A.R.Rahman, Live in Bangalore

3-D effect in Bangalore, courtesy Rahman’s show
The Times of India

Bangalore: His musical genius creates waves from Birmingham to Baroda, Broadway to Bangalore. But Allah Rakha Rahman is remarkably un-flamboyant.

Those trademark black suits and (now) toned-down locks belie the glorious music he creates, the music that springs wild and free to capture peoples’ hearts and souls.

The same musical strain brings him to Bangalore’s Palace Grounds on October 8. And the Silicon Capital is the only Indian city to feature on his Third-Dimension (3-D) World Tour which encompasses London and Birmingham (United Kingdom), Sydney and Melbourne (Australia), Colombo (Sri Lanka), Dhaka (Bangladesh), Toronto (Canada) and various locations in the United States.

Rahman is no stranger to Bangalore. “It is one of my favourite cities. From Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s Bombay Dreams, to scoring music for the yet-to-be-released Lord of the Rings, Rahman’s music is slowly but surely becoming more international.

At a media interaction to publicise his October concert in Bangalore, Rahman, said the Bombay Dreams experience had helped immensely.

In fact, reviews of the latest London musical The Far Pavillions (adaptation of M.M. Kaye’s book of the same name) have said that Rahman would have done better music for the show.

At the moment, he is working on Lord of the Rings, due to open in London, Toronto and New York in 2006.

I came here 20 years ago to work with Vijay Anand and Dwarakesh on three-four films as a music arranger,’’ he told reporters here on Friday.

His new concert, will, as the name implies, feature 3-D innovations — the audience will wear 3-D glasses to experience special effects. Some parts of the crowd, however, will not be ‘3-D friendly,’ said managing director of Rapport Global Events, Deepak Gattani.

The normally taciturn Rahman did open up slightly when reporters asked him questions, but kept his answers short, sweet and witty.

Why does he keep ‘reinventing’ himself ? “Otherwise, you’ll complain I dish out the same thing,’’ he shot back. Concerts must evolve. “If we are bored, won’t the audiences be,’’ he asked.

How does he score music for different films? “Each film is different. For a period film like Mangal Pandey, we explored the ancient roots of folk music,’’ he explained. That led to a query on Rahman’s love for ‘flawed voices.’ “In Mangal Pandey, Kailash Kher sings Mangal, Mangal. His voice is extraordinarily soulful, so I let him sing it that way,’’ he explained.

So, is making music for Tamil different, from, say, Hindi? “What works in one may not work in another. It depends on the director’s sensibilities,’’ he outlined.

The Bangalore event, organised by India Classic Arts (ICA), in aid of ‘Namma Mane’ (a home for women), features singers including Sadhna Sargam, Hariharan, Daler Mehndi, Alka Yagnik, Chitra, Sonu Nigam, Shanker Mahadevan, Sukhwinder Singh, Madhushree, Blaaze, Kailash Kher, Alma from Bosnia and Ani from Armenia.

Tickets will be available from August-end. Call 9845657432 or www.indiaclassicarts.com.