Before Javed Ali came on to the stage, a singer named Manisha sang a couple of popular songs - Amit Trivedi's Iqtaara (Wake up Sid) and Yeh Mera Dil (Don). She was really good.

Then, Javed entered the stage and started off with the melodious Jashn-e-Bahara and Tu Meri Dost Hai (from Yuvvraaj - an interesting choice of song - Tu muskura was Javed's song in the album, Tu Meri Dost was originally sung by Benny Dayal and ARR), before rocking with a superb performance of Ishaqzaade and Tum Se Hi (Jab We Met).

As the audience kept shouting song requests, he kept patiently replying that he'd surely sing the requested songs. "Yeh gaana main nahin gaaoon toh aap log mujhe yahaan se jaane na deejjiye", he kept saying. ("If I don't sing that song, please don't let me leave this place.")

After this, came songs from Golmaal and Tum Mile. The audience kept requesting him to sing Kilimanjaro, Kajra Re and Nagada. He moved on, promising to sing those songs.

Before starting Guzaarish (Ghajini), he mentioned that they recorded 8 different mukhdas for this song, all with different lyrics, before the final version. What we hear in the CD is the 9th one. He even sang a couple of those "discarded" mukhdas. I was surprised he even remembered those lyrics.

Then, he followed it with Kilimanjaro. Manisha joined him for this song. Both of them sang very well, but Manisha's pronunciation was bad. (She apologised for her bad pronunciation, after the song). Javed Ali's tamil pronunciation was very good, almost perfect. He didn't even need to look at the lyrics sheet. After one tamil song, requests poured in for more Tamil songs. He sang just a couple of lines from Siragugal Vandhu (Sarvam).

After a few more popular numbers like Bin tere sanam and Kajra Re, he announced that the next song would be Nagada and he would close the show with that. But, the audience wanted more. They asked for Ghazals. Javed Ali's first love being Ghazal, he couldn't refuse. He said he'd sing just a couple of lines due to paucity of time, but ended up singing Ghazals for more than 10 mins, singing songs of Mehdi Hassan and Jagjit Singh. He closed this Ghazal session with his guru Ustaad Ghulam Ali saab's song. (I learnt yesterday that Javed's name ws Javed Hussain and he changed it to Javed Ali, as a mark of respect to his guru Ghulam Ali).

(More photos here: https://plus.google.com/photos/101762870962161822848/albums/5758399765899157409 )

Was planning to do something special for ARR's birthday this year. And this idea cropped up a few weeks back - an orchestral version of Vellai Pookkal.

So, here it is - My tribute to Rahman sir on his birthday:


If this doesn't work, here's the direct soundcloud link: http://snd.sc/yRwF3F
If that doesn't work either, mail me or post a comment.

At the time when the world is acknowledging Rahman's work, and when he's going places, it is expected that there will be criticisms, baseless arguments thrown against him.

But, what's surprising is to see such stuff coming from a veteran singer like Jagjit Singh. He openly targeted ARR in the media, saying that AR knows nothing about Ghazals, and that he picks up tunes from the west!! In fact, he's challenged AR to compose a Ghazal!

How baseless, how stupid these comments are? I'm sure Jagjit hasn't heard 3 of Rahman's most beautiful compositions - the three Ghazals in Tehzeeb. Hey Airat-e-Aashiqui from Guru is a much more popular Ghazal from Rahman!! Why talk abt something, when you dont even know about it? Isn't it obvious that he is criticising just for the sake of pulling down Rahman, because, the question was not about Rahman - he suddenly talks about ARR out of the blue, and lashes out at him!

I don't even want to talk about that idotic argument about picking up tunes from the west - Undoubtedly ARR is the most original composer in India!

Really sad that, even veterans, are resorting to such acts!

(For those who havent heard of the Ghazals from Tehzeeb, catch them here: Sabaq Aisa, Na Shiqwa Hota. I couldnt get a link for the third Ghazal, Mujh pe toofan. Will update if I come across it.)

I had earlier written about how the Indian media are giving false news with respect to the Slumdog Millionaire track Ringa Ringa being similar to Choli Ke Peeche Kya Hai. Now, it is the turn of THE HINDU, which has publushed a totally biased article which is in such a bad taste!!

The article in question is "Who gets the credit?" in The Hindu - Cinema Plus (dt: 19-Dec-2008) (Link to the article: http://www.hindu.com/cp/2008/12/19/stories/2008121950240800.htm)

The writer seems to be totally biased against A.R.Rahman, for he uses strong words like "rip-off" unnecessarily, though there's hardly any similarity between Rahman's Ringa Ringa and Choli Ke Peeche!

Also, the article mentions about a "song by MIA featuring blaaze which sounds like an MIA composition". There is no MIA song in the album which features Blaaze!!! Which song is the writer talking about?

