Songs and complete musician credits at the end.
The first look poster of 99 Songs (have put that as the cover image for anyone who might have forgotten it, given how long back that was) featured a piano. If, like me, you had set your expectations on hearing a lot of piano in the soundtrack based on that, you are in for a bit of a bummer because the instrument makes an appearance in just four of the 14 songs. The good news though, is that it makes for delightful hearing wherever it has been employed. Particularly so in the instrumental The Oracle where it is the lead instrument, played of course by A R Rahman himself. Starting off a bit tentatively, the piece picks up pace and gravity as it goes, with the Budapest Scoring Orchestra and flautist Kareem Kamalakar joining the composer. Humnawaa has a decent melody – delivered brilliantly by Armaan Malik, with Shashaa Tirupati chipping in with the occasional humming (she has also turned lyricist for this song, alongside Dilshaad Shabbir Shaikh and another surprise entry, Abhay Jodhpurkar) – but it is the piano that elevates the song to another level. Rahman has a brilliantly harmonic classical piece running along the length of the song (in fact Shashaa’s humming bits are aligned to the piano), that by itself could have made for a great instrumental track, but also complements the main melody fabulously. Composer gets a guest pianist for Soja Soja, American keyboardist Randy Kerber. While Kerber is fab on his part, along with an equally fine brass ensemble, Shashaa Tirupati bosses this boisterous jazz piece with an incredibly impassioned rendition. The arrangement is once again clever – a slow-burning prelude that belies what is to come, until the main song kicks in literally with a bang. Rahman’s piano solo gets Teri Nazar off to a haunting start (slight shade of charukeshi raga, I felt), though the song itself is significantly low on that aspect. It is however a pleasant throwback to some of Rahman’s yesteryear songs – I personally felt it belongs to the ARR-Ashutosh Gowariker soundscape. Shashwat Singh, who is the lead singer for the soundtrack (appearing in six songs), delivers this one in style. The soundtrack’s longest track, Sai Shirdi Sai, is a track the composer originally released in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu for Tamil New Year last year (thanks to @soundtrackindia for this reminder), presented here without any changes. A sufi ode of sorts to Sai Baba, it makes for a soothing listen, particularly for Bela Shende’s delivery. Shende does one better in the very effective lullaby titled O Mera Chaand. The melody feels a bit familiar, but the other elements pretty much make up for it; in these troubled times, these are kind of songs that you are likely to find quite helpful. The sai sai chorus from the previous song makes a reappearance here, in the interlude. The Voice Without Words is a strange one – spoiler alert: it has words (yes, yes, I know it refers to the subject of the song rather than the song itself) – with the expansive orchestration and Navneet Virk’s words, coming across in Poorvi Koutish’s whispery narration, it almost feels like the intro for some nature show!
The most interesting aspect of Jwalamukhi, aside of the fact that it is a term you rarely hear in Hindi songs, is how different Arijit Singh sounds in this one – I still have a bit of difficulty adjusting to it, each time I hear the track. The song is the relative weakling of the album otherwise. With the introduction of more live elements (the Sunshine Orchestra, who feature in multiple songs here) in the predominantly electronic soundscape, the female version is an improvement over the original (great singing by Poorvi Koutish as well), but doesn’t quite shake off that Yuvvraaj hangover still. While I love the live band playing for Nayi Nayi – Ranjit Barot, Warren Mendonsa and Ardeshir Mistry, and they are in great form here – the song felt a bit too generic to me (barring that surprise tabla cameo in between) to be memorable. The other “fast number” of the album however, Veere Kadh De, with its addictive combination of Krishna Kishor’s live percussion (an unmistakable throwback to Maaro Maaro) and electronic sounds with a smattering of Punjabi folk elements, is total fun! Leading the vocals here are Sarthak Kalyani and Swagat Rathod, both products of ARR’s ARRived contest. And now my three (current) top favourites from the album. Shashwat Singh sounds wonderful singing Sofia, a gentle but expansively arranged romantic melody that touches a new high in the final minute when the choral harmonies kick in (arranged by Arjun Chandy and Leon D’Souza supplying the additional vocals). The same combination, with a more elaborate chorus, delivers an even more beautiful end product in O Aashiqa. The melody and arrangement are both more haunting in this, and there is also a lovely segue into the Sai Shirdi Sai chorus in the second half, quite fittingly at a point where Navneet Virk’s lyrics almost sound like a prayer addressed to the mother. The composer goes traditional with Gori Godh Bhari (a baby shower song, as I understand) – a lovely classical flavoured melody (bageshri raga, perhaps?) supported by a rich orchestration highlighted by sarod (Sarang Kulkarni), sitar (Asad Khan) and shehnai (Omkar Dhumal). And the icing on the cake, the three incredible singers behind the mic – Alka Yagnik, Anuradha Sriram and Shweta Mohan.
