AR RAHMAN!

Just instantly after typing in the title, I realised I've never written about the person, whose music I've analysed and gone berserk afterward. Anyways, the best time to write something about something very exciting is just after its been completed. So, here I'm, for the first time ever, writing about the concert I'm just back from. First time because I'm documenting it right away, rather than cross referencing it with some later incident.

AR Rahman - Jai Ho, the Journey home tour, 2010. Scheduled to happen on July 3rd got cancelled after the incident in Detroit and was postponed to September. I had bought tickets, the day they started giving tickets, sometime in March. It feels very nice to be back from a concert, of which I'd dreamt of from quite a long time.

Drove about 90 miles to reach Houston, reached pretty early and waited at the entrance, where the gates were supposed to be opened at 7.30 PM. There was one guy whom we (my friends and I) met, who said his daughter was performing. He seemed jovial initially, but later was just a little too much. He said that Rahman wouldn't allow local talent to perform, because they gave a shoddy performance when he had a concert at Oklahoma. I don't know when that was, by the way. He also said the last performances of Rahman were bad, and apparently he felt so bad about it that he didn't want to sit through the whole concert too. His complaint was that they performed a lot of 'South Indian songs'. I said nothing. He went on blabbering that all tickets this time weren't sold and that the tickets in Dallas were even sold for half price or something. I couldn't care less for what he said. He also complained that he was not interested in seeing the show, and he would stay till his daughter would complete her dance, which as it turned out was not very bad, by the way.

The gates opened at around 7.50 PM, we went straight ahead and waited till 8.15 when the dance started. There was a curtain kinda screen right in front of the stage, which was not taken off, even for the dance! It was surprising, but I knew that people would understand better, once the show started. Toyota Center was huge, it seats about 19000 people for a music concert.  When the concert started, there were about 1500 people. I was extremely disappointed, while I still told myself that an Indian composer putting such an event by itself deserves a lot of accolades.

Malachi, the boy advertised started running, as if looking for something amidst the audience. The Journey home from Bombay Dreams was interspersed with 'tere paas main aa raha hoon, apni baahein khol de'. Tears welled up my eyes. Just to listen to Rahman's voice was enough for me. It swiftly changed to 'O saya' from the acclaimed Slumdog Millionaire.  Interesting new flute bits were heard. It was just explosive. Just as I thought I'd miss Sivamani in this tour, the percussionist proved me wrong.

I didn't keep track of songs. There were about 35 or 40 songs, not very different from what were performed at other venues. I enjoyed the show and I'll just mention the highlights.

The set. The marvelous set. One can't find enough words to describe the way it changed for each song. A 'Mangalyam thantunaanena' had roses all over, 'Holi' had colours splashed, 'Ringa ringa' had flowers and balloons, 'Ganesh' had Ganesh, and most of these were not still imagery projected in high quality. They were all animations, projected. Absolutely delightful!

The 'South Indian' crowd was concentrated in an area not where I was seated and I could hear the biased applause as soon as 'Athiradee' started. I was the only odd man from my section I guess, people hadn't had a clue of these songs. This biased applause went through most part of it, whenever there was a 'O Cheliya' or a 'Kandukondain kandukondain'. I don't blame them. I truly believe in music not having a barrier, but I also empathize the fact that most people understand Hindi, and not Tamil or Telugu. That, by itself would open up a new debate which is not I want to address here.

'Barso re'. Neeti Mohan and Shweta Pandit. The set had rainfall! There was an awesome violinist and barso re changed to a smooth and exciting phase between the violinist, Naveen and the tabla player. The instrumentalists by themselves are of such a high caliber in a Rahman's concert that what they play sounds just right and superlative.

The unplugged versions of numerous songs. The best part was when Hariharan performed a classical thumri, with Rahman on the harmonium and Naveen on the flute. It felt nice because it didn't seem like Rahman, Rahman all over, but India! India! all over. Then the unplugged versions suddenly picked up momentum, with one rhythm maintained, the scales rapidly changed from 'O cheliya', 'Kandukondain', 'Ishq bina', 'Hosanna', 'Hum hain iss pal yahaan', 'Rehna tu', 'Kaadhal aNukan', among what I can remember. This part was just mindblowing. Any other strong word? I don't know.

Tiny bits of various songs were played. Liked this too. Kept me, (I won't talk for the audience) asking for more. 'Dreams on fire', 'Theeyil vizhundha', 'Bhor bhaye', 'Genda phool', MJ's 'Black or white' (surprise surprise) were among this. I didn't quite think 'Black or White' could sound that good with Rahman singing.

As for the man himself, apart from a few lines of Black or White, interspersed with rap and 'Pappu can't dance', he did honours for 'Yeh jo des hai tera', bits of 'Urvasi', 'Dil se', 'Azaadi', 'Jai ho', 'Vande mataram', 'Luka chuppi', in which the Nightingale herself was projected on the screen, with a special video shot, I assume.

'Azaadi' needs special mention. The operatic chorus in the beginning was replaced by orchestration. That was commendable.

Best parts of the concert - 'Bharat hum ko', 'Escape' from Slumdog (wished to have heard more of Asad Khan though) and 'Barso re'. The guitar work in every song was simply great. Singing had its share of ups and downs, but it was a live performance and for me, it entirely did what it was supposed to do. Infuse energy.

Complaints? There were songs like 'Only you', 'Hello Mr. Ethirkatchi' (Neeti Mohan, thumbs up!!), 'Taxi taxi' that I think a handful of the crowd knew about. I still can't understand how someone who loves music can't appreciate good music. I've major complaints about the sound mixing. Rahman's hand held synth made more noise that overshadowed Vijayprakash's otherwise flawless rendition of 'Chaiyya chaiyya'. Vijayprakash, Alphons (why o why wasn't 'AaromaLe' performed!! :( ) and Benny (another super energy performer) were barely heard at times and were too loud at times. I would have just wished there were more experienced people who could have regulated the volumes more effectively. Even lower notes of 'Azaadi' weren't heard very well.

Special mention of Harshdeep Kaur. She put intensity and devotion during Ik onkar, and overshadowed every person on the stage during 'Thayya thayya/Chaiyya chaiyya'. I've never seen a live performer with that voice texture and quality.

Hariharan was the only veteran singer. He did what he was to do, and boy, with what a grace. Experience talks for itself! Nothing more said.

It was a great show. Great energy. The best set that any show can ever get. Great singers. I was glad to see new faces, hear new voices, new styles with all due respect to Rahman's evergreen singers.

To the guitarist, the violinist, all, absolutely all singers, Naveen, Amy Tinkham, all of them who made it happen and The Man himself, RESPECT!