Hi bro's.. There's a weekly article on the tamil magazine, "Anandha Vikatan" on AR titled as "Oru Kanavin Isai"(A Dream's Music) from last week..I've translated the same..Forgive me for my mistakes,if there are any.. :-)
Week 1 - An Evergreen Dream's Music Article: ... Cover: http://i43.tinypic.com/20pbr42.jpg .... Page 1: http://i41.tinypic.com/157yb21.jpg .... Page 2:http://i40.tinypic.com/2gtrjn8.jpg .... Page 3: http://i41.tinypic.com/2hhf61t.jpg .... Images from the article: ... http://i41.tinypic.com/s2sm4g.jpg .... http://i39.tinypic.com/2ypc3zb.jpg Week 1 - An Evergreen Dream's Music:Translation .... 1978: A 11 year old kido ,with some hesitation,moves into a recording studio in kodambakkam..Many masters are waiting for him.. "Come on dileep..we're waiting for you..There's some problem in the synthesizers you brought..Could you please look on to it?" asks arjunan master to dileep Dileep starts to work upon the problem in the synthesizer by dismantling the parts in a classy way..After some moments,it's working fine..Arjunan master hugs dileep and says "Yu're a brilliant boy" Tears roll down from dileep's eyes,so does arjunan master on seeing him and asks dileep "Dileep,thinking of dad?what to do..it's fate,this isn't the age for him to pass away from all of us..It feels that your father is still with us"..Arjunan master gives some money to dileep,it's for letting the music instruments like univox,claviolin.. With that money dileep buys chocolates and biscuits for his sisters and comes home.. Gives the remaining money to his mother..On seeing him,his mother moves and wonders "In this small age he carries the family on his shoulders..on a studying age,i send him to recording studios",worries dileep's mother.But on seeing the visionary eyes of dileep,she understood that her son goes in the right path. Dileep isn't jovial at home.His world is all about the musical instruments.His favorite game is to dismantle the parts of musical instruments and join them again in his room.He has no other timepass such as cinema,playing cricket,etc other than music. Dileep enters his room and starts playing a tune in the harmonium.,That's "bethlahamil raavil",composed by his father.On hearing her son playing that tune,she thinks as if her husband is back.Added to that,little dileep does some modification to that tune and plays it,hearing it takes her to another world.At once,she comes and hugs her beloved son,shedding happy tears.. ... "It's lovely hearing you play,but i'm a bit afraid too" says dileep's mom ... "Why are you afraid,my ma?" asks little dileep. .... "Your dad was such a talented person.He should have gone places.But this world din't understand him till the end.In this small age,you have lot of skills,i can understand it.But am afraid that the world will understand your talent or not" says dileep's lovely mom. The world understood that child,it's ready to welcome this musical genius with two open arms,glittering future for this kido was already constructed.At a small age of 4,dileep was sent to piano classes by his parents,will soon leave his studies.Having studied music from dhanaraj master,dileep is going to join london trinidad musical school and get graduation in western classical music.Dileep is going to work with english bands in chennai like Roots,nemesis avenue,magik.. ... In some years,he'll get an opportunity to be a keyboard player to MSV,Illayaraja,sometimes as a music-assistant..His talent will make him reach to the greats like vig vinayak ram,kunnakudi vaithiyanathan,zakir hussain.He'll travel with them worldwide for musical tours..After that,he'll compose jingles for over 300 advertisements..By the name,"Panchatam" he'll start his own recording studio. ... There he'll meet mani ratnam and get the chance to compose for 'roja'.This musical will change indian style of music..He'll get national award in his very first film..After some buzzing moments in his life,he'll change his name from Dileep Kumar,a teenager to Allah Rakha Rahman,the musical maestro. .... The journey which starts from 'roja' will even exceed oscars.... All these happened just like adream for him.For kareema begum,rahman's mother ,the heart moves whenever she thinks of these moments. ... "My son is humble right from his young age.He'll always look into his father's recording studio.His dad will proudly say to his neighbors that his son plays harmonium.His father took him to sudharsanam master once." says dileep's mom. .... Dileep's age was 4 then.."Hey kido..you play harmonium so well,is it?Come on play now" asks sudharsanam master to dileep. .... Without any hesitation,he played at once.Sudharsanam master was taken aback at the kido's talent.He hided the harmonium chords with a cloth and asked dileep to play .Still,dileep played it with ease.Everybody was