What a concert and what a report, Lakki? It was nice talking to you as well. You had observed the minutest details and unfortunately I could not make out what was going on the stage as I was sitting in the gallery. But the crowd reaction was phenomenal. People were having a blast and I thought the whole stadium was singing Humma, Humma along with him. Whenever ARR came to sing, the crowd was roaring and I dont think he forgot any of his lines. The sound did not carry all way through to the part of the gallery where I was sitting especially for the softer songs like chanda re. But overall it was an extraordinary concert. I liked the idea of not having a compeer (who needs one for ARRs songs) and the way one song was belted after another with no fuss or hype. It was just sheer music and sheer bliss all the way. The only sore point was the litter left all around. I had to walk through piles of it to exit the stadium. Werent there any bins around?
Long Live ARR and his music. I have given the link below for the report which came in GN today. http://www.gulfnews.com/tabloid/Entertainment/10206876.html http://www.gulfnews.com/tabloid/Entertainment/10206894.html anand From: arrahmanfans@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Lakki Sent: 19 April, 2008 4:36 PM To: arrahmanfans@yahoogroups.com Subject: [arr] Sharjah Concert in detail (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) à ARR, 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 ********************************************
