That's a fantastic article. Thanks for sharing this with us
--- On Sat, 9/20/08, rahmanfever <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
From: rahmanfever <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [arr] Mystic Minstrel
To: [email protected]
Date: Saturday, September 20, 2008, 3:06 AM
Mystic Minstrel Today,
if Bollywood can dream of going global, the reason, to a large extent,
is a phenomenon called AR Rahman, writes Derek Bose
Song writer Sameer is yet to get over his first meeting with AR Rahman
in 2002. It was for the music recording of the film, The Legend of
Bhagat Singh. Rajkumar Santoshi was its director and Ramesh Taurani,
the producer. Together with Sameer, they took a late-night flight to
Chennai and straight from the airport, drove up to Rahman's house ~
only to discover that the maestro was busy at another location.
"The location turned out to be a tiny maqbara in the middle of
nowhere," narrates Sameer. "Who would have expected that there, in the
stillness of the night, amidst flickering oil lamps, lighted candles
and incense smoke, we wound see this man, all alone with his
synthesizer, composing music? There was not a soul in sight or anybody
within hearing distance. In this spooky atmosphere, we hurriedly made a
selection of nine or ten tunes and ran for our lives. By the first
available flight next morning, we were back in Mumbai."
However bizarre or exaggerated this anecdote may sound, there is some
truth in it. "It is a fact that Rahman works by night," says
Madhushree, who has been singing for the composer since her Kabhi neem
neem number for Yuva became a hit in 2004. "He does not compose during
the day. He has a special place in his bungalow-cum- studio where he
composes the first notes of every song he takes up. Nobody is allowed
in there when he composes as he is supposed to be in communion with a
Higher Power. For him, the process of making music is an act of prayer.
With aromatic candles and the smoke of joss sticks around, the ambience
is much like a place of worship. I do not know of any music composer
who works like him."
For Bollywood denizens accustomed to working in anarchic conditions,
Rahman has always stood out as an enigma. Everybody recognizes his
prodigious talent, but that has not stopped the flow of jibes and jokes
targeted at him. He is made out to be an eccentric, an oddball with
peculiar quirks, an idiosyncratic genius, a recluse nobody can
befriend, a weirdo inhabiting a world of his own... Nobody seems to
know who the real Rahman is. That he is painfully media shy and
operates out of Chennai has all the more added to the myth and aura
about him.
"But nobody can take away from the fact that he is the ultimate master
of sound," says Sameer, who takes pride in having worked with three
generations of music composers ~ from Laxmikant-Pyarelal to
Nadeem-Shrawan to Himesh Reshammiya. "Rahman is not only his own
composer, he writes his notations, arranges the music, balances the
sound levels, does the mixing himself and produces the final recording.
There is nothing he does not know about technology. From A to Z, he is
involved in every aspect of sound design and audiography. "
So will the real AR Rahman stand up?
Here, it is necessary to separate fact from fiction. AR Rahman is the
name AS Dileep Kumar adopted at the age of 21 (and not nine years as is
generally believed) when he embraced Islam in 1988. At the age of nine,
he lost his father RK Sekhar ~ a fairly successful composer, arranger
and conductor of music for Malayalam movies ~ and the responsibility of
looking after the family of three sisters and mother Kasthuri (later
Kareema Begum) fell on him. The urge to convert to Islam was at the
instance of a Muslim mystic, Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jeelani or Pir Qadri
whose framed photographs today, adorn the walls of his Kodambakkam
home. Bollywood music wizard and close family friend, Naushad Ali named
him Allah Rakha Rahman.
These are established facts ~ as also the well known signposts of his
career: learning to play the harmonium at the age of four, early
apprenticeship under Dhanraj Master, assisting southern composer
Illaiyaraja as a keyboard player since age 11, playing on the orchestra
of M.S.Vishwanathan, accompanying tabla maestro Zakir Husain on his
world tours and performing with local rock bands like Roots, Magic and
Nemesis Avenue. He is a school drop-out, but had picked up a diploma in
western classical music from Trinity College. Somewhere along the way,
he slipped into advertising and in five years composed around 300 radio
and television jingles. It was while collecting an award for a jingle
on a well known coffee brand that he met filmmaker Mani Ratnam in 1991.
A year later, Roja was unleashed!
The nation woke up to a new sound ~ a kind of music that went beyond
the fusion of Indian melody and western beats Rahul Dev Burman and
Bappi Lahiri had been trying to achieve. There was refinement in the
integration of electro-pop, dancehall rhythms, Latin melodies,
Hindustani and Carnatic classical... even Pahadi folk and Bengal baul.
This was no arbitrary collage of incompatible harmonies. It was the
work of a master, completely in command of his craft. And to imagine,
this guy has just celebrated his 25th birthday.
All those who expected Roja to be a flash in the pan were disappointed.
Rahman signed six films in 1993 and nine in 1994 ~ including
blockbusters like Thiruda Thiruda, Pudhiya Mannargal and Gentleman.
Bombay and Rangeela happened in 1995, closely followed by Dil Se, 1947
Earth, Taal, Zubeida, Lagaan, Meenaxi: Tale of 3 Cities, Yuva, Rang De
Basanti, Provoked, Guru... In 16 years, Rahman did 108 films (not
counting dubbed versions), averaging seven films to a year.
