Songs and musician credits at the end.
After their winning collaboration in Mayaanadhi last year, Shahabaz Aman and Rex Vijayan come together in Sudani from Nigeria to give Malayalis a song that perfectly matches their love for the game of football. In Kurrah (the word means ball in Urdu/Arabic, apparently) Aman takes over the roles of composer, lyricist and singer, while Vijayan handles the arrangement and production. And it is in his penning of a passionate ode to the game that Aman delivers his best here. And Vijayan, on his part, gives the song a boisterous backdrop that while very street in its sound, features some splendid musicianship (too many to name, complete list of musicians in the end credits). Man also throws in a surprise gypsy jazz bit in the second interlude! The lyrics are ace in Cheru Kadha Pole as well, written by BK Harinarayanan. Rex Vijayan (who has composed this and the last song) sets the words to a lovely soulful tune that would have worked so much better if he wasn’t the one singing. The song engages nevertheless, thanks also to the arrangement that, while at times evoking faint memories of Yeh Jo Des Hai Tera (the use of chorus, for instance), features some nice touches like Josy Alappuzha’s woodwind, Neha Nair’s kazoo and the sarod (Kishore Kumar) that comes in at the very end. The singing (by Imam Majboor in particular) turns out to be weak link of Kinavu Kandu as well, even as the melody progresses an interestingly unpredictable fashion, Neha Nair joining Majboor briefly in between. The orchestration is once again richly layered, my highlights being Kishore Kumar’s sitar and the mandolin+prim work by Prakash Hariharan.
Sudani From Nigeria. Short but richly arranged soundtrack from Rex Vijayan, and yet again it is a collaboration with Shahabaz Aman that yields the best song.
Music Aloud Rating: 3/5
Musician Credits
Song – Kurrah
Singer/composer- Shahabaz Aman
Lyrics : Shahabaz Aman
Arranged and produced by Rex Vijayan
Co-produced by Arun Suradhaa
Rhythm/Brass/Accordions arranged by Arun Suradhaa
Live Rhythms: Thumba Raja, C.M.Andrew, Vetri
Brass: Babu
Clarinet : Nathan
Mandolin : Prakash Hariharan
Guitars , Ukelele – Rex Vijayan
Recorded at : 20db sound studios by Avinash Satish,
2barQ studios by Sujith Sreedhar,
Mystudio by Sai Prakash
Mixed by Abin Paul
Mastered by Ben Feggans
Song – Kinavu Kondu
Music – Rex Vijayan
lyrics – Anvar Ali
Singer- Imam Majboor, Neha Nair
Mandolin, Prim – Prakash Hariharan
Tabla and Dholak – Prasadh and Tulasi
Sitar – Kishore Kumar
Guitars – Rex Vijayan
Rhodes – Yakzan Gary Pereira
String arrangements and live recording producer- Arun Suradhaa
Recorded at 2BarQ by Sujith Sreedhar, 20db by Avinash & Saptha Studio by Kishan Mohan
Mixed by Abin Paul
Mastered by Steve Smith
Lyric Video – Nizam Kadiry, Harsha
Song – Cherukadha Pole
Music – Rex Vijayan
Lyrics – Hari Narayanan
Singer- Rex Vijayan
Guest singer – Imam Majboor
Backing vocals – Kishan Mohan, Vicky
Flute , Hulusi – Josy Alapuzha
Sarod – Kishore kumar
Violin, viola – Danny John
Guitars- Rex Vijayan
Keys – Yakzan Gary Periera
Kazoo – Neha Nair
Additional programming – Kishan Mohan
Recorded at Saptha studio and 20db
Recording engineers- Kishan Mohan , Avinash
Mixed and mastered by Abin Paul
Lyric Video – Harsha, Nizam