I doubt whether the writer had listened to the tracks even once before writing this article.
It looks like the writer's sole aim was to demean ARR, without even caring to verify the facts! At a time when ARR is getting laurels from all over the globe, the writer just wants to pull him down - there seems to be no other reason for an article written in such a bad taste!

Hope Hindu avoids such inane and biased articles henceforth!

All the media have taken this news that "Choli Ke Peeche" has been used in Slumdog Millionaire, and blown it totally out of proportion. Some have even criticised AR for tampering with a classic which should be left as it is! But, the sad part is that the news is not even totally true!!!

The song in question is "Ringa Ringa". I listened to it. Except for the mood of the song and probably the rhythm, there is absolutely nothing similar to Choli Ke.

In his interview, Rahman just said this about Choli Ke song: "It represents that period in the early 1990s. The colour, the swirl and the frenetic pace - so I've re-recorded it in the same two voices, Alka Yagnik and Ila Arun, though in a totally re-worked form".

The keywords there are "totally reworked" and "same voices". Without even listening to the song, all the media jumped up and started promoting that Choli Ke Peeche is in SDM, conveniently forgetting these facts mentioned by AR! Musicindiaonline has just ignored that statement about "totally re-worked form", in its article.

Sensationalising at its worst!! Pah!

Let's get into some imagination, shall we?

START! ACTION!
Imagine you are fast asleep, and you are woken up by a loud unusual noise. You rush to the terrace to check whats happening. You see a big UFO landing on your terrace (Terrace not big enough? ah, geez!! when you can imagine a UFO landing on your terrace, can't you imagine your terrace to be bigger! just imagine!! Back to the post, now!)
And then, the door of the UFO opens, and out comes a creature - an alien - a la the E.T., comes out. You look at it and are frightened. It looks somewhat familiar to you, with two arms and legs! But, yet it is an alien and looks a lot different too. You don't know what to expect because you haven't seen anything like this before! Initially, you don't get close to it as it is a very strange creature. But, then you get along with it and become friends with it. It demonstrates its special powers - though those powers are extraordinary, you get used to it and start loving it!

CUT! CUT! CUT!

Now, the focus shifts to "I miss you da" song (sung by Chinmayi and Indai Haza) from Sakkarakatti. Isn't it exactly like the alien that you encountered a few seconds back? At least for me, it was!!
The first time I heard the song, I was like "What is this?! What's going on?" It was unlike anything I had heard before. Rahman must have been at the height of his experiment-mood!! There are so many unheard sounds. The tune is so very unpredictable - keeps going smooth and suddenly there's a fall - like a roller coaster! And, so suddenly it goes up! And, I got one more surprise that Indai Hazaa is none other than Chinmayi herself!
Once I got to terms with all these surprises, I started absolutely loving and adoring the song!

I've said it before and I say it again - Only Rahman can create such magic!

Ask the organisers of the Sunfeast Tamil Music Awards, they will have all the answers to this question!

The event held at Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium on 5th July 2008, had no scarcity of stars. The luminaries who lit up the evening included legends Viswanathan-Ramamoorthy and Vikku Vinayak Ram, Maestro A.R.Rahman, KS Chithra, Harris Jayaraj, directors Shankar and Dharani, actors Vijay, Nayanthara, Kushboo and Simran.

The event which was supposed to start at 6 pm started at 7 pm. This delay is usually considered normal these days for shows of this scale. But, what followed for the next 3 hours should probably be the biggest mess up among events of this scale.

The hosts of the evening (Raghav and actress Aparna) had no clue of the proceedings of the evening. It was utter chaos right from the start, when they walked on to the podium and waited for a couple of minutes only to go back, after realising that they should have come only later!

Even the way the awards were announced was totally unprofessional. Many a time, the AV started while the hosts were announcing the winner's name, interrupting them. There was absolutely no coordination!!! Halfway through the show, the hosts decided to avoid this confusion - they just stopped with "and the award goes to". The winners name just came up on the AV! Sometimes, they played the AV for the next award, before the current award was presented, creating more confusion!

That was not all. After a long commercial break when the stage was set for Shruti Hassan to sing, the hosts were nowhere to be seen! Shruthi straight away started singing without anyone introducing her, and majority of the crowd was left wondering who it was on the stage!

Talking of commercial-breaks, they were far too many in number and the duration of each break was also pretty long, which left the audience restless! The frequent technical glitches gave more reasons for the audience to scream and boo!!

The celebs who presented the awards and those who got the awards were left totally clueless when they came on stage, because there were no thank you-s from the host once the awards were presented. The celebs were left wondering whether they should leave the stage, or they should wait or should they speak! When the hosts announced the next award, that was the cue for the celebs to step down! What a way to treat your celeb guests!

