One of my favorite things about visiting South Asia, in recent years anyway, is the unique (despite overly repetitive) playlist of MTV India. Sure, some really awful Bollywood songs are included, but where else will you hear a track with such poignant lyrics like “just chill chill, just chill” repeated over and over again, right? So after being in Sri Lanka for over a week, I have added some of the following to my iRiver music playlist. And if you want to have this argument, I like the iRiver better than the Ipod, but lets not make this post an iRiver vs. iPod one.
Bombay Rockers— Rock The Party. This Danish duo, includes one desi and one gora exactly and approximately. The gora sings in English, and the desi of course sings in Hindi. How novel of an idea? The song is catchy, but the track’s music is not original, the lyrics are not really intricate, and it seems like the Rocker’s are trying a little too hard to be Europe’s answer to the Neptunes (trucker hat, bandana around the wrist and all).
Daddy Yankee—Mirame. To be fair, I actually put this on my playlist before I left the states (along with Raje Shwari and Beenie man’s Below the Waist and her track Country Style with Petey Pablo), but this spindi (Spanish + Hindi) reggaeton track is hot, so I had to give it a plug.
Abhijeet Sawant—Mohabbatein Lutaaunga. India’s answer to Kelly Clarkson, Reueben Studdard, and Clay Aiken, all rolled into one. Sawant was the winner of “Indian Idol” and can really belt out a tune. It is a little corny, and in the video of this song he does some weird forehead pointing thing, but some of his tracks are catchy, this one in particular.
The Rishi Rich Project—Dil Mera.—This track is on the Kya Kool Hai Hum Soundtrack. I haven’t seen the movie, but the trailer makes it look hip, and having the Project participate, makes the film even hipper. I was actually pleasantly surprised to hear a lot of Raghav and Jay Sean tracks all over the radio here in Sri Lanka. Sonu Nigam, Jayesh Gandhi and Amrita Kak— Just Chill. I had to put it on, just to laugh. This is apparently the opening track for David Dhawan’s new movie Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya, starring Salman Khan and Sushmita Sen. Remember to “just chill chill, just chill.”
Blaaze-–Bunty Aur Babli. This is the lead track for the movie of the same name starring Abhishek Bachchan and Rani Mukherjee. The song is a rap song and the video has Amitabh lip-synching, quite ridiculously, along to the lyrics. Its unfortunate because the movie looks good.
Hey Sajit, I also recommend Soniye – by Jaggy D (who worked with Jay Sean on Rishi Rich) – but I have feeling he got to India a little after USA/UK…
ummmm Abhijeet Sawant? Ewwww…but I actually didn’t mind the second song he release, I forget the name. And how can you not include Rabbi (pronounced Rub-bee) in that list dude?!
You are right TTG, Soniye is a great track by Juggy D (you should also check out Akheer which was produced by Rishi Rich’s brother Mentor), but they are not new additions to the list, they have been playlisted for awhile on the iRiver, and so has Rabbi. If you are interested, Ennis posted on Rabbi a while back, which you can find here
I know, I know on the Abhijeet Sawant, but he is all over MTV India right now.
Imho, the best group in India is “Indian Ocean”. Who else could release 4 consistently brilliant CDs? Who else could have meaningful lyrics in diverse languages from Brijabasha to Aramaic?
Listen to their Aramaic song ‘Kandisa’ here. Apparently, this song has been sung for centuries in Syrian churches in Kerala.
The website of Indian Ocean is here
In what Syrian church I wonder? The folks in our church only stretch their vocal cords, and the notes, to sing ‘Velivu niranjoooooo reeso’ & ‘Paaaaaulose Sleeeha’ in drum-puncturing renditions.
Another cool Indian band is Euphoria – ‘Bulla Ki Jaana’ pales in comparison to their ‘Maire’.
I saw Bunty aur Babli last weekend and it was quite good, in fact I liked it a lot and there were lots of laughs from a house full of Australian Indians, so the verdict from this guy is go see it. Abhishek and Rani were good and I thought that Amitabh was over the top but in a funny way, the rap video comes at the end as the credits roll so it’s worth sticking around to see, it was amusing.
Where in Sri Lanka are you? hope you manage to catch some of the “baila” music featured in the south.
I am in Colombo. Have yet to make it to the southern portion of the island but will keep an ear out for some baile.
Who puts Spanish and Hindi together and doesn’t tell me?? I have to have more of this.
