The 2 Tamil soundtracks worth the listen this week include N.Kannan's Tamizh Padam 2 and Anirudh's Kolamaavu Kokila (CoCo).
We don't get too many spoof films in India and it may be to do with our collective inability to take a joke, and our collective obsession with taking offense. So, when C.S.Amudhan released the music of the sequel to his pathbreaking spoof film Tamizh Padam (called, duh! – Tamizh Padam 2), the music demands a listen! And in true Amudhan-style, the music literally trolls you since you are left wondering if these fantastic tunes by composer N.Kannan (with a plethora of damn good singers) will unfold and the joke would be on you! Still, as a soundtrack, this is very good stuff. The pick of the album is Vaa Vaa Kaama, a sensuous melody that harks back to Ilayaraja's similar numbers—particularly over the charanam lines, "Urugida Vidu Puthu Rasam Edu" and "Thazhuvidu Enai Thathumpidum Suvai", and Kalavarame which, besides the catchy gimmick of the rapid-fire utterance of certain words, has a wonderfully immersive melody (a possible blend of Naatai and Maand raagas), and is sung brilliantly by Chinmayi and Pradeep!
Apart from film songs, the big musical highlight of last week was easily the prelude to the new season of Coke Studio Pakistan, called Coke Studio Explorer! It's a 5-episode music travelogue where producers Zohaib Kazi and Noori's Ali Hamza travel to different parts of Pakistan and discover folk music and singers. The format reminds one of Dewarists, while the local music artists' collaboration seems straight out of MTV Sound Trippin'. The show has started off on a splendid note with 2 songs.
The first is from the Kalash Valley, located in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, sung by Ariana and Amrina. The song, Pareek (meaning Let's Go), is a folk love song that gets a superb electronic backing, in line with Zohaib's musical sensibilities.
The second song, Faqeera, featuring the voices of brother-sister duo of Shamu Bai and Vishnu is almost Rajasthani in sound and feel, given its Sindhi folk origin. Absolutely mesmerizing tune, and equally fantastic orchestration that accentuates the folk tune with its electronic sounds, benjo chords and dholak rhythm.