subject: A R Rahman Live In Music Concert On October 11th Chennai [print this page] Double Oscar-winning music composer A R Rahman embarked on his much awaited 'Jai Ho' concert from October 11 here. Allah Rakha Rahman is an Indian film composer, record producer, musician and singer. His film scoring career began in theearly 1990s. He has won thirteen Filmfare Awards, four National Film Awards, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe and two Academy Awards. Working in India's various film industries, international cinema and theatre, by 2003, Rahman, in a career spanning over a decade, has sold more than 100 million records of his film scores and soundtracks worldwide, and sold over 200 million cassettes, making him one of the world's all-time top selling recording artists. This is the first time that Rahman performed in Chennai after bagging the Academy Awards for his musical score in Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire.
Rahman told reporters before the concert that he was really looking forward to it. 'This year there is more focus on conducting Indian concerts and starting from Chennai, it will go on,' Rahman added. The composer said the concert would have a mix of songs including tracks from his upcoming Bollywood film, 'Blue'. Though he has been promoting his son Alim, who wants to become a playback singer, the six-year-old did not participate in the concert. The A.R Rahman concert on October 11th exceeded all expectations and believe us -the expectations were high!
The crowd was extremely enthusiastic and vociferous at times though a common complaint was poor crowd management. One of the highlights of the evening was when Rahman sang the song 'Jiya se Jiya' from a crane. Most of the crowd was on its feet swaying to the beat with him. Later during the night Rahman played the piano and sang some beautiful love songs. Singer Hariharan joined him on stage for a touching rendition of the song 'Tamizha tamizha' which had most of the crowd on its feet while swaying the Indian flag.
Rashid Ali who sang the peppy number 'Kabhi Kabhi Aditi' dedicated the song to the Aditis in the crowd. During the show, the religious heads from three religions gave Rahman Holy water from Jerusalem, The Ganges and Mecca to signify oneness. After this little ceremony Rahman handed over the keys of the flats which were constructed by Marg at the Marg Swarnabhoomi Township to the flat owners.
Rahman had saved the best for the last. With songs like 'Azeemo shaan shahenshah' and 'Veerapandiya kottayille' which were followed by a mind-blowing solo by Sivamani coming towards the tail end of the concert. When Rahman sang the highly spiritual song 'Khwaja mere khwaja' the stage bathed in in green light.There was so much devotion and sincerity in his voice that the crowd was instantly quietened.
Chitra as usual wowed the crowd with the song 'Jiya jale' which was accompanied by fire dancers. The finale of the show with songs like the much awaited 'Jai Ho' and 'Vande Mataram' had the crowd in a frenzy of delight and were definitely well worth the wait.
Balloons, lights, the stars, the gentle breeze and Rahmans wonderful music all conspired to make the evening a truly magical one for his fans.