Blaaze’s song is kinda … yeah. MTV India says this is India’s hottest rap star…. no comment here. Please, someone tell Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy to stick to what they know and leave the hip-hop to, um, Karmacy I guess.
Speaking of Music … anyone check out Nitin Sawhney’s newest album yet? It was released last month but I haven’t had a chance to listen.
music girl signing off.
Wow, this goree freaks me out. She probably is more Indian than I can ever be. Make her PM already! 🙂
Nitin Sawhney’s newest album Philtre is, how can I say this, amazing. His work keeps on getting better, and Philtre grooves everywhere: from jazzy-r&b and full-on contemporary desi (lots of tracks featuring reena bhardwaj) to crisp flamenco. And then to finish it off properly, there is the standard Nitin, a brilliant asian drum and bass track in the “The Search.”
thanks for the compliment, cssw… if it was meant to be that 😉
and that link isn’t even on the frontpage anymore….
so now that the door’s open… any recommendations for songs i should sing? 😉
More show fodder! I hope this a trend… 🙂 It’s always nice to take a break from playing straight Bollywood stuff, and of course, quoting Sepia Mutiny… 🙂
The Bombay Rockers track they play on Zee Music has a great video. And they sing in Punjabi in this one.
The Punjabi dude and the Swedish hero pick up a couple of blonde chicks in Stockholm and have a groovy one night stand with them. Then they sneak out and high five each other. But the Swedish chicks are vexed because they got played. So they call this assasination hit squad of giant teddy bears and cuddly toys like a giant rabbit and fox to assassinate the Bombay Rockers as they hang out in Sweden just chilling and being Punjabi/Swedish musical hero studs. And they get the crap beaten out of them by this assassination hit squad of gigantic cuddly toys. Its a work of art, I’m telling ya.
Look I’m not joking about the Bombay Rockers video with the giant teddy bear assassination squad you can see it here!
Bombay Rockers Video
Its in QuickTime! They have to make quick time escape but I support the Indian and Swede against the cuddly toy assassins because they are heroes against all odds, and they played the blondes!
uh, HOW high were they when they came up with the concept for that video?
thank you for the most excellent link, Punjabi Boy.
In what Syrian church I wonder? The folks in our church only stretch their vocal cords, and the notes, to sing ‘Velivu niranjoooooo reeso’ & ‘Paaaaaulose Sleeeha’ in drum-puncturing renditions.
manoj, my father was orthodox; he chanted in syriac (an aramaic language) at the SF and LA jacobite churches, both of which he helped start. the congregation would sing in malayalam, AFAIK. i always thought syriac was for the altar.
I always thought syriac was for the altar.
Exactly. And the priest only chants prayers in the language. Almost all songs are still sung in Malayalam using the original Syriac tune (unless of course a bishop showed off his Syriac prowess, thus shutting up the congregation…in the absence of a choir, always a good thing). I listened to the ‘Kandisa’ song to spot the Malayalam equivalent, but I don’t think it sounded like anything I’ve ever sung. And I should know – altar boy at a “Suriyaani” church for 10 yrs…uh thaangyu, barekmore, kuriyelaison. 🙂
manoj, my new kuttukaran 😉 i’m not trying to play the semantics game, but chant…sing…whatever. 🙂
daddy wore a white altar garment for over fifty years, and no, he didn’t just sing to the syriac tune, he sang IN syriac. my father was born in 1937; he was influenced most by his first brother the ascetic, who was almost thirty years his senior. believe it or not, my father knew syriac chants/hymns that most priests didn’t. not surprising. he was mad religious and his family was ultra-orthodox. i’m vegetarian b/c it’s always nthoimbe for me. 🙂
anyway, “kandisa” probably doesn’t sound familiar b/c it’s not a hymn for the congregation; they never said WHO was doing the singing…they probably meant people on the altar. like my dad. or you. 😉
Thats cool. So was my dad
So did my dad.
God! So is mine.
In the masses of ye old times, I think priests didn’t face the congregation and there was a curtain that covered the altar or some such.
