IndiaPost.com - Rollicking Rahman show

India Post News Service

OAKLAND CITY: The dazzling, technologically supreme and musically satisfying AR Rahman concert presented by Mehta Entertainment was held in the Oakland Arena on June 2. The sold out 3rd Dimension North American show delivered more than the three dimensions it implied.

To the standard three dimensions, it added nostalgic time with songs like Thodi Si Dhool (Rang De Basanti) and Vande Mataram, rocking rollicking time with songs like Humma Humma and soft as a whisper time with Chanda Re Chanda Re.

The concert had singers Hariharan, Sadhna Sargam, Kailash Kher, Madhushree, Sivamani, Sukhwinder, Udit Narayan, Chitra, Blaaze, Karthik and Alma, besides of course the maestro AR Rahman. With a troupe of over 70 artistes and special animated visuals, along with fireworks and larger than life dancers as the backdrop, the show was slick, polished and lived up to the audience's expectations of the man called "The Mozart of Madras".

It was not just a technically skilled performance with no heart, however. All the artistes from the passionately pounding percussionist Sivamani to the energetic, 'work the crowd' Blaaze to the man du jour, AR Rahman connected with the audience in the rare synchronicity sometimes achieved between performers and fans.

The concert started with Sivamani performing percussion magic to get the audience's blood pounding. With the announcement that Oakland City had announced an AR Rahman day, Rahman mentioned the Taj Mahal and asked people to vote for it as one of the new Seven Wonders of the World on the web. The songs started with Rahman's UN song composed for the eradication of world poverty, 'Pray For Me Brother'. People waved their phone lights along to celebrate his message.

After Mayya Maryem (Guru) by Madhushree, came Hariharan and Sadhana with Chanda Re Chanda Re (Sapne) with its melodious lyrics "Chanda re chanda re kabhi to zameen par aa, Baithenge baatein karenge". Rahman sang Tere Bina Kya Jeena (Guru) while dancers in sky blue twirled gracefully across the stage. Other songs included Barson Re Megha (Guru) with gauzy, iridescent peacock tails draped over the dancers.

Then came "Thodi si dhool meri dharti ki mere watan ki, Thodi si khushboo baurayee si mast pawan ki". The lyrics of the Rang De Basanti song brought everyone to their feet with a feeling of wistfulness tinged with homesickness. Blaaze asked "the people who are waving their arms, get off their seats and dance" as Rahman and he sang Humma Humma (from the movie Bombay).

The whole audience hummed the song and were all on their feet dancing as fireworks and flashing lights added to the rousing crescendo and the subsequent standing ovation.

While everyone was still charged up to fever pitch, everyone trooped onto the stage to join Rahman in singing Vande Mataram. Tricolored streamers waved on the stage in rhythm with the phone lights of the audience.

"Ma Tujhe Salaam, Vande Mataram" rose on eddies of sound towards the stadium rafters as patriotic fervor gripped everyone. The perfect song to end a highly satisfying and emotionally fulfilling evening, everyone went home in a mellow mood humming snatches of songs sung during the concert.