Rahman on CNN

Bollywood truly has gone places in the 21st century and music whiz A.R. Rahman has been a central figure in taking the sounds of Indian music right into the global arena. The latest feather in his cap is composing music for the stage adaptation of ‘The Lord of the Rings’. For Rahman, it was another wonderful experience and he said so in a recent interview to CNN. The stage adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkein’s ‘The Lord of the Rings’ has been produced by Kevin Wallace with Rahman’s music and will debut on Broadway.

Rahman is a pioneer in the Indian music scene in that he re-energized Indian movie songs with new beats, introduced state-of-the-art technology and created a fusion of traditional and modern music in his offerings. He made his debut in Tamil movies in the South Indian film industry. Director Mani Ratnam made him the music composer for his Roja and the rest, as the cliché goes, is history.

Rahman did not stop there. He moved on to Bollywood and wowed the industry and audience alike with his music in super hit movies like Rangeela, Lagaan and continues his winning streak with Rang De Basanti. After establishing himself as a music composer in Indian films, he moved on to make successful albums. He was honored with the Padma Shri in 2002, India’s highest civilian award.

Rahman moved to the international arena by collaborating with Andrew Lloyd Webber with the hit musical Bombay Dreams which won him international attention. Not many can claim such talent or a career like this. Rahman hopes to start a classical conservatory in India or Chennai, in southern India since he respects the discipline of classical music. His other dream is to help create the next generation of musicians

"WHY ARE you writing about A.R.Rahman now? Has he done something new," somebody asked. Well, one does not always need a reason to write about him. This time, the National Award-winning composer has been in the news for taking the Chinese by storm by composing music for "Warriors of Heaven And Earth", a Chinese/English costume drama  about the ancient Silk Route. The background score (with one song) for the film will be released in India as soon as the Tamil and Hindi versions of the song are ready.

Just wait at Panchatan Recording Inn, his studio-cum-residence in Kodambakkam, and you get an insight into the life and times of the man. There are people, including director Khalid Mohammed, waiting in the courtyard. A TV camera crew is getting organised for a shoot, while an office boy walks from room to room, fanning a pot of smoking incense.

In the background, a man is heard on the phone asking for the price of a blues harp! In the middle of all this, Rahman's daughter is seen flitting in and out before finally deciding "to go upstairs." Well, the place has a definite character. Just like A.R.Rahman. He's an Indian all right with a sensibility of a world musician. And he's as friendly as ever when you meet him, after almost a year. Clad in black churidar kurta, and his trademark hairstyle still in place, Rahman tells you, "I give interviews when I want to chill out!" Excerpts...

On the Chinese project: The head of Sony Classical Music, whom I met in London, suggested that I do a project for them in the Western Classical mode. I was supposed to work with Joshua Bell, violinist (of "Red Violin" fame). It was while working with him that the Sony chief suggested I take up the Chinese film. I felt this was a better route to take instead of directly jumping into Hollywood. I met the director He Ping in January this year. The recording: Originally the music was supposed to be recorded in Beijing. But because of SARS, we moved to Prague. At that time, I was busy wrapping up "Boys". So much so, just three days before I had to leave, I realised I had not even started composing! I finally began work only in Prague. That too without the director, who could not get a visa. Fortunately, we worked on alternate days. So I found enough time to compose. Also, I was not doing five things at the same time. It was focussed work.

The compositions: What's interesting about the music is it's completely acoustic! I have mixed Chinese, Turkish and Indian sounds as the film is about the Silk Route. I wanted to give the Chinese something they had not heard before, while retaining that international flavour. We have used a Western orchestra and rare instruments such as the Armenian duduk. Looking back, strangely, the first three records I owned were a Chinese one, a Jim Reeves and one by a brass band!

The style: It is a departure from electronic sound, all right. I have always been passionate about Western Classical. I must admit that for the first time, when I heard my music played by the orchestra, it sounded exactly like what I had in my head! I found the whole experience liberating. What's more, what would usually have taken me about a month to finish took just three days!

Reactions in China: (The film has been released there) It has been very encouraging. The Chinese media has been particularly appreciative. Some of them, who saw the film without the sound track and later with it, said the music lifted the film to a different plane.

