This evening was A. R. Rahman's Public Lecture and Performance held at ACROS Fukuoka Event Hall, commemorating the award of Fukuoka Prize. The presenter Salam Unagami was indeed tactical to take out the best charm and attraction of Rahman and introduce the audience the real taste of his music, based on his solid knowledge, understanding and love toward the South Asian culture.
Unagami's selection of Rahman pieces include Maa Tujhe Salaam of Vande Matram (YouTube,) and it goes on to his first film work Roja, and then Muthu, Bombay, Dil Se (Chayya Chayya), Taal, Jana Gana Mana, Lagaan, Bombay Dreams (London West End musical presented by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Harem (Sarah Brightman,) Swades, Meenaxi. He also introduced Rahman's Qawwali (a part of Sufi song) selection and Arizyan as his best favourite.
Vande Matram
Rahman's version of Jana Gana Mana
Chaiyya Chaiyya from Dil Se
Arziyan, Qawwali song by Rahman
Unagami asked Rahman if he has any different approaches while composing Hindi, Tamil and Hollywood respectively, his answer was kind of interesting; he feels Hollywood is good in advertisements, attracts talented people from the world, and the demand is very high. It 's hard to satisfy all types of audiences, so he occasionally likes to do experiments in Tamil, his home field. As recently he worked for a Chinese movie, he said some day he was hopeful to compose for a Japanese film as well.
According to Rahman, his recent focus is more on songs independent from movies. Also, his music institute KM Music Conservatory in Chennai, meant for the underprivileged yet talented children, produced the best prize-winning piano player recently. As such, he is actively involved in fostering the next generation artists, needless to say about Barkley's A. R. Rahman Scholarship.
After the fun yet inspiring interview, we were lucky to enjoy his live performances in front of us! It was simply speechless; enjoy a part of them from the following Fukuoka Prize's official Facebook page.
A. R. Rahman's amazing live performance recorded
Related Link:
Fukuoka Prize Ceremony: Exciting Evening With A. R. Rahman - Posted on 16 Sep 2016
