AUDIO SCAN
Jojo at his best
Maah-e-Ru (TIPS)

We have been hearing Jojo for quite some time now but he never sounded quite this promising. Suddenly, he has a classical edge normally found in accomplished masters. It could be due to the meaningful lyrics of Faiz Anwar or the haunting music of Prakash Aashish, but the whole thing gels exceptionally well.

More than that, the stamp of quality is visible not only in one or two songs but almost all of them. The effect is spoilt towards the end but more of that later.

The finest of the lot is the title song which figures at the very beginning. "Maah-e-Ru" means moon-faced and this simile is presented in a soulful manner.

Other songs in praise of the beloved are "Tere chehre ka noor" and "Tera mukhda".

If this is romanticism at its most moving, there are several others that have pathos galore. These include "Kaise jiye hain hum" and "Main hoon zinda tere liye".

As one savours these numbers, a few words like "shokhi-pan" do not go down too well because just "shokhi" would have sufficed, but this much can be condoned because of poetical licence.

But things begin to sour when we get to hear remix versions of these beautiful numbers. With the cacophony of music, the songs that you had been enjoying so much only a little while ago sound so very ordinary. The biggest let-down is the "traditional dance mix" of Maah-e-Ru. The tinkering makes it fit for the dance floor but the connoisseurs will be disappointed.

The onslaught continues. There are nostalgia mix, techno mix, club mix and dance mix of various numbers. The end result is that the album can only get mixed remarks.

The album could not be more aptly titled. Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia demonstrates both qualities of his flute in this remarkable album.

Recorded live at the Saptak Festival, Ahmedabad, it features two ragas—- Durga and Malkauns. The first one exudes joyful energy and elation of a dancing child. The second, a late night melody, is deep, peaceful and sublime in character. The Padma Bhushan flautist is accompanied by Anindo Chatterjee on the tabla and Bhavani Shankar on the Pakhawaj. — ASC

HOME