More Hindi than Tamil films on hand: It is not a sudden shift. If you see my work over the last 10 years, the sound tracks that really made a mark in Tamil have been with directors like Mani Ratnam, Shankar, Kadhir, Bharatirajaa and Rajeev Menon. Other than that, even when you worked very hard, it went unnoticed. Therefore, I do not want to take a risk because of time constraints. To fill the lacuna, I hope to translate some of my Hindi songs into Tamil and release them as albums without associating them with any film.

The Symphony: The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra has commissioned two works. One is an orchestral reworking of the themes from my various films, which is likely to open in March 2004. The other is a symphony based on "The Conference of the Birds" by Farid Ud-Din Attar, a Persian Sufi. The story is about birds and music, and I thought why not take up the challenge. It may be premiered in September next year. Here I would like to add that unlike in the West, we Indians are not too proud of our heritage. There's so much of Indian art that goes unnoticed because too much importance is given to films.

Bombay Dreams, the Broadway version: We are planning to add three numbers and take away three. The script is undergoing some changes to cater for the American audience.

Comment on the music industry: I think at this point, things are looking up. In 1999-2000, the business was overvalued by 40 per cent and exaggerated prices were being paid for film scores. So, when the market actually slumped, the scenario seemed worse than it really was. As for FM, I think it's great. But how to use it as a marketing tool is something we are still exploring.

His daughters: Well, I'll know in another year if they have any inclination towards music. They are seven and five. I think the younger one is showing some interest.

The future: I am looking forward to some rest. There's a lot of travelling in the future. Lots of projects on hand and so little time.

In fact, as we leave, a little bird tells us that yet another major musical might be in the offing!

FUTURE FLICKS

M.F. Husain's "Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities"

A.M. Ratnam's "Enakku 20 Unakku 18"

"Taj Mahal" (IMAX)

Sanjay Leela Bhansali's "Black", "Bajirao Mastani"

Shekar Kapur's "Paani"

Shyam Benegal's epic "Netaji"

Ketan Mehta's "1857/The Rising"

Subhash Ghai's "Homeland"

Ashutosh Gowrikar's "Swadesh"

Mani Ratnam's bilingual (untitled)

AR Rahman - Live in Melbourne

From L to R(foreground) - Chitra, Sadhana Sargam, Unknown, Madhushree, Alka Yagnik, Kailash Kher, AR Rahman, Shankar Mahadevan, Hariharan(in the dark).

There was excitement in the air when I woke up yesterday morning (or was it afternoon :D....well almost). I was going to a Live music show (my first one) and more than anything it was AR Rahmans show. A few months before the movie Roja released, I heard news from many sources that a new Music Director who has great potential had given music to Roja. I chose to ridicule that claim, the staunch Ilayaraja fan that I was.  But it was not long before I accepted Rehman as a class act. This however did not change my view of Ilayaraja. From Roja, AR Rahman has come a long way and has gone on to become a global achiever.

The venue was the Rod Laver Arena (better known as the main court for the Australian Open Tennis) and the time was 7 pm. The show started about 10 mins late but it started with a bang. ARR made a grand entry in white and in his shy voice said hi to the Melburnians who welcomed him in grand fashion. He immediately started off with Fanaaaaaaaa Fanaaaaaaaaa.......wow Whatta Start!!!!!!! The singers who had come were Shankar Mahadevan, Hariharan, Kailash Kher, Blaaze, Sadhana Sargam, Alka Yagnik, Chitra and Madhushree. There were non stop hit numbers right from Bombay to Lagaan, Taal to Swades, Dil Se to Mangal Pandey, Kandukonden Kandukonden to Rhythm, Mahanadi to Boys. The singers were very good as well. They were improvising a few songs, mixing a few songs in Hindi and Tamil, adding a few rap bits in some others.......

Humma Humma..., Chaiyyan Chaiyyan...., Thaniye Thannathaniye..... were a few songs that got the crowd on their feet. Shankar Mahadevan showed just how versatile he is and his stage presence is worth mentioning. He was interatcing with the crowd. Hariharan was not far behind, he had his moments with the crowd too and his voice.......just fantastic. Among the ladies, Sadhna Sargam was very good and Chitra was melodious as usual. ARR was performing on the synthesiser, the piano and was also lending his voice for certain bits. He also sang Ye Jo des hai tera and Humma Humma and a few other numbers. In reply to a vocie from eth audience that said “I love you Rahman”, ARR replied in a shy and coy manner “I love you tooooo“ :)

At about half time, while the troop was on a break, Sivamani - the percussionist performed a solo for about 10 mins and his performance is beyond words. He just confirmed to me that he is the worlds best. He was just Fantabulous. After this break, ARR performed  the theme song for the UNO Poverty Eradication program, a tune that he had composed with Blaaze. Fantastic again. The crowd got into the mood as well. As we didnt have candles with us, we used the display lights of our mobile phones and were swinging away. It was a wonderful sight and very creative I must say.

