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The roly-poly Pied Piper of pop
Most of Adnan Sami's songs are based on the themes of love and relationships, and feature an exciting mix of
Western and Indian musical elements.
HARDLY A year back, the fastest keyboard player in the world collaborated with Asha Bhosle and released a pop
album in Hindi. "Kabhi To Nazar Milao" was the result - and Adnan Sami was the singer. The roly-poly
singer-cum-songwriter repeated his success with the second single, "Barsaat", and soon reached the pinnacle of fame
through "Lift Karadey" which still remains as one of the bigger hits of Indipop. His unconventional dance steps
combined with a video appearance by Govinda made the song a countrywide rage and stayed on the MTV charts for
a record number of weeks. The follow-up remix version of the song, too, was well received.
Adnan hails from Pakistan and hence joins the cross border company of Strings, Ali Haider, Junoon and the rest. But
what distinguishes him is the fact that the composes and sings his own music and this chemistry was evident in his
debut album. Most of his songs are based on love and relationships and are often very sentimental and feature an
exciting mix of Western and Indian music influences.
Adnan Sami happens to be the first pianist to play Indian Classical music pieces on the keyboard and started playing
on his father's electronic piano at the age of five. Later, he was educated at England's famed Rugby School and later
graduated from the London University. Adnan went on to become an accomplished concert piano player as well as a
composer for both Indian and Western Classical music. As a concert piano player, he has performed in Sweden, UAE
among other countries and has been part of many prestigious music festivals and fetes. One of his early albums was a
pure classical work called "The One and Only" with Zakir Hussain. Adnan's career has graduated from classical to
jazz to new age pop rock and he has won for himself, several awards such as UNICEF's special award, the "Graduate
Award" and also a UN Peace medal for composing and writing a song for the people of Africa. An English TV
channel has recently designated him as the "Keyboard discovery of the 90's" after he created a world record by
becoming the fastest piano player in the world.
Adnan's second studio album, after "Kabhi To Nazar Milao", out this month is "Tera Chahra" (T-Series, Rs.55).
Maintaining the same unique musical style of his debut album, "Tera Chehra", is filled with melody and meaning
alike.
The title track, which has a colourful video featuring Rani Mukherjee, is very soulful and filled with feelings of
separation and sadness - but at the same time, the orchestration makes the song lively and makes you want to listen
to it again and again. The lyrics by Sameer are meaningful as well: "Yeh Zameen Jaaye; Aasman Jhukh Jaaye; Tera
Chehra, Jab Nazar Aa Jaye,Nain Se Nain" is a one-of-a-kind song - very interesting fusion of the tabla, violin, and the
keyboard with a hip-hop feel to it. In "Sanson Mein", Adnan has used the voice coder which sounds good and "Teri
Bahon Mein" is soulful as well.
If you felt the "Lift Karadey" effect was missing in the album, wait till you listen, "Kabhi Naee" which features (hold
your breath) Amitabh Bachchan! A very danceable, light song which involves a rather comical verbal fight between
Adnan and the Big B. The lyrics are cheeky as well and add to the comic element in the song. In fact, a video of this
track featuring the Big B is in the pipeline.
It seems the roly-poly singer has just reinforced the spell he has cast on his faithful listeners. The "pied piper" of
Indipop has just returned.
Way to go Adnan `miya'!
A. VISHNU