Music review: Angamaly Diaries

There was a time when Malayalam film musicians banked on the unique style of our regional folk music to come up with refreshing tunes in Malayalam cinema.

It seems Prashant Pillai has brought the trend back with

Angamaly Diaries

. The album is heavily influenced by folk music and offers a delectable blend of nostalgic tracks, ranging from devotional songs to ballads.

A song for Angamaly Geevarghese aka St.George opens the album. Angamaly Pranchi, whose name hasn’t been much heard of in the film music circuit, sings the song that has some nice beats with a regional flavour. It’s not a track that might appeal to all but it has a rich and lively church perunnal procession feel to it.

Ayalathe Pennente by Shreekumar Vakkiyil, the next song, is a poetic, simple and short romantic ditty. The minimal or next to no usage of BGM for the intro portion works well for the song. It has the feel of a heart’s romantic murmur and thus hooks you in no time.

Angamaly Pranchi’s voice powers the next song Theeyame yet again, with Shreekumar. The song is about a guy talking to his girl how the good times have arrived, and the chorus rejoices along. Best listened to with a group of friends during a camp fire or a house party and yes, this is something that can get even the lazy, grooving.

Thana Dhina, again by Pranchi, reminds you of rhythmic lyrics used in margamkali and other Christian musicals. The pooram feel towards the end of the track is its highlight.

While all the above have their own charm, what might connect best with the audience today is the next song of the album, Do Naina. Shreekumar Vakkiyil and Preeti Pillai sing their own versions of the Hindi and Malayalam variant La Vettam. Easily hummable and catchy, it shows the beauty of simplicity in melody. The song breezily unfolds and before you know, it’s over and you wish for more. It gives a perfect finale to the album that can be truly considered traditional yet unique.