*The Best Of AR RAHMAN* *Artist:* AR RAHMAN
*Genre:* World/New Age (*Bollywood Records/Sony Music*) *Reviewer: RASHVIN BEDI* THE movie *Slumdog Millionaire* has sparked off a crazy interest in Indian popular culture, from books to movies and music. It has also more or less introduced the world to film composer, musician and singer A.R. Rahman whose albums have sold over 200 million copies worldwide. *Time *magazine has referred to him as the “Mozart of Madras” and for good reason. Just listen to his music and you’ll understand why – it is just beautiful and melodic. *The Best of AR Rahman* is a good introduction to the man’s music (and a good way for the record company to take advantage of his two Academy Awards for his work in *Slumdog*!). Having said that, there is no way you can condense the work of Rahman into one compilation. This effort would not particularly appeal to the Indian audience, who would have been familiar with his work for a long time. Still, there can be no complaints about the 14 tracks on this album – all are just pure genius. My favourites are *Rang De Basanti*, *Tere Bina*, *Radha Kaise Na Jale* and *Barso Re*. This CD is not only ideal to acquaint yourself with the work of Rahman but also with Indian pop music in general as you get to listen to some of its best-known proponents such as Lata Mangeshkar, Alka Yagnik, Udit Narayan, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Sukwinder Singh. http://www.star-ecentral.com/music/reviews/review.asp?file=archives/music/2009/5/TheBestOfARRAHMAN&artist=AR%20RAHMAN&title=The%20Best%20Of%20AR%20RAHMAN&sec=Music -- regards, Vithur
