Tuning india... A R Rahman

I am going to gush about A R Rahman in this article.
Not just because he is the most talented
music director and arranger on the block,
but
just simply
because he has done us all a phenomenal service
- he has proven that we can,
as a nation of music-loving, music-making people,
find a delicate balance.

This is not merely a balancing
of styles, tastes and preferences
but of perspectives.
He has made it possible for us
to have the music of our times presented in such
a well-organised, classy package.

No fuss or frills,
but well-conceived music delivered with aplomb.
It manages the quintessential amount of lyrical classicism
with absolutely edgy,
grip-the-corner- of-your-seat
contemporaneity.

Listening to his music makes me think of
yellow autos on New York streets,
and
skyscrapers reaching the sky in Mylapore all at once.
The beauty lies in the fact that Rahman
makes such zany collages seem plausible.

I am listening to the track
Kabhi Kabhi Aditi from Jaane Tu ...
on my personal stereo.
It is peppy and uplifting.
However, what I love about it, is its ability
to traverse across style and mindsets.
It has a moving bass
that can appeal to the younger audience,
a tidily crafted melodic line that can move
the more musically oriented and it has lyrics that are clean,
crisply rendered and quite adorable.

The overall effect,
including the detailing of the various nuances of
Rashid Ali's voice
(who, if he is reading this,
should know that he has found a very loyal fan)
in the repetitive alaaps in the end are precisely monitored.

I do not know
if everyone agrees with this observation,
but Rahman is not merely
a craftsman representing our spirit.
He is the spirit.

This is India now,
a microcosm of several styles
and cultures peppered with tradition
and bursting with confidence.

This is the India
that moves on horizontal time,
each individual leading multiple lives and careers.

It is the India
that believes in possibilities and alternatives,
and no longer rushes to linear
conclusions to every decision problem.
Each of these Indias find
an echo in Rahman's music score.

With their juxtapositions of different styles,
the mixtures of varied voices and the ever-present surprise
element in each song
(a guitar riff that sounds different,
a voice that sounds unique or an instrument
one does not associate with a certain mood),
Rahman's music truly accompanies the rhythms
of our extremely colourful modern-day reality.

When Rahman attempts a remix
(try Pon Magal Vandhal from Azhagiya Tamizh Magan),
it still exceeds expectations.
A classical infusion
(like, Narumugaye from Iruvar)
works equally well, and an all-out
'dance the night away'
number (like a Fanaa from Yuva)
proves difficult to dismiss easily.

When I saw the publicity material for
Bombay Dreams
near Columbus Circle in New York two years ago,
my heart gave a lurch.
On that unaccustomed earth,
with the wind swirling the temperature down
to sub zero levels,
I still felt my face grow warm watching
the Broadway crowd crowding up
to get tickets to watch an Indian production.
Having lived in the United States at a time that world attitude
towards all things Indian gradually went through a transformation
(from
"poor nation with potential"
to
"knowledge experts and entertainment gurus"),
I found Rahman's music to be
a fitting companion score to India's zeitgeist.

In my ongoing crusade to excite more and more
composers of original sound,
and the need for Indian musicians
(classical film, whatever)
to expose themselves to as many global influences
and thought processes as possible,
I find myself returning to Rahman's music
as perhaps the most important development
in Indian sound in a long time.

India is a truly global player and its music
should be elevated to the greatest heights possible.
With our own, extremely evolved classical grammar
and our natural tendency to adapt and assimilate
with the global community,
I think that the possibilities for Indian music

are as expansive as our collective imagination.

i received this message from my yahoo group mate.i felt this as very interesting.so i'm now here sharing this message with you...............

A noble man called Rahma

Noted music composer A R Rahman, has ambitious plans up his sleeve.

In spite of his busy schedule, he has started the K M School of Music to promote and propagate Indian and Western music. He has now gone a step ahead and is aspiring to help aged musicians who are suffering due to various reasons.

'It has been my dream for a very long time to help musicians, especially aged ones who are now unable to perform,' said Rahman in a recent interview.

However, the 'Mozart of Madras' feels that he cannot run the show effectively all alone. 'I need some others too to work for this noble cause. If anyone comes forward, I will join them.'

Rahman is flying high currently for he would be composing music for the movies starring two big stars of Indian cinema - Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth. This soft-spoken music composer par excellence is scoring music for ‘Marmayogi’ and ‘Robot’ simultaneously.

how rahman composes music for a film-part 4

What do u mean by a Track ?* Many people have different definitions of tracks . "Track" is not a musical keyword but it pretty software related. We divide a tune into several sound parts. Every channel has a baud rate frequency. For example if you hum a voice in a low scale u may call it as a track 1. The song "Jaage Hain" goes very high enough to be called as track 15 . Empirically track is a pitch depth value versus volume. The intersection of the graph is the resonant value. This value is what the purest and the "Virgin tune" we call. It is difficult to acheive this reasonable value due to several reasons but Rahmans studio is feature adapted to it. Almost 99% of his songs are reasonabaly valued . We heard a lot of spectra sonics stuff in Rang de Basanti. Especially the amazing pads from spectra sonics atmosphere. He's also been using swarplug, an Indian instrument plug in, which can be heard in water and the background score of RDB. The santoor you hear in "Chanchan" from Water is actually swar plug doing the job. Its easy to use software but it ain't easy to create stuff with software. Samples are an easy way out and most music directors are going the samples way because its easier and quicker. This includes people like Salim Sulaiman sadly, they lack tunes. Himesh, lacks creativity and singers, Shankar Ehsaan Loy , these three guys are actually pretty good, Sandeep Chowta. He's not even a music director according to criticism, more a DJ kinda fellow. Someone like Rahman, takes the pain of creating his own samples as well apart from using purchased ones. Now thats a huge difference. This combined with the responsibility of making path breaking tunes is a big big task. Make no mistake about it. What thus we say can be summed up thus give the same equipments, computers, keyboards, the musicians, the software, the samples etc. To any other music director in the country they still cannot match A R Rahman it takes a genius to create something extraordinary like he does. Being the user of these sound editing softwares we can give us suggestions. The usage of sound editing softwares such as Neundo, Cubase ,Sonar and Logic is very helpful and reduces our work in the technician point of view. Though these sounds are pleasant and filling they spoil the naturalizing of the song. But Rahman' comprehension on the editing softwares and plugins and using them in his songs and BGM is fantastic. A R Rahman is the one ,who has large collections of samples in Asia.

will be continued.................