Shreya Favorites

2009 came and went by like a breeze and here we are towards the very end of the year! While we are still in the year, I thought I'd update my blog for the last time this year expressing my thank you to each one of you who has taken the time out to visit my blog, listen to my songs and comment/email and keep me going with ur encouragement. Thank you SO very much and it just means a whole lot to me :) I look forward to ur continued support in the coming years! :)

Here's wishing u all and ur families Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

This year, there were some very beautiful songs rendered by Shreya that became popular and I thought I'd record a few of my favorites, a medley of sorts and I hope you all like it! All the songs I have picked are originally duets she has sung with Mohit Chauhan and Sonu Niigam.

The first song I have picked, Kissa Tera from Kismat Konnection and the last one, Teri Ore from Singh is King has music scored by Pritam and the second song, Soniyo, by Raju Singh.

I have also recorded a duet with Soumitra from the new movie Kurbaan, Shukranallah, and you can listen to it here

Thanks so much for listening! :)

Jaane Kya Baat Hain

My favorite season inspired me to record and update my blog and I’m back, tho' out of practise.... ek break ke baad :)
I remember watching this movie with a bunch of friends especially for Sunny Deol who was then our favorite hero after watching Betaab!!
Talking about the music, this movie has 2 beautiful songs that has lasted on my favorite list all these years ..Jaane Kya Baat Hain and Aur Kya Ehde Wafa. Never get enough of listening to these.. RD’s music has that spell on me! In the recent few years, I have been hooked on to the original (maybe, because RD most often tried in Bangla first!) Chhoke Naame Brishti by Ashaji and as similar as it is, it is quite different in style and every time I have sung either of these, I have always remained confused and never been able to follow or remember the variations in the original songs! To add to it, Asha ji has come out with her version of Jaane Kya Baat hain and Shreya Ghoshal with Choke Naame Brishti which are absolutely beautiful! I have them on my player back to back and each of them is a precious gem, end of which I can only say “aah..what a composition!”
Here is my attempt of one of my RD-Lataji favorite. I hope u like my effort and thank you for listening!
Shantha, Thank you So much for requesting this track for me :)

Movie Name : Sunny (1984)
Original Singer : Lata Mangeshkar
Music Director : R D Burman
Lyrics : Anand Bakshi
Sung by : Vidyu

Piya Piya Piya….

Asha ji has always been my favorite singer and an inspiration. And when it is a song sung by her with my other favorite singer "humare mazake kishoreda" as she fondly referred to him, it is magic! :) To add to it, this composition is by the great O P Nayyar sahab!
In Piya Piya Piya, Asha & Kishore with their inimitable style have shown how endearing and romantic a song can be with minimal music/orchestration. Kishore made yodelling popular in the Indian film music industry and was the only singer who could those days. He apparently learnt the art listening to an Austrian singer. I love the yodelling in this song and Soumitra has done a fabulous job with it. The whole song is picturised on a moving horse cart (tonga) and the horse trotting beats continue throughout the entire song. This was popularly used by O P Nayyar in many of his compositions.
Here is our attempt of this beautiful, light hearted, happy tune and I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed singing it! Thank you so much for listening! :)

Movie Name : Baap Re Baap
Original Singers : Asha & Kishore Kumar
Music Director : O.P. Nayyar
Lyrics : Jaan Nissar Akhttar
Sung by : Vidyu & Soumitra

Kuhu Kuhu

This is one song that is very dear to me 'cos it's filled with beautiful memories of growing up listening to the radio. Musically, my ma was the greatest influence and I remember her teaching my brother and me to recognise raagas based on their "chalan" and catching the "pakkad" of every raag to identify and she'd have these little quizes making us guess the raag of a song.. On Vividbharati, she would have the whole family listen to Sangeet Sarita and Swar Sudha which had classical music themes..and the raag of the day introduced by a clip of film song based on that raag.. I think that was the way I learnt to recognise different raags as I never really got a chance to learn hindustani classical music which was what my parents always wanted me to..
Ma would sing Kuhu Kuhu and make us identify the raags..Sohini..Bahar..Jaunpuri..and Yaman....
About 12 years ago I got an opportunity to learn ...but that couldn't last for more than a year ..which I still regret very much :( Keerti ji I am very thankful for those few months that I could learn from you and hope you will listen to this! :-)

This song was originally composed in Telugu in 1957 for Suwarna Sundari by Sri. Adi Narayana Rao which was later made in both Hindi & Tamil. The Telugu version is sung by Ghantasala & Jikki, Tamil by Ghantasala & Susheela and Hindi by Rafi & Lata.

