SAN JOSE: ‘A.R. Rahman: The Intimate Concert Tour’ marks the composer’s first tour since 2010 in North America. Dubbed the “Mozart of Madras” and “Isai Puyal”, Padma Bhushan AR Rahman has won two Academy Awards for his work on Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire and another duo of nominations for Boyle’s 127 Hours.
Although best known for his Oscar wins, Rahman’s career has included more than 100 films, including Bombay, Roja, Taal, Rockstar, Couples Retreat and The Hundred-Foot Journey. He has cracked Time’s list of the world’s most-influential people. He has sold more than 150 million albums.
A.R. Rahman brought his Intimate Concert Tour with little over 10 musicians to San Jose on June 11 and 12 with an energetic, houseful performance to the iconic City National Civic, San Jose downtown.
Rahman and his band performed selections from his compositions of the 1990s and 2000s, including vocal numbers in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, French, Punjabi and English. The audience of mostly South Asians had plenty to be happy about with a greatest hits program that included Tamil and Hindi versions of several songs from “Chinna chinna aasai/Choti si asha” , “Kadhal Rojave”, “Uyire/Dil se.”
The numbers included hits from Jodha Akbar, Taal, Jab Tak hai jaan, Guru, Saathiya to name a few. The newer numbers included songs from the latest chartbuster hits “Mental Manadhil” and “Naane Varugiraen” from “O kadhal kanmani” and 2014’s “The 100-Foot Journey.”
Rahman played piano, keyboards and accordion, often accompanying the vocals of Jonita Gandhi, Haricharan Seshadri, Sid Sriram and Annette Philip; Ms. Philip demonstrated her singing in a jazz segment, which was highly applauded by the audience. But with Rahman’s latest North American show, he’s operating on a modest scale. “This is probably the smallest band I’ve ever been with, but the most credible one,” Rahman says of the singers, percussionists and other performers.
Rahman and his drummer also tried out a new device that played on Intel Real Sense, which takes perceptual computing to the next level by understanding sensory input and movement-supported platforms. The two musicians held a hand-worn sensor that let them appear to tap notes out of the air.
“Musicians love new gadgets, and this is 0.1 version of the device and I hope this will be the future to control musical devices” Rahman said.
The concert’s inevitable finale was Jai Ho, the song from Slumdog Millionaire that won Rahman an Academy Award and a Grammy. His latest work has him composing music for the biopic Pele about the Brazilian soccer legend.
India Post News Service
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