On Friday 15 August 1969, it was raining heavily in New York. At a diary farm in the town of Bethel, more than 400,000 young people were impatiently waiting for music.
Yes. The historic Woodstock festival was about to open. Police found it difficult to control the crowd. The opening song was by Richie Havens; this down-to-earth man walked on the stage singing, and playing guitar. All the roads and streets leading to the venue were overflowing with people. Caught in the traffic, many singers couldn’t reach there. So Richie was asked to play on and on. He improvised new songs on stage.
At 10:00pm, an Indian, in flowing dress, came with a strange instrument. The next 35 minutes people were silent and swayed their heads. That was Pundit Ravi Shankar on his Sitar, who later became guru to leading band “Beatles”. He then composed songs for many European movies, becoming the first Indian to do so.
After Ravi Shankar, no Indian names were heard in western popular music. Of course, with the exception of Zubin Mehta in Western classical music for a change. A R Rahman filled this vacuum. If westerners turned to Ravi Shankar for Indian music, Hollywood wants both Indian and western music from Rahman. That gives him an edge over many others. In 2011, UK’s leading music magazine “Songlines” called him one of “Tomorrow’s World Music Icons”. Just three years before this in 2009, Time magazine put him on their list of the World’s most influential people.
It is often said before setting out to do something in American entertainment industry, one should buy a home in Beverly Hills, California, where Hollywood celebrities live. It means you need to be around there, and you have to be who’s who of somebody. It is like how difficult it will be for a Hollywood director to establish in India’s Bollywood. There are language barriers, cultural and skill-differences. Also it is the dream of many wannabe singers and songwriters to win a Academy Awards or Grammy Awards. According to Austrian pop singer Conchita Wurst, who won the 2014 Euro Vision ( it is a competition for all European countries) her biggest dream is winning a Grammy. She hasn’t won one yet. Rahman picked up a Grammy and Two Academy Awards, aside from a BAFTA Award, and a Golden Globe. Only a few of the leading international artists have won all these accolades.
A R Rahman has grown into legendary proportions. May be a Sanchin of Music or vice versa. He has performed in many prestigious venues including 2010 Nobel Peace Prize Concert, where his piano concert was just a breathtaking one.
His major international foray came with the 2003 Chinese movie in mandarin language, The Warriors of Heaven and Earth. Sources say he researched Chinese and Japanese music to score songs for this movie. That brought him to international attention. Soon there followed other movies: Elizabeth: the Golden Age, Inside Man, Lord of War, Divine Intervention, and The Accidental Husband. As we know the 2008 Slumdog Millionaire made him the first Asian to win both a Golden Globe and Two Academy Awards. Shortly later the 2009 comedy “ Couples Retreat” earned him BMI London Award.
As well as scoring music, he sang in Danny Boyle’s 2010 American movie “127 Hours”. The duet “ If I rise”, he gave voice with British singer Dido, was worth noting. His accent turned out well for the song.
Coming home, although he has frequently brought out some hits, his early years still remain much in public mind. That include the kind of songs and sound we heard in “Gentleman, Kadhalan, Bombay, Dil Se, Rengeela, Muthu, Thiruda Thiruda, and Taal". Songs in these movies really set a new trend in India. Up until then, singers had supremacy over BGM; and instruments simply accompanied singers. With songs in Gentleman and Kadhalan, we began to enjoy the language of instruments. At concerts, people got annoyed if an instrumentalist failed to get right with a sound. Earlier singers used to face such situation, not BGM artists. Sometimes we used to wonder at hearing Tabala notes above the beat of jazz or coming in between electronic sounds. Well placed and distanced by chorus, such sounds brought fresh life to Indian filmy-music.
These early groundbreaking innovations didn’t take to forming what we can call AR Style. Instead, many of his later songs, however, critically acclaimed, failed to bring the old features. Of course, we have to understand the nature of film music, where a musician makes music to the demands of the movie director. His freedom is within the well-defined boundaries. At least Rahman made some drastic changes. Some say his songs sound very generic. The sad situation came when a Bollywood actor called him “Big average” in Rahman’s presence during a Bollywood programme. To all these, Rahman answers back with music. His recent songs for two movies, particularly “Kaavia Thalaivan” and “O Kadhal Kanmani” are getting rave reviews.
Recently Rahman reportedly in an interview blamed overwork as wrecking him. Despite all his fame and international foray, it is time he reinvented himself. The freshness he breathed in movies seems petering out. He needs more time to contain his powers and thus to come up with trendsetting new styles. It seems he is already there, listening to songs in Kaavia Thalaivan for evidence. After all Rahman is a rare genius, not a big average.
(The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author)