One thing that i liked most about this review is the way the writer talks about creative freedom used by arr.
Pravinder --- In [email protected], Gopal Srinivasan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > http://ursmusically.blogspot.com/2008/01/jodhaa-akbar-soundtrack.html > > A.R.Rahman isn't new to historical or period films. A.R.Rahman, who always wants to experiment > with new sounds, is keen to compose music for such historical movies without any constraints on > choice of instruments and sounds, for the sake of authenticity to the period. So, considering > `Jodhaa Akbar' being a film set in the Mughal period, if you expect some simple, classically > inclined music like that of Naushad's score for Taj Mahal or Mughal-E-Azam, you are bound to be > disappointed to surprised depending upon the openness of your mind. > > No matter, whether the lovers are from 18th century or 21st century, the emotions are same and > Rahman takes this logic as a token for his freedom to do whatever he wants. He restricts only > when it is utmost necessary and otherwise lets his creativity flow infinitely in this > soundtrack. But the good thing about Rahman is that even with all liberties, he never goes > overboard or weird or make it sound so alien to the movie's setup to prove his experimentation > skills. The songs are an eclectic mix of Javed Akthar's beautiful poetry, contemporary sounds, > traditional instruments, classical melodies and western classical orchestration. > > "Azeem-O-Shahenshah" is a majestic song with every beat and its thump singing the praise of the > shahenshah and comes out proving that Rahman is the real Shahenshah when it comes to matching > the visual grandeur with his music. The solo horn piece, majestic lines, the soulful chorus, > varied percussions, and extremely catchy phrases of melody, and above all the sound of Rahman > that it creates when all those elements come together makes this an instantly likeable track. > > "Jashn-E-Bahaara" is a breezy romantic melody without much of complexities in its structure > like other songs. The simple melody with Javed Ali's velvety rendition sounds heavenly. There > are not too many layers of instruments running in the background and the melody just unfolds > with effective chords and instrument sounds are just sprinkled into the song to create a > pleasant ambience around the melody. > > "In Lamhon ke daaman" is highly unpredictable and goes through a lot of variations. It > alternates between a soothing melody and an alluring crescendo of chorus and the transition is > effectively seamless and gives us a lot of goose-bump moments in the song. Especially when it > returns to the main melody after a high decibel crescendo, the feeling you get cannot be > expressed in words. The melody sounds serene on divine vocals of Sonu nigam. The strains of > Santoor and Sitar sprinkled throughout the track tries to keep the song grounded to the sound > of period and its musical tradition. > > "Khwaja Mere Khwaja" is another typical Rahman's catchy qawwali number with indispensable multi > layered vocals, bass lines, Tabla and additional fresh rhythm layers. It takes sometime for the > flow of the melody to sink in but it sure does after 2 or 3 listening. Rahman's rendition is > little different and tends to be more spiritual than fun. > > "Mann Mohana" though starts like a typical bhajan, gets richer in orchestration in the > interludes and flute flourishes adds a mystic flavour to the song. The song sounds really too > long, tedious and boring on first listening, but once we get acquainted with the turns in the > phrases of the melody, it is likeable. > > The instrumentals are not the usual ones we get to hear in every other soundtrack. It seems > that Rahman has taken a lot care to make us hear the instrumentals, without skipping it. > Navin's flute traverses those extra octaves which we don't hear in the vocal version. And to > avoid being repetitive, the first part of the song is played on a huskier bass flute and the > second part is performed with a saccharine high pitched flute. Even if this track comes > immediately after the vocal version, you won't feel like skipping it. > > No one could have thought of a song like `Khwaja mere Khwaja' being performed with a western > classical orchestra. With Harp replacing the Tabla rhythm and strings adding an emotional > depth, Oboe dominates the song playing the lead melody. The instrumental of `Khwaja Mere > Khwaja' is just an out of the world idea and composition. > > So the final verdict is that Jodhaa Akbar music is not a wannabe classic, its gonnabe a > classic. >
