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Childhood
Allah Rakha Rahman was born as Dileep Kumar on the 6th
of January in the year 1966, in Madras, to a musically
affluent family. His father R.K.Sekhar was an arranger
and conductor in Malayalam movies and had worked under
the likes of Salil Chowdhary and Devarajan. Dileep
started learning the piano at the tender age of four
Background
At the age of 9, his father passed away following a
mysterious illness with rumours abounding that he was
the victim of black magic by his rivals. The pressure of
supporting his family fell on Dileep. At he age of 11,
he joined Illaiyaraja's troupe as a keyboard player. It
was his mother Kareema Begum who encouraged him to
follow in his father's footsteps. But all this had an
adverse affect on his education. Infrequent attendance
and an unaccommodative management forced him to shift
schools from the prestigious Padma Seshadri Bal Bhavan
to the Madras Christian College and finally he dropped
out of school altogether.
Religion
In 1988, one of his sisters fell seriously ill and
numerous attempts to cure her failed. Her condition
progressively worsened. The family had given up all hope
when they came in contact with a Muslim Pir - Sheik
Abdul Qadir Jeelani or Pir Qadri as he was popularly
known. With his prayers and blessings, Dileep's sister
made a miraculous recovery. Rattled by the bad
experience and influenced by the teachings of the Pir,
the entire family converted to Islam. Thus A.S.Dileep
Kumar became A.R. Rahman.
Musical
background
He also played on the orchestra of M.S.Vishwanathan and
Ramesh Naidu and accompanied Zakir Hussain and Kunnakudi
Vaidyanathan on world tours. All this experience enabled
him to earn a scholarship to the famed Trinity College
of Music at Oxford University from where he obtained a
degree in Western Classical Music. After he returned he
continued to be a part of various music troupes. He was
also a part of local rock bands like Roots, Magic and
Nemesis Avenue where he performed with his future
colleagues like Ranjit Barot and Sivamani.
Career
in Ads
Vizi Manuel, the lead keyboard player in Illaiyaraja's
troupe, advised him to try other alternatives like
advertising. Fortunately for Dileep he soon got his
first break in advertising when he was asked to compose
the jingle to promote Allwyn's new Trendy range of
watches, in 1987. The ads were a success and Dileep's
work in them was appreciated. Dileep moved full time
into advertising as a few offers came his way. Thus
began Dileep's 5-year saga in advertising where he went
on to compose more than 300 jingles. Rahman did a lot of
popular ads like those for Parry's, Leo Coffee, Boost
featuring Sachin Tendulkar and Kapil Dev, Titan, Premier
Pressure Cooker, Hero Puch and Asian Paints. The jingles
that he composed for the Leo Coffee ad starring Aravind
Swamy and the Asian Paints ad directed by Rajeev Menon
also won him awards and recognition. He also won an
award for composing the theme music of the Madras Telugu
Academy's Spirit of Unity Concerts.
Studio
In 1989, he started a small studio of his own, called
Panchathan Record Inn, attached to his house. This would
later develop into one of India's most well equipped and
advanced recording studios. In his established state of
the art sound and recording studio he began
experimenting in sound engineering, design and
production. He also began a collection of sound samples,
creating one of the most comprehensive sonic libraries
in Asia.
Earlier
Non-film work
During his stint in advertising, he released his first
album, of Muslim devotional songs, titled `Deen Isai
Malai'. This was followed by `Set Me Free', an album of
English songs which was the launch album of singer
Malgudi Subha, by Magnasound, where Dileep set the songs
to tune. Both the albums went unnoticed in the market.
Films
. At an advertising awards function he chanced upon a
young man receiving the award for the best ad jingle
which he had composed for the popular Leo Coffee ad. At
the party that followed the awards presentation ceremony
Maniratnam was introduced to the young composer by his
cousin Sharada Trilok of Trish Productions for whose
company the young man had worked. Mani requested for a
sample of his wares. The composer readily complied and
invited the director over to his studio where he played
out a tune that he had been pushed into composing by his
school friend G.Bharat alias Bala who had been greatly
disturbed by the Cauvery river tensions. Mani was hooked
instantly. He signed on the composer to score the music
for his next film which was to be produced by the
veteran Tamil director K.Balachander. That film was Roja.
That tune would become the song "Tamizha Tamizha".
Rahman became a household name in Tamil Nadu overnight
and the score of `Roja' was the first step in changing
the face of Indian film music. `Roja' won every
conceivable award in music that year. Rahman also got
the Rajat Kamal for best music director at the National
Film Awards , the first time ever by a debutante. He
left ads and moved into film music full time. Since Roja,
he has created music for blockbuster Indian films
including Roja, Pudhiya Mugam, Gentleman, Kizhaku
Seemaiyilae, Duet, Kadalan, Bombay, May, Madham, Indian,
Muthu, Kadhal Desam , Love Birds and others. His 1995
soundtrack for Bombay crossed 5 million units and Rahman
had arrived as the "King of Indian Pop" with sales of
more than 40 million albums over a period of 3 years.