dumbstruck. .... "His father always gets surprised by the kido's talents and tells me that he'll become a big icon one day.It still rings in my ears.Having realized this,we joined him in piano class.It all started from there and now it stands at the oscar" remembers the proud mom of rahman,kareema. Indian film industry has so many musical genius'.All are unique and no one short of any talent.But rahman is called as "First among equals" due to many reasons.Oscar award is just a rail that came to his station.Crossing that,he'll travel many miles in the world of music.With his first film 'roja' ,he introduced the genre 'Reggae' into tamil albums.Following that he introduced western classical,hindustani,arabi,sufi,qawwali,jazz,carnatic,ghazal,hip hop,rock,opera,blues,african beats,etc firmly.Like him,there's no other indian music director who has collobarated with westerners more.Michael jackson,Andrew llyod webber,PCD,Nusret fateh ali khan,adnan sami,dominick miller,akon,kylie minogue,etc are some of the westerners with whom rahman has collobarated. .... Famous hollywood director spike lee used AR's 'chaiyya chaiyya' in his film 'inside man'.Added to that,AR has composed music for films like LOTR,WOHE. .... In the fifteen years of musical journey he has won 4 national awards,25 filmfare awards,golden globe,BAFTA and on top of all 2 oscars.Hardwork,new technologies,interest in new instruments,introducing new singers are some reasons for his continous success.All these qualities were present in his father in the yesteryear itself is a co-incidence. "I am a small part of my dad's vast musical knowledge,given by god to me.Whenever i think of him,tears roll down my eyes" recites rahman. .... "Without making any fuzz,RK Sekhar churned out many hits in the malayalam film industry.His history remains as a light inside a pond" says famous malayalam writer, musical critic and rahman's friend ,Shajji. .... Heartening story...Next week .... (Dream continues...) Day when roja begun! 1992..Rahman constructed a beautiful recording studio in his house named 'panchatam',One of asia's best recording studio.Leo coffee,boost,Aalvin,premium pressure cooker,MRF tyres,The Hindu,Asian Paints are some of rahman's hit jingles that season.Saradha trilok,AD producer of leo coffee got an award for AR's jingle.Then,maniratnam was searching for a new music director for his next film,Saradha trilok introduced Rahman to mani.Rahman asked maniratnam to visit panchatam studio,if he finds time.Maniratnam totally forgot that meeting.After some six months,he visited panchatam studios..He din't expect such a hi-tech studio,he was surprised by the working of the studio.Having heard rahman's jingles,he fell in love with it at once.He at once made a decision that rahman's the next music director for his upcoming film and the rest is.....History! .... Rahman got a salary of 25,000 rupees for his first film 'roja'.He earned that in just three hours."Money is not a big thing.i always wanted to work with mani sir.He behaved like a brother and a friend to me.He selected the best out of me,differing from the usual stuff.It made me realize who i am.I learned film music in mairatnam university" said rahman. ... Hit Combination: ... Rahman-mani combo is always a super-hit Combo.Fo example,it was 1998 economic crisis,bollywood music sales was in an all time low.Then came 'Dil Se'.Within a week,2 million records were sold out.In the next six months,6 million records were sold out.It made its way to the UK top 10.The world journey of rahman started then.Till now,he has sold 100 million CD's,200 million cassette's.He's right on the all time top 25 list,having sold so many audio records. Week 2 - An Evergreen Dream's Music Article: ... Page 1: http://i41.tinypic.com/2iw1puq.jpg .... Page 2: http://i41.tinypic.com/2wrkht4.jpg .... Page 3: http://i42.tinypic.com/2enne3d.jpg .... Images from the article: ... http://i42.tinypic.com/fdfxhs.jpg .... http://i39.tinypic.com/10gfbbn.jpg .... http://i43.tinypic.com/2i8kh6s.jpg AR Rahman's father,RK Sekhar has given some fabolous musical numbers to the malayalam film industry.While writing this on the computer,his composition 'Shobana sangeeta rathiri' still rings the ears.When people listen to sekhar's songs they will get to know that AR Rahman has continued the music journey from where his father left. .... In soviet russia,there existed a young violinist.At the age of 8 ,he did stage shows.His father was a soccer player,mother was a history teacher..On researching how music came to this child,his grandfather was a violinist ,so the roots were from there.In the case of rahman,we don't have to search for the roots as his father is there as a musical maven. ..... Before seeing about RK Sekhar,a small flashback... It was 1964..... One old man's photo was hanging on the wall of the house,with the mild letters reading 'Keelanoor rajagopal baghavadhar'.Below that,RK sekhar was composing and playing a tune in his harmonium.RK Sekhar abbreviates to Rajagopala KulaSekhar..The man on the photo was his father.That's rahman's grandfather.During the yesteryears,his grandfather was was telling 'Harikadhai bagavadham' in mylapore temples.