Humnasheen (album)

Humnasheen is the first Ghazal album by Bollywood playback singer Shreya Ghoshal. The album was released on February 12, 2014 by Times Music. Composed by Deepak Pandit, the album consists of 8 tracks. Lyrics are penned by Manoj Muntashir.

Development

As confirmed by Ghoshal, the recording of the album started as early as February 2012. She even stated the album will contain hardcore Ghazals. By April 2, 2012, she had recorded four tracks. Initially, no information AbOUT the composer of the album came out, but Ghoshal later confirmed that it was Deepak Pandit. They had earlier worked in films like The Great Indian Butterfly, Yeh Faasley and I Am Kalam.

The recording was then put on hold for about a year, after which Ghoshal later in March 2013, declared that she had started recording again. The final recording took place on December 4, 2013, quite after a long gap.

Ragas and INSTRUMENTS

Bangles were used to record the background score for some songs. Instruments like Mohan veena, violin, guitar, tabla, flute, bass guitar, sarangi, harmonium and many others were reportedly used.

Lyrics

Though Manoj Muntashir penned the lyrics for most of the songs, there are guest lyricists, namely, Vaibhav Modi and Ahmed Anees, who wrote the lyrics for the songs "Naam Likh Kar" and "Raaton Ko" respectively. In order to pay tribute to the renowned lyricist Ajay Jhingran, who passed away in 2013, Manoj Muntashir used his lyrics for the song "Kuchh Rishtey".

Release and Reception

The digital release of the album took place on February 12, 2014, when it was made available on services like iTunes and Spotify. Online streaming facilities were soon offered by services like Gaana.com. The tracks were also made available on the official website of Times Music. Times Music also uploaded the album jukebox on their YouTube channel. As a promotional act, Ghoshal wore the same outfit that she can be seen wearing in the album cover, during her concert at Nairobi, Kenya, on February 15, 2014.

Critical Reception

Ghoshal's renditions was praised by notable personalities and her contemporaries like Shruti Pathak, Shekhar Ravjiani, Sophie Choudry, Sonu Nigam, Joy Sarkar, Harshdeep Kaur, Vijay Yesudas and critic Rajiv Vijayakar. Bolly Spice rated the album 4 out of 5 stars. Bodrul Chaudhury of Bolly Spice wrote that the album "should be treasured in the years to come", finding most of them to be stylistically unique. Of Shreya he wrote: "Praise is due to her for exemplifying that music is more than just Bollywood... Humnasheen is a fine example of why Shreya Ghoshal is considered to be one of India’s most beloved singers!" Critics of Music Aloud wrote — "It comes as no surprise that the star of Humnasheen is Shreya Ghoshal; it is not often that the singer gets to display her classical prowess and she makes the most of it here. That said, she is complemented wonderfully by Deepak Pandit and his brilliant set of musicians, featuring some well-revered names. And the result is one keeper of a Ghazal debut for Shreya."

Charts Performance

Soon after its release, the term "#Humnasheen" was trending on Twitter. Within a few hours of its release, Humnasheen became the second-most popular album on iTunes India charts.

Album Credits

The complete credits of the album was published by Music Aloud at their official website.

• Music arrangement: Deepak Pandit
• Violin: Deepak Pandit
• Tabla: Heera Pandit
• Rhythm arrangement: Heera Pandit
• Programmer: Sanjay Jaipurwale
• Keys: Sanjay Jaipurwale
• Guitar: Sanjay Jaipurwale
• Mohan veena: Vishwa Mohan Bhatt
• Flute: Ronu Majumdar, Ashwin Srinivasan
• Sarangi: Dilshad Khan
• String section: Neville Franco and Group
• Autoharp: Deepak Borkar
• Vibraphone: Dhyanesh Dev
• Recording: K. Sethuraman
• Mixing: K. Sethuraman
• Mastering: K. Sethuraman