With films like Kagbeni, Sano Sansar, Mero Euta Saathi Chha, First Love, Kohi Mero, and Ek Din Ek Raat thinking beyond the orthodox style of composing soundtracks for Nepali films and giving an opportunity to a bunch of the new generation of musicians and singers, Nepali films are definitely marching ahead for a musical transformation.
Slated to release on February 4, Friday, director Prasanna Poudyal’s Swor’s album is one more amongst the very few albums of Nepali films which has dared to go experimental.
To have Sugam Pokharel, Satya Raj Acharya and Swaroop Raj Acharya as music composers of mainstream Nepali movie isn’t something one would normally imagine. All the seven songs in SWOR are the compositions of these three singers/musicians who we know better for their solos, pop and modern music, and not for soundtracks.
Though this isn’t the first time that the Acharya brothers and Sugam Pokharel are singing for a feature film, it however is one of those very few albums in Nepali film industry that has no Dipak Limbu singing and there’s no Sambhujit Baskota or Mahesh Khadka composing the songs.
Written by Bhupendra Khadka, compsed and sung by Satya Raj Acharya, Bholi Yo Gham, the first track of the album, weaves beautifully between the rhythms of rhythm guitar and flute notes accompanied by the power-packed voice of the singer. The sound effects and the percussions in the chorus make this song one of the finest of SWOR. The best thing about this song is it uses many instruments – fom rhythm guitar to lead and bass, piano to harmonium, tabla to octopad, and violin to flute. The lyrical part compliments well with the fusion of the instruments. Satya Raj’s vocal range is equal to what the composition requires; he doesn’t kill the mood of the melody.
Sadly, while you’re feeling all WOW about the first track, the second Bolchhu Ma, performed by Mingma Sherpa, kills all your musical mood. I wonder what went wrong while Swaroop Raj Acharya was composing this number because the music and singer walk completely a different line of notes throughout this four minute-long song. While the drums sound too high, Mingma Sherpa sings like he is reading news. He should’ve focused on limiting himself to his own style of singing than trying too hard to get the alap.
Euta Namuna in the voices of Thupden Bhutia and Anju Panta is a beautifully composed folk-pattern song by the Acharya brothers. Everything is just perfect. Singers Bhutia and Panta compliment each other romantically and are just at that right place of the vocal meter. The jugalbandi between madal, tabla, flute, synthesizer and other percussions tickles your bone often. This reminds you of the pure Nepali filmy songs of the 1980s.
Satya and Swaroop shouldn’t have tried that hard to experiment with Gham Kina as you can’t differentiate which genre does this song falls into. It doesn’t sound like pop, nor modern, nor classical and folk.
Track No 5, Last Song, is the track stealer of the album. The vocal and composition by Swaroop and words by Bhupendra Khadka works hand in hand with each other to make this track stand out from the rest of the six compositions.
After this track, you’ll keep experiencing good music as Maya Phool and Superstar, both sung and composed by Sugam Pokharel and written by Bhupendra Khadka, are beautiful treats to your ears. They are so Sugam Pokharel kind of pop songs, and nothing too much is done to destroy Pokharel’s household style of singing.
All in all, Swor’s musical album is an ensemble of experimentations: some well tried, some failed. The album is produced by 2SMusic.
This feature film directed by Prasanna Poudyal and produced by Manish Rajbhandari, Ravi Lama, and Suren Balami casts Raj Ballav Koirala in the lead role. The film releases in Kathmandu on Friday, February 4.
The writer is Program Officer at Indian Cultural Centre, Indian Embassy.
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