Arko & Dev’s first album is a heady journey through words and lilting tunes, raw almost living-room voices and transparent minimal sounds.

 

Mira Re, the folksy opening track, is an earthy simple song of the heartland, that talks of love and longing, innocence and admission. It is an auditory landscape of rural India and its forgotten charms in a simple man’s tale of love.

 

Wo Ho Tum, a duet between Arko and Anusha Mani, is  sensual and utterly romantic, with an almost haunting undertone of eventuality looming on the whispers under sheets of satin.

 

Tujhe Alvida, is an ode to a home-town, in this case Kolkata, and is perhaps the first time artists speak to a city personified literally, even grammatically, to mean a lover.

 

Azaadi De Waqt Se, with its alternative rock sound and raging bass attack, is a stand out anthem for the youth.

 

Ore Piya (Tu Jaane Na), Arko & Dev move into Indian music with ease and merge the verse-chorus mish-mash philosophy into one discourse that touches and soothes, and thankfully isn’t over-produced like a Bollywood song (though that temptation must have been looming).

 

Aankho Me Bheegi Si, strikes you for the fresh treatment of a simple pop song, which sounds like fusion but ends up not experimenting with structures. Like most other songs on this album, once again the simplicity and precision of the live instrumentation and poignant song-writing is a breath of fresh air in the current over-indulgent electronic music rage all around.

 

Oye Rabba, sounds like the band is taking a break from their set and fooling around with an actor-singer Prashant Narayanan who actually sings this one. They play cups, chairs and tables, hum and whistle, abuse and quarrel, laugh and joke, and eventually by the time they’re done with their fun, you realise you had fun too !

 

Jaane ja, sounds straight out of a 80’s innocent high-school love story, with pink and flowers and the proverbial lovestruck swept off his feet.

 

Main Hu and Ruswa, are love ballads stripped off their usual embellishments, and they sound raw at first. But surprisingly, they grow on you, and both sound like they can reach epic proportions in a gig !

 

Sam Is On The Run, has a never-heard-before arrangement in Hindi music : a punk-meets-dance sound with complex acoustic ethnic percussions; Sarosh Izedyar’s speed guitar on this one is a treat for the ears. The song was initially written for the film “24×7 Raftaar” starring Emraan Hasmi & Neha Dupia before the project was abandoned mid-way due to director Shamin Desai’s sudden demise. Sam is the name of the protagonist, a flamboyant journalist with vaulting ambition for whom winning is everything: as the head of a News channel, he manipulates facts, toys with lives, breathes deception yet sleeps in peace.

 

The first bonus track, Yeh haq hamaara hai, is the surprise package of the album. Written and recorded in the week after the 26/11 terrorist attack that hit Mumbai, it voices everyone’s feelings. They unleash rage in layers here, with splitting riffs and screeching vocal slogans; it’s the closest a hindi pop band has come to an American protest rock song !

 

The second bonus track is a delightful, highly unusual remix by of Sam Is On The Run by Desi UK-based duo Flavasia (Kully B. and Gussy. G.) with characteristics of dubstep in the form of wobble bass, where an extended bass note is manipulated rhythmically. The high energy chorus is slightly up-tempo, with complex arrangement of numerous percussions echoing the great ambitions of the protagonist, Sam.

 

Anti Hero Simple Super Star, Wilbur reached cult status the moment he posted his low-fi home made looking videos online.

 

Purposely cheap, consciously cheezy, purely confident,  his instructional videos are like a self parody of Peter Sellers in “The Party”, and for more recent cinematographic reference, all can spot Sargunaraj as the most accurate Indian answer to “Borat”.

 

Wilbur Sargunaraj spreads an highly communicative vibe of irrepressible joy as soon he dances and sings (through the free demo version of an Autotune) and Silk Road Communications could not resist distributing “Simple Super Star” featuring his first class classics “Love Marriage”, “Chicken 65″ and a dozen other latest tracks.

 

 

 

Anti Hero Simple Super Star, Wilbur reached cult status the moment he posted his low-fi home made looking videos online.

 

Purposely cheap, consciously cheezy, purely confident,  his instructional videos are like a self parody of Peter Sellers in “The Party”, and for more recent cinematographic reference, all can spot Sargunaraj as the most accurate Indian answer to “Borat”.

 

Wilbur Sargunaraj spreads an highly communicative vibe of irrepressible joy as soon he dances and sings (through the free demo version of an Autotune) and Silk Road Communications could not resist distributing “Simple Super Star” featuring his first class classics “Love Marriage”, “Chicken 65″ and a dozen other latest tracks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

‘Hari’– Devotional Poetry of Meerabai is a compilation of the choicest of meerabai’s poetry. 

The intensity of the lyrics is enhanced in this presentation by some extraordinary musical compositions rendered by Sunanda Sharma. 

The presentation is thus a unique culmination of sublime poetry, mesmerising melodic setting and soul-stirring rendition.

 

 

‘Gopaal – Rare compositions of Surdas’ is a compilation of the choicest of Surdas’s poetry.

The intensity of the lyrics is enhanced in this presentation by some extraordinary musical compositions set by the Legendary Sangeet Martandya Pandit Jasraj, and rendered by one of his foremost descipiles, Pandit Rattan Mohan Sharma.

The presentation is thus a unique culmination of sublime poetry, mesmerising melodic setting and soul-stirring rendition. 

Based on Haveli Sangeet pattern, this presentation from the house of Pragnya, is the first of the three great saint-poets works namely Surdas, Meerabai, and Raskhan – the latter two to follow.

 

 

 

PRAGNYA is a collection that is committed to uncap the vast knowledge found in the rich manuscripts, heritage and culture of India 

by conducting extensive research to develop mainstream easy listening products that are yet richly elaborated and simple to understand, 

enabling everyone to adopt this profound knowledge to enhance their lives. 

 

These Musical releases effectively address the need of the day – inner peace and calm.