Surprisingly, none of the celebs were given the mic! All the talking was done by the hosts - till 9 pm, that is! It took them more than 2 hours to realise that the winners should be given some airtime on stage! But, why couldn't they have asked the girl who carried the award tropy, to carry the mic as well and pass it on to the celeb? Each time, either Raghav or Aparna had to run with the mic, from their podium at corner of the stage to the centre, just as the celeb was getting down from the stage! Have the organisers and the hosts never watched any of the award functions on TV?

The stage setup was the other irritating thing - the hosts' podium was in one corner, but the entry to the backstage was at the other corner. So, after inviting the performers to the stage, the hosts had to walk the full length of the stage each time, even as the dancers assembled for the performance!

The way the awards were conceptualised was, in itself, totally inane. Take this for example. The best melodious song award was presented to singer Balram for "Kaatrin Mozhi". Engaeyum Eppodhum was selected as the best remix song, and the award was presented not to the singer or the composer but to the director & producer. June Ponal was adjudjged the Best Youthful song, and this was presented to the composer, Harris Jayaraj! I fail to comprehend if there is even a faint logic in their decision of who gets the credit for each song - the singer or the director or the composer or even the producer!

I had to endure all this to catch a glimpse of A.R.Rahman receiving the best music director award, for, that was the last award of the day! It was quite obvious to everyone there at the venue that A.R.Rahman was gonna get the best Music Director award.

There were some remarkable performances during the show, including Bharatnayam by Shobhana, percussion ensemble by Vikku Vinayak Ram's family and some spirited singing by Shruti Hassan. But, all this was shadowed by too many glitches and unprofessional organising!

After all the hype that they generated for this event, it was a big big let down! A very amateurish and unprofessional show! Hope they learn from the innumerable mistakes they made this time!

Ada - the album is aptly tagged "A Musical journey by A.R.Rahman", for he has been composing for this film for about 7 years and the album takes us through a journey with ARR!!!

The album starts with the male version of Ishq Ada Hai rendered by Rashi Ali, the guitarist who has been playing guitars for ARR for quite sometime now. Though he has sung "Nadhirdhinna" in Parthale paravasam, it went unnoticed... Ishq Ada should prove to be a nice platform for him, to launch him as a singer, for it showcases his powerful voice brilliantly! The waltz pattern, the addictive accordion bits, the simple tune - all of these make the song instantly likeable.

Then comes Hawa Sun Hawa - one of the most beautiful melodies composed by ARR. Rendered by Sonu and younger-sounding (less shrill) Alka Yagnik (probably recorded in 2002-2003), this track takes time to grow on. But this one will become one of the songs, closest to the heart! Naveen adds more beauty to this song with the wonderful flute interludes, which leaves you yearning for more!!

Gumsum Gumsum is one of the tracks that was given for the remix contest, which was organised for promoting the movie. So I'd heard first 60 seconds of just the voice track and imagined that it would be a totally western track with drums et al! Lo and behold... Rahman surprised me totally, making it a desi track with dholaks!! Was this composed at about the same time as Water? I felt there was an "aayo re" hangover in the santoor interludes (just the style, I mean!). Another duet for Sony and Alka and they do a commendable job!
And, how could I forget the short guitar surprise at around 3:40!!! The muted guitar bit is MAGICAL!!!

Sonu Nigam comes back, this time accompanied by Sunidhi Chauhan (her second song for Rahman) for Gulfisha. And Sunidhi works wonders in this one! The song starts of with French chants by Viviane Chaix and then Sonu takes . But, it is Sunidhi who takes it to a completely new level! The point when she switches to the high pitched Gulfisha from the low pitched one (at around 1:18) is mindblowing!! This song, too, will take sometime to grow on you!

The next song in the album is the one which brings in the "what came first - chicken or egg" type question back again - Does Rahman always choose to render the best song of the album or does the song become the best because of Rahman's rendition? yes... Meherbaan rendered by ARR is definitely the "Song of the album". Starting as a soft melody with backed by piano and a gentle rhythm, it it becomes rock-ish with distortion guitars in the second half of the song, still retaining the melodic feel. There's a certain something in his voice which makes any song he sings, SPECIAL! This one is no different!

Next in the album, Tu Mera Hai must be one of the songs recorded during the later half of Rahman's 7 year long "Musical journey", for it features Naresh Iyer along with Chitra and Sukhwinder! Sukhwinder and Chitra have done a commendable job, with Naresh Iyer chipping in with the "laahi laahi" bit! Though this was my least fav in the album, this one is rapidly moving up my list!!

