Meenal's Mehram Music Review - Page 2

thats cool

i love mehram song😛

thanks 4 sharing😳

Indian Idol Music Review: Mehram

While the second season of Indian Idol resulted in a forgettable victory for what's his name, it did introduce the audience to a very classy, intelligent singer: Meenal Jain.

This 20-year-old gave stellar performances week after week, only to land in the bottom 3 every time. The reason for this might be that she shied from popular item numbers that everyone could relate to. Instead, she chose numbers with depth and sang them beautifully.

Whether it was her rendition of Lambi Judaai, which judge Sonu Nigam called some of the ever-best singing on the Indian Idol stage, or Kuch Na Kaho, the only song that did not land her in the bottom 3, Meenal showed an advanced understanding of music and a deep-rooted passion for it.

So it wasn't surprising that when it came time for her to release an album, she chose to do the Sufi style of music, which is known for its poetic lyrics and soulful melodies. In her new album, Mehram, Meenal sings about a love that she cannot attain.

I read Sprout's original reactions to this album and I quite agreed that it was predictable. But then I heard it again and I have to say that it grows on you. She sings with a great deal of skill. But I'll admit that I didn't understand many of the lyrics, so this was actually a difficult task for me.

Also, I went into this review wanting to give her a positive one because she was one of my favorite contestants and I want her to succeed. In my opinion, she was much better than her female competition (yes, she was better than Antara Mitra), and she even gave the boys a run for their money.

Harpreet Singh has composed the music and written the lyrics, with lyricist R.S. Sangha contributing. Warning: this article contains high levels of sentimentality. For that, I apologize!

The album starts with the title song Mehram. This is a slow, almost lazily paced, song that is actually very good. She is of course, in love. I think to fully understand the essence of this song everyone should see the video as well. She is surrounded by nature and all the elements associated with love: the beauty of the green hills, a flowing river, and the freshness of the morning air. Overall, this is a good start to the album.

Main Na Chutda is also slow, but after understanding the lyrics, it is a beautiful expression of the defeat she feels in the face of love because she can't shed herself of being in love, no matter how hard she tries. It has basically turned her into a poet and had set her world spinning. Meenal sings really well here. She has tried very hard to keep the softness and capture the feeling behind the song.

After listening to the first two slow songs, Jogan was a welcome change. I think this is one of my favorite songs on the album (maybe because I understood it better than the other ones?). It has an upbeat rhythm, but the lyrics play on the idea that her love is still young and innocent, like the first time a teenage girl falls in love. I can almost imagine her so caught up in this state that she runs into walls and keeps staring at herself in the mirror. This is what I hear when this song plays, but at the same time, the idea of becoming a "jogan," or a devotee of love, is a mature idea. Either way, a lovely song!

Saanwariya follows the theme well, tracing her through the process of being in love. The unique element in this song is that it falls along the same lines as the first three in the album: being in love and all that mushy stuff. But it does so without sounding repetitive. Well sung too, not surprisingly!

Tere Bin falls very close to the clichd Bollywood songs that talk about the restlessness that comes with love: seeing the person's face everywhere and wanting to spend every waking hour of the day in that person's presence. Okay, it's not so bad, but you get the point. It's a fun song, but only if you listen to it as that. It's not one with a high amount of lyrical value, but it's still a cut above the average such Bollywood song. And, it's kind of catchy. I think it was a good thing to put in this otherwise soft album too, just to mix things up a bit to avoid tediousness. A decent number overall.

Tum Sang Laagi had me from the word "go." It's a nice song that talks about how everything blends together in love – day and night and all that jazz. In English, all this sounds repetitive throughout the album. But in Hindi and Urdu, the lyrics create a different imagery than I am able to portray through my sad translation abilities! Each song has a distinct feel to it, and this song is no different.

Ghumar strays slightly from the Sufi setting and has a distinct Rajasthani feel to it. It starts off well but toward the middle, the composer tries to add westernized instruments, and that is totally out of place in this otherwise beautiful song. I don't even have to mention that Meenal sings well here. Her singing throughout this album is good.

The album ends on just the right note with Saanwal, expressing the emptiness at not being able to have love. This whole album builds up on the idea of how fulfilled she is at finding true love. So by the time this closer piece comes around, the listener understands why she is so devastated at losing that love, or not attaining it. This song is the perfect, heartbreaking ending to this album.

So like I said, Mehram grows on you as you listen to it. I think Meenal stayed true to herself and her personality. I'm happy that she chose not to go the raunchy item number direction with her debut album. And the end result is highly satisfactory. The only downside is that Mehram doesn't have a mass appeal. Only fans who have followed Meenal's career and lovers of this genre of music will appreciate its value. I happen to be both, so I would give it a thumbs up and tell you go buy it.

The songs of Mehram can be found at:


http://www.curlio.com/spc_showarticle.php?id=1177