http://www.business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?autono=337737
'I cannot fathom a life without music'
Abhilasha Ojha / New Delhi October 19, 2008, 0:22 IST
Shy guy A R Rahman sheds some of his legendary reticence as he
prepares to promote a musical reality show on television.
It's difficult to get A R Rahman out of your head. No, you needn't be
a die-hard fan, though it's impossible to imagine how anyone with an
iota of music sense and a fondness of music can ignore what this music
director creates. And if proof of popularity can be gauged by what
airs on music channels and radio frequencies, Rahman's body of work is
for everyone to hear and see.
There's `Tuhi re,' that haunting melody from Mani Ratnam's Bombay that
will invariably figure on a late-night radio programme. The mornings,
by that yardstick, will have radio sets blaring with Rahman's latest
hit, `Pappu can't dance', from first-time director Abbas Tyrewalla's
film Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na.
So, obviously, there's no ignoring Rahman, I suggest, while a
colleague shakes his head unconvincingly: "There's no longer that
magic in Rahman. He's sounding repetitive." My instant reaction to the
comment is to remember Rahman's own reaction to the same comment in a
music magazine, "Give me an example of how and where I've sounded
repetitive."
The reporter of that magazine had lost the round to Rahman who
incidentally had also mentioned, in the same interview, that every
single melody that goes from the music director's studio is precious,
with hours of team effort and thought that go to create the songs.
On a short trip to Delhi for endorsing a reality show on bands that
has been thought out by music and production company PhatPhish, Rahman
agrees to meet us, but not before extracting a promise out of us: "Not
the usual round of questions, and not too many questions, please." I
almost sense his unhappiness when he proceeds to take a look at my
list of long questions and, often, I find him peering suspiciously to
take a look at them.
"How many more to go?" he wonders, when I joke about not even having
begun the real round of queries. The thing about Rahman, which he
admits too, is that he's not inherently comfortable meeting the media,
answering questions or facing the arc lights unnecessarily. So even as
I prod him, urging him to say something more, hoping to hear about his
music, about himself, he grins, bears it, but doesn't go beyond that.
Dressed in a smart, brown jacket teamed with a pair of well-fitted
jeans, Rahman, however, does smile when we talk about how a completely
media-shy person like him has associated himself with reality shows,
television programmes and other PR exercises in recent times. The
latest role he's acquired is that of promoting The Big Band, an
initiative with PhatPhish that will be telecast on Doordarshan and
will include bands from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Malaysia,
Singapore and Sri Lanka.
Why is he increasingly associating himself with television? "It stems
from all the negativity that is around us. The idea," he says,
"appealed to me almost a year ago but it took time to get formulated."
Rahman says that he loves being a part of this idea especially because
it will be presented as a travelogue through his eyes as he journeys
across 15 Indian cities to scout for new talent. "I find we are living
in such violent times that it becomes almost necessary to break the
clutter, to get associated with products that can offer hope, that can
offer a sense of melody...a harmony," he says.
Maintaining harmony that's precisely why, he says, he appeared on
another television show some months ago. "It was sponsored by the UN
and the idea was to bring four sets of musicians who could, with their
original compositions, reach out to the masses and connect and talk
about issues related to female infanticide, illiteracy, poverty and
hunger.
But isn't it ironical that glamour is used to actually address such
issues? He laughs, "It is, but you see, music is all that I know. I do
believe that melody can reach out and make hardened criminals laugh or
cry. So in that sense," he shrugs, "why not use it as a medium?"
Rahman feels that the new generation of aspiring musicians and singers
are only too lucky. "When I formed bands in my college," he says,
"when I was associated with music as a means to earn a living, there
were people who laughed at me, my own family (and I come from a
musical background) was so jittery about my future."
Today, he feels that sounds are changing, music directors are willing
to push the creative envelope and listeners too are getting inspired.
He cites his own forthcoming film Yuuvraaj as an example. A film where
he's teamed up with Subhash Ghai, the sound, says Rahman, actually
brings in live orchestra and a local Austrian musical flavor. "It's
like painting a huge canvas with colours of my own choice," he grins.
That he loves sitting in his studio in the dead silence of the night
is folklore in music circles. Is it true? "It is," he laughs, "but you
have to realise that music is meditation for me. I can't fathom a life
without it. It's all that I know." The violent times that we're living
in, he says, do concern him and, to an extent, his work. "Every time I
create a melody I wonder if there is a way this song will reach out
and prevent a bloodbath," he adds. Rahman does agree, however, that
it's during his recording sessions that he can't tolerate being
disturbed; "family, friends or the media, I don't like anyone
interrupting me at all," he adds.
A master of perfection as he's usually described Rahman admits
that brickbats and criticism, even if they affect him, leave him
unfazed. "I see a lot of trash come out in the market, but you can't
help it beyond a point. I know my work and if I feel satisfied, if
album sales and if listeners are tuning in, I suppose I'm doing fine."
And recordings for films, he says, completely depend on the project
and his own bent of mind. "I've done projects which have taken me
three years to complete," he says. Predictably, he's excited about his
forthcoming projects too: Aamir Khan's Ghajini, Dilli 6 and Yuuvraaj,
to name just a few.
Whether music defines Rahman, or Rahman defines music is a question
that many of his fans would love to answer. For now, the music maestro
continues to be what else? on a song.