A jugalbandhi between Shankar Mahadevan (vocal) and ARR (piano) - Ghanana Ghanana....from Lagaan, was very engrossing. Then an improvised version of the same song with a very fast beat (ARR's tune incase the movie had to show that it actually rained) - Shankar was tremendous.

A section of the crowd was not happy with Tamil songs being sung and were shouting for Hindi songs. To me, this was ridiculous. With ARR, one should expect a few Tamil songs atleast. I thought ARR did well to choose Tamil songs that were also dubbed in Hindi, so that the crowd could relate to them better. About 50% of the songs were Hindi numbers, 25% of the songs weremixed (parts in Hindi and parts in Tamil),  about 10% were Tamil songs which were also dubbed in Hindi and the remianing 10% were purely Tamil songs. The crowd complaining was ridiculous given the minimal % of songs that were purely Tamil. The majority of the crowd were Tamilians (guaged from the applause and acceptance that each Tamil number received).

By now it was 4 hours of fantastic entertainment, not just songs but also a few dances in the background. A fitting finale was Vande Mataram from the man himself and all the artistes joining them on stage for the grand finale. In all it was a very exciting evening and the fact that the show was for a cause (charity) made it so much better.

Hollywood calling Rahman 

London, May 1
After charting many a hit at home, music wizard A.R. Rahman is all braced up for going global with a couple of Hollywood offers coming his way.

Rahman, whose first musical “Bombay Dreams” opens at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in London on June 19, told reporters here late last night that he had received a couple of Hollywood offers from Sony music.

The 35-year-old Rahman who has composed hit soundtracks for over 50 films including Oscar-nominated Lagaan, Fiza, Taal, Earth, Dil Se, Fire and Bombay, however, declined to give details.

“I wanted Rahman’s work to reach a new audience. It was his music which inspired the whole project,” said Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber, producer of ‘Bombay Dreams’.

The musical is based on an original idea by Shekhar Kapoor and Webber and the Bollywood dance sequences in it are directed by noted choreographer Farah Khan.

Terming his project as a “wonderful story” which would “break new grounds”, Webber, says “it is a story of Akaash and Priya: two lovers from different worlds, sharing one dream”.

“The box office for ‘Bombay Dreams’ has already opened and so far advance booking has grossed £ 700,000,” says Webber, adding that it took nearly three years to complete the musical. Some of Rahman’S*** tunes from Bollywood films like Dil Se, Rangeela and Taal also find their echo in Bombay Dreams.

Webber said the idea of producing a Bollywood musical had been brewing in his head for about five years.

“It started when I was pottering round the kitchen... Channel 4 used to do a Bollywood movie on a Saturday morning and rather good song came on, but I completely forgot to write down what it was.”

A little later, he met Kapoor and he offered to put together a video of the best of Bollywood. I found that one in every five songs was great and one in every five songs was composed by Rahman.” PTI

Travel the world in your home and delight your stereo to
some unique and varied melodies on and with a broad range
of instruments.  Jazz is far from the only style of music that
allows and calls for improv, this album has plenty of room
left in its score for individual style and interpretation. A wonderful celebration of music, lots of grand percussion, bold and powerful.  Plenty of Zen like melody mixed with some
lovely rhythm.  A pleasure to listen to and absorb.
 