(May be this could be the reason for naming a track as 'Mylapore Blues' in his 'Connections' Album? ) ... Sekhar was playing 'Sotta mudhal sudala varai..' from his hit film 'Palasi Raja' in his harmonium.In the next few years,the woman who's going to give birth to rahman,kasthuri(now kareema) was hearing that tune happily.She started crying.On seing that sekhar stopped playing and kasthuri why she was crying. .... Wiping the tears from her eyes,kasthuri replies that for this only we struggled so much.Now all we hear is your's song all over kerala. Sekhar stops her n tells kasthuri, " Don't get too excited.All songs are hit but there's no offer for the next project"..At that very moment,ramanathan entered the house and congratulates sekhar and says ,""Palasi raja's" songs are super kit..So you're doing our next project "Aisha" ..I came here to give you the advance and sees all those dismantled musical instruments spreaded all over the house" .... "All seems to be imported musical instruments..None does experiments as you sir..Everyone beats around the same old tune..Not only your music in "Palasi raja" but your re-recording was so minute and perfect.None can near you sir" says ramanathan.With a low pitch voice ramanathan asks sekhar, " Sekhar sir,don't mistake me that i am talking politics,with the aim of doing something new in music yu've come from tamil nadu to here..But people here are jealous of you sir,so you should be a little careful:" .... Level headed sekhar replies" People who grow will grow ramanathan sir..None could stop that..Their ashes will have their names scribbled on it" and bids adieu to ramanathan. R.K.Sekhar,a tamilian entered malayalam music industry without any fuzz.But there's none to appreciate or welcome him whole-heartedly..Because,They were jealous that he does something new rather than doing the same old stuff.People weren't interested in hearing something new. .... Very few music directors like salil Choudary did some new things with their music.Doing something new in music was sekhar's ambition..People don't accept new things that easily,Opportunities are not an issue for sekhar.But immersing himself in music was his sole aim.He was more of a 'workaholic',having improper food and sleep. .... >From 1902,Indian film industry's first re-recording 'Gowhar john' to the latest 'delhi 6' ,he has almost all records in his kitty and he's the famous music critic and writer,shajji.. .... He recorded most of RK Sekhar's compositions in CD's and gave it to rahman.Even rahman doesn't have those songs.Only shajji had it..One can understand how a son feels when hearing a song composed by his father In all the stage shows from then to now,RK Sekhar's 'palasi raja' film hit number sung by yesudas 'Sotta mudhal sudala varai' will be sung without fail.For over 40 years,it remains as an evergreen number.One of yesudas' beginning numbers.. .... During that song: ... http://i39.tinypic.com/oqlkx1.jpg ... Rk sekhar has composed music for 22 malayalam films.From that more than 100 songs are still evergreen numbers :-) .... Not only composing but also re-recording,sound arranging,sound mixing required few eminent people,sekhar was a mix of all says shajji. ... In that season ,illayaraja worked under RK Sekhar as keyboard player and arranged notes.It reminds us of a proverb in english "History repeats itself" .... Sekhar sir with his guru Dakshinamoorthy ji: .... http://i40.tinypic.com/ab3v5k.jpg Sekhar started his life journey as a worker in Electric Board of tamil nadu..At one stage he shifted to music.He was naturally talented in harmonium,he learned carantic music from dakshinamurthy master.Slowly understanding the nuances of music,he became arranger and conductor of music.Many were not able to write musical notes,but sekhar was flamboyant in all departments of music.He was a gift to malayalam music industry. .... He captured the music industry with his 'palasi raja',but after that he did his next album only after 8 years.. He was working as a music arranger due to economic problems in between those years.. .... Without taking enough rest,sekhar's musical journey continued for days and nights.His family doesn't know when he returns home.This restlessness led to the improper health condition of sekhar..It made him bed-ridden.. .... (dream continues) regards, sathya.. :-) Now surf faster and smarter ! Check out the new Firefox 3 - Yahoo! Edition http://downloads.yahoo.com/in/firefox/
