Gosh! This review is rather brutal. Not having been there, I'm unable to figure out if his descriptions/expectations are justified, but he gives the impression that he heard a lot of cliches and muzak.
________________________________ From: Gopal Srinivasan <[email protected]> To: arrahmanfans <[email protected]> Sent: Thu, April 8, 2010 11:37:17 PM Subject: [arr] Times Online > >There are some tempting nuggets scattered across the Alchemy >>season, >>the South Bank’s five-day celebration of Indian and South Asian arts. >>The >>young group of improvisers the Teak Project play a free show at the QEH >>today, for instance, and the festival closes on Sunday with a screening >>of >>the classic Bollywood epic Sholay. Sadly, the cornerstone of the >>event, a celebration of the relentlessly prolific screen and stage >>composer >>A. R. Rahman, turned out to be a bottom-numbing test of endurance. >> >>>Thanks to the runaway success of Slumdog Millionaire, Rahman is >>very >>much a global brand. Even if you think Danny Boyle’s movie was a >>stupendously overrated sliver of melodrama with pseudo-documentary >>trimmings, there is no denying that it arrived at a propitious moment, >>when >>the new India was claiming its place on the international stage. But as >>the >>conductor Matt Dunkley and the London Philharmonic dutifully waded >>through >>one anodyne film sequence after another, it became clear that much of >>Rahman’s instrumental music has the same well-manicured but lifeless >>qualities as those chains of five-star hotels that cater to our global >>elite. >> >>>>The evening had opened with dancers decorously passing through the >>aisles >>holding stylised diva candles. Thereafter the proceedings took a more >>anonymous course. The programme crammed in material from all directions, >> >>including extracts from the score to Elizabeth: The Golden Age >>and >>the Hollywood comedy Couples Retreat. Rahman, a self-effacing >>figure >>who sat in the stalls, announced that he saw the evening as an >>opportunity >>to showcase “the other side of me”. While the vocalist Alma Ferovic and >>the >>Metro Voices choir gave sturdy performances of the multiplex fare, many >>of >>Rahman’s admirers at this sell-out show may have been left wishing that >>more >>room could have been made for his more conventional writing for playback >> >>singers. >> >>>>Naturally enough, the brief Slumdog extracts won loud applause, >>the >>guest sitar player Asad Khan injecting passion into the fusion of >>classical >>Indian textures and brasher Western pop figures. The flautist Naveen >>Kumar >>added another layer of much-needed local colour during his cameo >>appearances. Although the theme from Roja lingered in the memory, >> we >>were back in the airport departure lounge for the stage musical of The >> >>Lord of the Rings. A hint of Celtic mist had hung in the air earlier >> in >>the evening; now we were wallowing in overripe anthems, the full-blooded >> >>singer Michael Rouse marching off into the rain-swept hills. >>