I have always wanted to sing this ... and here is my attempt of Kuhu Kuhu. Rajesh Raman, a very talented fellow blogger has joined me in singing this beautiful composition. I hope you like it.

Rajesh, you have done a terrifc job singing this and thanks for mixing :-)

Film : Suvarna Sundari
Music Director: Adi Narayana Rao
Lyrics: Bharat Vyas
Original Singers : Lata Mangeshkar & Mohd. Rafi
Sung By : Vidyu & Rajesh Raman

Nazaare Hazaaron Ki - Original Composition by Srikanth

Download Song

I have recorded a Hindi original with Srikant Devarajan.
Srikanth Devarajan is a Composer, Producer and Song Writer from Maryland, USA. A very talented and versatile musician, it always is a pleasure singing his tunes. The lyrics to this song is by Sashi Gundala who is from New Jersey, USA.
The song Nazaare Hazaaron Ki is a dedication to Mother Earth, what she has given us, her vastness, her beauty..

There is a Tamil version to the song by Alisha Thomas, a very gifted singer. Thanks so much Srikanth for ur encouragement! Absolutely enjoyed the recording sessions :-)

Thank you for listening and please let us know what u think of this effort, composition, lyrics and the singing :-)

Mar Jaawan

soche dil ke aisa kash ho... tujhko ek nazar meri talash ho..
jaise... khwab hai akhon mein base meri
waise... neendo pe silvate pare meri

These are the lines that absolutley got me when I first heard the song and the strong vocals of Shruti Pathak esp. when she sings "silvate pare meri". Shruti's voice is just so striking and perfect for the mood of this song and the way it is picturised ...glamour on the ramp!

Love everything about this song..the background music, the slide guitar bits and best of all, the sarangi which we hardly get to listen to in film music these days.. ..a great mix!
Kuntal, this one is for u! Thanks for introducing me to this song and singing it for us!!! :-)
I hope you like my attempt of this beautiful composition. Thanx for listening :-)

Movie Name : Fashion
Original Singers : Shruti Pathak & Salim Merchant
Music Director : Salim-Suleman
Sung by : Vidyu

Vrischika Penne - A Salilda composition

I have always been a huge fan of Salilda’s music, growing up listening to his Hindi, Malayalam and later Bengali compositions. He first became known in Malayalam cinema for his music in the movie “Chemmeen” in 1965. I was in school when 10 years later ThomaSleeha released and I remember waiting for the songs to be played on the radio from this movie and some others released the same year like Rasaleela and Raagam which had some of the best tunes made in the 70s. Vrischika Penne was one of them and what I love most in this song is the tabla in the interlude music and the beautiful expressions by KJY & Sabita. Salilda’s music always had some fantastic tabla in it. Remember O Sajna and Na Jiya lagena? His distinct style always stands out and when u listen to a tune u can instantly say “this has got to be a Salilda composition” :)

Sabita Chowdhury, another great singer of yester years, has sung many songs in Malayalam composed by her husband, the legendary Salilda. When Joe and I talked about singing a duet, I suggested we try this as it’s such a fun, happy tune sung beautifully by KJY and Sabita. Joe, as you all know is one of the first few who got into music blogging and also introduced me to the fun world of blogging more than 3 years ago. Thanks Joe for singing this with me and as always, u sound great! :) I hope u like our attempt :)

Film : ThomaSleeha
Lyricist : Vayalar
Music : Salil Choudhary
Original : Yesudas & Sabita Chowdhury
Sung by : Joe & Vidyu