Five Christmas tracks by Mumbai musicians that must be on your playlist

Of course we all love Jingle Bell Rock But what if we told you that there were a bunch of city musicians who have released their own original Christmas songs and covers that you can rock out to as well We at Sunday midday have narrowed it down to five musicians in the city and five songs you need to have on your playlistChristmas in Mumbai by Keshia BKeshia B released her debut single Christmas in Mumbai last yearKnown as the ldquoBlack Mamardquo of the Indian western music industry Maladbased Keshia B has built an audience for her deep soulful voice Christmas in Mumbai her RampB soul single is her debut original song which she released last year in December The 32yearold who has been a part of church choirs and carol singing groups in her area ldquoBut when you listen to the songrdquo she says ldquoit talks about how it was to live in Mumbai during the pandemic how people have changed and what it means to celebrate a festival nowrdquo The essence of this song was to bring forth the message of kindness love and hopeAvailable on all streaming platformsThe Best Christmas Ever by Gwen FernandesThe Christmas album by Gwen Fernandes also has a Konkani coverGrowing up in a family of musicians Gwen Fernandes a Goan settled in Santa Cruz released the album The Best Christmas Ever in 2020 Out of the eighttrack cover album that includes popular Christmas carols and songs such as Blue Christmas Holly Jolly Christmas Let it Snow Winter Wonderland and many others what caught our eye is Feliz NavidadNatalam which is a Konkani version of the popular Spanish carol The 25yearold singersongwriter also has a Konkani YouTube channel where she posts a video a month usually one of a hymn ldquoSo when I was planning my Christmas album I thought there had to be at least one Konkani song and I wrote my own lyrics from Feliz Navidad related to life happiness and togethernessrdquo says Fernandes She admits that her father enjoys listening to Konkani songs and also making other Konkani music fans smile with her rendition of the carolAvailable on all streaming platformsFor Christmas by Natania and ZaedenNatania and Zaedenrsquos song for Christmas is all about being with yoursquore your loved ones during the holidays PicAshish RajeWe wrote this song in the middle of the pandemicrdquo says Colaba export to Los Angeles Natania Lalwani She wrote For Christmas in collaboration with singer and producer Sahil Sharma aka Zaeden and it released in 2020 The theme of the song was about being with your loved ones during Christmas ldquoIrsquom gonna be with you for Christmas Ainrsquot no way Irsquom gonna miss thisrdquo This song was inspired by Nataniarsquos own feeling of being stuck in LA during Christmas because of the pandemic and not being able to come home to India ldquoZaeden wanted to do a Christmas song and he reached out to me to cowrite it but then I sang the demo and it sounded nice We ended up collaborating We got on to a zoom call and wrote it the song in about an hourrdquo says the musician The animated music video is cutesy and warm and will give you the complete Christmas vibeAvailable on all streaming platformsPicInstagramChristmas Time by Tubby and Samantha NoellaTubby and Samantha Noellarsquos Christmas Time features saxophonist Mark Hartsuch and a childrenrsquos choirReleased in December last year Christmas Time is definitely the right song to put you into the holiday spirit Awardwinning score composer Indrajit Sharma better known as Tubby got together with Samantha Noella a singer vocal coach and cofounder of Scattitude Academy of Music for this Christmasthemed song which also features drummer Vinayak Pol and saxophonist Mark Hartsuch ldquoBeing a professional musician and with my experience in various genres I like to do happy joyful and funky kinds of songs and the same is true for Christmas as wellrdquo says Tubby who has been in the industry for around 34 years The song is about celebrating the festival with family and friends and making it a happy joyous time as ldquothe lyrics talk about family coming together making sweets and other simple thingsrdquo ldquoI always see Christmas as an international festival and not just Indian So the influences have to be western more upbeat and that is how I conceptualised itrdquo adds Tubby Besides Noellarsquos soaring vocals and Hartsuchrsquos subtle sax composition which gave a brass element what caught our eye was the childrenrsquos choir from Noellarsquos music academy ldquoWhen I wrote this song I was very clear that I wanted Samantha but I also wanted to use a childrenrsquos choir and luckily she had a bunch of students in her school who were very goodrdquoAvailable on all streaming platformsChestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire by Vasundhara VeeVasundhara Vee a jazz singer grew up singing in choirs Pic CourtesyVijay KateOne of the countryrsquos finest jazz and blues singers Vasundhara Vee released a cover of Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire with pianist and composer Ron Cha The original song was released by American jazz musician Nat King Cole Hailing from a polytheistic family Vasundhara grew up singing in choirs ldquoChoir carols and knowing music as a lsquocommunity activityrsquo was a big part of my upbringingrdquo she adds As a jazz musician she believes that Christmas carols have the tendency to lend themselves to a lot of interpretation ldquoCarols give us an emotional masterreset at the end of the year We reconnect with the child within us We allow more space for faith prayer blessings magic and miraclesrdquo she addsWe canrsquot help but appreciate her soulful vocals and Charsquos beautiful piano composition complimenting her voice almost like a lullaby on a cosy Christmas nightAvailable on YouTube