Honest review of Raja Hasan`s album

Yaar Mila De Re

The album starts off with this delightful sufi track, Raja's rendition replete with devoutness. The instrumentation has been spot on, with the sarangi especially standing out all through the song. Though the song is over seven minutes long, the tedium is hardly felt while listening to this serene track reminiscent of songs like Khwaja Mere Khwaja (Jodhaa Akbar), Ha Raham (Aamir) etc.

Sajna Jaye Base Pardes

After a pleasant track this is a more sombre semiclassical one (wonder if the raag is Bairagi/Revathi). While Raja's singing is classy here too, somewhere in between the song starts getting monotonous. In contrast to the first song the instrumentation doesn't quite gel in with the song in this case.

Aaja Meri Rani

This one sounds more like a remixed Rajasthani folk song, a la Sajnaji Vari Vari (Honeymoon Travels), though easier on the beats and not as fast. Rajasthani folk is always a delectable listen and hence this song, though the instrumentation is not that up to the mark, makes for an interesting four odd minutes.

Nazar Lag Gayi

The Sukhwinder-ish element of Raja's voice is accentuated in this sorrowful song. Not that it serves much of a purpose here, as everything else about this song is uninteresting, right from the antiquated tabla/dholak beats to the chorus singing Nazar Lag Gayi. The addition of an electric guitar among the instruments does little to mitigate the effect. If you are interested in drawing comparisons between Sukhwinder's and Raja's voice you can listen to this song. Otherwise my advice is to move on to the next track!

Mohabbat Raas Na Aayi

After a disappointing track, Mohabbat.. is a brilliant retort. A semiclassical song with dark overtones (the raag is Puriya Dhanasri/Hamsanandi I believe) delivered again by a Sukhwinderesque Raja. Rafiq Sagar finds his way back in this song in terms of the orchestration. Especially brilliant is the second interlude.

Pardesi Se Kya Aankh Ladaye

Another folk song adds to the pack, this time a Punjabi one. No, not the clamorous Bhangra type, but a softer song more inclined towards the semiclassical melody. And therefore a peaceful and enjoyable number.

Tan Ghayal Ghayal Kar Gayi

Interesting in parts, this fast paced number is just about average and falls among the less attractive songs of the album. Raja's voice is more suited to the mellower and more classical-oriented songs than numbers such as these, methinks.

Going by the genre of songs in the album, there surely is not going to be a mad rush for Yaar Mila.. except among may be the hardcore fans of Raja from SRGMP. But as musicians Raja Hasan and father Rafiq Sagar can be happy about having delivered some music of value. Of course its not THE perfect debut album having its share of drab tracks, but the other numbers just about make up for the negatives. As for this album getting him some mileage in Bollywood, it doesn't look like Raja needs it anymore as he has already got the dream start, having sung for SEL and Vishal-Shekhar in movies and more recently being asked by A R Rahman himself to perform at the Calicut concert and in the upcoming Pune concert. So for now, it does look like Raja Hasan is here to stay.

Aah great review...only thing I didn't like Aaja Meri Rani though...one can easily skip past it and not be missing much.

Thanks!

Nice video of Raja Hasan album song Aaja Meri Rani: