Lucky Ali is one of those independent artists who has fortunately not faded away from popular fascination over the decades unlike his other indie peers. Just a few months ago, his acoustic cover of O Sanam had gone viral all over the internet and now the seasoned veteran is back with an original called Amaraya.
Amaraya reunites Ali with Israeli musician Botzer as both had collaborated earlier for an equally thoughtful track On My Way last year. Lyrically, Ali hasn’t lost his philosophical approach at all as he and Botzer both sing in their tongues about the universality of the world. While Botzer opens the song with Hebrew and Ali’s verses are in Urdu and Hindi, both singers croon the Arabic chorus that’s simply hard-hitting, to say the least. ‘We are all mirrors and reflections of each other’, that’s the hook, if roughly translated to English.
A multi-instrumental composition, its sound wavers between optimistic and cynical, leaving it up to the listener to decide the tones that the song explores. Considering Lucky Ali’s age and experience as a world-travelling artist, his lyrics do evoke his poetic self from the past albeit in a calmer mood. While his previous tracks from the 90s and 2000s were increasingly upbeat, Amaraya is more somber in its nature.
And of course Botzer’s voice too boasts of rawness that suits his quest to understand spiritual truths. As for the instrumentation, Muthu Kumar’s tabla skills make for a memorable interlude while Annada Parsanna Pattanaik’s flute is soothing right from the start.
The music video opens with text that introduces Lucky Ali as a devout Indian Muslim and Botzer as an Orthodox Jew from Israel. The purpose behind this introduction is to arrive at the conclusion that while both artists hail from different backgrounds, they still are ‘reflections of the same mirror’. The statement holds true even in the case of their musical selves as they complement each other well with a similar vocal range.
Verdict: A memorable comeback for Lucky Ali touching upon throught-provoking themes.
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