A.R. Rahman steps out of the studio and takes his show on the road
June 3, 2007
BY MARY HOULIHAN [EMAIL PROTECTED]
A.R. Rahman is not a household name in the United States, but to
millions of South Asians in India and abroad he's the superstar music
man behind the sound of the sprawling, lavish Bollywood films they
love. There, where the soundtrack is often considered more important
than the plot, Rahman has broken all sorts of records -- he's scored
more than 70 films and sold more than 100 million albums.
But Rahman says he had no intention of "cashing in on what I've
already done." In recent years, the prolific composer also has scored
Hollywood movies and written the music for two high-profile musicals --
"Bombay Dreams" and now "The Lord of the Rings," which opens June 19 in
London.
ยป Click to enlarge image
"I'm the bandleader ... and I sing a little," says
the modest A.R. Rahman, whose musical showcase includes 45 musicians,
12 singers, 20 dancers and a laser light show.
A.R. RAHMAN
When: 8 p.m. Saturday
Where: Sears Centre, 5333 Prairie Stone Pkwy., Hoffman Estates
Tickets: $40-$155
Phone: (888) 732-7784
The busy composer also occasionally performs his music in
concerts that are heavy on Bollywood spectacle. That "wow" factor will
be present when Rahman makes his Chicago debut Saturday at the Sears
Centre in Hoffman Estates. "I'm the bandleader," Rahman said, modestly. "And I
sing a little."
An eclectic spectacle
Dig a little
deeper, though, and the full spectacle of the performance is unveiled
-- 45 musicians, 12 singers and 20 dancers, plus a laser and 3-D light
show. It's all a showcase for Rahman's eclectic world music, which
fuses folk music from China, India and Turkey, as well as pop, rock,
jazz and classical, into an intriguing mix. Rahman's popularity is evident in
the three recent world tours,
which took him to Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Kuwait, Dubai, the
United Kingdom, Canada, the Bahamas and a handful of American cities.
At first, he was reluctant to perform on stage.
"I'm more of a studio person," Rahman, 41, said. "But I'm
getting used to the live performances. They've been good for me and put
me in a different state of mind."
It's been a sweltering day in Chennai, India, and A.R. Rahman
is settling in for a phone conversation just before heading into an
evening of work at his home studio. Stuffed with the latest mixers,
synthesizers and computers, it's arguably Asia's most sophisticated
studio and a far cry from Rahman's meager beginnings.
Raised in a lower middle-class family in Chennai, Rahman began
playing in bands as a keyboardist when he was 11 in order to help
support the family after his father's death. It was a hand-to-mouth
existence he's never forgotten, but one that also guided a young boy
into the future.
"I was very young when I realized music would be my profession," Rahman said.
"I've worked at it ever since."
After receiving a degree in Western classical music from Oxford
University, he worked for many years composing advertising jingles and
music for popular Indian television features. Rahman's big break came
in 1992 when he teamed with Bollywood director Mani Ratnam on the hit
film, "Roja." Ratnam was looking for a new sound for the movie and he
felt Rahman was the man for the job.
"Actually, I thought it would be my first and last movie,"
Rahman said, laughing. "But the overwhelming response drew me back into
it."
India's film industry, centered in Mumbai (formerly known as
Bombay), is the most prolific in the world, with around 1,000 movies a
year aimed at a global audience of 3.6 billion. The movies, with
running times averaging around three hours, are stuffed with musical
numbers that often break out at the oddest moments.
And just how important is Rahman to the look and feel of a
Bollywood film? One glance at his entry on the Internet Movie Database
(imdb.com) offers a clue. His name is attached to more than 12 current
films, either completed, in post-production or filming.
Rahman also made an expected transition to Hollywood in 1998
with Shekhar Kapur's "Elizabeth," starring Cate Blanchett. More recent
films include Andrew Niccol's "Lord of War" and Spike Lee's "Inside
Man."
'Bombay Dreams'
When Andrew Lloyd
Webber heard Rahman's work in 1999, he said it was the most beautiful
music he had ever heard. He asked the composer to collaborate on the
musical "Bombay Dreams," which opened in London's West End in June 2002
and sold more than 1.5 million tickets. Later, a Broadway run was less
successful. Musical theater was a completely new experience for Rahman. At
first, he wasn't sure how to attack it but he knew with an old hand
like Webber behind the project everything would work out.
"It was an unpredictable project," Rahman recalled. "We
weren't exactly sure what it would be. Should it be English or Hindi?
How would it sound? The challenge was to find a balance between my
Indian music and the Western musical."
The $7 million production had a pedestrian story line -- a
poor young man of the slums dreams of being a Bollywood movie star but
must fight the Mafia to achieve his goal. Yet, thanks to the music, it
proved to be a lively tribute to the Bollywood phenomenon. And the
music, well, that was the best part. Rahman managed to create a new
vocabulary in musical theater that contained the sly nuances and crisp
rhythms of Indian music.
"Musicals had become predictable," Rahman said. "I think
Andrew saw a Bollywood musical as something very new for a Western
audience."
Rahman's most recent work on John Nathan's adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's The
Lord of the Rings
was another story. Director Matthew Warchus and musical supervisor
Christopher Nightingale wanted to break from the typical musical style
with an ethereal, world-music score written by Rahman and the Finnish
group Varttina.
Throughout his career, the classically trained Rahman has
absorbed the music of different cultures to create songs that are not
easily forgotten. The story in "Bombay Dreams" was woven around songs
that almost wrote themselves. But the challenge of "The Lord of the
Rings" was much different.
"We knew the value of the books," Rahman said. "The goal was
to do something different but at the same time something that would
appeal to an audience of Tolkien fans. It was a great task that took
almost 2 1/2 years to complete."
After so many years, does Rahman have a recipe for a song that works?
"A successful song relies on a memorable melody and good lyrics
that have a special feel," Rahman said, pausing. "And sometimes it's
just how you work with the director and the whole team that is part of
the inspiration behind its success."
http://suntimes.com/entertainment/music/classical/411014,SHO-Sunday-fine03.article
