Will you let me know if you know of an approximate version of Nathalie Cardone, who might be interested in yours truely? I was looking for that melodious song "El Otro Lado del Rio" from "The Motorcycle Diaries" over at YouTube when I ran into this music video by Ms. Cardone. It has something to do with Che Guevara, "revolutcion" and all that jazz but I was more entranced by Ms. Cardone's "hotness" as she shoots and totes an AK-47; that is how shallow I am.

I immensely liked songs of the Pakistani group Fuzon that were used in the movie "Hyderbad Blues -2"; I would even venture so far as to say "Tere Bina" and "Mora Saiyaan" were the saving graces of that movie. These two along with other excellent songs such as "Aankhon Ke Saagar" and "Saagar" can be heard in Fuzon's full length album "Saagar".

Apart from the soft pop idiom of Fuzon, two excellent songs from across the border that have recently captured my ears: the qawaali laced Man Ki Lagan and Jiya Dhadak Dhadak Jaye. Both these songs are sung very beautifully by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, nephew of great Nusrat. The minimilistic music that uses only two to four intsrutments was composed by a Pakistani based duo Faisal Rafi and Rohail Hyatt. In a Rediff interview, Faisal says that instead of receiving credit for their compositions, these were attributed to that great copycat Anu Malik, possibily because the movie makers (Pooja & Mahesh Bhatt) feared a saffron backlash. A WTF moment this one! I hope they come out with an album soon, so that I can send some $$ across the border.