Small Talk
with------------- Rahmania
(A group of
youngsters have been paying tribute to the musical genius in their own way…. by
performing his songs !
Pune Mirror (
Times of India)
Sunday June 08, 2008
by Veda Aggarwal
It was raining
outside. I was on my way to swargate, to a room on the ground floor of Nehru
Stadium to be precise. It was an interview I was after. A group that performed
only works by AR Rahman, the only group of its kind in the country ( other than
the one that backs up the man himself ).
It was late,
almost 10 at night. But I was up and so were they. They were practicing for
their next show. The room was small, but large enough to fit all of the group
(22 of them ) and their instruments. They have keyboardist, a bass guitarist,
percussionists and even a Shehnai player.
The concert is
called RAHMANIA, another tribute to the musical genius, and the band calls
themselves “The Wandering Souls”.
Anmol Bhave is the
man behind the band. “I fell in love with ARR after I heard the music he made
for
Roja. That was back in ’93. When I was in college, I used to participate in the
college fests. You know the ones like VERVE. After a while I began to recognize
the faces of the participants. And as it often happens, that there’ll be one
sing that’s picked up by a number of colleges. I noticed that no one chose
songs by AR Rahman/ I got in touch with what I thought was the best of the
talent and together we put up a performance at the Tilak Smarak Mandir with
only music by AR Rahman. That was the beginning of Rahmania.”
“Since then I’ve
listened to almost everything that he has ever composed,” continues Bhave. “My
favorite is from the soundtrack of Kannathil Mudhalmittal – that’s a Tamil
movie directed by Mani Ratnam.”
“No,” he said,
when I asked him if he listens to anything else. “The way ARR composes, I don’t
need to. There’s the song from the movie Taal,
Kanin Aa Lage, that has been inspired from Russian folk music. He’s used an
acpella technique for the song “please sir’ from the movie BOYS. That’s only
with voices, no instruments backing them up. I admire the number of layers of
tones there are in a single song of his. And the way he uses voices, that’s the
reason we have so many singers (there are 7 in our band), he does the same.”
“I owe what I am
to ARR.” says Bhave. “I am a sound recording engineer. I wouldn’t have gotten
into that field at all if it wasn’t for his music.”
When Rahmania
started, it was a very small baby,” says Sagar Chordia, “But now I’m determined
to make this show successful. We want to have a performance at least once every
month. The repertoire won’t change. It will be something that people can relate
to.”
Chordia is an
investment and finance consultant. Anmol and he are friends ever since they
went to school together. He told me about a show they had in 2005. “It was July
and the performance was scheduled at Yashwantrao Chavan Auditorium,” he
narrated, “ It was raining heavily. It then started to pour and we were sure
that people wouldn’t bother to venture out. But they did come, bought tickets
and the show was successful.”
------
Experience the
Magic of Rahmania – A journey through the life, music and Philosophy of AR
Rahman on June 08, 2008, at Ganesh Kala Krida Rangmanch at 7pm.
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