Pritam's 'Woh Lamhe' tunes together bits and pieces

Pritam has of late given us some hummable scores. There is something in his music that makes it different from the contemporary sounds assaulting the ears.

For "Woh Lamhe" Pritam has roped in three singers from Pakistan and Bangladesh, besides relying on Kay Kay, Shreya Ghosal and Kunal Ganjawalla.

The album starts off well with Kay Kay's "Kya mujhe pyaar hai" - a lively and peppy number inspired by an Indonesian pop group's song "Tak Bisakah". The song is tailor-made for Kay Kay who sings it to perfection.

"Chal chale" by Bangladesh singer James is the high point of the album. James, with his Bob Dylan style of singing, does absolute justice to the slow number. The use of harmonica adds to the song's charm.

James' first song for a Bollywood film earlier this year - the Pritam-composed "Bheegi bheegi" in "Gangster" remade from the Bengali hit "Prithibita naki chhoto" - was received well by Indian listeners.

James, who leads a band "Nogor Baul", has been popularising Baul - the rural folk songs of Bangladesh - in most of his songs. His famous albums to date include "Jail theke bolsi" (speaking from jail), "Nogor baul" and "Palabe kothai (where will you escape).

"Tu jo nahin" is a number sung originally by Pakistan singer S.B. John in the film "Sawera". Son Glenn tries to recreate his father's voice with the number included twice in the album. This song is reminiscent of the old Bollywood track "Mohabbat ki jhoothi kahani".

"So jaoon main" is a slow number sung very well by Ghosal and also has a male version by Ganjawalla.

"Bin tere" is a popular track by Pakistani singer Jawad Ahmad. Here he sings a reworked version of his original number.

Overall, Pritam brings together all his bits and pieces from various sources without missing a beat. All the songs here are quite melodious.

It will be interesting to see how his original scores succeed as against the reworked versions. Still, "Woh Lamhe" is definitely worth a hearing.

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Woh Lamhe