Newsletter for week of 17th December 2006

Richard Corliss, the author of the article, That Old Feeling: Isn't It Rahmantic?   in Time.com says, the name of Rahman for the Indian audience "stands for melody, quality, energy , instant hummability — a sound both personal and universal, devouring older forms and transforming them into something gorgeously new." The person that defines so much of what music is to us, is the celebrity of our focus this week.

Born on 6th January 1966, Rahman started his career by joining the troupe of the reining South Indian Music Composer IIaiyaraja as a keyboard player. He played for many famous artists like M.S Vishwanathan, Ramesh Naidu and Zaakhir Hussain. In 1991, Rahman began his own studio and composed Jingles for advertisements. His first venture into films was Roja, a tamil film directed by Mani Ratnam which announced the entry of a new Music Director. From then on, there was no stopping this Musical Genius.

"Yaare re yaare re zor lagaake nache re" marked the entry of this Musical Genius into Bollywood. Debuting with Rangeela, Rahman has composed for several films, his latest being Guru. Rahman has dazzled us with his extremely unique blend of classical music throughout his career, making a mark all around the world. Today, songs from his oldest movies still play on the radio and are available to listen to anywhere.

Often called the Mozart of Indian Music, Rahman ventured beyond India. He worked with Lloyed Webber, composing for musicals like Bombay Dreams. He has composed for Lord Of The Rings threatre production and Warriors of Heaven and Earth, a Chinese film.

What is interesting is, he is known to have sold over 100 million records worldwide and over 200 million cassettes. He also obtained a scholarship to Trinity College at Oxford University, where he received a degree in Western classical music

Rahman is the receiver of several prestigious awards. He has received the National Award four times and is the only artist to receive it as a debutant for Roja.  The internationally acclaimed artist has received the Laurence Oliver Award for the most Outstanding Musical (Bombay Dreams) and Dora Moore Awards for the General Theatre Division - Outstanding Musical Direction for Lord of The Rings.

On the personal side, Allah Rakha Rahman born on 6th January, 1966 to RK Sekhar and Kareema Begum, and formerly known as A.S. Dileep Kumar, started learning piano at the very young age. His father died when Rahman was nine years old. His family used to rent out musical equipment to make ends meet, something they found very difficult. During those hard times, a Sufi (Muslim) saint helped them spiritually. This led Dileep to convert to Islam, changing his name to Allah Rakha Rahman.

From 'Roja Jaaneman' to 'Vande Matram' to his latest 'Tere Bina' in Guru, Rahman has never failed to experiment with new techniques, and dazzle us with mesmerizing music. He has definitely won our hearts as an outstanding music director – one of the Best India has produced!

I'm sure the star cast of this movie left you stunned, considering there are around 10-12 stars in the movie, and expectations are high! The music is not something excessively amazing, but it's pretty decent, and is worth listening to...

The best tracks on the album are Salaam-e-ishq and dil kya kare... Dil kya kare has been sung by Adnan Sami in his usual "Happy go lucky" and stylish voice... The song is really very nice to listen to... It is slow, and has a lot of english words drawn in here and there... but the chorus comes right back to "Salaam-E-ishq ishq ishq, salaam-E-ishq..." The effect is lovely.... The other good track is salaam-e-ishq, which I'm sure you've seen videos of... The song has been sung by Kunal Ganjawala, Shankar Mahadevan, Shreya Ghoshal and Sadhana Sargam -- All excellent playback singers...The song is a nice peppy number and the background harmony is especially notable...

Other good songs would include Babuji by Nihira Joshi, Tenu leke by Mahalakshmi Iyer and Sonu Nigam and Ye Rabba by Kailash Kher... Over-all, it's another good track by Shankar Ehsaan and Loy, but honestly speaking, it's not much compared to their previous hits and their capabilities... They've shown a new style in this album, and I like it. But let's see what the general audience has to say...

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