MEMORIES ▶️▶️ 🎼 AR RAHMAN 🎼

[MysteRy]

for me ARR is an emotion sis
nice post sis

[MysteRy]

I met Dileep for the first time when he’d come to Bombay to record a jingle. At that time, he told me he’d listened to my ghazals and that he wanted me to sing a song for his first film with Mani Ratnam. I knew Mani sir’s work and liked the track that Dileep played for me. I came down to Madras and recorded the song at his studio. I usually write my lyrics in Devanagiri and sing the song. I remember recording my song for Roja vividly; lyricist Vairamuthu sir was sitting next to me and reciting the lyrics to me. When I wrote ‘Tamizha Tamizha’ in Devanagiri, he was scandalised! “Ennaya idhu, Tamizha Tamizha solrenga… ivar Hindi la ezhudaraar,”he remarked. But then, things worked out fine and the song came out beautifully.

When I saw the song finally, I was really disappointed. It came during the end credits, and everyone was walking out of the theatre when it was playing out. The most interesting thing is that the lyrics actually lend itself to a marching song, but the tune was like a lullaby. That was Rahman’s touch.



- HariHaran

[MysteRy]

We had a very intellectual discussion while creating " Anbendra mazhiyile" . It's about a girl who basically says she finds God appealing. AR was interested in the concept and wanted to catch it in the music. he wanted to create a prayer song everyone could sing. I collected some Gregorian chants and showed it to him, but he didn't think the audience would like it. But he took the sheer scale of them and set it to an Indian raga, not wanting to do a typical church song . It was totally different. He gave it a feel that made it sound like it was coming from deep European valley . It was totally AR.

- RAJEEV MENON

[MysteRy]

"Very few people know that 'Guzarish' (Ghajini) was originally sung by me few years ago. Later, the lyrics were changed and since I was in US then – my wife was due to deliver there – Rahman re-recorded it with Javed Ali. By the time I returned, the song had already been shot. But Rahman realised he'd done something wrong, so he sat me down and felt bad, and hoped I'd understand. He didn't have to do it, but that made me respect him all the more. What's more is that he retained my humming in the song . That's Rahman..

- Sonu Nigam

[சாக்ரடீஸ்]

Alea Mam sema post mam Na mostly hindi songs-ae kekamaten rombo kammi ipovarai paatha 10 to 15 songs tha hindi la keturupen athula oru song than intha Guzarish Song my most fav song ... UC la kuda kekalam nu eduthuvechiruken. Ipo neenga pota intha post pakum bothu already ARR sir mela thani respect iruku but inum athiga paduthiruku super post mam. Thanks for sharing this info mam 

[MysteRy]

Alea Mam sema post mam Na mostly hindi songs-ae kekamaten rombo kammi ipovarai paatha 10 to 15 songs tha hindi la keturupen athula oru song than intha Guzarish Song my most fav song ... UC la kuda kekalam nu eduthuvechiruken. Ipo neenga pota intha post pakum bothu already ARR sir mela thani respect iruku but inum athiga paduthiruku super post mam. Thanks for sharing this info mam 

[MysteRy]

Sometimes, you’re tempted to do a lot of orchestration for a simple melody. Some other directors that I’ve worked with tell me that there’s no BGM, add something more. But with Mani, I can do what I like. ‘Vellai Pookal’ from Kannathil Muthamittal, with just a guitar and a voice, is one example. Even ‘Vaan’ from Kaatru Veliyidai was basically just a piano and voice.

There’s a Thirukkural that says: ‘If you’re with learned people, you also become learned’. It works that way with Manirathnam.

[MysteRy]

The story starts in 1992, with the release of the film Roja in Tamil. I was such an avid fan of Mani Rathnam after Nayakan that I had made the brave attempt of seeing Dalapathy in Tamil, a language that was way beyond my comprehension. My attempt did not go unrewarded and I was completely taken in by the manner of story-telling of Mani Rathnam. I had also become an avid fan of Illayaraja, whose many Tamil cassettes I bought and heard again and again.

So when I heard that a Mani Rathnam film called Roja was being screened, I went immediately to Aurora, a theatre at King’s Circle. I was a little disappointed that Mani Rathnam’s usual music composer, Illayraja, had been replaced by a newcomer called Rahman. My doubts about A. R. Rahman were razed to the ground the moment I heard the first note of the background score play. This sound was BIG… and it was definitely different. Not just different, it was drastically different. Then the first song came – ‘Chinna Chinna Asai’.

The effect of the song, together with Mani Rathnam’s visualisation, Santosh Sivan’s brilliant cinematography, and Rahman’s music was pure alchemy. And how could one forget the background score of the movie? I was so hypnotised by the movie’s background score that I went back to Aurora again the following week, just to hear the background score. I think it must have been the first (and perhaps the only) instance where a Marathi youth went twice for a Tamil film without subtitles to a theatre!

- Kausal Inamdar (Singer and composer )

[MysteRy]

“Whenever the plane takes off, I think this would be my last journey of life.” He went further to describe how music and spirituality go hand in hand. “You cannot take one out of the other. Music lets you look inside within you. It takes you on such a high, far away from this material world, and moreover, it also takes you nearer to God. You feel the purification that takes place within you while listening to music. Maybe this is the reason why music is sometimes called an integral part of devotion – of Dhikr and Ibaadat.”

-AR Rahman

[MysteRy]

For the film Sangamam, our Master MSV Sir was involved. We are all from his school of music. He has a lot of love for me, and he was at the recording session for that film. Hariharan sir sang the initial bit and left. Rahman sir brought 40 rhythms and mixed them. He told me to get all the instruments I possessed for this song. When I started from home with all the instruments, the neighbors asked if I was moving to another house.

I brought all the instruments in five auto rickshaws. I replied, “No, Rahman sir had called for a recording. He instructed me to get all the instruments to try something new.”

Rubob, Sauce, Mandolin, Utilin, Basukin

We mixed all six instruments into the rhythms to make it perfect, and the outcome was brilliant.

- Santoor Seenu