Rahman tries to recreate the "Ae Ajnabi" magic with Hai Dard - a sad song sung by Udit Narayan - and pulls it off! Though not as powerful as the classic Dil Se track, this one is great in its own right. The song is styled like a 1970s bollywood pathos song, in waltz beats. Udit's voice aptly conveys the emotions of the lover in pain! The sax interludes create a mystic feel to the song!

Parul Mishra, the winner of Fever FM's Voice Hunt (held last November), makes her debut with Ishq Ada Hai. Her voice is fresh and quite unusual. She carries off the song with ease, and makes this song rank higher than the male version! The backing vocals and arrangements are quite different from the male version of the song.

Legendary Malayalam singer P.Jayachandran makes his Hindi debut with the pathos number, Milo Wahan Wahan, with Alka for company. Alka starts off the song, and sets the mood of the song perfectly. When Jayachandran joins in, the song moves up a few notches! The highlight of the song is the second stanza by Jayachandran (starting 5:05). What a voice!
The lyrics, are a bit of a letdown - though the mood of the song is conveyed perfectly in the lyrics, the lines are far from poetic!

Sanjeev Thomas mesmerises us with the Guitar instrumental version of "Meherbaan". The instrumental is as impressive as the original sung by Rahman. The use of distortion guitar for the high pitched parts and normal electric guitars for the softer parts speaks of the genius of the man!

In all, Ada is a classic - on the likes of Meenaxi or Taal - a must-have for any music lover.


PS: ARR composed this album over a period of 7 years.... I wrote this review over a period of 21 days!! :P

From a Rahmaniac's point of view, Rahmania show (on Aahaa 91.9 FM, Chennai) should be the best thing that has happened on Radio!!! The Friday celebrity interviews are a total treat, and these are something to be treasured... Last Friday, it was Director Vasanth, who spoke about ARR on the show. Though he has worked with ARR for just one movie (Rhythm), he had so much to say about ARR. In my opinion, this is one of the best interviews on Rahmania.
I've uploaded the interview at http://www.mediafire.com/?yj2zxyvy214 (5.7 MB - complete interview)

For the benefit of ppl who don't understand Tamil, I've transcribed it... Read on!

About Songs in "Rhythm"
ARR improvises a lot with the songs... Consider Nathiye Nathiye song (Dheem Thananaa) song for example. "Dheem Thana naa" was never meant to be the pallavi (antara) of the song. It was a refrain that was used in the middle of the song. Since it was catchy, he made it as the opening. The entire song did not stick to the usual format of 1 antara and two mukhda - there were lot of variations in the song - just like how the flow of a river is never uniform and varies throughout... Since each portion of the song was so different, we decided to make the "dheem Thana naa" refrain as the common link for each part, and thus we finalised the opening of the song.
Nathiye nathiye which was supposed to be the actual pallavi (antara) of the song, was made to appear only once or twice in the song!!


About ARR as a person
ARR is the only Indian composer, who is successful in the regional, national as well as the international arena... There may be many who are successful in the regional level. You can even find people who are successful in the regional and national level. But, he is the only one who has succeeded in all 3 levels... Be it Nagercoil (a small town in Tamilnadu) or New York - he is a success everywhere!
He is the pride of Tamilnadu and India..

When you consider only the film compositions, I see him as the major composer in Tamil and hindi film music. In Tamil, he is of the lineage following G.Ramanthan, R.Sudharsanam, KV Mahadevan, Viswanathan-Ramamoorhty and Ilayaraja.
If you look similarly in Hindi, he follows the lineage of people like Anil Biswas, Naushad Ali, Shankar Jaikishen, SD Burman, C.Ramachandra, Madan Mohan, Kalyanji Anandji, Lakshmikant Pyarelal, RD Burman...
He is one of the Titans in Indian Film music arena.
According to me, there has been no titan music director after ARR in India in any language. He is the latest and last arrival.

In this lineage, I include only those who bring a totally new style of music. There are new composers who follow his style. They may also do some good music, but they have not created a new style of music.... not until now...

The most important aspect of his music according to me, is his technology + music. It is not technology alone or melody alone.. This is something that he pioneered. we have heard lots of melodies.. we have heard technology being used... but he put both of them together in the right mix and composed music.... He follows this in all styles of music - be it hindustani or carnatic or sufi or soft rock.
If ARR had been around in 1960s or 1970, I think, he would have given songs which are 100 times better than what he has given now!
Even now he gives the best songs, but what I'm saying is that, "story" had lots of importance in movies back then... Important aspects of ARR's music - like the melodic nature of his music, the depth of his music, the ability to show different perspectives, the ability to transport us to a different world - all these would have had more importance back then. But now, there are not many stories which can fully utilise these aspects of his music. Sotry-telling has decreased these days!

