Leader Audio Review

Its been a while that i came back to my blog to write an audio review.I had been busy in various other activities and i could not get time to come into my blog.I never stop listening to albums be it Telugu,Hindi,Tamil and Kannada.Iam always on my way for new audio albums.Recently I came across two of such good albums in TELUGU which made me to log into my blog again and review them.I hope i will come with good reviews on both of the albums.Starting with the first one,LEADER was one of the most awiated movies in 2009 just for the reason that it is the launch pad movie of "RANA" son of famour suresh babu of suresh productions.Leader comes from Shekhar kammula and Mickey J Mayor who gave us the famous and fabolous Happy Days.Mickey in my opinion is one of finest musicians in TFI right now and he is a perfect blend of classical,melody and western music.Leader on his way falls to the same pattern of music he scored for HAPPY DAYS and he scores and scores big time.Lets see how did the songs fare.

1.Ma Telugu Talliki - Late Sri Tanguturi Surya Kumari - ****

It takes a lot of guts when somebody tries to remix old patriotic songs.I consider this song from the late tanguturi Ranjya Lakshmi who was an yesteryears actress,singer and also a nephew of Freedom fighter tanguturi prakasam as the national anthem of andhra pradesh.I was pleasently suprised after hearing this song as i thought this could be the best way somebody can remix a patriotic song.Mickey used chorus singers to add freshness to the song and also the famous chinese heavy bell music to add the patriotic feel to the song.One more thing which i liked about this song is the way they kept the original voice in the original music without any manipulation.One of the finest numbers of the album and hats off to shekhar to make us remember of this song.

2.Avunana Kaadana - Naresh Iyer,Shwetha Pandit - *****

When it come to music of Mickey,you cant escape from a haunting melody in his album.This time it comes in the form of this song.Sung by Naresh iyer and Shweta pandit this song talks about a couples feeling when they are in love.This number gives a semi classical feel in a poetic way.Naresh Iyer is a perfect choice for this number and i liked his clear pronunciation of poetic telugu words in the song.Shwetha pandit who does a good job this time too.I feel she is an unlimited source of talent in our country and the last time i liked her very much in a telugu song was in a movie bhaghareetha for a song "OO Prema".We would like to hear more of her in telugu.Lyrics of this song by Veturi aron the other hand does a wonderful job though she did not get much scope to sing.Lyrics are neat as it is and they are poetic and yet simple to understand.Over all a very good melody and easy to hum.

3.Vandemataram - Nakash Aziz - ***

Sometimes when we hear songs of an album,we get to feel and see the movie in its music.Leader is one such a movie as there is a an underlaying pattern of patriotism and a urge for social improvement in all the songs through its music and lyrics.The old Vandemataram song which was written by Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay is our is our indian national song.It meant "I do Homage to my mother" .That song talks about true spirit of our nationalism and this song from leader talks about the current situation of our nation.A very nice composition and i though nakash did well for this first telugu song.Nakash Aziz hails from mumbai and he was indian idol 2 contestant and i remember anu mallik in one of the episodes even saying the he sounds exactly like AR Rehman and i even i felt the same way when i heard this song.Though lyrics are inpisring but nakash does not do well in the way he pronounces them.I thought somebody like Karthik or KK would have done more justice to this song.Over all a good song and a better choice of singer than nakash would have made this song a big hit.

4.Rajasekhara - Swetha Pandit - ***

Just as when i thought i wanted to hear more of swetha pandit,i came to this number which was sung by her.Though the song is not that good,the singers voice give some hope to the song.The song is somewhere between a melody and a quawali and it talks about a girl who is fascinated about a guy.I did find some similarity in tune of this song to the Avunana Kadana song of the same album.Lyrics are pretty tough in this song as there is a ride from poetic words to plain telugu words.Swetha does a good job but she could have been more clear in her pronounciation.I think thats a classical problem when the music director and singer is non-telugu and a lyricist is a out an out telugu poetician.On a whole a good number but not enough impressive.

4.Hey CM - Sunitha Sarathy - ***

I always felt there is an uncanny resemblance in the music of Mickey to that of AR Rehman and he always proves me right in each and every album.This song is a perfect example of how mickey can sound similar to AR Rehman.There is an use of strong piano,trumpets and saxo which we normally dont hear in other composers in telugu.Rehman is an expert in these kind of songs which is based on female vocals and also stessing on the "Opera"tic feel while singing the song.Mickey does compose this song well but somehow there is no enough feel to make the song a good number.Lyrics are good as usual by Veturi but Sunitha who normally sings for Rehma sings this song too and her voice is good but her pronounciation is bad at times when she says words like "Parvah Ledhu","Dachinda","dooram".Better feel and improved stress on the words would have made this song a good number.No recos from me but can be heard couple of times.

5.Sreelu Pongina - Aditya, Kranthi, Krishna Chaitanya, Sashi Kiran, Siddharth - *****

Mickey comes alive in this song and this song is one of the best songs in the album and my favourite.One thing i like in mickey is the way he gives chance to the budding singers of telugu film industry.Krishna Chaitanya and Sidharth and other singers in this song are the ones who participated in ETV padutha theeyaga and other such programs and Mickey gave the same team songs like "Jill Jill Jinga" from HAPPY Days and "Kalasalo" from KBL.This time they rock in this song.They sound awesome in their chorus voice.Sreelu pongina is a short and yet wonderful patriotic song which praises about our great political leaders.I personally feel that all the singers in this song have a great future and i would like to see other composers like mani sharma,devi sri prasad giving more chances to telugu singers than singers from other states.Lyrics by Veturi are wonderful and inpspiring and the way mickey used the famouls bamboo flute to get the patriotic feel is amazing.Thanks to mickey for giving chance to budding telugu singers and of course for composing this number.

6.Instrumental - Mickey J Mayor,Balesh

Krishna Ballesh is one of the few best shehnai players in india and iam glad to see him play this instrumental of Maa telugu Talli ki in LEADER.I got inspired when i heard this instrumental song for the first time.Krishna Ballesh learnt shehnai under the guidance of the world renowned Shehnai Maestro Bharat Ratna Ustad Bismillah Khan.He is the leading Shehnai Artist from South India & has spanned over 15yrs of popularity for his appealing shehnai, he has played for film recordings for famous Music Directors and for some light music live shows for Maestros like M.S.Viswanath, Illayaraaja, A.R.Rahman, MM.Keeravani, Shyam Joseph, Anu malik, Hamsalekha.Over all a treat to hear this song from Ballesh as this album ends with a master piece.

Well,Leader is one such music album which gives a pleasant and thrilling experience and i should say its one of best albums of 2009.Mixed with right qoutients of melody,patriotic feel and good music,i would certainly recommend this album on to the racks.My picks are Avuna Kada na,Vande Mataram and Sreelu Pongina.

Sudheer