The duo of Sajid Wajid are masters of the Bollywood soundtrack and have had many, many hits. Sajid Wajid makes me think of terrific, upbeat, club songs, and they do not disappoint with the tracks of their latest offering, Kal Kissne Dekha. With the album rounded out with many other styles, including some ballads, rap and pure Indian beats, it is full of great music and great vocals from artists like Sonu Nigam, Suzy Q, Shaan, Shreya Ghoshal, Alisha Chinai, Neeraj Sridhar and Wajid himself. Let’s take a look at each song.
There is a nice trumpet solo to open the title track, Kal Kissne Dekha. In true Sajid Wajid style, the track is very upbeat with a solid dance flavor. The trumpet continues weaving in and out throughout the song, and the addition makes the song different from your average club sounds. Shaan, of course, sounds fab, singing with great inflection. I love the phrasing and the harmony on the refrain – the surprises push the song to a higher level. For the first time (in a long time) the English rap lyrics actually fit perfectly and jump the song to another notch on the “great song board”! Everything fits together here and makes you want to get up and groove! Sajid Wajid hit this one!
Though the original version will make people in clubs move, the artists also included a Kal Kissne Dekha Club Remixed version, a faster track with a different groove, that has more synth beat plus many different sounds added to it (almost too many). I would like to hear more of the drumbeats from this version in the title track. Very good, but does not hold up to the mix in the original.
The third version is the Kal Kissne Dekha Romantic Version. It’s just a short 2-minute track, but so good! Composer Wajid sounds fantastic, even just singing Hey, Hey, Lalalala, Wohohohoh, Kal Kissne Dekha! Listen just to hear his voice.
Aalam Guzarne Ko is a romantic ballad with Sonu Nigam at his smooth best. The music is lovely, especially the guitars, but in parts it feels like the key that the refrain music is in should have been taken down one to match with the lower notes of Sonu’s voice and the guitars that back him up. At first you don’t notice it, but as the song goes on it seems to jar the ear a bit. The lyrics and the melodies repeat too much, but overall a very pretty song with pretty music that evokes images of love. Def worth putting on repeat for Sonu’s vocals!
Soniye Billori is a very upbeat track that has some great Bhangra beats thrown in. The English lyrics that show up every now and then don’t stick out like a sore thumb and are actually pretty good. Sonu’s terrific vocals really throw this song into its groove. I have been trying to figure out a word to describe a beat making you sway (a la the ‘Jhoom Barabar beat’) and since I can’t find the exact word (after consulting many thesauri) I shall now refer to it as the ‘Jhoom beat’: ‘Soniye Billori’ has the Jhoom Beat! Suzy Q’s refrain is a nice change-up that you think belongs in another song, but it resonates well here. Sajid Wajid have put some great beats together once again to make a fab song. The Remix Version of Soniye Billori is good too, but again I prefer the undiluted original: a lot of the power of Sonu and Suzy Q’s vocals get lost in the remix’s extraneous additions of music and synth notes.
Shaan really has one of the most beautiful and melodious voices in the world, and the gorgeousness of that voice takes center stage on Aasman Jhuk Gaya. I imagine if he sang the phone book we would love it. Shreya Ghosal was also the perfect voice for this song. The music is wonderful, very modern in feel, with a full orchestration. I can’t wait to see what will be happening on screen! Sajid Wajid truly add to the album with this composition – they are masters at putting together lots of different sounds, instruments and incredible voices to make great songs!
Jashn Hai Josh Hai has vocals by Alisha Chinai, Neeraj Sridhar and Wajid. It is another song with a club basis, but then it goes above that with some great sections and the music backing up the singers is fabulous. I feel they tried to put too many different styles together, though, and the song becomes a bit of mess and hard to listen too. It certainly intrigues me as to what will be happening on screen, but we will have to wait and watch to see. The vocals are very good, with Alisha Chinai standing out, but overall Sajid Wajid missed the bus with this one.
Wajid outdoes himself with his performance on Tere Bina Lagta Nahin. A slow song that has some beautiful music to back up his vocal. The lyrics repeat a bit too much, but I have noticed lately that seems to be the trend in both Hindi and Western songs. A lovely ballad that you can get lost in, def add this one to your Pretty Bolly Ballads Playlist. (You do have one of those, don’t you?)
Finally, we have Bin Tere Mar Javan Mein, a classic Bollywood beat song with just a little over a minute of the great Shreya Ghosal. It is short but very, very sweet in music, lyrics and vocal – a joy to hear.
Kal Kissne Dekha, directed by Vivek Sharma, stars two debut artists Jaccky Bhangani and Vaishali Desai. In an interview with BollySpice, Jackky Bhagnani talks about the soundtrack of the film. “I love the music, because Sajid-Wajid have done a great job. They’ve given the movie completely commercial music. All the tracks are amazing. Like you know how Kaho Naa Pyar Hai was? Every track has a different flavor. Some age groups would like some tracks; other age groups would like other tracks. So I can say that the movie’s album is like that.” I have to agree! Each track does have its own flavor, and it combines into a terrific album that is worth repeat listens, so pop in the CD or get your iPod going and enjoy the music while we wait for the film to release!
BollySpice.com will soon bring you interviews with both Jaccky Bhangani and Vaishali Desai so be sure to check back every day!
