There are few Rahman albums which have been as consolidated, mature and as well-made as this one. Of the several songs in the album, I like two songs much, and one of them intensely. One of the songs which I like in this album is Khwaja Mere Khwaja, which is a Sufi number rendered immaculately by Rahman in his own voice (the veteran director is really putting his voice to the test a lot more these days, which is nice to see) and rendered to the sound of harmoniums, clapping and a lilting, rhythmic, periodic base (as is typical of Islamic music).
The song that I really have my kudos saved up for, is *Manmohana*. Atmospheric, mysterious, deep and reflecting a sense of separation and sadness, this number more than ever exemplifies why Rahman is a great artist equally with numbers based on classical tunes and ragas and rapidly approaching his proficiency in rendering westernized tunes to mass audiences. There are so many great things about this song, that it makes me want to list them down, so here I go: 1. *Bela Shende's voice. *Excellent effort, reaching very high pitches that only a very well trained female voice can achieve. Great vocals throughout the song, but particularly in the alapanas, where the choicest parts of Sindhu Bhairavi seem to have been cherry-picked and rendered to create an atmosphere of perfection, mystery and ennui. 2. *The mysterious flute.* Just another of the aspects of the song which create an atmosphere of mystery,Rahman's use of the flute here is exemplary. 3. *The rhythm synthesizer *(presumably)*. *Rahman and synthesizer music usually go hand-in-hand. What stands out in this song is the level of complementarity that has been achieved between the flute, the vocals and the onset and fade of the deep rhythms. If I were to list one part of the song which could have been better, I would say that it could have been ended on a better note (literally). The song starts off opulently and trails off nonchalantly, which alludes to certain moods. Sadly the ending of the song doesn't maintain the atmosphere created by the rest of it, or transcend to another style or terminate it gracefully - it just whittles away, and that's the only thing about this song which could have been better. Even here, Bela Shende's voice stands out. However, the ending could have been more ornamented, perhaps with the tabla beats coming through until the end. I tried playing this song on my guitar (as I try with nearly every song I like these days) and managed to get parts of the song right, even though I cannot admit that a guitar rendition would do justice to the elaborate mental landscapes created by the song. I enjoyed playing the song of course, but not as much as I enjoyed listening to it or humming it. Anyhow, there's always room for improvement with the guitar, and tomorrow's another day, so to speak. To wind up, I'd say that these are two songs that will be on my play list for some time now. http://philramble.wordpress.com/2008/04/04/jodha-akbars-music/ -- regards, Vithur Whatever God wants to give, no one can deny; Whatever God wants to deny, no one can give. Be happy always
