A. R. Rahman: On a song and a prayer
Kaveree Bamzai
January 23, 2009
On a song and a prayer
Rahman at his Kodambakkam home in Chennai
Rahman at his Kodambakkam home in Chennai
Kareema Begum, formerly known as Kasturi, is a slight woman, clad in a shiny
blue zari-edged
sari, every square centimetre of her worn fingers studded with diamonds, her
sparkling toothy
smile belying the struggles of her past.
A single mother since 1976, she kept her four children together by renting out
the two
keyboards her husband, music composer R.K. Shekhar, had left her when he died
of stomach
cancer.
Times were tough and her prodigiously talented son, then known as A.S. Dileep
Kumar, was barely
11 when he started performing in public. It got to the point where I had to go
take him out of
school every day to take him to performances, she recalls, speaking in Tamil,
translated
rapidly by Dileep Kumar a.k.a. Allah Rakha Rahmans imperious 12-year-old
daughter.
Hitting the high notes
The Golden Globe has only reiterated Rahmans genius
Roja (1992)
Mani Ratnam takes a chance on a youngster whose coffee ad jingle he likes.
Rangeela (1995)
Ram Gopal Varma introduces Rahman to Hindi films. His legend grows.
Vande Mataram (1997)
Maa tujhe salaam redefines nationalism. Flag waving suddenly becomes cool.
Bombay dreams (2002)
Thanks to Shekhar Kapur, Andrew Lloyd Webber asks him to compose for the
musical.
Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
Danny Boyle meets him in Chennai in June, Rahman composes the score at his home
in London in
July.
He was in Class X. He told me I should either let him study or let him
perform. We had to
survive. He had to drop out of school, recalls Kareema. I will always regret
it.
What kept her going was what gives 43-year-old Rahman strength even today.
Prayer and work.
Influenced by a Sufi mystic, Karimullah Shah Qadri, in whom Kareema found
solace as she battled
her husbands illness, she converted the family to Islam in 1987. That faith
drives her son
today, with everything from the door to his recording studio to his mobile
number bearing the
holy numbers 786.
And it is that faith that has seen him grow from the boy who played in several
orchestras for a
living to now being the man who has conquered the capital of the entertainment
world, becoming
the first Indian to win the Golden Globe for his score in Slumdog Millionaire.
Rahmans world
is as multicultural as it is multiplying.
A state-of-the-art commercial studio started in 2005 forms the hub, a music
conservatory with
40 fulltime foundation students and 50 preparatory students begun last year, is
the realisation
of a long-cherished dream.
A newly launched music label allows him to give a platform to new talent. And
his own work,
usually composed at night while the world sleeps, in his private studio at his
Kodambakkam home
in Chennai, reaches newer heights.
Rahman's mother could afford to send him for guitar lessons only after his
elder sister
Raihanah had to drop out
Rahman's mother could afford to send him for guitar lessons only after his
elder sister
Raihanah had to drop out
What makes him the finest among our musicians (who can go from a Meera bhajan
to a Sufi Khwaja
mere khwaja in Jodhaa Akbar) also distinguishes him as an Indian.
A devout Muslim, his first public performance was in a church on the keyboard
for his teacher,
and for many, his best works remain the stirring rendition of Vande Mataram,
the flag swaying
in the wind in tandem with his hair.
How does he do it? If Rahman is a true believer, who insists that every lyric
should be like a
prayer, so are those who work with him. Only their faith is in him. Most of
them have been with
him for over a decade, having known him much before Mani Ratnams Roja
propelled him to
national fame.
Things you didnt know about Rahman
* He sleeps from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., starting work only at 6 p.m. every day.
* His mother could afford to send him to guitar lessons only after his
elder sister
Raihanah had to drop out. I didnt mind, she says.
* His first public performance was at the age of 11 in a church where his
master Jacob John
had taken him.
* He changed his name to Allah Rakha Rahman on the credits of the
soundtrack of Roja in
1992.
* His first stop in any new city is either an electronic store where he
likes to buy the
latest equipment or a mosque.
Noell James, former singer of many Rahman jingles, has worked with him for 22
years and been
his manager ever since he can remember.
T. Selvakumar, a former keyboard player who would source his instruments for
him, is now the
CEO of the KM Music Conservatory.
Vijay Mohan Iyer, a friend for 14 years, now runs his music label.
Deepak Gattani, introduced to him by singer Hariharan 16 years ago, handles his
concert and
endorsements.
Liz Cook, formerly with the US Government, takes care of his film work. And
yes, two recent
acquisitions, the law firm of Collins Long and the agents Sam Schwatrz, take
care of the global
brand he is becoming.
Its not about me. Its about how as a team we survive and excel. Thats when
you can do good
things, Rahman says.
At the centre of this vortex, the star remains calm, trying to meet deadlines,
juggling the
medias sudden interest in him, and yes, trying to pray five times a day. It
clears his mind,
allowing the purity of music to filter in. And what music.
Seven-year-old Rahman on his fathers keyboard
Seven-year-old Rahman on his fathers keyboard
As Rahman has evolved, so has his amazing ability to synthesise sounds, taking
Carnatic,
Western classical, Sufi, Indian classical, jazz and pop and then putting it all
together like
pieces of a jigsaw puzzle at his Fantome keyboard while the sound engineers
burn up the Neve
88R console.
Not for him the rigidity of other music directors who are sticklers for their
tune.
His working style is more collaborative, allowing the musicians to jam together
and interpret a
piece of music the way they want to.
Rahman with his mother and sisters
Rahman with his mother and sisters
It explains the layers and subtext to his songs.
Its a process that can take hours, and the comfortable couches in both his
home and commercial
studios are proof that sometimes the waiting directors do wilt and just crash
out.
