Portrait of an artiste as a shy man
A.R. Rahman has composed the music for Adaa,
which is nearing release. He tells S. Ramachandran that some of the songs have
an Italian feel
Allah
Rakha Rahman is a nice man to know. Other musicians may like to strut
their stuff, but Rahman — who arguably changed the tone of modern Hindi
film music when he arrived with a bang in Bollywood more than 15 years
ago — is curiously awkward about his new venture, which is being billed
as a musical journey. You can tell that he is upbeat, but Rahman is
still not one to wax eloquent about his music. On the contrary, he
sounds almost tongue tied when he talks about the new film.
Rahman has composed the music for Adaa,directed by Tanvir
Ahmed. The film’s been long delayed but is nearingrelease. And Rahman has
ensured that the tracks for Big Music — aglobal music company — are nothing
short of chart-buster material.
“Work
on the music actually began in 2001. We did a couple of songs but the
film was delayed. It was completed recently. The film has as many as 10
tracks and I have attempted some new things in this film’s music,” he
says enthusiastically.
Alittle probing reveals that the “new things” are what the
directordescribes as the Italian feel that some of the songs sport. This isalso
the first time the music director has allowed his name to beappended to a film
album’s title. The music album of Adaa is called A Musical Journey By A.R.
Rahman.“Well, Tanvir wanted the film to have a musical feel, not just by wayof
dance and music but also a musical connection,” he says.
This
is the first time that Rahman is working not only with Tanvir Ahmed but
also with Big Music. And the experience seems to have been a good one.
“Big Music first heard my songs and the executives there understood how
they would sound later after the completion of the film. I took an
extra three months for this album and you will like the result,” the
composer-singer says. The tracks have been penned by Nusrat Badar, and
they feature Rahman’s favourite singers, Sonu Nigam and Sukhwinder.
Among the other singers is a French crooner.
“There
are all kinds of songs in the 10 tracks. There is one track with mass
appeal, another is a soft rock kind of song, one is with trance music
and some have nice ballet music,” he says. And there are a few songs,
he adds, that are “not exactly Sufi music, but have that feel.”
TheItalian and French connection, he explains, seeks to add
exotica to thealbum. The range and versatility of the songs, Rahman feels,
willappeal to a cross-section of listeners. And Rahman knows quite a bitabout
crossover audiences, having composed the music for ShekharKapur’s Hollywood
film Elizabeth: The Golden Age, and the stage productions The Lion King and
Bombay Dreams. Among his forthcoming productions is Aamir Khan’s Ghajini.
Known
to be a shy, behind-the-scenes man, Rahman has gradually been stepping
out of his shell, one inch at a time. Surprisingly, the man has started
enjoying live performances. It took a while before he began to take
pleasure in performing and singing before a live audience, but Rahman
admits that the experience moves him these days. “The audiences cheer
for you and show you they love you,” he says.
“I
always thought I wasn’t a great performer. This is why I pushed myself
and tried to satisfy the audiences. This year, I have had a lot of
concerts and more are planned,” says the music director.
The man who stormed Bollywood with Rojain 1992 when he was all
of 26 is also characteristically reticent aboutthe A.R. Rahman Foundation, an
organisation that deals with charity andeducation. We prod him a bit, and he
reluctantly opens up. “I startedthe foundation because I had to do a song for
the United Nations’poverty eradication campaign. The song’s title was Pray For
Me Brother.After composing the song and shooting the video, I thought that
thefoundation would be a good way to help the needy by using the moneyearned
through the video. That’s how it all began.”
Even
when it comes to music piracy, a menace that hits the revenues of the
music industry, Rahman doesn’t take the militant stand adopted by his
contemporaries. He leaves it to the music lovers to decide if they want
to see their favourite artistes continue with their work or destroy
their livelihood. “Conscientious music lovers will always shun piracy.
Many people think they can get away with illegally downloading music
and there is no way to stop them. I can’t force people to buy music or
stop picking pirated music. But those who respect music and artistes
will respect the hard work they put in. If they want good music to
continue being made, they will pay for the effort,” he says.
According
to one estimate, Rahman has sold more than 200 million cassettes and
over 100 million records of his scores and soundtracks. But the man is
not into number crunching — he would rather sit and compose a tune.
Settling a score, as far as Rahman is concerned, is all about putting
music to words.http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080504/jsp/7days/story_9222367.jsp
