You can listen to the songs here (video of Hemanthamen and musician credits at the end of the review).
Dum Dum Dum is a perfect fit for Kohinoor’s late 80s setting; composer Rahul Raj filling the celebratory song with musical tropes that characterised Malayalam music of the time. Behind the mic, Vineeth Sreenivasan matches the song’s energy commendably. It seems to be a good year for Vijay Yesudas with melodies. Just a few months after singing the year’s biggest Malayalam hit Malare, here he gets to sing one of the composer’s career-best works in the form of Hemanthen (which I would rate above Malare). The melody is gorgeously old school, set to a waltz-y rhythm and a lush retro-ish arrangement that sees a profusion of strings (Cochin Strings), Josy Alappuzha‘s flute and Krishnakumar‘s sitar being the other highlights (the shades of kalyani raga and the flute phrases took me back to Poonila mazha nanayum from Rahul’s own brilliant debut 8 years back).
But for the fact that it is just two songs long, Kohinoor is a lovely soundtrack from Rahul Raj. Hemanthamen especially is a keeper!
Music Aloud Rating: 8/10
Hemanthamen credits
Music Composed,Arranged & Produced by – Rahul Raj
Lyrics – Harinarayanan B.K
Vocals – Vijay Yesudas
Label – Muzik 247
Keyboards & Bass Programming – Rahul Raj
Acoustic & Electric Guitars – Sandeep Mohan
Flute – Josy Alapuzha
Sitar – Krishnakumar
Strings Performed by – The Cochin Strings
Engineers
———-
Rahul Raj @ IndiaSoundZ Productions
Hari Shankar @ My Studio,Cochin
Vijay V.V @ NHQ Studio,Cochin