Stories about his late nights are legendary though director Rajiv Menon says it
is simple. I
once asked him, why dont you work in the day? He said he would, only the
sunlight hurts his
eyes. More precisely, says Menon, it probably echoes his apprentice years,
when he would play
in various orchestras in the day and compose advertising jingles during the
night. Its when he
made lasting friendships, from percussionist Sivamani to his CEO Selvakumar.
Its also the time
he played in five rock bands.
Everything changed when Mani Ratnam asked him to compose the soundtrack of
Roja. The 1992 film
was as controversial as its music was outstanding. For Rahman, every
achievement since pales in
comparison. It ricocheted him into a league of his own, an exclusivity that was
further
enhanced when Ram Gopal Varma asked him to compose the soundtrack for Rangeela
in 1995.
Rahman with Roots, a rock band he played with
Rahman with Roots, a rock band he played with
Over the years, Rahman has tried to work only with people he understands. From
Ashutosh
Gowariker to Aamir Khan, Subhash Ghai to Shankar, Mani Ratnam to Shyam Benegal,
he works where
there is a relationship. I only work associate people I want to work with. The
energy has to
be right, he says. Its almost like a friendship. It cant be that they
commission me and I
give the music and they go. As Gowariker says: Rahman really blossoms when he
is given more
information about the script, the song, the characters, the settings. Whenever
I complete a
script, my first phone call is to him.
But make no mistake. Rahman is no solemn proto-philosopher trapped in the ivory
tower of his
soaring creativity. He keeps an open house, with his private studio and meeting
rooms on the
ground floor, his mother on the first floor and his family on the second floor.
His wife Saira is a shy, retiring sort but his three children, Katheeja, 12,
Raheema, 10, and
Rumi, 5, more than make up with their boisterous natures, playing noisily next
to their
fathers reluctant fancy buy, a BMW 5 Series. For many years, grumbles
Selvakumar, he was
very happy to be driven around in an Ambassador. I had to force him to buy
this. Hot idlis (or
tiffin, as his oldest retainer Swami Durai says to all hungry visitors) are
always on offer as
is coffee on tap from two machines. For the first two weeks of our arrival in
India, says
American Joshua Pollock, one of eight westerners who teach music at the KM
Music Conservatory,
he even fed us every meal every day.
Rahman with wife Saira
Rahman with wife Saira
If making music is his primary talent, his ability to spot talent is not far
behind. Whether it
is in choosing the faculty for his school or the singers for his soundtracks,
Rahman has an
unerring eye. Its not just that he has built a voice bank from all over the
world categorised
according to their genres.
But it is also that he listens, choosing Rashid Ali, a guitarist he heard at a
concert for the
Gujarat earthquake in London, to sing the soulful Kabhi kabhi Aditi in Jaane
Tu... Ya Jaane Na,
or Kavita Baliga who teaches Western vocals at the conservatory and found her
way into Guzarish
in Ghajini.
There are moments of doubt though and its then that Rahman heads off to Andhra
Pradesh to meet
his spiritual guru, Arifa Malik. Its good to talk to someone who is
disconnected from all
this. Who shares good things with the world, he says. Its probably the same
urge that sees
him dashing off to the nearest dargah in Chennai. He has earmarked a few
across the city,
says Selvakumar, depending on where he is.
He is his own worst critic. As he says: I need to approve my own work. You can
go wrong even
then. You have to keep an open mind and take inputs. Often you dont have
time. Like the
master of Slumdog Millionaire. They we were mixing it and literally uploading
straight on to
the Internet for the US release to meet the two week Oscar deadline. We worked
20 hours for
three days, sleeping for just two hours. In fact we even got a lot of abuse
from the US guys.
But yesterday its No. 1 in the US digital downloads. Whenever there is too
much trauma, bad
pressure, it always pays off, says Rahman.
But he is firm that music should bring a positive vibe to the listeners.
People should feel
uplifted. He is an astute businessman as well, insisting wherever possible
that he retain
publishing rights to his songs. He is the face of Airtel, for a reported
contract of Rs 1 crore
every year, has a strategic partnership with Nokia for projects with a common
vision and also
popped up as a celebrity judge on 9Xs Mission Ustaad last year.
As he signs papers close to midnight in a day where he has done 20 interviews,
back to back, he
talks of being introduced at a Los Angeles party to all the music heads of the
big Hollywood
studios. They were all familiar with my music, he says, with just a tinge of
surprise. And
then he adds with typical understatement: Offers could come. They always do.
Rahmans universe
The musician is so tenacious about his privacy that for every story about him,
there is
another.Aglimpse into his restricted world.
Students at the KM Music conservatory
Students at the KM Music conservatory
The KM Music Conservatory: Full-time foundation and part-time preparatory
courses train
youngsters in music.
Three of the 40 full-timers who pay Rs 2.5 lakh each have already been signed
on to apprentice
with Rahman.Investing in education is the best thing ever, says Rahman.
The Neve 88R at Rahmans AM studio
The Neve 88R at Rahmans AM studio
The AM studio: A high-tech studio where everyone from John McLaughlin to Vishal
Shekhar (for Om
Shanti Om and Aaja Nachle) have recorded. The phenomenally well-equipped studio
is named after
his Sufi guru.
Publishing rights: Rahman tries to retain the publishing rights of his music
wherever possible
so he can reuse it free of cost. His fee for a soundtrack is usually Rs 2 crore.
Endorsements: He is the face of Airtel, has represented Worldspace for a year,
and has a
strategic partnership with Nokia. Global concerts are organised by long time
promoter Deepak
Gattani.The last one was in 2007.
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