Jai Ho A.R. Rahman

Meet A.R. Rahman

It’s a media circus out there! On a recent Monday, a lot of people had just one name on their minds: A.R.Rahman. The musical dynamo whizzed through New York City with a press conference at Bombay Palace, and the place was buzzing with journos, broadcast crews and photographers.

I recalled a very different, calmer afternoon with Rahman several years ago when I was doing an interview with him for Beliefnet, the spirituality website. It was a one-on-one with the maestro in his hotel room and his staff had placed an Indian lunch for us on the table. Learning that I was fasting on that day, Rahman himself disappeared and returned with a glass of orange juice which he silently placed before me. Such is his empathy for other people.

Coming back to the present, to the mad crush of media and handlers, I managed to shoehorn my way in and ask him just one question as he was being rushed away. “How do you manage to keep your balance in all this craziness?” Without missing a beat, as if we were still at that old interview, he replied with a smile which was reflected in his eyes: “Spirituality!”

Indeed, it is his innate spirituality that makes him take everything – be it Oscars, Grammys, Golden Globes or national awards – in his stride. It is what shines through all his work and now fans will get to see it up close and personal in the summer concert event – Jai Ho Concert: The Journey Home World Tour. The concert, which is produced by Deepak Gattani of Rapport Productions, begins with the first stop at Nassau Coliseum in New York on June 11 and Broadwalk Arena in New Jersey on June 12.  The show will travel to Canada and the UK, and you can read about the 20 city worldwide tour here.

After the huge success of ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ and the gaggle of awards including Oscars, Grammys and the Golden Globe, Rahman has acquired a huge fan following in the West too, and the concert tour is international in ambition and scope. Creative director Amy Tinkham has in the past organized live musical concerts for the likes of Madonna, Paul McCartney, Britney Spears, the Backstreet Boys and Mariah Carey.

Acknowledging Rahman as a great composer, pop star and poet who’s written the music for over a hundred films, she said, “Here we are trying to make one show and it feels like he could make 20 shows from his music!” Meeting the challenge of distilling the magic of his entire body of work into 30 chosen songs is heightened by the challenge of expressing “all of the beautiful visuals of India, the traditions, the culture, the geography, the spirituality, the fashions… so it’s definitely an  East meets West kind of show where there’s technology and tradition. Just like AR’s music, it breaks all borders and it involves the inclusion of all people and so in the show what we are going to see is that message essentially.”

The music will include many of the highlights from Rahman’s career including ‘Slumdog Millionaire’,  ‘Lagaan’, ‘Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na’, ‘Dil Se’ , ‘Rang De basanti’ and ‘Roja’, whose soundtrack was listed in the Top 10 of the all-time best movie soundtracks of the world.

Besides top musicians, the concert has 13 international dancers performing everything from Bharat Natyam to Hip-Hop, from tap dance to aerial work, making it a one-world kind of show.  Says Tinkham, “Music from sitar to rock guitar is all there because A.R. Rahman has made it that way. There is nobody else – as I think we all know – in the world that is doing this. It’s spectacle in the most moving way because it’s visceral, it’s also meaningful and catches the essence of India in a way I don’t think anyone has seen yet.”

Deepak Gattani, producer of the show, who was at the conference through video, said, “In this 2 hours and 30 minute musical spectacle, the very soul of India can be experienced. From the myths of rural India to the colors of the festivity, to the rhythms and beats of the urban culture, this has it all.”  The show will be introducing some highly dramatic presentations with hi-tech techniques including projection mapping which is akin to projecting textures on architecture, and will make the sets appear in scores of different ways.

All this high technology and lighting will be used to enhance the experience of connecting back to India through colors and festivals, highlighted by Rahman’s music. As the maestro put it, “In simple words – the tour is the finesse of the West and the soul of the East.”

After the press conference, everybody headed out to Asia Society for a discussion with A.R. Rahman organized by SAMMA and SAJA. Once again a packed hall – and scores of questions.  Anjula Acharia-Bath, founder of Desi Hits, who moderated the discussion, asked Rahman about his early life and when he first knew he wanted to be a musician. Replied Rahman with his droll sense of humor, “I wanted to become an electrical engineer but my mother said: ‘No, don’t go there!’ Usually children go to music and their parents want them to be a doctor. Here my mother, because her husband was a musician, wanted me to be in music.”

Rahman talked about his foundation for children where he’s started a music conservatory to educate children in music and his plans for setting up an Indian symphony orchestra in five years.

What did he hope to see happening in India in the future? “I wish to see that there is an Apple from India, a Microsoft from India. Leaders who can create something for the world, not only for India.” He felt that young people in India have lots of ideas but don’t always get the encouragement whereas in the US even bad ideas find sponsors. Yes, he agreed that change is coming to India, but he felt it’s too slow for the millions of young people.

Asked if he would do a Sufi album, he said he would like to do more meditative compositions. “It’s my mother’s wish too. She always says, ‘Get hold of yourself and sit with your harmonium – I love seeing you like that!” Earlier this month, Rahman traveled to Australia where he performed a free concert at the Sydney Festival in Australia as part of the 2010 festival program, his personal effort to ease the current tensions.

It is this spiritual force which continues to galvanize his work and he uses his music to pass his message of one world. As he explains it, Indian music is an intoxicating drug. “You don’t want fame, you don’t want anything – you just want music for the sake of music. That’s why I’m half drugged,” he says with a smile. “If you go deep into Indian music it is such a beautiful drug.”

Well, come June, the beautiful drug will be legally available to all!

(All photographs: Gunjesh Desai of Masalajunction.com)