Adrian's tributes to "Janani"

KATHMANDU, April 6: Adrian Pradhan, the popular drummer of the fusion-rock band, the 1974 A.D., is more than just a percussionist extraordinaire. The former schoolteacher already has two albums under his belt. After Firoze Syangden, the lead vocalist of the band, walked out due to “some personal reasons”, the remaining four, Nirakar Yaktumba, Adrian, Manoj KC, and Sanjay Shrestha haven’t given much concentration on the band. Reasons: personal projects. Of the four, Adrian has been churning out singles one after another. The third solo venture proves that he has more to offer. [break]

In the last couple of months, Adrian toured in and outside the country. He has long proven that he’s not just good with drumsticks but can sing equally powerful songs, too. One of his first singles “Sara khusi sameti” garnered much admiration amongst pop enthusiasts that drove Anil Singh’s pet project to such heights and more accolades. Adrian’s first solo album “Aja” is still popular in the market while his second album “Ballad” didn’t fare badly, either, though there were certain confusion with his record label, Taal Music.

After a year of his concert tour, Adrian has come up with his third edition called “Janani” which, in his words, is dedicated to his three mothers – the motherland, the mother Earth, and all the mothers of the world.

Both his previous albums were released by Taal Music. So is Janani. It has six features by Adrian, which are mainly dominated by fast pop beats, with solid strumming of electric guitar, heavy sharp drumming, piano at places, and flute as filler.

His first track speaks about missing his love. The second, also a romantic sentimental, is about the ups and down in a relationship. The third title throws a satire on how people in Nepal have gone all commercial while overlooking the problems the country is going through. Adrian’s fourth track comes back to his usual romantic saga with resembling style of singing, slow and slurry. He becomes a little more patriotic with his fifth number “Timi sadhai timi.” The last one is again a love-tragedy story.

For many who have heard Adrian’s sentimental songs before, “Janani” is a completely different package of fast beats that consist of more dance numbers. It might be too much for most of his fans to hear him sing to the tunes of Dhiraj Rai in some numbers, like “Aakasaiko” and “Sir sir siri.” He is not Dhiraj Rai, and that is best for him.

No doubts that his voice and sound projection still have those heavy notes we miss in 1974 AD. But the fact remains that he’s taken a great risk in being experimental in “Janani.”

Two of his numbers, “Dherai tadaa” and “Kataa kataa” are going to make it big amongst the other tracks because those two carry his signature styles.

The songs in the album are composed by Patrick Sitling, Narayan Oli, Prakash Gurung, Brian Moktan, Subhash Mukhia, and Adrian himself. The compositions are mediocre at best. None of the singles are exceptional. None makes your heart wrench. And nor are they so bad, either, that you would punch yourself. At many places, the punch seems to be missing, due to lack of good lyrics or better tune composition.

Adrian sings well, no doubt. And we love his voice. This album may not be as good as his first solo projects. We would rather he take less risks on his solo albums and continue his former slow and upbeat rock-pop numbers rather than trying different genres.

avash@myrepublica.com