*Suzie Q: The Lord guides and directs Rahman *Suzie Q aka Suzanne D'Mello of Mahiya, Meow, Jee Karda and Ghajini's Aye Bachchu fame tells us how musical genius A R Rahman works.
"AR is so gifted, so blessed and everyone who knows him knows he is a very spiritual person. I think Lord himself guides and directs him to make the kind of spiritual and soulful music he does. Listeners connect to his music at a very intimate and spiritual level," gushes Suzanne. She thinks the jodi of Aamir Khan and A R Rahman is a match unlike any other. "It is an inspirational journey to work with AR and Aamir. Both are superstars in their fields but they are so humble, passionate, focused and dedicated. They are highly creative people and it is a spiritual and an amazing experience to work with them." "Rahman's work is mesmerizing and working with him takes your breath away because you know it is going to be great. It starts off as something else and the finished product is something completely different and absolutely amazing. I may have recorded the song but I don't recognize it when it is out!" she exclaims. She explains this with an example. "I was a part of the backing vocals in Mayya Mayya from Guru. So we had recorded it with improvisation is several different ways. When I heard the song, I couldn't recognize my voice on it because I sounded so different. AR has a gift. He has 50 ideas about a song and he will make your record in 50 different ways. Then he will choose the best one for the song. The result is that everyone loves and remembers what he picks and the song becomes a hit." "The ability to create something so big from something so small and make it happen is an exceptional quality of AR. In spite of his fame, he is such a simple and humble human being," says she in praise of Rahman. She lets us in on another secret on how the musical genius works. "AR gives his singers immense creative and artistic space. Other directors don't do that. They tell you a song and tell you exactly how to sing it. Rahman, on the other hand, will explain the song to you and say, 'Give me what you want.' This is why every song and singer sounds so different and versatile because he lets the singer contribute. Take Shreya Ghoshal for example. She sounds completely different on Barso Re, Dost and Lattoo. We can't even tell it's her. He lets you express yourself on the song. With Aye Bachchu, a lot of people who I have been working with for 7-8 years had to read the credits to find out I was the singer. They didn't recognize my voice and said I sounded different because they never allowed me to sound like me or sing the way I naturally do." She is one of the lucky people to feature on the soundtrack of Slumdog Millionaire. 'Dreams on Fire' is her song. "More than love, the song is so spiritual. It is simple; you connect to it as it sounds familiar yet so different. Lyrically, I haven't seen anything written as beautifully as that. It is so pure. It is an honor to work with Rahman," she signs off. http://www.starboxoffice.com/newsDetails.aspx?xfile=2009/January/News_20090128_219 -- regards, Vithur
