Rahman grows on you, slowly and nicely Shana Maria Verghis | New Delhi
One interesting aspect about Golden Globe winner Allah Rakha Rahman is the pool of talent he has built over years. With every film, we were introduced to unknown singing, untrained voices and musicians of unique skill, be it in recent hits like Jodhaa-Akbar or a Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. Some become one-hit wonders. But got their 15 minutes. And when Rahman held a concert, they pooled talent. Probably what sets him apart among Indian composers is his versatility as singer and instrumentalist. On his musical journey he said he was creating music from his being. That his music is not borne out of necessity, but was mission driven. “Allah helped create something appealing to body and soul. It’s one of the greatest forces helping people everywhere to come closer and be one in body and soul in the coming millennium. I am working on that music for the future.” Rahman can direct himself and an army and the complexity in this has increased with years. His shows are now like extravaganzas. When New Year programmes recorded his earlier concerts, we watched Sukhwinder Singh or Kavitha Krishnamurthy tune voices. Now, probably with experience of working on stage musicals like Bollywood Dreams and Lord of the Rings for the West End, AR Rahman has added more spectacle to the public shows. But the person one met years ago seemed as easy going as ever, in contrast to the huge public persona and rock star status. One recalls the sniggers when he began to let his hair run wild and tossed it about for Vande Matram and Dil Se. We found the man really could sing too. Andrew Lloyd Webber doesn’t. AR Rahman must be blessed by gods. Over years, only general criticism he’s received was being repetitive. Yes, people bitched too. Behind his back. Several senior classical musicians commented he really wasn’t strong in that department, when directing them for Vande Matram and Jana Gana Mana albums with old school chum Bharat Bala. The two have strong connections with the Dravidian movement and were affected by the Cauvery water issue, which was what prompted Bala to urge Rahman to compose initially. Because Hindi is not Rahman’s first language, people snarled he used repeat words in qawali like songs. He had the last laugh, exploring a range of musical styles from Arabic to samba, rock and folk. He never openly said one bad word about anyone. Once he commented, “I hate discrimination between south, north, Tamil, Hindi. If I represent India that is good enough for me. But we should cross all these barriers.” A talent magnet, he attracts best minds and remains connected to old friends like percussion whizz, Sivamani, who was in his first band, Roots. He still has excellent ties with Mani Ratnam, who launched him in cinema. Story goes that Ratnam fell out with Ilayaraja during Dalapathi and met a 24-year-old Malayalee called Dileep kumar receiving an award for a Leo Coffee jingle. That was before his conversion to Islam and devotion to a mystic pir who had predicted great things for him. If anything else comes up, its been devotion to music. Son of composer RK Sekhar, he’d worked with renowned composers from an early age and hung in the studio soaking their sounds. Before he was twenty he’d done an album with violinist Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan. He could handle different music genres and more than that, was exceptional as a sound engineer. He has constantly worked on musical boundaries, working unearthly hours to do it. Usually he composes and mixes voice with a basic rhythm track, then improvises. The norm is to compose, ready lyrics and record. By attempting several different versions of the national anthem and patriotic songs, Rahman laid his stamp on modern India’s rhythm consciousness. The glassy purity of Roja, to relative ease of Chaiyya Chaiyya, Humma Humma and Rangeela Re, marked turns of our own growth as a nation. Ram Gopal Varma found it hard to picturise Rahman. Nadeem-Shravan liked his pan-Indianness. Even MF Husain couldn’t resist using him in his first film Meenaxi, for that signature element of “something elseness” which like a good book or film, improves with listening. Not a fast gulp. Today memories match Rahman songs in Taal, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Saathiya, Rang De Basanti, Guru or Ghajini. He even returns to themes done before. Jodhaa-Akbar has echoes of an earlier song Veerapandi Kottayile from Chandralekha which drew on sequences from early Tamil historicals with large sets. Music director Vishal Dadlani described Dil Se as “an enclycopaedia for me.” An avid techno junkie, Rahman couldn’t ignore opportunity to collaborate afresh with likes of Fleetwood Mac’s Jeremy Spencer. Go global with musicals like Lord of the Rings and Bollywood Dreams. All the while, he was working to create an international orchestra and academy to align with this purpose. The laurels for Slumdog Millionaire come after he scored for Elizabeth, The Golden Age in 2007. His agent mentioned there would be bigger international collaborations in future. Maybe Akon or Nellie Furtado. Rahman is the only Indian composer to have tunes juxtaposed with Nicholas Cage and Will Smith in action dramas like God of War. The Slumdog... song Jai Ho is not vintage Rahman. Nor near his past best. So let us not go overboard. It is a Western stamp of approval, we seem to hold highly, and above our own terms. Rahman seemed to recognise this when he said before winning, “For the people of India to get an Oscar is a big thing. So for their sake, more than mine, I hope my song Jai Ho and my music score in Slumdog Millionaire win the Oscar.” He added later, “I’m so happy to have won this award, not because I needed that, but to have fulfilled the wishes of all music lovers in India.” Being choosy with projects, he has a darn good idea where he stands, having being judged by biggie Hollywood composers like Howard Shore and Danny Elfman for the Globes. Once more, Indian talent used his music as a springboard to to wider audiences. http://www.dailypioneer.com/149680/Rahman-grows-on-you-slowly-and-nicely.html
