – Saylee Talwalkar
Singa Kutty – Bring On The Chaos
Music – Sez On The Beat
Lyrics – Ankur “Enkor” Johar, Raghav Jock, Chinna Ponnu
Singers – Ankur “Enkor” Johar, Raghav Jock, Chinna Ponnu
Percussion – R. Vikraman
Nadhaswaram – D. Balasubramani
Recording – Rajiv Menon Studio Chennai
Recording Engineer – G. Lawrence Vishnu
Arranged By – Sez On The Beat
Mixed & Mastered By – Sez On The Beat
Kandu Nee Enne/Thoovaanam
Music – Abhinav Bansal
Arranged & Produced By – Abhinav Bansal
Lyrics – Dhanya Suresh/Kutti Revathi
Singer – Vijay Yesudas
Mixed & Mastered By – Harishankar At My Studio, Cochin.
Oru Vanji Paattu/Dhevadhai Pol Oruthi
Music – Agam
Produced By – Agam
Lyrics – Manu Manjith/Mohan Raj
Singer – Harish Sivaramakrishnan
Guitars – Praveen Kumar
Keyboards – Swaminathan Seetharaman
Additional Programming – Yogendra Hariprasad
Bass Guitars – Robi Dominic Gomango / Aditya Kasyap
Recording Engineers – Hriday & Akshaj
Mixing & Mastering – Hriday Goswami
Recording Studio – Space Studios And Format Studios , Bangalore
Mixed & Mastered At Pranava Studios, Bangalore
Indian Percussions – Saji Pappan
Chorus – Ruhi Ahmad
Thaalolam/Uyiraagi
Music – Agam
Produced By – Agam
Lyrics – Manu Manjith/Mohan Raj
Singer – Shashaa Tirupati
Guitars – Praveen Kumar
Keyboards – Swaminathan Seetharaman
Additional Programming – Yogendra Hariprasad
Bass Guitars – Robi Dominic Gomango / Aditya Kasyap
Recording Engineers – Hriday & Akshaj
Mixing & Mastering – Hriday Goswami
Recording Studio – Space Studios And Format Studios , Bangalore
Mixed & Mastered At Pranava Studios, Bangalore
Indian Percussions – Saji Pappan
Chorus – Ruhi Ahmad
Sajan More – Reprise (Unchained)
Music – Filter Coffee
Singers – Aditya Rao, Shriram Sampath, Jahnvi Shrimankar
Separation
Music – Govind Menon
Singer – Ashita Ajit
Shiva Omkara
Music – Ragini Bhagwat, Govind Menon
Singer – Bindu Nambiar
Karaiyaadhe/You
Music – Gaurav Godkhindi
Singer – Sidharth Basrur
Lyrics – Mohan Raj/Gaurav Godkhindi
The Cyclist Theme (instrumental)
Music – Gaurav Godkhindi
