Songs To Make You Go WOW!. Review on Barson Huey - Sanjo and Chandrani

After Mr. Flying Castle a. k. a Mr. Rajendra has written the Mother Of All Reviews on Barson Huey, it really makes no sense for me to even attempt reviewing this album. I actually came here to write a song-by-song description and then realised it was futile as I will end up merely repeating everything that Flying Castle has already voiced so emphatically and accurately. Still, there are some important points that I would like to make, many of these being thoughts and ideas that struck me while I was reading all the other reviews in addition to Flying Castle’s detailed critique of the album.

Firstly, let me say that Flying Castle and I are exactly on the same wavelength. His identification of certain songs as ''critics choice'' is bang on. These truly are amazing numbers, reflective of the sheer skill and artistic maturity of Sanjo and Chandrani. Especially, Palkon Pe Tha which has that rare quality of longevity. I think it will stand the test of time. Another song rated as critics choice by Flying Castle is Sapno Ko Ek Shahar. I agree one hundred percent! You have to carefully listen to this song to believe how good, how deep, how artistic and how intense it is. It is a blockbuster and wins hands down.

My favourite after listening to this album (end-to-end) for more than two weeks is Barson Huey. I think it captures exactly what I have personally been through about five years ago with a girl called Mini, and it is almost as if the lyricist was writing this song for me. Like Flying Castle says, it is heart-wrenchingly strong, emotionally and sentimentally. Chandrani's lyrics have this ability to stir up images that get seared into your memory. You can actually feel the pain.

Secondly, I strongly agree with Flying Castle that this duo is going to be really, really niche – thank God for that. However, not being mainstream means that their music will never be readily available like the typical market masala stuff. Remixes, item numbers, vanilla pop, etc are alu-piyaaz and will, therefore, always be available in the Music Mandi. But these niche artistes like Sanjo and Chandrani are the ones that true music lovers will have to track down in the narrow by-lanes and backwoods of music.

Having lived in Bombay for years, I made it a point to collect a lot of such niche stuff from various sources. My Rock Machine tapes got fungus-filled with the passage of time. So I tracked the artistes down and, on request, got their songs on an audio CD (I guess you could call it official bootleg music!) Similarly, years after Ajit Singh vanished from the Bombay music scene, I managed to contact him and get many of my favourites on CD. In much the same way, when I was a student at IIT Kharagpur, I tenaciously followed a Bengali band called Muheenar Ghoragulee. The band broke up after the death of their founder, and their music gradually disappeared from stores. But even today, I have a lot of their unreleased songs on CD, obtained by contacting various ex-members of the band. Initially I had them on audio tape. Later, when digital technology arrived on the scene, I hired a professional sound engineer to transfer the songs to CD. It cost me a bomb, but it was worth it.

As mentioned earlier, I agree with Mr. Flying Castle that Sanjo and Chandrani are going to be niche artistes who are unlikely to encounter heady commercial success (even though the album contains at least three songs that have the potential of becoming mainstream super hits, no prizes for guessing which ones I am referring to). Like others, I too am stuck with an audio cassette that will inevitably start wearing out in less than three months (given the rate at which I am listening to it). But hey, there is great news. I wrote to the artistes through their website and within three days I got a reply from their manager, Mr. David. He is unbelievably helpful. He is arranging to send a CD to me!

Lastly, here is my point of disagreement with Mr. Flying Castle and almost all the other reviewers here on Mouth Shut. Everyone is writing about how elusive and unknown the artistes are, and how nobody knows anything about them. Excuse me, folks. If you are reading this, that means right at this moment you are on an Internet-enabled computer. Seek and you will find. Just Google the keywords ''Sanjo Chandrani'' and in a jiffy you will get all the information you want and loads more – everything from interviews and articles to blogs and profiles. Yes, I agree that the website doesn't say much, but there is more than enough dope on these two artistes available on the World Wide Web.

Recommendation

Just buy it!