One by one, Bollywood's old timers like Ravindra Jain, Anu Malik,
Raam-Laxman, and Jatin-Lalit were being put out of business. They were
all hoping that a composer who did not understand, let alone speak a
sentence clearly in Hindi, would not be able to hold his own in
Bollywood. Sooner than later, they would see his back. But when Sony
Music signed Rahman on a three-year contract in 1998 and recognition
began pouring in like the Padma Shri in 2000, three national awards and
14 Filmfare awards (for Rangeela, Kadhal Desam, Minsara Kanavu, Dil Se
and Taal), they had to come to terms with the Rahman phenomenon. There
are also the awards from Mauritius and Malaysian governments, the
Sanskriti Award, Rajiv Gandhi Award, Lata Mangeshkar Award and so on,
besides collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, Michael Jackson and
David Byrne.
True, Rahman is weak in Hindi and it would therefore seem a miracle
that he is able capture the emotion of lyrics he does not clearly
understand. The trick he employs here is two-fold: one, he never gets
into an argument over `meanings' in a song (something, inconceivable
with most Bollywood tunesmiths) and accepts the lyricist's word as
final; and two, he brooks no interference from any quarter on the
technical detailing of any score he composes. It is like saying, "I
don't get into your way and you don't get into mine." In effect, the
comfort level between lyricist and composer is instant and no time is
lost over endless experimentation and arguments. More importantly, he
leaves no scope for trial-and-error, because every tune is tailored to
pre-written lyrics. With other composers, it is usually the other way
around. Words are `fitted' to pre-recorded tunes.
Still, he has had to face a lot of flak from time to time. From
sounding the same and being repetititive to even funding an extremist
group, Rahman has heard it all. By and large, the charges against him
are on the following, somewhat predictable grounds:
unable to elevate himself from a jingle composer;
being more at home with musical idioms of the West than Indian ragas;
his hip-hop scores leave little scope for good lyrics;
over-dependence on computers and technical gadgetry; and
excessive use of singers ignorant about the nuances of language.
On the other hand, he has been credited for raising the bar for Indian film
music by bringing about changes on five key fronts:
consistently introducing new singing talent, from Suresh Peters and
Shahul Hameed, to Aslam Mustafa, Sreenivas, Mahalaxmi Iyer, Harini,
Minmini, Sujatha Mohan, Nithyashree, Noell James (his secretary) and
Madhushree;
only composer to credit his entire team of rhythm programmers and
instrumentalists on the inlay card of his albums;
only composer who insists on being paid a royalty rather than a lump-sum fee
for an assignment;
first Indian music maestro to go truly international when his Vande
Mataram was released simultaneously in 28 countries in 1997 under the
Columbia label;
his originality, creative drive and ground-breaking innovations have
led to what is recognized as the `Rahman School of music' ~ a brand by
itself.
In balance, it becomes abundantly clear that no composer from India can
match the stature this 41-year-old master enjoys in contemporary film
music. With all his quirks and kinks, reticence and humility, the
spiritual fixation and hunger for perfection, he stands tall in the
community of world music greats. Today, if Bollywood can dream of going
global, the reason, to a large extent, is this mystic minstrel.
He is the best fusion of art and science in music. He is a great
man, inspired and blessed by God above. I don't mind changing all my
nights to days to work with him. He creates fresh tunes in the night
and sleeps during the day. That's how all great men are.
Subhash Ghai, filmmaker
He is a milestone in Hindi film music. He has single-handedly
changed the sound of music in the movies, breaking the
mukhda-antara- mukhda scheme of composition and replaced the traditional
patterns of tuning.
Gulzar, lyricist-filmmaker
I admire three things about Rahman. Among the young composers he
probably is the most original. He has a strong sense of melody and his
harmony is unbeatable. Finally, he gives his music a rich tonal colour
through his combination of instruments.
Shyam Benegal, filmmaker
Rahman is known to record only during the night time. But he
records with me during the daytime... when my voice is fresh. I don't
like recording at night. And he does not take long over his recordings.
Jiya jale was recorded in just 40 minutes.
Lata Mangeshkar, playback queen
I find him an all-rounder. He knows Indian classical as well as
folk music, he is in touch with western music and he has really studied
western classical also. He knows Middle Eastern music as well. No
wonder you see so many different colours in his songs."
Javed Akhtar, lyricist
It is challenging to choreograph Rahman's songs. He does not stick
to the conventional four-eight-twelve- sixteen beats. He's
unpredictable. Sometimes, he gives you a two and three-quarters beat.
What do you do with that?
Chinni Prakash, choreographer
I worked with Rahman for a beautiful song called E nazneen suno. I was
very nervous, especially since he records at an unearthly hour like
three in the night. But he makes you feel as if you are AR Rahman and
he is just an ordinary fellow.
Abhijeet, playback singer
http://www.thestate sman.net/ page.news. php?clid=
19&theme=&usrsess=1&id=223284
--
regards..
Krish..
His Music ~ My Mother Tongue
"If there is one person whom I revere after God, our prophet, and my family
then it is Mr. AR Rahman. He is like a brother to me. I adore him so much that
I have no words to describe my feelings for this gentleman."
- Lyricist Mehboobwww.orkut.com/ AlbumList. aspx?uid= 7295035299513517 297