A.R. Rahman 

Music snippets 

 A fire in him: Aag hai mujhmen kahi (There is a fire somewhere within me) is what former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee declared to film director Rakesh Mehra after watching Rang De Basanti. Vajpayee, an accomplished lyricist and poet himself, was repeating a line from a song in the film. A.R. Rahman’s music for Rang De Basanti has been making waves while the film’s story has touched a nerve deep within the country’s youth. Kudos to Rakesh Mehra

Shankar ropes in A R Rahman for Sivaji

Shankar and A.R. Rahman have been a potent combination giving wonderful music for great films. All their seven projects together have been box office hits. In the recent Anniyan, Harris Jayaraj was the composer. Although the songs did well, the background score did not jell well with the movie and was not much appreciated by the audience. Therefore, Shankar is interested in bringing Rahman back with the Rajini film, Sivaji. Rahman has already scored music for Rajini’s Muthu, Padayappa and Baba. Since the songs of these films were chart toppers, Rajini is also keen that Rahman should compose the music for Sivaji.

With music till the last

Filmi Music or devotionals, composer T. R. Pappa, who passed way recently, always made a mark. MALATHI RANGARAJAN talks to a few musicians who knew him well.

Sirgazhi Sivachidambaram

DR. SIRGAZHI Sivachidamabaram cannot stop talking about his association with veteran composer T. R. Pappa, who passed away recently. The singers gets sentimental because his father Sirgazhi S. Govindarajan sang more than 1,000 devotionals just for Pappa. "It is a record partnership between a singer and composer ... I vividly remember the days I would sit enraptured as the two worked on the music of "Abhirami Andhadhi" or "Kandar Alankaram." Sivachidambaram recalls the time when happenstance Pappa heard him sing and insisted he come for an audition test. "Not just me ... if he was impressed with a voice he would reach out and see to it that it was used well. His acumen to identify talent was incomparable. S. Janaki, for one. Composer Vidyasagar was another. And the innumerable voices he has used ... T. V. Ratnam, my dad, C. S. Jayaraman, Chandrababu, T. K. Kala, Sasirekha, Rajkumar Bharati, myself ... the list is endless," Sivachidambaram goes on. Pappa knew the range of each singer and used it suitably. "And he was particular about the diction. It had to be perfect," he adds. Pappa has opened the doors of opportunity to many a percussionist and instrumentalist. "Realising A. R. Rahman's potential and skill on the keyboard even as a young boy, Pappa would go to Rahman's house, pick up the boy for recordings and drop him back safely at home," he says.

Rahman the conductor was a letdown!

Karthikeyan Nagarajan | April 24, 2004 11:12 IST

When I heard that the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra had asked A R Rahman to conduct two live concerts in March this year, I was very happy and proud as an Indian and a Tamilian.

Earlier, I had felt proud in 1993 when Ilayaraja had recorded his first classical orchestral work with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of London. I was executive producer of that project.

It was Ilayaraja's first full-fledged classical work and it was recorded under the baton of John Scott. Unfortunately, Ilayaraja has still not released that work.

Hence to know that another composer from our midst has come to the world music arena was thrilling news. Rarely do musicians from our part of the world get such an opportunity.

But it was a big fiasco.

Rahman's popular film songs were converted into orchestral scores to be played by a classical symphony orchestra. They proved to be pale shadows of his original songs. And the predominantly Indian crowd did not appreciate them much.

It was obvious that not much thought had gone into the score. The objective should have been to retain the original melodic flavour suited to a symphony orchestra without electronic instruments and vocals.

Greater disappointment was his total non-preparation for conducting on stage. I consider that highly irresponsible. If Rahman thought conducting a symphony orchestra in concert was similar to a studio session, the people who risked allowing him to do it should be blamed.

I am surprised he has not fully understood the importance of the role of a conductor in a classical symphony orchestra.

Conducting is one of the most important aspects in a classical orchestra's live performance. People like Zubin Mehta have not become legends for nothing. Zubin is one of those rare talents who will conduct even the most difficult and complex symphonies like Mahler's 8th Symphony -- called the Symphony of a Thousand because Mahler's original debut concert required nearly 1,000 performers-musicians and choral groups -- without once referring to the score. Every bar of music is conducted from his memory, with total control and confidence of the orchestra.

As someone who has spent a lot of time on the UK music circuit over the last few years, I assumed Rahman would have done his homework and prepared the music as well as for his new role as conductor of a live concert, that too with a top-notch orchestra like the CBSO.

Rahman should have reminded himself that he was going to wield the baton of Sir Simon Rattle, who became CBSO conductor at 25 (in 1980) and made it one of the best orchestras in the world.