The success continued with films like Dil Se.. with Mani
Rathnam, and Taal with Subhash Ghai. After working in
many movies of the typical popular genre, several
offbeat reputed directors and producers like Govind
Nihalani, Shyam Benegal, Deepta Mehta have worked with
Rahman in movies like Thakshak, Zubeidaa, Fire, and
Earth/1947.
Experimenting with voices
Rahman is well known for introducing several unknown
voices into the main stream playback. He has shown an
extraordinary flair for experimenting with untrained
voices. Singers who have worked with him have repeatedly
said that Rahman's open approach during recording
sessions has spurred them on to giving their best.
Suresh Peters, Shahul Hameed, Srinivas, Shankar
Mahadevan, Harini, Anupama, Dominique, Minmini, Shubha,
Febi, Hema Sardesai are some of the singers who have
thrived after the advent of Rahman. Singers like
Hariharan, Sujatha, Unnimenon have had successful
comebacks in the industry after working with Rahman.
Unnikrishnan, Bombay Jayshree and Nithyashree Mahadevan
who are successful Karnatak classical vocalists have
been introduced into film playback by Rahman.
Playback
singing
In the movie "Bombay" Rahman formally took to playback
singing. Rahman had lent his voice to his compositions
earlier too but they had been part of the preludes or
interludes like `Yelelo' in `Chinna Chinna Aasai' in `Roja'.
But `Hamma Hamma' in `Bombay' was Rahman's first
complete song. His song `Mustafa Mustafa' from `Kadhal
Desam' was another hit that made Sony take notice of
Rahman and sign him on for the non-film album `Vande
Mataram'. While he continued lending his voice to
several uncredited songs, his solos such as "Dil Se Re"
(from `Dil Se..') have made his fans crave for more
songs from him.
Patriotic Albums
In 1996, when Rahman had gone to Bombay to attend the
Screen Awards ceremony, he met his childhood friend
G.Bharat. During this meeting both had discussed a
proposal for an album to commemorate 50 years of Indian
Independence in 1997. In 1997, the International music
giant, Sony Music, whose portfolio included the likes of
Michael Jackson, entered the Indian market in a big way.
They were looking to promote Indian artistes
internationally. And the first person to be signed up by
Sony Music from the Indian sub-continent was A.R.Rahman,
on a 3-album contract. Rahman suggested the idea that he
had discussed with Bharat to Sony Music India and was
immediately accepted. Called `Vande Mataram', it was a
tribute to the motherland and featured songs to mark the
3 colours of the Indian Flag. `Vandemataram' was
released simultaneously in 28 countries across the world
under the prestigious Columbia Label of Sony Music on
August 15th 1997. Rahman himself performed live at Vijay
Chowk in New Delhi on the eve of the Golden Jubilee of
Indian Independence to a packed audience that comprised
of the Prime Minister of India. The album was a mega
success and sold over 1.2 million copies in India and
did reasonably well internationally too. Three years
after the successful "Vande Mataram" Bharat Bala and
Rahman worked together in another historic album called
`Jana Gana Mana'. This was a project in which several
top artistes of the nation came together to sing or play
the National Anthem "Jana Gana Mana". The project had
started as "Desh Ka Salaam" which was telecast in Indian
TV channels and on the web on August 15, 1999, in which
several greats of Indian music, from the classical to
the contemporary, came together to give a soulful and
modern rendition of the National Anthem. The `Jana Gana
Mana' was released on January 26 2000 to mark the 50th
year of the Indian Republic.
Awards
In his career Rahman has received several awards in
various instituted Indian film awards. He was awarded
the "Padmashree" titled by the Indian Government in year
2000. Two national awards for best composer came his way
for films `Roja' and `Minsara Kanavu.' He has received
the best music director award in the Tamil Nadu State
Awards six times. He has received awards in Filmfare,
Screen-Videocon, Zee Sangeet, Bollywood Music Awards,
MTV-VMA awards among others. Notable in this list is the
Filmfare awards. He has received 13 Filmfare awards in
all. No year has gone by without a Filmfare award for
Rahman since `Roja'.