99 Songs. An album that has been a very long time coming, and ends up being totally worth the wait. A R Rahman produces a thoroughly diverse soundtrack that is the best he has given Bollywood in a long time. And most importantly, it releases in its entirety, well before the movie’s release.
Music Aloud Rating: 4/5
Top Recos: Too many to list!
Musician Credits
1. O AASHIQA
Song Composed Produced and Arranged by: A R Rahman
Singer: Shashwat Singh
Lyrics: Navneet Virk
Music Supervisor: Dilshaad Shabbir Shaikh
Musicians
Guitars: Keba Jeremiah
Additional Vocals
Deepthi Suresh, Veena Murasli, Sowmya, Deepak, Aravind Srinivas, Maalavika, Santhosh Hariharn,
Niranjana Ramanan, Narayanan, Srinivas
Choral Conductor
Arjun Chandy
Additional Arrangements and Programming
Gulraj Singh, Ishaan Chhabra, Dilshaad Shabbir Shaikh, Pradvay Sivashankar
Sound Engineers
Panchathan Record inn , Chennai
Suresh Permal, Karthik Sekaran, T R Krishna Chetan, Hiral Viradia, Riyasdeen Riyan
Mixed by
Ishaan Chhabra, Pradvay Sivashankar
Mastered by
Suresh Permal
2. NAYI NAYI
Song Composed, Arranged and Produced by: A R Rahman
Singer: Shashwat Singh
Lyrics: Raftaar, Navneet Virk
Music Supervisor: Dilshaad Shabbir Shaikh
Musicians
Live Drums : Ranjit Barot Lead Guitars : Warren Mendonsa Bass Guitar : Ardeshir Mistry
Additional vocals
Vishwesh Krishnamoorthy, Arjun Chandy, Veena Murali, Aravind Srinivas, Deepthi Suresh , Shenbagaraj,
Nivas, Soundraya, Narayanan, Deepak Blue, Sowmya
Choral Arrangement
Arjun Chandy
Additional Arrangements and Programming
Pradvay Sivashankar
Sound Engineers
Panchathan Record inn , Chennai
Suresh Permal, Karthik Sekaran, T R Krishna Chetan, Hiral Viradia, Riyasdeen Riyan
Mixed By
Pradvay Sivashankar
Mastered by
Suresh Permal
3. SOFIA
Song Composed, Arranged and Produced by: A R Rahman
Singer: Shashwat Singh
Lyricist: Navneet Virk
Music Supervisor: Dilshaad Shabbir Shaikh
Musicians
Guitars: Keba Jeremiah, George Doering Additional Vocals: Leon Saalis De Souza
Choral Arrangement
Arjun Chandy
Additional Arrangements and Programming
Ishaan Chhabra, Jerry Vincent, Parag Chhabra, Pranay Chandra
Sound Engineers
Panchathan Record inn, Chennai
Suresh Permal, Karthik Sekaran, T R Krishna Chetan,Tony Joy, Kevin Doucette, Hiral Viradia, Riyasdeen
Riyan
Mixed By
Pradvay Sivashankar
Mastered by
Suresh Permal
4. SOJA SOJA
Song composed, Arranged and Produced by: A R Rahman
Singers: Shashaa Tirupati
Lyrics: Navneet Virk, A R Rahman
Music Supervisor: Dilshaad Shabbir Shaikh
Musicians
Piano: Randy Kerber
Brass : Daniel Matthews, Mark Hartsuch, Joakim Toftgaard (Dallas Horns, Dallas) Additional Vocals :
Nikitha Gandhi
Strings : Sunshine Orchestra
Conducted by V J Srinivasa Murthy
Additional Arrangements and Programming
Jim Sathya
Sound Engineers
Panchathan Record inn, Chennai
