Some Mind blowing Non Bollywood Hindi songs I discovered in 2021 (Part 3)
2021 for me was a year I discovered a lot of great music. My playlist increased quite significantly. I found myself researching on quite a few Independent music artists whom I had otherwise not even heard of, or had just heard the name of. So here I am collating below a list of Non Hindi Film/ Non Bollywood Hindi songs which I discovered in 2021.
19. Dil Mere by The Local Train
When it comes to a band like The Local Train you can expect all kinds of varieties. Even their most simple work has uniqueness to it. When I first heard this song , it seemed to me as just one of their breezy numbers, I was wondering how this song has so many views on Youtube. But once I started listening to it on repeat I found this song to be very addictive. The kind of song that would stay in your head for a long time.
This song came out in 2016, five years back. It is written, composed and performed by The Local Train members Raman Negi, Paras Thakur, Ramit Mehra and Sahil Sarin.
20. Sage by Ritviz
I find Ritviz to be quite a unique artist. The way he fuses Electronics and soft, sublime Indian sounds is interesting. I Had heard Udd Gaye many years back when AIB released it, Baraat is a routine Instagram story track these days, however the song by him that made me follow him more seriously was Sage. I really like the peppy and groovy tunes mixed with more rooted lyrics about longing companionship and a whole lot of funky Indian music pieces. I also liked the video of the song. Both the leads in the video have acted well.
This song came out in 2019, two years back.
21. Choo Lo by The Local Train
This track is from the band’s first Album Aalas ka Pedh, the track Dil Mere which I mentioned earlier is from the same album. This is a more genre specific alternate rock track. It has all the feels of a Hindi Rock track. It also has a strong heartbreak feel. It’s a good song to play post breakup.
This song came out in 2016, five years back. Kudos to The Local Train.
22. Bombay Dreams by Kshmr, Lost Stories and Kavita Seth
I really don’t have enough words to describe how well sounds are mixed for this track. Lost Stories have done a brilliant job at mixing so many contrasting sounds. They have blended Kavita Seth’s rustic vocals with Kshmr’s suave vocals and a whole lot of other sounds to create this wonderful song. The video of the song is equally good. Loved the lead kid Akshat Singh so much in the video. His overall presence suits the story arc perfectly. I was scanning through the comment section of this track only to find out his name after watching the video the very first time.
This came out in 2019, two years back.
23. Samjhoge tum bhi kya by 2 Musicians
(Suyash Mishra and Pragnay Purohit)
This track dropped by in Mid December 2021, just when I was about to close this list. Got to know about this track through Youtuber Sangeetartist. This is a sad song, it has a great amount of melancholy. But the sound is very Indian, very rooted with no or minimal western influence, which is a good thing here. It’s refreshing to hear a sad song on broken dreams, broken life which is so ingrained. This song in terms of vibes reminds me a lot of that old Roop Kumar Rathod track “Aisa koi zindagi se wada toh nahi tha”. I always felt why no one composes songs like those. The vocalist Pragnay Purohit sounds so good, especially his harqats. This is a must listen track.
The song is composed by Suyash Mishra, written and performed by Pragnay Purohit.
24. Hum Tujhse Juda by Fiddlecraft
This is a the kind of breezy romantic track ideal to play on a date. It sounds very fresh too. The kind you’d expect to find in a Bollywood movie about college kids, college romance. The acoustics are sound unique. The lyrics are quite playful too, they have a Gulzar-esque feel.
Kudos to Fiddlecraft consisting of vocalist Gaurav Kadu, whose also the Songwriter, other members Akshay More, Vikas Makasare, Dev Verma and Syed Saif Ali. Female vocals by Priyanka Duneja. This track came out in late 2019, two years back.
25. Guzaarish by JalRaj (Jalaj and Rajat)
This is a sweet persuasive track aimed to sort out issues with an angry or hurt partner. This song has a lot of the Sukoon feeling. This one too came out at the fag end of 2021, when I was just closing this list. I was introduced to JalRaj again through Sangeetartist. Do check out their other work as well. They are a talented duo.
26. Main Chahta Hoon by Swastik The Band
I generally find the sound of Swastik The Band to be very wholesome. The elaborate instrumental portions in their songs are very impressive. This song too builds up slowly with a lot of instrumental pieces in the beginning. Though, The first stanza and the second stanza lyrically are a bit contrasting. In fact, the choice of words in the second stanza is quite unusual. But the music, and vocals are so enticing, they take away any such complaints. I just loved the Aalaap portions of this song.
This song came out in 2017, two years back. Hats off to Swastik The Band in composing, writing and performing it.
27. Kasoor by Prateek Kuhad
Okay, with this choice in my list I know I am kind of contradicting the criteria I myself laid down in the beginning. This list was to include Non Bollywood/ Non Filmy Hindi songs. This song was used in in the Kartik Aaryan starrer Ram Madhvani directed movie Dhamaka which released in November 2021 itself. But the thing is, the song came out a year before in 2020. I discovered this track sometime in early 2021 and I still think of this as an Indie track. And as such, the movie used the acoustic version of this track and I’m in love with it’s studio version.
Getting done with all that clarification, isn’t the track lovely? It’s such a hearty track, with so much feel good factor. Listening to it on a Monday morning can actually help overcome the signature morning blues. Prateek Kuhad helms this track and his unique singing style completely works so well to the song’s merit. The video compliments the track too.
So that was my list. Hope I am able to discover more such wonderful songs, get to know about more such talented artists and basically expand my playlist further in 2022.