Amit Trivedi Is Not Rahman

Comparisons are always unfair. Sachin Tendulkar isn't Sunil Gavaskar or Donald Bradman. Abhay Deol isn't Amitabh Bachchan or Shah Rukh Khan. And, you guessed it, Amit Trivedi, the up and coming music director who has given us memorable soundtracks for Aamir and Dev D, isn't Rahman. However, Trivedi is a rising star on the Bollywood music direction scene. He possesses an unusual talent for raw rhythm and excels at bass lines and percussion. For example, the opening of Chakkar Ghumyo (Aamir) is both inventive and raw. He also borrows creatively from Western influences. For instance, Phas Gaya (Never Mind) reminds me unmistakably of Jamiroquai. Here again, similarly to the opening for Chakkar, Trivedi employs verbal percussion very effectively. He experiments successfully with various genres, e.g. rock on Nayan Tarse (complete with guitar feedback) and Emosanal Attyachaar (Rock Version) and rap on Pardesi. Also worth noting is the use of sampling, e.g. on Nayan Tarse. To me, his rhythmic inventiveness is his core strength. I have, however, yet to see the nuanced compositional underpinning tying an entire soundtrack together thematically as the classically trained Rahman has done on the scores for Water, Kisna, or Bose. Perhaps that is still to come since Trivedi is just getting warmed up with only two movie soundtracks under his belt, both of which hit the listener like tsunamis. It's a clever idea to include 18 (mostly small) numbers on the Dev D soundtrack, thereby allowing Trivedi to showcase a wide variety of his skill set and giving most listeners something to hang their hat on. A great debut is one that keeps fans thirsting for the next offering and Amit Trivedi has more than achieved that. I define a good album based not on how many hits it produces but on how many times one is drawn to listening to it over and over again in order to completely internalize the richly textured music. And on that account again, Trivedi scores big.

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