Collaborations & inspirations
At the age of 32, Rahman has already worked with
internationally reputed artistes like Nusrat Fateh Ali
Khan, Apache Indian, Zakir Hussain, Kunnakudi
Vaidyanathan, Dominic Miller, L.Shankar, Kadri Gopalnath,
Vikku Vinayakram, Ustad Sultan Khan and Pandit Vishwa
Mohan Bhatt among many others. Rahman has in
collaborations with artists such as L. Shankar, Zakir
Hussain, David Byrne, Talvin Singh and Apache Indian -
both recording and on tour. On a trip to India, David
Byrne met Rahman and was so impressed that he went on to
record some sessions with Rahman for a project he is
currently completing (as yet unreleased). In October
1999, Rahman performed a song "Ekam Satyam" in a charity
concert in Munich with Michael Jackson called "MJ and
friends". The meeting between Rahman and Michael Jackson
was arranged by Hindujas and Bharat Bala. Rahman and his
troupe performed after Michael Jackson in the concert.
Melodious strains of 'Satyameva Jayate' by Rahman
provided the closing to the concert by pop king Michael
Jackson. Impressed with Rahman's film songs, the famous
musical composer and producer, Andrew Webber Lloyd, has
signed Rahman to compose a Broadway musical titled
`Bombay Dreams'. Webber was introduced to Rahman's style
of music through the songs from `Dil Se..' and `Taal'.
Joining Rahman in this musical would be Academy award
winning lyricist Don Black. Rahman lists among his
favourites Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Carpenters, Carnatic,
Rock and fusion. He credits all his inspiration and
success to Allah. [Special thanks to Gopal Srinivasan
and Sony for the biographic material]
ARTIST
OF THE FORTNIGHT
A R
Rahman
If I were to tell you that Dilip Kumar is one of India's
greatest composers, you would probably tell me to get my
head examined - cause then it would seem like I have got
the acting and music professions all mixed up. However,
very few people know that A.R.Rahman was formerly known
as Dilip Kumar, and that due to some personal reasons,
he converted from being a Hindu, embraced Islam and got
himself rechristened to his 'current' name. A.R. Rahman
started of his much-envied career as a keyboard player
with the Legend from down South - 'ISAI GYANI'
Illayaraja. In the early part of his career, he also
composed the music for hundreds of jingles - this was a
phase when he and his tiny little keyboard seemed
inseparable. However, it was while working with
Illayaraja - who in turn was working with Mani Ratnam on
one of his films - that Mani Ratnam noticed him and was
quick to identify the awesome talent that seemed to lie
untapped within this teenager. Rahman effortlessly
'qualified' in Ratnams eyes as 'deserving', and thus,
when the appropriate opportunity came along, he decided
to give Rahman a 'break'. The movie of course, was Roja
which went on to become a big hit and the music really
clicked big-time. This was a bilingual - done both in
Tamil and Hindi. (Following in the footsteps of Mani
Ratman, Rahman himself has given 'breaks' to lots of
promising, deserving artists.) Rahman worked again with
Mani Ratnam in Bombay (a bilingual again) and again the
music was received wholeheartedly by music lovers from
all over the country. However, it was a Ram Gopal Varmas
Rangeela - his first original Hindi score - which well
and truly established him as one of the prominent music
composers from Bollywood. Overnight, Rahman was a
'star', and as is the tradition in Bollywood, suddenly
all kinds of producers were queuing outside his house -
wanting him to do the music for their films. Rahman
however, wisely chose to stay selective and took on only
the projects that interested him. He also made it a
point to work entirely on his own terms and conditions -
he still works only from Chennai where he lives, has his
own studio in his own house from where he works, likes
to work only at nights so works only at nights! Even a
veteran like Subhash Ghai, with whom he worked in Taal,
willingly gave in to all this, such is the respect for
the 'product' that Rahman has to offer! Rahmans greatest
contribution so far has been the very 'state-of-the-art'
sound that he brought to Indian films. His uniqueness
lies in his unconventional compositions and also his
relatively non-traditional approach towards
presentation. His 'sound' overall, has a certain
'dazzle' and 'sparkle' to it. What sets him apart from
most of his peers is his ability to draw from not only
the West but also from India itself - a resource to
which most of his contemporaries seem to have turned a
blind eye. Thus, his orchestration is a unique blend of
western, Hindustani and Carnatic instruments - giving
his music its very strong individuality. Rahman was the
only artist chosen from India by an international
society of artists to perform around the globe during
the turn of the millennium. He was given the highly
prestigious honour of recomposing 'Vande Mataram' during
India's 50th year of Indepenence. Rahman was also a very
deserving winner of the first R.D.Burman memorial prize
- instituted to recognize fresh talent. His forthcoming
exiting ventures include, among other things, a very
exiting project with none other than composer-supremo,
Andrew Lloyd Webber. An artist whose maturity far defies
his age, Rahman is a complete original - a composer who
is never scared of bending a rule here or breaking a
rule there, a composer who is always taking a risk
(playing with fire, if you like). This is precisely what
makes his music so unpredictable, so exiting. He still
has a long way to go, but there's absolutely no doubt
that he has embarked on what seems like a really long
journey - one which he will traverse blissfully with
millions and millions of his fans.
Article by Dinesh .....
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