Pancham’s Aaj Ki Raat to Kronos Quartet’s tonight’s the night

In 1990s, a friend had introduced David Harrington of Kronos Quartet to the song “Aaj ki raat.” Harrington was mesmerised, and the song ended up on the album Kronos Caravan. Kronos Quartet is a band headed by David Harrington. Kronos Caravan is an ensemble of the songs from world around with all of them rearranged as needed to fit a string quartet. “Aaj ki Raat” (Tonight’s The Night) is aided by Ustad Zakir Hussain on the tabla. Later on the Kronos did an entire album with Asha Bhonsle giving vocals to a mixed bag of Pancham’s Hindi & Bengali songs. This album was nominated at the 2005 Grammy Awards in “Best Contemporary Music” category!

The unpredictable R.D.Burman weaves magic around the listeners and often surprises with his tunes. He very easily turned a romantic number into a pop or a cabaret into a soft crooning number. One such example is the song from the movie “Ananmika”(1973). Lyrics by Majrooh Sultanpuri, Pancham has utilised Asha Bhonsle’s aphrodisiac voice to the “T”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70nTDB5M-Es