Nandini Srikar and her Indie Music Album Beete Pal

How often would it happen that a singer of Hariharan’s repute hears you singing a few lines and asks you to sing more? It sounds like a thing of a beautiful dream; however, that’s exactly what happened with Nandini Srikar at a gathering during Pune festival. And it was quite dramatic as well. It so happened that the power went off during the event and people being aware that Hariharan was around requested him to sing. He didn’t sing but Nandini started singing one of his compositions. When the lights came on, Hariharan made her sing a few more songs. He was so impressed that he advised her to take up a career in singing. He was also ready to help her taking the first step in this direction. Needless to say this particular incident turned out to be a life changing event for Nandini Srikar. She got her first opportunity in a Tamil film called “Uyirodu Uyiraga” in 1998 in which she sang a duet called “I Love You” with KK. It was a hit. However, she had had her fair share of struggle and frustration when she finally moved to Mumbai after having left her software job in Pune. So much so that she even ate Dahi-Idli in all her meals for almost 4 months in order to save some money. Any sort of work was really hard to come by even after she had a considerably good start. She continued with her unwavering faith in her ability notwithstanding and sustained through a rather long period of living on the edge.

So we notice that it has been a long journey of 15 years in the entertainment industry for her. And yet it’s not been very long really when many Hindi film music enthusiasts like me noticed her phenomenal talent after she sang “Bhare Naina” composed by Vishal-Shekhar for the movie Ra. One (2011). She subsequently sang some more tracks like “Dua” (Shanghai, 2012, Music: Vishal-Shekhar) and “Dil Mera Muft ka” (Agent Vinod, 2012, Music: Pritam) that apparently established her might as a prominent and promising vocalist. Was it surprising anymore that she grabbed the GIMA award (2012) for the best playback singer female for her song Bhare Naina in Ra.One? In addition to it, what would make one revere and respect her even more is that Nandini is a Composer, Music producer, Programmer, Guitarist and a Singer; all combined into a single whole. She herself proclaims that she never wanted to do only singing or stick to any particular thing for that matter. Apparently, she is a very fine curator of ideas that her mind seems to be full of. Being technology savvy gives her a leading edge for there’s so much of technological intrusion that has happened in the past decade as far as music making is concerned.

Nandini Srikar had released her album called “Beete Pal” in 2011. It was an independently produced album that was in making for almost 5 years. Some of the fellow artists (mentioned on the top of the album cover) that she had earlier collaborated with were ready to help her with this ambitious project. Nandini very diligently juggled between her professional commitments and her personal venture that was really close to her heart. It is an album done in contemporary style and contains 9 very melodious and soulful songs. When you listen to the songs, you realize that these songs have been dealt with a lot of tenderness and come straight from the heart. One would better not categorize this album.

Nandini had conceptualized the songs based on various themes that came as an inspiration to her while continuing with her intellectual and spiritual pursuits. On some occasions the feelings, melody and themes comes along as and when one attempts composing a piece and on others a particular composition takes a shape depending on the mood at that point in time. It happens with us as a listener too. No wonder we notice a sudden change of emotions while listening to a piece of music. On the other hand we also try and play songs based on our moods a lot of times. We would experience all of that while listening to the songs of “Beete Pal”. Nandini expresses the divine in her through very carefully crafted musical pieces and reassuring vocals beaming with maturity that comes with a lot of deliberation. With considerable amount of experience on her side both in terms of music and life, Nandini dishes out a music album that you’ll cherish listening to. The collaborative lyrics by Shaleen Sharma and Nandini Srikar are quite poetic and you find indulgence as soon as you start listening to one of the songs. Nandini’s classically trained vocal chords combined with contemporary sound arrangements make it an intense musical treat, listening to which gives you an uncanny musical high. Let’s explore the songs in the album one by one:

