MUMBAI: The music industry is cashing in on World Cup cricket fever. Nirvana Music, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nimbus Communications, yesterday announced the launch of Khel Re - the official music album of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003.
While this is an album that celebrates a cricketing extravaganza that occurs once every four years, it's about more than just the game. It focuses on passion in all its forms and the road one has to travel to achieve one's dreams.

"Through the album we've explored the intricacies of life, celebrated the spirit of man in not giving up and emerging victorious," says Nirvana Music business head Rahul Guha.

Popular singer Sukhwinder Singh, who sings the song Raahon Mein on the album says: "We all dream of being successful in life, but success comes at a price. Through the song, I want to tell our team to stand up and overcome each hurdle that stands in the way of us winning the World Cup. Come on guys, we can do it!"

The beauty of Khel Re is that it is an album that is timeless. Anyone can identify with the songs, find meaning in them and enjoy them in times to come. All of this created in a manner that is stylish and meaningful. Further, rarely do top musicians and singers join hands to contribute to an album.

Khel Re is indeed huge in terms of artist involvement. Top composers Jatin-Lalit, Rajesh Roshan, Sajid-Wajid, Lalit Sen, Nitin Raikwar have combined with new and young talent like Harpreet, Jeet M. Ganguli and Jayanta Pathak to contribute soulful and energetic tunes to the album.

In addition to Sukhwinder Singh (Raahon mein), the album also features the exceptional vocal talents of Alka Yagnik and Abhijeet (Naye naye sapnein), KK (Waqt), Sunidhi Chauhan (Khamoshi), Shankar Mahadevan (Sabse aage), Vasundhara Das and Sudesh Bhosle (Khelna hai re), Vinod Rathod (Humko hai yakeen), Bali Brahmabhatt (Hum hai jahan). Bands like Parikrama (But it rained)and PMC (Dil bharian) also feature on the album, providing variety that is meant to reflect the breadth of music popular in this country.

The video of the song Khelna Hai Re is currently on air on MTV, exclusively. It will be featured on all music channels, as well as a few others like CMM, Zee Cinema, Zee Alpha, SABe and Sahara by the first week of February.

Hero Honda, LG and Doordarshan are also associated with the album.