Hi all,
Excellent to raed the article. Just went through ARR's thought about his destination and only one thing came to my mind----why should we worry about other MDs to overtake ARR's music etc etc----many MDs/composers will come---compose music------create history----may be better composition than ARR-------but no one can be a greater phylosopher or a good human being than ARR----that's why we all be feeling proud to be his fan.
Arijit
On 24/02/06, Karthik S <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
http://www.indiawest.com/view.php?subaction=showfull&id=1140722059&archive=&start_from=&ucat=7
A Look Inside the Mind and Soul of Composer A.R. Rahman
By LISA TSERING
India-West Staff Reporter
PALO ALTO, Calif. - The superstar was down-to-earth, with an easy
laugh, self-deprecating air, and an ingratiating willingness to speak
from the heart. A.R. Rahman traced his career from pre-Roja to
post-Rang De Basanti in an intimate, satisfying onstage chat at
Stanford University's Dinkelspiel Auditorium Feb. 14 during the
school's Pan-Asian Music Festival.
Visiting ethnomusicology professor Natalie Sarrazin prefaced the
conversation by tracing the history of what film music was like before
a 25-year-old Rahman burst on the scene in 1991 with Roja.
Sarrazin offered a fascinating look at the history of Hindi film music
with its penchant for absorbing international influences and its
unwritten rules. Each example was illuminated with a charming snippet
of video, from films such as Shree 420, Sholay and Dilwale Dulhaniya
Le Jayenge.
"There are certain 'codes' - iconic sound images - that recur in
Indian film music," she said. "The timbre of the Indian female voice
is quite prominent, you hear large orchestras and soaring violins, and
a wall of sound ... rising violins are a code for a love song."
Rahman turned it all upside down, she explained.
"The first thing he did was to take the orchestral introduction and
completely get rid of it." Cueing a scene from the Tamil film
Gentleman (Rahman's Tamil compositions were not overlooked during the
evening), she demonstrated how Rahman brought in one instrument at a
time, creating musical tension. To cheers and shouts from the
audience, Sarrazin moved on to musical scenes from Rahman's scores
that have become icons themselves: Mani Ratnam's Roja (the witty
"Rukmani Rukmani"), Bombay ("Tu Hi Re"), the Hindi version of Yuva and
Dil Se ("Chhaiyya Chhaiyya"); Tehzeeb and Saathiya.
"He often puts two incongruous styles together that somehow seem to
work," Sarrazin observed, with a clip from Lagaan's English/Hindi song
"O Re Chori" and Sushmita Sen's jittery "Shakalaka Baby" (Nayak),
which was one of his hit songs reworked to great effect in "Bombay
Dreams."
As much as his fans and fellow artists love his music, Rahman is
notorious for taking his time on each project. "I have a nice
relationship with all directors, but I drive the producers crazy," he
joked. "Mani [Ratnam] tells me the story that he told me for Roja, 'I
need five songs, and I need them yesterday.' I was gone for three months."
Working with lyricists, too, has its quirks. "Sometimes Gulzar-sahib
or Javed-sahib will give me just a title. Other times, they want the
tune first, then they'll give the lyrics."
One of the reasons Roja was such a departure from the style of music
at the time was the way it was recorded, explained Rahman. "At the
time, there were these huge recording halls, with 50 violins," he
said. "But I was doing commercials in my own studio. When Mani wanted
me to do the music, I said, 'Let's do it at my place.'
"I called my musician friends to come for the session, but at the last
minute they all ditched me! I think they had all been offered more
money somewhere that day," he said, laughing along with the audience.
"But my mother said, 'God will provide.' I ended up recording [the
instrumental version of ]'Choti Si Asha' by myself, on a keyboard and
sequencer. I thought I'd need to bring in 50 violins, but Mani said
'No, just be yourself. Follow your instincts.'"
Since he got his start writing ad jingles, wasn't it intimidating to
take on the soundtrack to an entire three-hour film, asked Sarrazin.
"I was terrified in the beginning," replied Rahman. "But then I
learned that if I could write a piece of music that was 30 seconds
long, then all I'd have to do is repeat it!"
He's not afraid to repeat what works. Rahman's haunting, cello-heavy
Bombay theme, used to poignant effect in that film and in Deepa
Mehta's Fire, also cropped up in the Nicolas Cage vehicle Lord of War.
And when he was first approached for "Bombay Dreams" by impresario
Andrew Lloyd Webber, he said, "I decided, I won't tell them I'll use
my old film songs!" ("Ishq Bina" and other hits were reworked in
English for the play.)
Rahman traced the history of some of his best-loved pieces, such as
the ambitious Vande Mataram project and "Chhaiyya Chhaiyya" ("That was
based on a Sufi song from Bulleh Shah, sung originally by Abida Parvin").
Superlatives follow Rahman around like a spotlight: one of India's
most prolific and top-selling composers; reportedly the world's
top-selling artist, with many millions of records sold, he is now one
of the world's most border-bending artists as well.
Just before the Stanford talk, Rahman had jetted from Toronto, where
he was overseeing previews of the highly anticipated, lavishly mounted
stage show "Lord of the Rings," which will open in March.
"It's the most exciting project I've ever worked on," he observed.
"They have 18 big hydraulic things, and people on stilts. It's amazing."
Classically trained at Trinity College of Music in Britain, Rahman, a
Padmashree honoree, brought an entirely new sound to the London and
Broadway stage with his sparkling score to "Bombay Dreams" (a touring
production opened in Costa Mesa, Calif., Feb. 22).
Indeed, the morning after this event, Rahman boarded a plane for Hong
Kong, where he led a performance of his cutting-edge "3rd Dimension"
show Feb. 18. Rahman's latest tour has the audience don 3D glasses as
vocalists such as Alka Yagnik, Udit Narayan, Daler Mehndi, Shankar
Mahadevan, Chitra and Hariharan perform his hits.
Rahman has composed the music for a Chinese film (Warriors of Heaven
and Earth) and is at work on a symphonic piece for the Birmingham
Orchestra that he acknowledges could take years to complete. He's also
at work on Mani Ratnam's next film, the Hindi/English Guru, and
several Tamil films, almost 20 pending projects in all.
The evening was presented as part of the Stanford Pan-Asian Music
Festival, organized by religious studies director Linda Hess and the
school's department of music and the Asian Religions and Cultures
Initiative. Jindong Cai, Stanford Symphony Orchestra conductor and
artistic director of the Stanford Pan-Asian Music Festival, called
Rahman in his introduction "one of the most celebrated composers of
our time."
A talented group of Stanford music students got the once-in-a-lifetime
chance to perform in front of the composer, and gave warmly
appreciated versions of Tamil and Hindi pieces such as Lagaan's
"Ghanana Ghana." Audience members, too, got a chance to ask Rahman
questions afterward, about who his influences are (R.D. Burman and
Madan Mohan), and how he stays fresh ("You do the same thing, and
people will say, 'Oh God, he's done it again.' I have to follow a film
like Lagaan with something completely different.")
He explained how he got his name (the former A.S. Dileep Kumar changed
his name to A.R. Rahman when he discovered Sufism) in the 1990s. "I
asked Mani and he said okay. If he'd said no, my name would be different!"
Asked by one audience member how he strategizes his career, Rahman
just laughed. "I didn't plan anything. I leave it to God. He's a
better planner."
And to a question from Sarrazin on where he's going next, Rahman
smiled and said softly, "Music has no destination. It's endless. Music
is the thing that unites people. There's so much of hatred in the
world, that I'm just blessed to be a musician."
:by indiawest
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