Btw Saddam was born in 1937 too, I constantly throw that at my dad just to piss him off. 🙂 Anyways…
In Catholic masses the priests face the congregation – that’s for Latin Catholics, and for (the north) half of Kerala. South of Cochin, they get kinda hardline, so (apparently following Syrian traditions) priests face towards the altar and away from the crowd. I loved it – it meant I could be late for mass and still go undetected. (Obviously I wasn’t an altarboy.) Malakara Catholics (a breakaway group from Orthodox/Jacobite churches who embraced Catholicism) have this priest-behind-the-curtains bits that cssw mentions, and also they have songs and chants in Syriac – including ‘barekmore, kuriyelaison’.
only some of the time….
1932, Syriac chanter/singer, taught me the Holy Sacraments (over&over again). So yeah, they all sound like loads of fun! 🙂 In fact, Dad met Mom & fell for her in Sunday School. Him, the headmaster. Her, the new teacher. Typical 50s romance from what I’ve heard. Coupla oily-headed, voile-clad 20 somethings ogling each other from across the aisle, while JC looked down from his crucifix.
Kootukkaari :), you might be right. Will have to check with the Headmaster on this. (‘Kandisa’ could actually be the mangled result of ‘Kadeeso’, meaning ‘Saint’).
So was your church in Kerala founded by missionaries from Syria?
The ultimate East Coast-West Coast feud was between the Catholics(Rome) & the Orthodox Christians in Antioch(Syria). So we be the East Coast posse. (Big shout out to our man Ignatius Zakka). And considering that there were functioning trade routes to India well before the time of Christ, it’s no surprise that the ultimate missionary, Thomas, an apostle of Christ himself, came over to India sometime around 40-50AD.
So Syria was a centre of Christianity before it all got converted to Islam. Fascinating.
Yup. And Kerala had Christians way before the West became officially Christian – Constantine adopted Christianity as Rome’s official religion around 330 AD.
Hey…
Anyone got the translation for Kandisa..the songs from Indian Ocean..are so beautiful..
hmmm.. did some research on blaaze blaaze !! he’s from Zambia and now based in India. Also just had to find out more coz i saw him in a video with my fav. singer..coco lee..(yeah boys..well i’m from singapore)..and he’s on her debut single called No Doubt… at number ONE la all over asia. Doin us Indians PROUD out here la… luv ya !! richa!! ps. BnB is awesome wit the big B rappin to Blaaze…!!!!!!
Guys, i understand all the hoopla and stupidity of it all… but really… that video was F&%$ing hilarious!!!!
PB! You’re back! 🙂
Hello and God bless you;
We would like you to visite http://www.pascalesakr.com and listen to the Lord’s prayer sung in Galilean dialect of Aramaic spoken in Galilean territory where Jesus mostly lived. “Avoonan Dbishmaya…Yetqadash shmakh…”
Listen to Syriac chants from the Chaldean rite of the Syro-Malabar Church in Kerala in a CD released by PAN Records (Netherlands): QAMBEL MARAN: SYRIAC CHANTS FROM SOUTH INDIA. The accompanying booklet deals with questions on the history, authorship, the process of transmission, etc.
Dearest in Christ, Praise The Lord
Greetings from your brother in Christ and thanks for your love, I am Pastor. Darpen Masih came to the Lord 1995, I was drummer with a Hindu devotional singers troop.while in a programme I heard about Jesus and I left that troop and stopped playing for any such Hindu devotional programme.And when my community came to know about my faith in Jesus I was athrown out of my home and worked with differrent churches and organisations for last 15 years.I am married and have a daughter named Angel (3yrs )and my wife is a sikh convert.I am the only believer from my family and all my family members still hate me for my faith.I am Looking for some supportes who willingly support our cause to carry on our vision among North Indians. I am working among Punjabi Hindus. I have a vision to start a new ministry registered with Government rules. I am looking for someone to help me to carry it in and help me. I wrote many letters to many churches but Anybody did not help me.they says that I will only prayer for you.we can’t help you but Bible says:-(PROVERBS:3:27,28)-(JAMES:2:15,17).I am telling you the truth.I have great sorrow and always feel much sadness because I do want start a new church in the Non-christan People for worship of God,but I have no money. because,I am very poor man.I want to rent a house.I have many believers,but no place for fellowship.Can you support me for 50$ dollar per month this work,I need your help. Please always remember me in your prayers.I’ll continue prayer for your ministry. Kindly keep this in mind and send us your reply as guided by the Holy spirit, I’ll highly obliged,if you get this work done.I am immensely waiting for your urgent response………………. With much love and best wishes Yours sincerely in Christ Pastor Darpen Masih MY E-MAIL: pastordarpen333@yahoo.com