We'll talk more about this change some other time, but for now here are the artists who entertained me hugely this year. My heartfelt gratitude to them for a terrific musical year.
Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Composers and makers of diverse, enduring songs for London Dreams and Wake Up Sid

They did this by delivering a powerful and poignant soundtrack for the movie London Dreams. Combining elements of arena rock with North Indian folk music (think lots of guitars and dhols), SEL deftly manipulated our emotions after setting up shop in our ears.
Earlier on the OST of Wake Up Sid, they changed their style to such an extent that they were unrecognizable. But the results were just as entertaining. WUS remains the best indiepop album recorded in Bollywood.
Sure Pritam had more hits than SEL - but SEL matured their sound this year into something original and unique.
(Thanks to Ehsaan for the awesome SEL pic)
Pritam
Composer and manufacturer of high profile hits from Love Aaj Kal, All the Best, De Dana Dan, Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani, Tum Mile

Still its hard to deny he had a huge year. He continued to operate in his customary fifth gear (dance songs) or first gear (ballads) with little in between - but he did those really well, cranking out the biggest tunes of the year.
Relying on delicious guitar licks, he created lead promo singles for Love Aaj Kal (Aahun Aahun), All the Best (Mein Jitni Martaba), Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani (Mein Tera Dhadkan Teri) and De Dana Dan (Gale Lag Ja).
Just when you thought he had played out his game, he delivered the finest set of ballads this year with the gorgeous CD for Tum Mile.
Vishal Bhardwaj, Hitesh Sonik, Clinton Cerejo
The music team of Kaminey

Essentially three compositions spliced together into six songs, the Vishal Bhardwaj composed Kaminey delivered art and commerce in one coiled package. Mohit Chauhan sang the overlooked rock ballad Pehli Baar Mohabbat, Sukhwinder performed trademark vocal duties on the club bhajan Fatak and Rekha Bhardwaj and Sunidhi Chauhan blended their voices seamlessly and melodiously on Raat Ke Dhai Baje.
Fittingly Kaminey remains the first OST in Indian music to pay tribute to its musical contributors with producers credits (Sonik, Cerejo) on the CD cover.
Neeraj Shridhar
Singer and Relentless Hit Machine

Neeraj has a few attributes that makes him stand out. He has a voice quality that is distinct and interesting. His voice is commercial. And he can sing in angrezi with panache.
His best work this year was on Billu (Love Mera Hit Hit), Love Aaj Kal (Twist, Chor Bazaari), Kambakkht Ishq (Lakh Lakh), Do Knot Disturb (Bebo), Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani (Prem Ki Naiya), Dhoondhte Reh Jaoge (Yeh Aane Wala Pal) and Tum Mile (title track).
Shreya Ghoshal
Singer and Emergent Queen Bee of Bollywood Music

In 2009, Shreya set about correcting that by expanding her genre considerably. Called on to sing more than just sweet-voiced songs, she was tested on tracks that required her to sing in lower and straighter notes. Take the OST of Blue for example on which Shreya delivered three songs in different genres that broke from her usual portfolio: Aaj Dil Gustakh Hai (Nu Jazz), Fiqrana (Rock-Pop) and Rehnuma (Jazz).
What else did she do? How about beginning the journey to fill the considerable void left behind by Lata Mangeshkar, mounting a serious challenge to Sunidhi Chauhan as Bollywood's #1 female voice and singing flagship songs for virtually every music composer of note in the Indian film industry.
Vishal Dadlani
Singer and all-round Rock Star
We've talked about Vishal's ascent as one of Bollywood's go-to rocktastic singers. See here for more on why he is on this list.
A R Rahman
Composer, Delhi-6

Powered by Mohit Chauhan's unforgettable single Masakalli, the OST was full of typically diverse ARR gems: Rekha Bhardwaj's folksy traipse Genda Phool, Rahman's own brat pack ditty - the hugely underrated Rehna Tu and Ash King's soul-tinged Dil Gira Dafatan.
And ah yes, he won a few international awards (Oscar, Golden Globe) and although that wasn't for music he did this year, it sure was fun to watch!
KK
Singer, Dil Ibaadat

On the soundtrack for Tum Mile, KK sang the greatest ballad of 2009 (Dil Ibaadat) and infused it with so much pain and passion that he made me feel all wimpy for a week and compelled me retract my opinion. The pleasure was all mine.
Also: Last year's Drift Music Entertainers.
11 comments:
din like this years music as much as last years. wud like to read more abt what you said before...'music is changing in films'.
And I guess the Drift blogger will be seeing a new look to Drift too in 2010.
Liking the new striking blue/orange combo. Nice choice of fonts!!, pic in center, nice works.
But, enlighten me will the pipes carry the archive or past post or will we have to sieve thru them for current post too?
Hey Aspi,nice makeover. Only one beef..the grey is a little too much grey...
Anon, that might just be bad tagging on my part because the pipes pull based on tags. If the latest post is not related to any of the tags, then it won't show up.
meena, grey? What browser are you using? I'll have to see - I don't have any grey anywhere.
I see what you mean about the pipes. Meena do not see the grey either, unless your monitor has really low res, you are set on, them the bright blue appears grey.
You missed Amit Trivedi & DevD
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Anon, you are right about Amit Trivedi. How could I have missed that? I need to update this post when I find some time.
Thanks for pointing that out.
vadi kuchh rocket singh par bhi chhoro !
Hey Aspi,
Surprised that u didnt comment on Salim Sulaiman ... 6 movies in 09
Tasneem, Salim-Suleiman did some terrific work in 2009 but for some reason I still can't get a good feel for their work. Hopefully I'll be able to get their groove this year. I'll certainly try hard :)
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