excellent write-up. Rahman on a roll!
On Sat, Apr 19, 2008 at 5:35 AM, Lakki <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > (sorry – long mail. Some interesting tidbits towards the end) > > > Exhilarating experience, as expected. All this waiting didn't go wasted. > Concert started on the dot at 8.30 pm (10 pm IST) and ended at 12. Three > and a half hours of sheer bliss! > > > > *Fans* > > A few of us met up at the concert: Fameeb and friends; Mehroof; Riyaz; > Aravind; Vishnu and friend; Sreejith and sister; Sunil; myself. Was also in > touch through the concert with Ganesh; Siad; Sunder; and later Anand. > (Sanjay – would have texted you if you had posted your number earlier.) Was > wonderful getting to meet you all; we have a good number of people now; lets > try and keep the spirit alive.. > > > > *Concert* > > The professionalism was evident through out and also the hard work that > would have gone in to stick to the timings and the flow to be smooth. The > absence of a Compere didn't seem to bother anyone as there was hardly any > gap between the songs. It showed the amazing team work as everything was > going like clock work. Blaaze came in a few times just for the very > essentials like to set the feel at the beginning and later to introduce the > musicians. ARR also did his part to interact with the audience. He > highlighted that this was the 10th anniversary of his first concert in > Dubai and that in itself is a great achievement for a performer like him. > He thanked everyone tremendously at the end for the support and said > mischievously that he hoped to do this again after 5 years – the grin on his > face showed that he anticipated the "no, we want sooner, we want more" > shouts.. > > > > The organizers also seemed to have done well, though at times they seemed > a bit confused. Except for a few glitches like opening the gates one hour > late (6 instead of 5) and slight lack of coordination with Security > personnel, everything seemed set. Snacks, drinks, etc were available and > they also printed out booklets with some of the singers introductions, etc > which was useful.. > > > > Apart from not having a compere, there are a couple of other differences > that caught my attention in comparison to the previous Dubai concert. > First is the extent to which *ARR's live vocals* have improved – almost to > the point of being totally flawless now! I can only imagine the hours of > sadhakam / practice he would have put in the past years to reach where he's > now. Truly amazing! > > Second is the absence of dancers for some key danceable songs like Chaiyya > Chaiyya. True to his word (he mentioned this during the press conference), > he has ensured that the focus would in fact be on the singing. For those > songs where dancers were involved, the choreography was good and so were > some of the visual effects. I am however slightly on the fence regarding the > solo dancer in blue for the 'Tere bina' song – still trying to figure out if > I liked the idea or not! > > > > *Songs* > > Hindi dominated slightly but there was a good mix of Tamil as well. > Karthik and Benny stood out for their lively and high energy performances. > Hariharan and Blaaze interacted well with the audience. Nithi gave some > beautiful renditions and certainly Chitra, Naresh and the others as well. > Our man's singing was the surprise package of them all – excellent vocals > and unbelievable presence on stage. He even took it a step further after the > 'humma humma' song making the audience sing the "humma" part. Soo not him > but it was fun to watch him interacting so nicely with the audience! > > > > Following are the songs sung with time it started and the singers: > > 08:40 JAGE HAI (Guru) à Chitra, ARR > > 08.42 KHALBALI (RDB) à ARR > > 08:48 KADHAL ROJAVE / ROJA JANEMAN (Roja) à Hariharan, Sadhana Sargam > > 08:53 BARSO RE (Guru) à Neethi Mohan, Mohamed Aslam > > 08:58 LOSE CONTROL (RDB) à Blaaze, Mohamed Aslam, Naresh Iyer > > > > 09:00 3 minutes with the Guitarist (anyone know his name?) > > > > 09:03 GIRLFRIEND (Boys) à Karthik, Benny Dayal > > 09:09 JASHN-E-BAHARA (Jodha Akbar) à Javed Ali > > 09:15 KANNALANE / KEHANA HE KYA (Bombay) à Chitra, ARR > > 09:19 KABHI NEEM NEEM / SANDA KOZHI (Yuva/AE) à Madhusree, ARR > > 09:24 ROOBARU (RDB) à Naresh Iyer, ARR > > 09:28 JIYA JALE (Dil Se) à Chitra > > 09:33 DIL SE RE (Dil Se) à ARR > > 09:36 EDHAYAM / IN LAMHON KE DAMAN (Jodha Akbar) à Karthik, Madhusree, > Javed Ali > > 09:42 VAAJI VAAJI (Sivaji) à Hariharan, Madhusree > > 09:48 ATHIRADI(Sivaji) à Karthik, Naresh Iyer, Benny, Synora, Mohd Aslam, > ARR > > 09:55 CHAIYYA CHAIYYA (Dil Se) à Javed Ali, Rahna, Mohd Aslam, > > > > 10:02 3 minutes of AZZEM-O-SHAN (Jodha Akbar) intro, changing to o-oh-o-o > in RUKMANI (Roja) and then to a line from VEERAPANDI (Thiruda Thiruda) àARR, > Mohd, Shivmani > > 10:05 Shivamani on a roll non-stop for 13 minutes > > 10:19 Blaaze comes in rapping ORU KUDAI SUNLIGHT (Sivaji) and moves on to > introduce the musicians / technicians involved > > > > 10:24 PRAY FOR ME BROTHER (Pray For Me Brother) à ARR > > 10:31 BOMBAY THEME (Bombay) à Naveen on Flute > > 10:34 KHWAJA MERE (Jodha Akbar) à ARR, Javed Ali, Mohd Aslam > > 10:42 AE HAIRATHEY AASHIQUI (Guru) à Hariharan, Sadhana, Mohd Aslam, Dr. > Narayan > > 10:50 VAARI VAARI (Rising)à Sadhana, Hariharan > > 10:57 MADURAIKKU POKATHADI (ATM) à Tanvi, Benny Dayal > > 11:03 MAYYA MAYYA (Guru) à Nithi Mohan, Mohd Aslam > > 11:10 CHANDA RE / VENNILAVE (Sapnay/Minsara Kanavu) à Hariharan, Sadhana > Sargam > > 11:16 TERE BINA (Guru) à ARR, Madhusree, Mohd Aslam > > 11:23 GHANAN GHANAN (Lagaan) à Madhusree, Chitra, Hariharan, Karthik, > Singer in Pagdi > > 11:28 THOTTAL POO (New) à Synora, Hariharan > > 11:32 TELEPHONE MANI / DHUN (Indian) à Hariharan > > 11:37 IK ONKAR (RDB) à Chitra > > 11:39 RANG DE BASANTI (RDB) à Singer in Pagdi, ARR, Chitra > > 11:46 SA RE GA ME (Boys) à Tanvi, Rahna, Synora, Mohd Aslam, Blaaze, > Naresh, Benny > > 11:50 ANDHA ARABIKADALORAM (Bombay) à ARR, Blaaze > > 11:58 VANDE MATHARAM (Vande Matharam) à ARR > > > > *Trivia* > > - Rahman's wife came in by around 7.45 wearing a pretty elegant > white khamiz suit with the children. Couldn't spot his mother. They left > before the last song > - It was fun to watch ARR suddenly coming on stage wearing some real > dark coolers during the Athiradi song looking cool. I could see his wife > laughing and waving at him from the audience at this time.. > - ARR while introducing the song 'Pray For Me' said that he'll sing > this for the rest of his life until there's no poverty in the world and > concluded by asking the audience to keep thinking of the song and change > the > world.. > - Hariharan was in his element starting from 'Vaaji' with him > mimicking Rajni's mannerisms; to him trying to make the audience appreciate > the singer wearing Pagdi while he was doing the amazing Aalap during > 'Ghanan > ghanan'. He interacted well with the audience and even got them to repeat > swaras after him for around half a minute during another song. He did his > usual experimentation and his own aalaps here and there > - The above was just not the case with Sadhana. I still remember > very clearly coming back from the concert 5 yrs ago thinking as to how she > is able to sing so effortlessly – she was undoubtedly the best performer > for > that concert. But yesterday, not only did she have a few off keys here and > there, she repeatedly forgot lines. It was just not her day. > - Madhusree did a good job of the songs she sang and it was fun to > listen to her pronunciation of the Tamil lyrics of Sanda Kozhi > - ARR's patience was evident while they were singing 'Khwaja'; the 3 > of them were seated with ARR in the middle playing Harmonium. The mike in > front of ARR kept sliding down due to which he had to keep holding and > correcting its position repeatedly. But all the time, not a single sign of > annoyance or anger on the face in spite to having to do it again and again! > But whatever chance he got to play the harmonica, he did it with his eyes > closed and so very absorbed - was such a joy to watch. > > We tried hanging around till 1 pm with the hope of seeing ARR. Vishnu knew > Naresh and was able to convey the message to him that yahoogroup fans are > waiting but unfortunately, ARR had left by then. Thanks a lot to Vishnu for > trying. We were however able to see some of the singers and even > congratulate the Guitarist, etc for their performance. > > > > What a night! I have half a mind to book a ticket and come down to Chennai > for the next one!! > > > > Lakki > > -- > ******************************************** > Lakki > Abu Dhabi > U A E > ******************************************** > >