1. Beete Pal: The title track of this album is an expression of nostalgia at its best. There are times in this fast paced life when you just want to sit back, reflect, contemplate and savor best of memories. You inevitably keep going back to your childhood days and the period of careless enjoyment with your friends and dear ones. The more you remember the more you miss. This track went from being heavily produced to being a very mild one in terms of sound arrangements that gave it exactly the kind of feel that transcends you to those days even if it’s for a little while. It’s a pure magic of Nandini’s mature singing coupled with pleasant guitar strumming and mild percussions. This has to be one of the best tracks of this album with the kind of melody that has a lasting impression. A remarkable composition indeed! I dedicate it to all my friends reading this blog.
2. Madhosh: This again is a beautiful composition. It is basically a romantic number with some Sufi touch and spiritual dimension in terms of obsession. The melody is kept intact. It’s a declaration of love that strikes the right chord and makes you hit the replay button a few times. I like the prominence of Tabla in the percussions and the vocal harmony.
3. Raaz ko Raaz: This again is a slow but a lovely track and I cannot help but think of it being a Ghazal. It would be great to see it being re-produced in an Indian kind of instrumental arrangement.  That does not however mean that you wouldn’t enjoy listening to this fusion piece.
4. Kyon Maane: It’s an inspirational song that tells you not to give up no matter how difficult the situation may be. Many of us tend to give up after getting exhausted not knowing that the goal has only come nearer. It urges us to shed our inhibitions and not give in to the fate. Let’s live this life to the fullest before we die. It’s a song with not so sophisticated sound layering and has a calming influence on you. It does have an ingenious vocal layering that accentuates its feel.
5. Sawan Beeta Jaye: It’s a song with folk touch and about realization of madly being in love. It’s a plea in longingness. It’s also reflective in nature that is depicted well through Nandini’s impressive vocals almost making it semi-classical. The initial strings gives it a specific feel that is carried throughout.
6. Maula Mere: This one’s a dynamic and a yet spiritual number. It explores the realm of delving into unknown and experiencing oneness. The song has a rather deeper meaning than you would think of listening to it for the first time.
7. Ud Jaa: This song is again about breaking the shackles and being free. We all have this urge to set the bird inside us free and let it fly in the open sky. Over the period of time most of us become so conditioned and restrained that we find it really hard to break free. It’s again got a very poetic lyric. Nandini Srikar in her soothing voice encourages you to get over the trivial things and fly free. 
8. Naina Baan Padi: This was the number that I heard first and I was blown away. It’s a brilliant classical fusion with wonderful composition and would be my pick if I were to choose one. Nandini’s singing comes to full swing in this number and leaves you enthralled. I also get Goosebumps listening to the drum beats. The guy has done something magical here. It has to be one of the most sophistically produced songs of this album. Usage of different types of Guitars is prominent and compact. It’s a song with devotional feel and high on emotions.
9. Duniya: Duniya is an introspective song. It asks one to look within for answers. You’ll soon find yourself humming this number. It starts with a catchy guitar strumming (acoustic) before the vocals kicks in. The backing vocals and harmonies are excellent.

Overall, this album is an applaudable and stupendous effort in an industry dominated by the Hindi film music. I simply love this music album. Due to highly commercialized environment we are made to hear a lot of mediocre stuff with an excuse that that is only reflective of the society we live in. No wonder sincere and independent artists are facing tough times and eventually fading away. Also, music piracy is adding to the platitude of many such wonderful musicians who would have still survived, if we as listeners paid for their songs. Alas, that is not the case. We keep downloading the songs for free much to the dismay of a lot of these musicians who wouldn’t be able to do their second venture because life has taken over.

Amidst this disillusionment, we still find an album like “Beete Pal” that promises to be different and offers some real music to our ears.  It perhaps wasn’t marketed properly to begin with as it didn't release under a big record label. But good music will always find connoisseurs and as a result this album is now available on all the major online music selling platforms including flipkart. You may purchase the entire album at a very reasonable price of Rs. 54/-. In Nandini’s own words—“Understand and respect that it has taken someone a lifetime of learning and 5 yrs of hard-work and own resources to make this music for your listening pleasure. This isn't Bollywood, this is Indie music. When you buy it, you are also telling me how much you love it.”

You may listen to these songs before buying on Nandini Srikar’s Reverbnation page:

http://www.reverbnation.com/nandinisrikar

On the page that opens on clicking the above link, you will also see a video of Nandini Srikar performing unplugged version of “Bhare Naina”. Please do watch it. It makes me cry most of the times I listen to this version. I am sure it will give you the same musical high.

I had been contemplating on writing something about this album it for a long time and the upcoming Indiblogger event called "HP Connected Music IndiBlogger Meet" acted as a catalyst for it. Through #HPConnectedMusic Indian consumers get access to digital music content of wide variety on selected HP Windows 8 devices. It boasts of providing some exclusive content and access to over 1 million songs in various genres. Over 20,000 artists contribute to the world's largest online music catalogue under genres including Bollywood, Devotional, Rock, Classic, Hip Hop, Jazz, Regional, R&B, Country and others. Please visit the following link in order to get further details on this unique music experience:

https://ssl.www8.hp.com/in/en/ad/hp-connected-music/overview.html

I think it would be worth including Nandini Srikar’s name in the list of available artists and her album “Beete Pal” in the album list on this platform in case they aren’t there already.

I look forward to attending "HP Connected Music IndiBlogger Meet" on Saturday, 20^th April 2013 at Hilton Garden Inn, Gurgaon. A Big thanks to Indiblogger team and HP in advance!

Happy listening! :)