Let me start by saying that I don’t listen to a lot of music. And most of my listening is restricted to snatches of them on cellphones owned by colleagues. So it doesn’t make me the most qualified to write about the decline of the phenomenon called AR Rahman in a year when he is almost certain to bring in that much-needed Oscar to an industry which prides itself for being probably the largest and definitely the most varied film industry.
If my qualifications make this blog look a bit like Ramalingam Raju holding fort on corporate ethics, so be it.
The most stunning listening experience for me was when my brother, fresh from a visit to Kerala, passed me a cassette of Roja to play on a very old tape recorder we had. As far as I was concerned, Laxmikant-Pyarelal was the best when it came to the music that would take you over the moon when it was played at rundown saloons in smalltown Jamshedpur. Many of these were cover versions of LP songs played on T-series cassettes sung by Vipin Sachdeva or Sonu Nigam masquerading as Mohammad Rafi. But such was the melody of LP that I’d let the blasphemy pass.
As I listened to that hum behind an assortment of instruments building up into a crescendo to begin ‘Yeh Haseen Vaadiya’, I felt my feet going numb very slowly. Going numb in a fabulously pleasurable way.
Then the thump of Rukmini Rukmini. The softness of ‘Dil Hai Chota Sa’ and probably the first fusion of reggae with the clear shiver of Carnatic and the soft squeak of Minmini’s voice.
By the time the whole thing ended, I knew what I wanted to become. A music composer. Of course the dream was felled by the world of music that demanded that such ambitions be backed by talent rather than just two functional ears to listen to Rahman,
The came Gentleman, where Rahman entered Illaiyaraaja territory with very Indian rhythms. He scored. Thiruda Thiruda was no one’s territory because that was fresh space created by Rahman. If there was a bigger Rahman fan in the country than me, I think he would have gone by the name AR Rahman itself.
The first time u heard his music, it was to use that Bollywood cliché ‘different’. You could bet your last penny you might have never heard that mix of percussion and string and melody. And of course the quality of the sound.
Unfortunately, for me, it is in that sphere that the phenomenon called Rahman actually grew. The quality of the sound. The Rahman that gave the finest quality of sound Indian music has ever heard and blended it with soul fell by the wayside.
Commercialism, and the like of Subhash Ghai and the lure of the wider reach of Bollywood placed benches on the pathbreaking road that Rahman was taking and he promptly sat to rest on laurels. The result- pure mediocrity like Rang de Basanti or Slumdog Millionaire or the recent Dilli 6. Of course Shano Shano from Yuvraaj. And if Masakali is the pick of Dilli 6, I rest my case.
Rahman was not meant for sound that reminded you of the music of rap artistes or boybands like Boyzone or Take That.
He was meant to take Indian music to a new level where sound engineering bordering on perfection married melodies the best of western music could never achieve.
I’m sure Rahman will come up with many more scores. But that one which will take us over the moon like Roja or Thiruda Thiruda is what will get me to be his number one fan again. As I get to hear more of Ilaiyaraaja hits on the Tamil channels late at night, I realise what talent it must have taken to bring down the edifice called Ilaiyaraaja.
If Rahman did that, surely he can take me over the moon once again. He can get my feet going fabulously pleasurably numb again. I will wait for that. Till then I will enjoy PR-driven articles in BT which claim that Rahman has been roped in to do the remix version of some Blackeye Peas number.
I’ll wait. Or maybe I’l leave it to God himself. Remember no one plays it quite like Him, oh-so religious Rahman would surely agree. Jut when Tamil Nadu thought Isaignani Ilaiyaraaja couldn’t be felled, He sent someone called Allah Rakha Rahman.
Maybe as the world goes crazy over the phenomenon called Rahman, He is just thinking it is time for a change in sound.
If my qualifications make this blog look a bit like Ramalingam Raju holding fort on corporate ethics, so be it.
The most stunning listening experience for me was when my brother, fresh from a visit to Kerala, passed me a cassette of Roja to play on a very old tape recorder we had. As far as I was concerned, Laxmikant-Pyarelal was the best when it came to the music that would take you over the moon when it was played at rundown saloons in smalltown Jamshedpur. Many of these were cover versions of LP songs played on T-series cassettes sung by Vipin Sachdeva or Sonu Nigam masquerading as Mohammad Rafi. But such was the melody of LP that I’d let the blasphemy pass.
As I listened to that hum behind an assortment of instruments building up into a crescendo to begin ‘Yeh Haseen Vaadiya’, I felt my feet going numb very slowly. Going numb in a fabulously pleasurable way.
Then the thump of Rukmini Rukmini. The softness of ‘Dil Hai Chota Sa’ and probably the first fusion of reggae with the clear shiver of Carnatic and the soft squeak of Minmini’s voice.
By the time the whole thing ended, I knew what I wanted to become. A music composer. Of course the dream was felled by the world of music that demanded that such ambitions be backed by talent rather than just two functional ears to listen to Rahman,
The came Gentleman, where Rahman entered Illaiyaraaja territory with very Indian rhythms. He scored. Thiruda Thiruda was no one’s territory because that was fresh space created by Rahman. If there was a bigger Rahman fan in the country than me, I think he would have gone by the name AR Rahman itself.
The first time u heard his music, it was to use that Bollywood cliché ‘different’. You could bet your last penny you might have never heard that mix of percussion and string and melody. And of course the quality of the sound.
Unfortunately, for me, it is in that sphere that the phenomenon called Rahman actually grew. The quality of the sound. The Rahman that gave the finest quality of sound Indian music has ever heard and blended it with soul fell by the wayside.
Commercialism, and the like of Subhash Ghai and the lure of the wider reach of Bollywood placed benches on the pathbreaking road that Rahman was taking and he promptly sat to rest on laurels. The result- pure mediocrity like Rang de Basanti or Slumdog Millionaire or the recent Dilli 6. Of course Shano Shano from Yuvraaj. And if Masakali is the pick of Dilli 6, I rest my case.
Rahman was not meant for sound that reminded you of the music of rap artistes or boybands like Boyzone or Take That.
He was meant to take Indian music to a new level where sound engineering bordering on perfection married melodies the best of western music could never achieve.
I’m sure Rahman will come up with many more scores. But that one which will take us over the moon like Roja or Thiruda Thiruda is what will get me to be his number one fan again. As I get to hear more of Ilaiyaraaja hits on the Tamil channels late at night, I realise what talent it must have taken to bring down the edifice called Ilaiyaraaja.
If Rahman did that, surely he can take me over the moon once again. He can get my feet going fabulously pleasurably numb again. I will wait for that. Till then I will enjoy PR-driven articles in BT which claim that Rahman has been roped in to do the remix version of some Blackeye Peas number.
I’ll wait. Or maybe I’l leave it to God himself. Remember no one plays it quite like Him, oh-so religious Rahman would surely agree. Jut when Tamil Nadu thought Isaignani Ilaiyaraaja couldn’t be felled, He sent someone called Allah Rakha Rahman.
Maybe as the world goes crazy over the phenomenon called Rahman, He is just thinking it is time for a change in sound.
1 comment:
ok Binoo..I am a huge Rahman fan who has the capacity to objectively view his work..I agree that Roja was fresh and pathbreaking and slum dog might not be his best work. but still to use a phrase like
"decline of the phenomenon called AR Rahman"
thts being too harsh.
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