Suresh Permal, Karthik Sekaran, T R Krishna Chetan, Kevin Doucette, Hiral Viradia, Riyasdeen Riyan
AM Studios, Chennai
Sivakumar S, Kannan Ganpat, Pradeep, Krishnan, Manoj Raman, Aravind MS
Mixed By
Pradvay Sivashankar
Mastered by
Suresh Permal
5. JWALAAMUKHI
Song composed, Arranged and Produced by: A R Rahman
Singers: Poorvi Koutish, Shashwat Singh
Lyrics: Navneet Virk
Music Supervisor: Dilshaad Shabbir Shaikh
Musicians
Strings : Sunshine Orchestra Conducted by V J Srinivasa Murthy
Additional Vocals
Akshara, Mathura, Nakul Abhayankar, Nakul Krishnamoorthy
Additional Arrangements and Programming
Ishaan Chhabra, Pawan Ch, Parag Chhabra
Sound Engineers
Panchathan Record inn , Chennai
Suresh Permal, Karthik Sekaran, T R Krishna Chetan, Hiral Viradia, Riyasdeen Riyan
Mixed By
Ishaan Chaabra
Mastered by
Suresh Permal
6. HUMNAWAA
Song composed, Arranged and Produced by: A R Rahman
Singers: Armaan Maalik, Shashaa Tirupati
Lyrics: Dilshaad Shabbir Shaikh, Shashaa Tirupati, Abhay Jodhpurkar
Music Supervisor: Dilshaad Shabbir Shaikh
Musicians
Live Flute : Naveen Kumar
Sound Engineers
Panchathan Record inn , Chennai
Suresh Permal, Karthik Sekaran, T R Krishna Chetan, Hiral Viradia, Riyasdeen Riyan
Mixed By
Pradvay Sivashankar
Mastered by
Suresh Permal
7. TERI NAZAR
Song Composed, Arranged and Produced by: A R Rahman
Singer: Shashwat Singh
Lyrics: Dilshaad Shabbir Shaikh, Navneet Virk
Music Supervisor: Dilshaad Shabbir Shaikh
Musicians
Flute : Kareem Kamalakar
Live Rhythm : Lakshmi Narayanan, Raju, Vedha, T Raja Guitars : Chris Jason
Cello : Balaji (Sunshine Orchestra)
String : Sunshine Orchestra
Conducted by V J Srinivas Murthy
Additional Arrangements and Programming
Ishaan Chhabra, T R Krishna Chetan
Sound Engineers
Panchathan Record inn , Chennai
Suresh Permal, Karthik Sekaran, T R Krishna Chetan, Hiral Viradia, Riyasdeen Riyan
AM Studios, Chennai
Sivakumar S , Kannan Ganpat, Pradeep, Krishnan, Manoj, Aravind MS
Mixed By
Pradvay Sivashankar
Mastered by
Suresh Permal
8. VEERE KADH DE
Song Composed, Arranged and Produced by: A R Rahman
Singers: Sarthak Kalyan, Swagath Rathod, Poorvi Koutish
Rap Singer and Lyrics: Shiv
Lyrics: Navneet Virk
Music Supervisor: Dilshaad Shabbir Shaikh
Musicians
Live Rhythm: Krishan Kishore
Additional Vocals: Jaganjot Randhawa, Mayank Kapri, Amrith Pal
Additional Arrangements and Programming
Kumaran Sivamani, Pawan Ch
Sound Engineers
Panchathan Record inn, Chennai
Suresh Permal, Karthik Sekaran, T R Krishna Chetan, Hiral Viradia, Riyasdeen Riyan
Mixed By
Pradvay Sivashankar
Mastered by
Suresh Permal
9. JWALAAMUKHI BEZUBAAN
Song composed, Arranged and Produced by: A R Rahman
Singer: Arijit Singh
Lyrics: Navneet Virk
Music Supervisor: Dilshaad Shabbir Shaikh
Musicians
Live Flute: Kareem Kamalakar
Additional Arrangements and Programming
Hari Dafusia
