Songs and credits at the end.
Five of the nine tracks in Angamaly Diaries’ soundtrack are essentially the same song. It’s a bummer that the song lasts just over a minute and a quarter in each of those versions. The waltzy piece feels almost like composer Prashant Pillai and director Lijo Jose Pellissery carried on with their European flavour brief from Amen. And it sounds as beautiful too with its minimal arrangement (piano and Sandeep’s mandolin/uke: beautiful combo), but for the length. Prashant himself pens the trailer version of Do Naina that is sung by his frequent collaborator Shreekumar Vakkiyil. Shreekumar sings two other male versions titled Do Naina and La Vettam while Preeti Pillai (who writes the lyrics for the alternate Do Naina) sings the respective female versions. Rafeeque PS writes the Malayalam lyrics.
The fourth song that Shreekumar sings is the soundtrack’s most imaginatively arranged Ayalathe. While the singer goes about delivering a nice melody in his usual reliable fashion, things are much crazier in the backdrop with the flute (Rajesh Cherthala) and harmonium (Prakash Ulleri) playing a sprightly Celtic-ish hook and the percussion made up of an assortment of everyday sounds like door knocks and riffling of pages and bus bells. Remaining three songs of the soundtrack – Angamaly, Theeyame, Thana Dhina – are traditional folk pieces related to Angamaly, and sung by a 70-year old folk singer from the area named Angamaly Pranchi. And while his earthy singing (alongside an able chorus formed of Febin Paulose and Joy Chirakal) is the highlight of all the songs, Prashant and Shreekumar (moonlighting as additional rhythm arranger for the soundtrack) keep the arrangement very street, dominated by brass percussion (Sunil) and horns (Rajesh). All three tracks are high on energy and engaging as a result.
After that blip in the form of Double Barrel, Prashant Pillai and Lijo Jose Pellissery are back to producing kick-ass music!
Music Aloud Rating: 4/5
Top Recos: All of them! On second thoughts, one of the five Do Naina variants and all the other songs.
Musician credits
1. Angamaly
Singers: Angamaly Pranchi (Chorus : Febin Paulose, Joy Chirakal)
Lyrics: Traditional
2. Ayalathe
Singers: Shreekumar Vakkiyil
Lyrics: P. S. Rafeeque
3. Theeyame
Singers: Angamaly Pranchi, Shreekumar Vakkiyil
Lyrics: Traditional
4. Thana Dhina
Singers: Angamaly Pranchi (Chorus : Febin Paulose, Joy Chirakal)
Lyrics: Traditional
5. Do Naina (Trailer Version)
Singers: Shreekumar Vakkiyil
Lyrics: Prashant Pillai
6. Do Naina (Male)
Singers: Shreekumar Vakkiyil
Lyrics: Preeti Pillai
7. Do Naina (Female)
Singers: Preeti Pillai
Lyrics: Preeti Pillai
8. La Vettam (Male)
Singers: Shreekumar Vakkiyil
Lyrics: P. S. Rafeeque
9. La Vettam (Female)
Singers: Preeti Pillai
Lyrics: P. S. Rafeeque
All songs Arranged and Programmed by: Prashant Pillai
Chief Assistant and Additional Programmer: Sreerag Saji
All songs Mixed and Mastered by: Hari Shankar
Vocal Supervisor for songs 1, 3 & 4 and Additional Programming for song 4: Shankar Sharma
Additional Rhythm Arranger: Shreekumar Vakkiyil
Musicians Co-ordinator (Angamaly Pranchi): Anson Antony
Musicians:-
Saxophone, Clarinet, Pan Flutes: Rajesh Cherthala Drums, Percussions: Sunil
Harmonium: Prakash Ulleri
Ukelele, Mandolin: Sandeep
Recording Engineers: Sai Prakash Praveen Iyer Robin Raphael Denson Davis
Studio: My Studio, Kochi; Praveen Iyer’s Home Studio, Thrissur; Tunes Recording Digital, Chalakudy