About ARR's simplicity
His simplicity is what I admire the most. I had once read about what composer Pyarelal of Lakshmikant-Pyarelal fame, had to say about ARR.
According to Pyarelal, Roja is his fav ARR album, but the most important work in ARR's career is Thiruda Thiruda. ARR had met Pyarelal at a party, which was their first meeting. ARR himself went and introduced himself to Pyarelal, saying "I just wanted to meet you and get introduced to you... I'm A.R.Rahman". Pyarelal says that he had never seen anyone being so simple and modest, that too being a composer of international fame!
Rainahah: Usually ARR is very introverted and would not go and introduce himself to people... but since Pyarelal is a composer whom ARR respects a lot, he probably would have gone and spoken to him!


As a Director, what's your role in the music creation process?
According to me, a director's role is to create an environment or a situation for the composer to create a good song - mainly to inspire the music director... The director should strive to inspire the composer to reach greater heights... The director's intervention should not pull the composer down!!
(Raihanah ma'am interrupted here saying "Those are golden words... You should say this everywhere sir... You should say this loud and clear! It would be great if all directors understand this!!!!
Vasanth retorted saying "You seem to be really affected by such instances" (Laughs))

The director should try to bring out the best from everyone.... The director should identify what's the best aspect of the composer and bring out the most creative stuff from them.. and should never give up till the best output is produced!

Raihanah: You have explained it brilliantly, sir.. When we talk of this, the first song that comes to my mind is Nenje Nenje from Ratchagan....

Vasanth: Definitely.. Definitely... Similarly, I like Thoda Thoda Malarndhadhenna (Indra) How do I say... I'm at a loss for words...

I think ARR is the only composer who has given his heart and soul to each and every song and each and every movie. Not jus for one or two songs in a movie, but for every song.... That is why he takes more time... He has never compromised on quality any of the songs - ever! He takes each and every song seriously!!


About directors/producers asking for tunes similar to another song
That's usually done to communicate the mood that's required for the song - we sort of give examples... For some composers, you can get the best only if you communicate this way... It's more about convenience.
About asking to compose a song similar to another song - i won't comment whether it is right or wrong... but, it is wrong if the composer creates the "same" tune, instead of creating a similar mood!

In case of a big composer like ARR, we need not give any examples. If we give examples, he'll stay as far away from that tune as possible!! That's why he is in such a great position now!! He understands that it just for easier communication!

Some other composers would assume that we like that particular tune of a old song that they can satisfy us only if they use that tune, and would end up giving the same old tune!!

About Re-recording (BGMs) of ARR
Silence is as important to re-recording as the actual BGMs. In many instances, silence, after the actual BGM, creates the required impact - Ilayaraja sir taught me this...
For instance, if there's a long BGM and it suddenly stops when a guy opens a door, all your focus shifts to what's behind the door. silence creates an impact there...
The composer should know when to have music in the scene and when to stop. I think Rahman is one composer who knows this and handles this beautifully!
He gives what's required for a scene, rather than playing music continuously!

Another important aspect of ARR's re-recording is his ability to use various different styles of music to elevate the quality of the scenes. For instance, in Rhythm, in the scenes involving the relationship between Arjun and the kid, he had brought an italian feel in the BGM... In the same movie, he had used a very Indian sound, for the scenes involving Lakshmi....

I think he can do this with ease as he listens to and enjoys all types of music - from carnatic to hindustani to western, pop and rock...

He brought a new style in re-recording. His re-recording gave a new dimension to the film. Even for ARR, Rhythm is one of his favourites in terms of re-recording, and he keeps mentioning this to me...


Fav BGMs in other ARR movies, apart from Rhythm:
I love everything that ARR has done for Mani Ratnam's movies, especially Bombay and Iruvar. According to me, Iruvar is Mani sir's best movie.. Iruvar's re-recording is ultimate!!

In the scene in Iruvar where it is shown for the first time that Mohan Lal has got 1000-s of people behind him, the Background score is brilliant. The BGM has "spoken" this exactly. If you just listen to the BGM without looking at the scene, you can visualise that scene in your mind - even without listening to a single dialogue!

Favourite Songs
For how many movies has he composed, till now? About 100? So, at 5 songs per movie, there would be a total of 500 songs? so, my favourite would be all 500!!
I love every one of his songs...
Let me quote just a few songs, which come to my mind at this instant...

Pudhu Vellai Mazhai - I love this song because it does something to me... I love this song because I love it very much!!! It creates an ambience.. The rendering, the freshness, the music, the composition - everything was great... The sound was totally new - when I heard it in 1991, I knew I hadn't heard anything like this before!! The sound was so new, so emotional and so real..

I love chinna chinna aasai a lot, but somehow my favourites are Pudhu Vellai Mazhai and Kadhal Rojave, with Pudhu Vellai Mazhai getting 100 points and Kadhal Rojave being a close second at 99.5!!


