THE GIBSON INTERVIEW
The Gibson Interview: A.R. RahmanAmanda Sodhi|07.07.2011A.R. Rahman is without a doubt one of India’s finest composers, with over 120 original soundtracks and albums to his credit, including the memorable Roja, Lagaan, The Legend of Bhagat Singh, Slumdog Millionaire, Delhi-6, 127 Hours and Connections. He has accumulated well over 42 awards including Oscars, Grammys, Filmfares, National Awards and a BAFTA award, as well.
An artist pretty much every Indian admires, Rahman has sold more than 300 million albums of his work, according to multiple sources. He is also part of Mick Jagger’s SuperHeavy band, which was announced recently and also consists of Dave Stewart, Joss Stone and Damian Marley. Rahman will be performing a big show at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on July 10, along with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Gibson India recently spoke to the composer, musician and singer, who discussed his Hollywood show, the evolution of his compositions and his work with SuperHeavy.
Can you tell us a bit about your upcoming performance at the Hollywood Bowl?
This is a very special concert for us because, normally when I do concerts and tours, we do all the movie songs and extravaganza kind of stuff. But, the concept for this is all my theme music and all my instrumental music and to play it with L.A. Philharmonic. So, a lot of people wanted this in a concert for a long time back in India, too, and we now are doing this here at the Hollywood Bowl.
How long will you be performing at the Hollywood Bowl?
I think it’s an hour and a half of my stuff. And, the other things will be another hour and a half. We will have international music as well.
Will you be singing alone or with other singers?
I’m singing a couple of songs and we have a choir coming, too.
Could you give us a preview of the songs you’ll be performing?
I’ll be performing “Changing Seasons” and I’m performing “Jai Ho.” So, how this concert is, is that we have this huge orchestra and this huge orchestral theme along with a screening of montages to give [the audience] a feel of how it’s done. Normally, when an Indian audience sees the movie, all the scores are done in the back and they don’t know how it’s done. Here, they can see it.
I have read about a lot of incidents with die-hard fans coming up to you. Is there an encounter with any of your fans that you would like to share?
Mostly I think when they come with the expectation, when they buy the tickets, they know the artist and what kind of artist they are. Most of them, of course, they want to get more of me and want to see me performing or playing or something like that. We did a 24-city concert last year in the U.S., U.K., South Africa, and it was great. It’s very exhausting when you do a big tour, but the gratification is the love which they give at that point of time, and that makes it worth it.
So, it looks like you had a lot of fun in the “Baari Humaari Hai” music video.
Oh, you saw that?
It looks very different from other music videos you’ve done, and it looks like you had a lot of fun with it.
Yes, I wanted it to be drastically different.
In a lot of your compositions, one word is repeated twice, like “Masakali Masakali” or “Jai Ho Jai Ho” or “Dil Se Re, Dil Se Re.” And, it’s something that happens quite often. Is it deliberate?
It’s because of multiple reasons. Most of the songs have that formula that way, but not all of them. Also, I think when I did music in the ’90s there were three different films produced – Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. And, the only way to make people like something was to have something in common that was very easy to hook on to. So, that was the formula which worked, but, we have moved on from that.
Over the years your compositions have become both simpler and more experimental, too, compared to your earlier work. In your eyes, what are some trends you’ve noticed in your own music’s evolution?
So many things have opened up. Initially, probably my vision was to have a world kind of sound for Indian movies… a lot of things have opened up. I think it is also a reflection of what you go through internally and what comes out of that. Sometimes certain characters or movies demand a certain sound and you have to go in that zone and create the stuff. If you look at stuff I did in the ’90s it is probably ahead of its time and sometimes the things I do now, people want more of ’60s sound or ’70s sound. So, it depends what movie I’ve done and what frame of mind I’m in. Most of my works have become more orchestral in past 10 years because of my involvement in the orchestra, even at Hollywood Bowl you will see most of the scores after 2000 have been more orchestral and many orchestras can play that. A lot of things have happened. And, when you do music you should never get bored with one kind of style, so you go into things that are more challenging and that demands more artistic inputs.
Does it ever bother you that if you come out with a soundtrack, like Jaane Tu…Ya Jaane Na or Ghajini, that people say, “Oh it’s too commercial for a Rahman project”? Does that bother you at all that there seems to be a different measuring stick used for your music?
No, the thing is when you start liking one piece… if you have a band, they have one sound and they never change it, whereas as a composer I keep changing stuff based upon the different movies and projects I’m working on and my state of mind, too. If I get sick of something I want to move on. If I do the same thing, they’re going to say, “Oh, he’s doing the same thing.” [laughs] So, when you move on, it’s hard for them to catch it. Sometimes it takes time for them whether it be three months to six months to accept the genre of music I’m doing.
So, those who are really actively following me get it, but the general public takes time, not for everything, but some things take time.
As an artist, do you monitor different reviews or blogs to check out reaction to your work? How important is audience and critics’ feedback to you?
I think for me, I have to be my own critic. I have to love what I do, and after that comes all the stuff. And, because I’m working with all the best people, directors or lyric writers, it’s a team and we take care of each other as well.
Can you tell us about what’s going on with SuperHeavy?
The biggest thing now is our band SuperHeavy’s single “Miracle Worker” is coming out on [July] 7th, and in India we also want to release one more song called “Satyameva Jayate,” that the band, all of us, have done together. And I’m very excited about it, too
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Originally Posted by A.ANAND
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