Sound Engineers
Panchathan Record inn, Chennai
Suresh Permal, Karthik Sekaran, T R Krishna Chetan, Bharath, Hiral Viradia, Riyasdeen Riyan
Mixed By
Hari Dafusia
Mastered by
Suresh Permal
MFiT
Sivakumar S
10. The Oracle
Song Composed Produced and Arranged by: A R Rahman
Music Supervisor: Dilshaad Shabbir Shaikh
Musicians
Live Flute: Kareem Kamalakar Orchestra : Budapest Scoring
Additional Programming
Ishaan Chhabra
Sound Engineers
Panchathan Record inn , Chennai
Suresh Permal, Karthik Sekaran, T R Krishna Chetan, Hiral Viradia, Riyasdeen Riyan
Mixed By
Ishaan Chhabra
Mastered by
Suresh Permal
11. GORI GODH BHARI
Song Composed Produced and Arranged by: A R Rahman
Singers: Alka Yagnik , Anuradha Sriram , Shweta Mohan
Lyrics: Navneet Virk
Music Supervisor: Dilshaad Shabbir Shaikh
Musicians
Flute : Naveen Kumar
Shehnai : Balesh, Omkar Dhumal Sitar : Asad Khan
Tabla & Dholak: Mohammed Shadab Yusuf Sarod : Sarang Kulkarni
Sound Engineers
Panchathan Record inn , Chennai
Suresh Permal, Karthik Sekaran, T R Krishna Chetan, Gulraj Singh, Hiral Viradia, Riyasdeen Riyan
Mixed by
Pradvay Sivashankar
Mastered by
Suresh Permal
12. O MERA CHAND
Song Composed Produced and Arranged by: A R Rahman
Singer: Bela Shende
Lyrics: Navneet virk
Musicians
Guitars : Keba Jeremiah, Rythm Shaw Flute : Naveen Kumar Additional Vocals : Shashwat Singh
Music Supervisor
Dilshaad Shabbir Shaikh
Sound Engineers
Panchathan Record inn , Chennai
Suresh Permal, Karthik Sekaran, T R Krishna Chetan, Hiral Viradia, Riyasdeen Riyan
Mixed by
Pradvay Sivashankar
Mastered by
Suresh Permal
13. SAI SHIRDI SAI
Song Composed Produced and Arranged by : A R Rahman
Singers: Bela Shende, A R Rahman
Lyrics: Munna Shaukat, Navneet Virk
Music Supervisor: Dilshaad Shabbir Shaikh
Musicians
Flute : Kareem Kamalakar Harp : Seenu
Tabla : Sai Saravanam Ghatam : Ghatam Karthick
Backing Vocals
Deepti Suresh, Veena Murali, Aravind Srinivas,Santosh Hariharan,Nivas,Deepak, Maalvika Sundar,
Niranjana Ramanan, Narayanan, Shashaa Tirupati
Suryansh, Lavita Lobo, Aishwarya A Kumar, Nakul Abhyankar, Jaganjot Randhawa, Comal Kaur,
Akshara Parasher, Jagadeesh Kumar, Mayank Kapri
Choral conductor
Arjun Chandy, Nakul Abhyankar
Additional Vocal Supervisor
Srinivas Doraisamy
Additional Arrangements and Programming
Ishaan Chhabra
Sound Engineers
Panchathan Record inn , Chennai
Suresh Permal, Karthik Sekaran, T R Krishna Chetan, Hiral Viradia, Riyasdeen Riyan
Mixed by
Ishaan Chhabra
Mastered by
Suresh Permal
14. THE VOICE WITHOUT WORDS
Song Composed Produced and Arranged by: A R Rahman
Singer: Poorvi Koutish
Lyrics: Navneet Virk
Music Supervisor: Dilshaad Shabbir Shaikh
Sound Engineers:
Panchathan Record inn, Chennai
Suresh Permal, Karthik Sekaran, T R Krishna Chetan, Hiral Viradia, Riyasdeen Riyan
Mixed by
A R Rahman
Mastered by
Suresh Permal