As a BBC reviewer wrote, "I cannot help feeling cheated by the concert. Though the orchestra were highly organised, Rahman seemed slightly uninterested to be there. Audience reactions were also mixed. The audiences were given opportunity to ask him questions to which he often replied with one-word answers. Rahman did conduct the orchestra for a short period, but later sat back with the audience and watched another conduct his music."

As with anywhere else in the West, most orchestras are going through a difficult time with dwindling concert attendances and slow music sales. Add to this the problem of population remix among local patrons.

By 2020, for example, Birmingham is tipped to become the first black majority city in UK. Now, its population is a mix of Asians, Africans and Chinese apart from the native whites.

Hence, orchestras are ready to try anything to bring people into the concert halls. And collaborations with musicians from Asia, titled Classic Asia, are part of the mission.

For the 84 year-old CBSO, it must have been a momentous, difficult decision. They took it because their survival depends on their ability to chart new paths.

With his exposure to the UK music industry through his collaboration with Andrew Lloyd Webber, it was not a surprise that Rahman got the project.

But his botching it up is.

I believe Rahman has not been able to transcend the barrier where his own singing and others are vital for his musical pieces. Obviously, there is an inability to compose music free of the composer/performer. He seems to have attempted something for which he is not yet ready intellectually.

In the end it was totally disappointing.

Rahman's confession -- "I messed it up. Will come next time with much more preparation" -- does not redeem him at all.

Water

Sarala, who plays an 8-year-old widow, and Lisa Ray in "Water."

Opens today in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Written (in Hindi, with English subtitles) and directed by Deepa Mehta; director of photography, Giles Nuttgens; edited by Colin Monie; music by Mychael Danna, with songs by A. R. Rahman, lyrics by Sukhwinder Singh; production designer, Dilip Mehta; produced by David Hamilton; released by Fox Searchlight Pictures. Running time: 114 minutes.

WITH: Seema Biswas (Shakuntula), Lisa Ray (Kalyani), John Abraham (Narayan) and Sarala (Chuyia).

A.R.Rahman: The 'Id ka chand' reappears

Andrew Lloyd Webber stint seemed to have Rahman so completely engrossed that he was hardly seen in local climes like Chennai. But the upbeat sales of his latest songs for Kadhir's Kaadhal Virus seem to have inspired him with affection for the land of Tamils once again. Recently, Rahman has graced public functions like shehnai maestro Bismillah Khan's concert in Chennai for the Amir Khusro Academy of music, where he personally felicitated the great Bismillah. With Kaadhal Virus facing competition from the Harris Jayaraj track of Laysa Laysa, and Sriram Parasuram, husband of 'O Podu' girl Anuradha Sriram emerging as a music director, it is time Rahman returned to reclaim some lost ground in Tamil filmdom. If rumours are to be believed, his family life too, stands in need of attention.

In 2004, and fresh from his first Western theatrical success with the musical Bombay Dreams, A.R. Rahman created his first full work for symphony orchestra in Sony Classical's Between Heaven and Earth, a richly evocative concept album that captures the cultural drama, grandeur and mystery that exists along the historic link between East and West known as The Silk Road. Between Heaven and Earth was released on May 4, 2004.

Between Heaven and Earth is drawn from Rahman's score for the Chinese film Warriors of Heaven and Earth, which depicted an epic clash of deeply spiritual Asian cultures. Creating this music was a new challenge for Rahman, whose remarkable gifts, prolific output and phenomenal success in composing songs for Indian films have earned him the title "the Asian Mozart." No less an authority than Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber has hailed him as "a melodic genius," and it was Lloyd Webber who conceived the idea of the musical Bombay Dreams, to introduce Rahman's music to Western audiences.

Bombay Dreams opened on Broadway in the spring of 2004, after a successful run on London's West End. For Between Heaven and Earth, Rahman employed a full Western classical orchestra and draws on the sounds of ethnic music found all along The Silk Road. which extends from Turkey to China. Top ethnic instrumentalists - including Wong On Yuen (erhu), Choo Boon Chong (dizi) and Martin Robertson (duduk), with percussionists S. Sivamani. Raja Tirupathi and Kumar Vuuri - joined the Czech Film Orchestra and Chorus, led by Matt Dunkley, on the recording. Also included is a Hindi version of the song "Warriors in Peace," which Rahman wrote for the Warriors of Heaven and Earth soundtrack. Rahman is one of the most sought-after composers and music directors in the international film industry today.