Similarly, I love "Minnale nee vandhadhenadi" from May Madham... I'm quoting this song specially, because of the sorrow in the song beautifully conveyed by the tune, SPB sir's voice.. above all - the intricate violin opening and interlude.... It doesnt happen often that the instrumental interludes get registered in our minds as much as the main song itself - but this violin interlude did.... I always used to hum that violin bit and my ears always long for that violin bit!


Snegithane - What do I say about this song,... This is one of the finest creations of Rahman. This is the ultimate song to portray a man-woman relationship!
(Raihanah: Sadhna's voice is so sharp - as sharp as the soung of glass breaking!)

Vasanth: I am usually not enamoured by the sweetness of a voice, for me it is always the composer who captures my heart! The emotions in the song are what attracts me!!

But if there's one voice which has attracted me a lot, it is ARR's voice... Listen to vellai pookkal... it will just make you cry!!! You dont hav to do anything else... The voice, tune, the lyrics - everything about the song is perfect - and it is as though the song conveys the entire sorrow in Sri Lanka...

I'm a big big fan of ARR, and I admire him as a human being also.. I am delighted and honoured that I got this chance to share my views about ARR, and his songs!!

I had made a Duet mix using the Chinmayi version and Jayachandran version of Kannathil Muthamittaal song (Oru Deivam Thandha Poove). I got a comment which said "Why don't you try making a duet video mix?" Was planning to do it for a long time now... Finally, I found time to complete this!! This is my first attempt at non-linear video editing... Waiting for comments!!


The Making :
As I already had the audio mix ready, I thought this would be a cakewalk! Only after I started, did I realise that the only the first charanam of one version and the second charanam of the other has been picturised by Mani Ratnam... So, my existing audio mix became unusable for this and I had to start the audio mixing from scratch. I decided that I will make only one charanam with a few lines each from first charanam of one version and second charanam of other version. Then came another surprise.... The background music that plays during the two charanams are not exactly the same! Did a lot of tweaking and adjustments to ensure that it doesnt sound odd! Once that was ready, I had to lip-sync the video with the audio mix!

And... one more thing... In this mix, there's something different about the "nee" in "Enadhu pagaiyum nee" which Chinmayi sings... Did anyone notice it?

The official preview of ATM music is available on ARR's official site arrahman.com!! Here's the track listing and full credits!
(The remix of Pon Magal Vandhaal, I guess, has not been done by Rahman. The song is credited to Krishna Chetan. Also, the arrahman.com-exclusive-preview doesn't include the remix! This was expected because A.R.Rahman has always been against remixing someone else's tune - he said NO to S.J.Suryah when SJS asked him to remix "Pesuvadhu KiLiyaa" and later "Thottal poo malarum". He finally ended up retuning the latter instead of remixing.)


AZHAGIYA TAMIZH MAGAN

Cast - Vijay, Shreya
Director - Bharatan
Producer - Appachan
Production Company - Swargachitra Films
Lyrics - Vaali
Label - Star Music
Date of Release - October 2007

Songs

1. Ellaappugazhum
A.R. Rahman

2. Kelaamal Kaiyile
Sriram Parthasarathy, Saindhavi

3. Maduraikku Pogathedee
Benny Dayal, Archith, Dharshana

4. Nee Marilyn Monroe
Benny Dayal, Ujjayinee

5. Ponmagal Vandaal
Aslam, Ember Rap

6. Valayapatti
Naresh Iyer, Ujjayinee, Madhumitha


Instruments

Thavil: Venkatesh, Purusothaman
Nadaswaram: MKS Natarajan

Credits

Male Harmony: Archith, Dr. Narayanan, Naresh Iyer, Senthil Das, Rahul Nambiar, Benny Dayal
Female Harmony: Gopika Poornima, Fathima, Darshana, Janani

Additional Programming And Ponmagal Remix: Krishna Chetan
Music Assistant: Sathish Chakkaravarthy
Music Assistant And Orchestration: J Srinivasa Murthy

Recorded at Panchathan Record-Inn & AM Studios, Chennai
Sound Engineer: S. Sivakumar

Mixed At Panchathan Record-Inn and AM Studios, Chennai and KM Musiq Studio, London
Mixing Engineers: K.J. Singh, S. Sivakumar
Mastered at AM Studios By H. Sridhar


PS: One more post below!

When the Pritams, Anumaliks, Devas and Yuvans of India are busy lifting tunes from all over the world, people from around the world are lifting tunes composed by one Indian - do I even have to mention that the Indian in question is A.R.Rahman?

