Music Review: Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola

Vishal Bharadwaj is back yet again with a music album that is full of songs laid across the mood spectrum. This time, the album totals to eight tracks, excluding the remixes. This music album is totally packed with 'Gulzaar goodies'. It is a light hearted and peppy album.

Let's start with the title track; all it does is make you get on your toes and dance the night away! It is full of madness and definitely one not to be missed! Even if you're not a dancer, this song will make you want to dance. Sukhwinder Singh has done an amazing job making it light and easy. Excellently penned and planned, this song has an African touch to it with the background guitar notes. The bass effect that 'stops and starts' gives just the adequate thump to the song. Thumbs up to this one! 

Next in line, there is "Khamakha Nahi", which is quite a simple number with Vishal Bharadwaj and Prem Dehati's voices along with Gulzar's beautiful lyrics. It has beautiful evening guitars with a great background group. The lyrics have the power to just mesmerize and send someone in a different world of music. The song has a range of emotions and works quite well. 

Then comes "Oye Boy Charlie" by Rekha Bhardwaj, Mohit Chauhan, and Shankar Mahadevan, with the Hinglish (Hindi-English) lyrics. The track is quirky and crazy in its own way, yet very fun and entertaining! There is a bit of a saxaphone and nasal voice used by Shakar Mahadevan, which blends together quite well. Though there are too many elements going on in the song, it's fun, different and refreshing. Definitely give this one a listen!

"Hatt Lootnewale" is the track that brings you face-to-face with the harsh reality of our society today. It talks of the social injustice around us because the lyrics are clearly against oppression, sung by the very talented singers Sukhwinder Singh and Saleem. Sukhwinder emotes one of the most common feelings of anger very well. This song is not a chart topper, but is definitely something worth a listen. We still wish the amazing duo of Saleem and Sukhwinder were exploited better. The reprise version to this is not that great and can be given a miss.

Then there is a very short track "Shara-Rara-Ra" sung by Prem Dehati. The song is an earthy track with the music, lyrics, and even the brass-band based arrangements giving the song a very rustic feel. 

Next comes one of the best songs of this album, "Badal Uthiya Re Sakhi", sung by Rekha Bhardwaj. The song has a Sitar ruling the background. The song is actually an old folk song from Haryana and quite popular there. The more you listen, the more it'll grow on you, until you absolutely love it! Rekha Bharadwaj has put her full heart and soul in this song and it indeed touches our soul. The song has a reprise version to this, which is quite a masterpiece.

To end the album, we have a track that is the 1st of its kind in India - presenting "Nomvula" that is a complete Zulu song, in Umoja's voice. There is not a single hint of Hindi, or even English, in the entire song. This song gives you the feeling of lying on a relaxing beach while soaking the sun and knocking back a few beers. Do check it out, although it does leave you clueless of its meaning. 

Overall, the music album is worth listening to once, maybe twice, with the exception of a few songs that might stick with you for a while! Tune into these tracks, until we see you again with another review.