A consistent criticism A.R. Rahman has had to face, including from fans and friends who mean well, is that he is more of a sound engineer than a music composer.
In other words, he is good at dicing and slicing various sounds and tracks, and piecing them together at god forsaken hours in the privacy of his Madras studio, unlike the old maestros, like Ilayaraja, who did it all in one go. Which is why it was difficult to reproduce the same sounds in live concerts and orchestras.
A live concert in Dubai in the early 2000s proved otherwise, as this Rajnikanth number sung with magisterial command by S.P. Balasubrahmanyam shows.
Also read: How an Oscar winner ushered in a newspaper in Madras
Tags: A.R. Rahman Churumuri, A.R. Rehman, Ilayaraja, Oscar, Rajnikanth, S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, Sans Serif, Slumdog Millionaire
23 February 2009 at 10:34 pm
Nice to see that churumuri.com has changed the blog title. He truly deserved to win it! His range is too good. I cannot think of anyone who can blend indian classical music and western music better than him. Of course, he got the right kind of exposure, but very well deserved too! Very difficult to find any other who is so humble even after achieving so much success.
23 February 2009 at 11:01 pm
Yes, sir, it’s true. He’s still a sound engineer. But now, he’s on steroids.
24 February 2009 at 1:23 am
Wow! changing name for this. Music for SM is not even his best. I just lost a little bit of respect for this blog.
24 February 2009 at 2:29 am
Pathetic music
24 February 2009 at 3:33 am
congrats ri ar rahman. though i think, this is not your best work.
hopefully this means a lot more exposure to indian music.
btw… i dunno if any of you noticed for the past month or two, america’s NPR, which has that extra special soft corner for music, has been featuring ‘indian music’ a lot in their regular news/current affairs/finance programming. they use these sound bytes as fillers. and i am not talking the usual tabla, sitar nonsense. i swear i heard kanjira today. the other day there was ghaTa. and i have heard all sorts of half notes in voice and instruments – piTeel, morsing, koLalu alaapa ….
VK… i think we are biased by our own experience. but i think illayaraja truely mastered fusion of western and indian music. years before.
ARR mixes it differently.
you should check out his dotter, bhavathariNis(what a beautiful name) kannada album, geeya geeya. you will see influences of her father mixing west and east.
anyway here is ARR mixing up samskruta chants -totakashtakam
24 February 2009 at 7:06 am
Well done Rehaman, you have put the status of Indian musicians and composers on the World Map. Congrats!
But there is some thing we have all missed. Recently we have had Hindi movies like Lagan, Taare Zameen par which are far superior to this Slumdog Millionaire. This bagged so many awards is only because it was directed by a foreigner. This is very obvious
24 February 2009 at 9:18 am
We continuously strive to seek acceptance from the West. While being globally recognised is great, we have to discard Western metaphors and templates. For example, why refer to Rehman as the Mozart of Madras? Mozart was a child prodigy in the Western world – don’t we have any examples of our own. The height of this was when some ignoramus referred to Chanakya as the Michiavelli of India! The issue is not of misplaced nationalism but of being aware of one’s own heritage. Looking at the world through Western prisms alone doesn’t do much for one’s self-awareness and knowledge.
24 February 2009 at 9:46 am
Agreed ARR is a hugely talented composer.
But, does ARR’s music flow like that of Bhupenda (Hazarika), Bhimsen Joshi (and so many of them) ? Does it have soul, simplicity of Vidyapati’s lyric?
ARR is metallic and more suited for playing on Ipod, or “Bose” sound system. It can’t give the feeling of a boul song, or a Vatiali.
Its pleasing to ear, but not food for soul. Its temporary in nature. Being hugely talented, ARR may well produce something extraordinary in future, but till that time…
24 February 2009 at 10:47 am
Yes he is awesome….But I wish he had called Sukhwinder Singh to sing along with him at the Oscars…
Sukhwinder has been such a big part of Rahmans success…
The macho voice …the mardana tone in Jai Ho…comes from Sukhwinder…not Dileep Kumar aka AR Rahman..
Chaiya Chaiya…
24 February 2009 at 11:26 am
Just One Quesne …
Resool Pookutty also won an Oscar. Can we change the name of this blog to ” ‘OM comes from India’ Resool Pookutty ” tomorrow? Dont we have to honor Resool too? Or is he communal because he used a dreaded Hindu word on world stage? I take it todays new name of the blog is secular…can we have some balance please?
Well said Jay Vachani
24 February 2009 at 5:51 pm
Bisi Thuppa
I knew you couldnt resist the temptation. You guys need your communal orgasms to sustain your divisive philosophy.
ARR or Dileep Kumar, does it make a difference. My dear Friend he is an INDIAN. Or the religion or caste comes first.
You guys really need medical help..otherwise God help India.
24 February 2009 at 7:10 pm
Bisi Thuppa – Good observation.
Ashoka – What exactly is divisive about this observation?
Jay V points to an old weakness amongst Hindus. Very true but is one the wane now.
24 February 2009 at 9:02 pm
Tarlesubba,
Perhaps true. ARR mixes it differently. I still prefer Ilayaraja when it comes to melody. Can anyone beat Pallavi Anupallavi, Geetha and Nanna Ninu Gellalare.. But Rahman scores over Ilayaraja when it comes to range.
24 February 2009 at 10:02 pm
TS
The link that you have provided ‘Totakastakam’ was not done by ARR but by a music director called Stephen Devassy, a malayalee.
25 February 2009 at 3:45 pm
TS
The link you provided is from the Album “Sacred Chants” Vol3. There are overall 5 volumes and all of them are good.
But, it isn’t ARR who scored the music for any of them!
27 February 2009 at 8:41 pm
VP-raayre and harkol-saahebra thanks for the heads up.
28 February 2009 at 1:53 am
Tarle subba -> Dove Raaja :))