I had written about Uzbek singer Iroda Dilroz using ARR's Kadhal Sadugudu (alaipayuthe) and Mustafa. But, she had credited A.R.Rahman! Ottagathai kattiko was used by La Caution for their song Pilotes Automatiques.

Now, Shakalaka Baby is in China and it is already a hit. Mandarin singer Kelly Poon has included this song in her album titled Shakalaka Baby.
Listen to it here.

The sad part is that A.R.Rahman is not credited for this till now!

(Thanks to Vinod and NoorulWahid from arrahmanfans for the info)


Update 1:
AR Rahman and Lyrics writer Don Black have been credited in the music video. But, it still remains to be seen if they have got the rights to use the song.

Update 2:
The mails from arrahmanfans Yahoo group, reagarding this issue, were forwarded to A.R.Rahman and ARR's legal advisers and Andrew Lloyd Weber escalated the issue to Universal Music, who are releasing the Kelly Poon album. They have agreed to add AR Rahman's name in the credits. Glad to see that the group has done some really active work for ARR!!!

A.R.Rahman has taken up a task in hand - and he wants to achieve his goal even if it is at the cost of losing projects! Yes... He has opted out of the Red Chillies production (Shah Rukh Khan's) Om Shanti Om to be directed by Farah Khan. This has been the hot topic of Bollywood, this week!

The task at hand - To force the audio companies to share the publishing rights with the composer and the lyricist. What does Rahman have to say about this?
A.R.Rahman has taken up this issue seriously, and is ready to face the repercussions.

"I'm standing up for what I think is right. Yes, producers will back out. But that's fine. I'm not insecure about my career. If I lose out on some assignments in Mumbai I'm ready to bear with the loss. I've always been asked why I haven't done a non-film album. Now, I have the time to do that."*

Meanwhile, media has started coming up with baseless stories of SRK replacing A.R.Rahman as he did not like ARR's tunes.
Rahman himself has clarified this issue:

"In fact Shah Rukh tried his utmost to see and to put forward my point of view. Unfortunately, T-Series, the music company which will market the music of Om Shanti Om, would have none of it."*

When worldover, the musicians and lyricists are given rights, why not in India? Also, according to the Indian copyright act, the rights of a soundtrack rest with the composer, lyricist too unless specified otherwise in a contract!

There are many right holders in a musical sound recording. For example, the lyricist who wrote the lyrics, the composer who set the music, the singer who sang the song, the musician (s) who performed the background music, and the person or company who produced the sound recording.

Source: A HAND BOOK OF COPYRIGHT LAW, Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development & Ministry of Secondary Education and Higher Education.

Having studied Indian Copyright Laws and having done a project on Music Copyrights as a part of my course, my understanding of the practices in the industry is this: The music companies like T-Series make the composer and lyricist sign a contract which transfers all ownership to the music companies!

A.R.Rahman has started the fight to change the way the music industry is functioning in India. ARR is not asking for not exclusive rights (some singers abroad do that!), but only a share! And, T-series and other music companies don't want to give even that!!!

"Chaiyya Chaiyya" is now creating waves not because of the audio company which owns the rights! Bombay Theme is famous world over, not because of the audio company. A.R.Rahman has taken Indian music worldwide, and the music companies are reaping the benefits. It is only fair that ARR receives the financial gains for these usages of his works in foreign films and serials. But, the highest paid composer in India is not fighting for monetary gains, but beyond that! He wants to change the practices in the industry, which seem to be unfair to the creators!

A.R.Rahman has tasted some success in his protest, as he has got the share of copyrights for his forthcoming film Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, produced by Aamir Khan. Will the others follow suit in sharing the rights?

*Source of Rahman's Interview: Mumbai Mirror

The popularity of Chaiyya Chaiyya abroad keeps rising!! It is really old news that the song was used in the Spike Lee movie "Inside Man". What's new is, the song was used in the TV Series Smith (Season 1, Episode 1) in CBS TV in the US.

Catch the video clip of that episode with Chaiyya, here

Wondering who could succeed Anu Malik as the next big copycat in bollywood? It is none other than Pritam - the composer of successful albums like Dhoom, Gangster among others. Surprised? Let me add that some of his most famous compositions were blatant tune lifts - Dhoom Macha Le (Dhoom) and almost all songs of Gangster!
itwofs.com, the database of 'inspired' indian film songs, lists 20 complete tune lifts by Pritam - in just 3 years!!! At this rate, he can easily dethrone Anu Malik.

Pritam was in news recently. His all famous Ya Ali (Gangster) was a total ripoff of Ya Ghali by the Arabic band, Guitarra. Unfortunately for Pritam, the company which produced the original is owned by none other than the Prince of Saudi Arabia, who is considering legal action against Pritam and the producers.

What's funny is the way Pritam reacted to this news, in an interview to Musicindiaonline.

