Saradiner bhabna aamar
Dr Utpala Goswami
Aahir Music; CD Rs 80

The numbers on this album have been composed and tuned by the singer herself. They mostly reflect a pensive mood while a few concern Nature. The first number, Sagar tumi katha balo, is by far the best in the album. Saradiner bhabna aamar and Kichhu chena kichhu achena, too, tap depths of melancholy. Kudos to Tejendra Narayan Majumdar for the musical arrangement, but the thumba/dhol at times beats too loudly to be pleasing.

ogo priyo
Rakhi Sen
Prime Music; Rs 45

The 10 Tagore numbers compiled in this album are chosen from Prem Parjaye and intend to trace the evolution of the theme of human love in a long and creative fecund phase of Tagore’s poetic career, starting from his early youth up to his mid-60s. Rakhi Sen’s sweet, flowing voice renders some not-too-common songs like Aamar latar pratham mukul (side A) and Balo golap morey (side B) with elan. Rakhi is also acceptably good in such timeless tracks as Aaha tomar songe (side A) and Aamar sakal niye (sideB).

Arnab Bhattacharya

hai bangali hai
Kharaj Mukhopadhyay
Sagarika; Rs 40

This album is Kharaj Mukhopadhyay’s statement on the changing Bengali lifestyle. He picks on their food habit, their sense of dressing, and almost everything, but all in good humour. It makes for a fun album on the whole. Kharaj is excellent in folk songs but the soft romantic number, Ek chilte aakash, which is a nice composition by him, is not his style as a singer. Even the romantic song, Eei modhu mashe, is a good song, but again not his cup of tea. Nachon dakhaiya bador is the song that’s more Kharaj. The Lalan Fakir composition, Khachar bhitor achin pakhi, is what Kharaj does complete justice to.

nana ranger din
Sreyashi Mondal
Aahir Music; VCD Rs 60

In the album, Nana Ranger Din, Sreyashi is seen singing 10 Adhunik songs. Yes, that’s right, it’s a music video. It tries to picturise the theme as she sings but mostly the camera lingers on Sreyashi. Some scenes enacted here are pretty mediocre but the focus remains on Sreyashi. Her voice is quite good but all the songs maintain a certain sluggish pace making the entire album a bit too slow.

Madhuparna Das