The latest six independent songs reviewed by Music Plus

Ganga- Sharma And The Besharams

Vasuda Sharma after her stint in a Pop band Aasma and studying at the Berklee School of Music now fronts the group Sharma And The Besharams. They just released a single Ganga. As a part of the forthcoming EP Bidesi, the song is inspired by a Bhojpuri folk number, with an interesting mix of instruments.

The line “Ganga tori leher saveke man bhave” has a sing-along quality, and the song is pumped up by Chaitanya Bhaidkar’s banjo, Jayakrishnan Unnithan’s piano, Shravan Sridhar’s violin, Rajat Prasanna’s flute and Rahul Hariharan’s solid drums. The video involves live studio footage.

It’s a catchy song with a nice, hummable tune.

Rating: 8/10

Tears Of The Wizard- Parikrama

This is one of the classiest videos released in Indian rock. For their song Tears Of The Wizard, Parikrama chooses the picturesque, hilly terrains of Mechukha in Arunachal Pradesh. By adding a rugged outdoor feel, video director Sujit K. Jha does wonders. Parikrama earlier recorded it at an Artiste Aloud event in 2012.

It’s a fabulous composition with a trademark 1980’s heavy metal vibe. Vocalist Nitin Malik, keyboardist Subir Malik, guitarists Sonam Sherpa and Saurabh Chaudhry, bassist Gaurav Balaji and drummer Srijan Mahajan combine brilliantly, and violinist Sharat Chandra Srivastava produces a marvellous solo.

This one’s a beauty.

Rating: 9/ 10

Tequila- Bob Thind

Thankfully, this isn’t a remake of the famous Champs number Tequila. Rather, Bob Thind’s song with the same name is about a well-built dude and a woman who makes her entry getting off a car and showing a pair of white heels as tall as her.

Against the tune of a screechy synth, Lady In Blue walks in slow motion into a lounge and bar, where Mr Muscles groans, “Lips gulabi, mast adama, Style sharabi, main mar jaanva.” The rest of the song is about a variety of sunglasses, a handlebar moustache, a sudden rap stretch and references to Shakira and lip-lock. In the end, this Tequila leaves you “thakela.”

Rating: 3/ 10

Follow Me- Salim-Sulaiman

Music directors Salim-Sulaiman seem to have cut down on their film projects. Sensing the resurgent demand for non-film music, the brothers have now worked on a trilogy of songs called ‘Lost In Love’.

The first part ‘Follow Me’, sung by Salim and written by Kumaar, is a clubby pop song with a catchy hook and smart instrumentation. It’s sure to attract the younger crowd, though one feels Salim’ s voice needed more punch.

The video, directed by Aditya Raghav, features Salim and Onima Kashyap, with Sulaiman making a short appearance. Outdoor shots of the sea and long roads are interspersed with club scenes.

Rating: 7/ 10

Tere Bina- Zaeden

Singer-songwriter Zaeden desperately tries to sound like Lucky Ali on his single ‘Tere Bina’. It’s a fairly decent composition, with hum-along whistles and pleasant guitars, but the vocals are flat and expressionless, almost sounding like a nursery rhyme.

Kunaal Verma’s lyrics contain lines like “Jo main tujhse mila, thoda sabse juda, thoda khud se hua hoon.” Whatever! One wonders why Zaeden suddenly raises the pitch while singing ‘Chaahu na’, as though he got a sudden jerk.

the storyboard has been done to death, although Disha Rampal’s video, featuring Amyra Dastur, is about the only saving grace for its look.

Rating: 4/ 10

Amma Bawa- Anuj Gurwara

Though we’ve had funny film songs over the years, humour has rarely been used in Hindi non-film music. Here comes a Hyderabadi pop song which attempts the genre, and even succeeds.

Sung and written by Anuj Gurwara with music by Sanket Sane, ‘Amma Bawa’ is a hilarious take on a guy’s emotions after his girlfriend has dumped him. “Amma bawa sahi bole, thookengi tere ku use kar ke,” sings the victim.

Hyderabadi words like ‘hallu’, ‘potti’, ‘haula’ and ‘nakko’ are used freely. Every line is accompanied by an illustration (by Pranabesh Sarkar). The narrative to and Goutam Bhattacharyya’s video is perfect.

Importantly, the tune lingers.