"I’ve earned Rs. 60,000 for Ya Ali. So if Guitarras wants to share my profits for it they are welcome."

The album came out after a long wait. There was lot of hype surrounding it. The producers of the film kept attaching lots of importance to the music and to ARR. So, lot of expectations on this album!
Does it live up to the expectations? Well, more than just meeting the expectations - it truly rocks and might well be the album of the year... err.... probably not... Guru is releasing in October!

Kummi Adi (or Ammi Midhichaachu):
An energetic folk number with fast beats.
Naresh rocks... Had a discussion with Deepak, about Naresh's voice in this song - he was wondering if it was Naresh in this song!! I felt Naresh's voice has so many dimensions. He sounded so soft in Tu bin bataaye (RDB) and Myiliragey (Ah Aah), sounded very different in Roobaroo and Paathshaala (RDB), and had that rustic feel in Kammaaa karaiyile (Godfather). His voice sounds so different in each one, and in this song, it is the "kamma karaiyile" dimension!! It was great listening to Swarnalatha, Seergaazhi Sivachidambaram and Theni Kunjaramma!
Already a chart buster.

Sillunu Oru Kaadhal:
Typical jazz song of 1970-80s. The beats, bass guitar arrangements, sax interludes, instrumentation - everything give us that retro-jazz feel. ARR proves once again that he can give a master any genre! Total fun song. Tanvi's voice is so fresh and apt for the mood, and the cat mewing sounds are so enjoyable.

Munbey vaa:
A soothing melody by Shreya Ghoshal and Naresh. The string arrangements are brilliant through out the song, especially during Shreya's humming after the first "rangoli" chorus. The starting instrumental and the BGMs (is it santoor?) are so cute. Highlight is the Rangoli part.

Maaricham:
Rahman loves to experiment a lot and break all rules. And he has gone totally unconventional in this song . This song doesn't follow the usual routine of pallavi-interludes-2 similar saranams.
The song starts of in a slow, high pitched opera-song-kinda mode and then the fast beats take over. Carolissa handles the high pitch portions throughout the song with ease.
The song shifts to a totally different mood after about 3 mins, when she says "Gautam" (it does sound like a mohini pisasu, as Harish pointed out !!) and Aslam takes over. Aslam's portion is melodious and is backed by fast percussion and wonderful string arrangements. The "tejo mayam " ending is good.

Machakkaari:
A peppy number. Shankar Mahadevan and Vasundara Das create magic. Loved the part when shankar sings "Thaangadhe Machakkaari" -starting from a low note for "thaangaadhe" and dragging on the "machakkaari" part to a high pitch and then goes "ohhh"... lovely! And, the bass guitar peice at the end of the stanza is mind-blowing! Potential chart-topper.

Mazaa Mazaa:
Shreya Ghoshal sung Thazhuvudhu Nazhuvudhu (Ah Aah) with SPB. This time, she pairs up with SPB Charan for a similar kind of song. Charan has tried to sound like his dad and succeeded in many places!
Just loved the percussion arrangements and the transistion from one mode to another! Very light percussion in the starting, and then some very heavy percussion at 1:07 - u keep listening and never know then shift in beats happened - so smooth! The starting ("mm mm hmm") is so addictive. Highlight of the song is the point (4:13) when all percussions stop, Shreya sarts to sing "Jillunu oar...", stops, giggles and then SPB Charan completes "Jillunu oar Ginger beeru thaan"... Awesommme!
Also love the part when both sing "kandaal Paavam unda....." (3:07-3:13) - SPBC sings that line from high to low pitch and Shreya goes from low to high... brilliant!

New York:
Definitely the pick of the album. A guy-misses- his-gal song - a very common theme, but the song is so fresh. Everything about this song is so different. The tune is very unusual and unpredictable and makes you keep guessing all the time.
This is second song in this theme in Rahman's voice, the first being "Mera yaar milaa de" from Saathiya. I dont think anyone else could have done justice to this song other than Rahman - wowwww - he just takes u in to that mood.
I was spellbound by the starting of the song itself, when i heard it for the first time. The "hmmm hmmm" (which keeps continuing to about 1 min) starting is so innovative. After some heavy acoustic guitar strumming in Roobaroo and Luka Chupi, Rahman continues that trend again and it adds to the mood. The lyrics by vaali are just awesome.

Best album in recent times.... Haven't got the album yet? What are u waiting for?

A.R.Rahman enthralled a 18000-strong audience in Hollywood on Sunday. Mumbai Mirror reports that more than 70% of the audience were Americans, which is sharp contrast to any other Indian show held in the US, where in the stands would be filled with Indians and south-asians - One more fact to prove that A.R.Rahman has become "truly global"!!!