The
Rahman Effect:
Mark Premji
Promotions Pull All the Stops
at the Biggest Musical Mega Event of the year
By Kavita
Chhibber
Photo: Vinod Devlia
Atlanta has not seen the likes of it and after two years
of “Will he won’t he”, A.R. Rahman finally came to town
on 23rd June, with his mega 3-Dimensions tour, but not
without a few hiccups along the way.
I know this personally for a fact that Mark Premji has
been trying his hardest for almost two years to make
this happen. He offered to even be the national promoter
for the tour that was to happen last year as he worked
with old friend Deepak Gattani, who works with Rahman
but something or the other came in the way. Things
didn’t work out then, and again this year this mega
musical production that was to be kicked off in Atlanta
on 27th May was postponed to being the last show on the
tour due to some glitches which came up at the last
minute.
If nothing else you have to appreciate Mark’s
tenacity..reorganizing the concert dates, refunding
money to those who couldn’t make it to a show on the new
date (a lot of people head to India for summer
vacations), and not give up, because, “It had been my
dream for so long to bring Rahman to Atlanta. He is a
very humble, hassle free man, and I don’t need to tell
what a legend he is-his music speaks for itself”.
Just the sticker price of hosting this show is
mindboggling- just to give an example-Phillips arena
costs 85,000 dollars for one night. Add up the cost of
hosting a troupe of 66 dancers, singers, musicians and
you know that if anyone sticks his neck out it’s for the
love of music, nothing else. When I had interviewed Mark
many years ago he had said –yeh nasha hai pesha nahin
hai (it’s an addiction not a lucrative job) and perhaps
nothing is truer when it came to this production.
Noon time rolled around on 23rd June, and there were
rumors flying all over the place that the show wasn’t
happening. I had already met Rahman and spoken to singer
Hariharan who were in town along with the rest of the
troupe, and was surprised that instead of supporting an
effort like this, some people could go the extent of
sending out false information.
Well, ticket sales continued and what touched Rahman and
Mark Premji both was the fact that so many people showed
up. Rahman thanked the audience several times for not
giving up hope and buying tickets all over again in some
cases. Many held on to the tickets and showed up in
large numbers to see the music maestro. “I’m very
grateful and touched by people’s faith in me,” said
Premji.
Sukhwinder Singh and Chitra were stuck with previous
commitments and could not make it to the show. It was
almost a week after the tour had officially ended, when
the show came to Atlanta. While Atlanta fans who love
Sukhwinder’s amazing voice missed his presence, the
remaining stellar singers and dancers more than made up
for their absence.
Blaaze, who is Tamilian but is making waves as the
hottest Indian rapper to emerge before a Global audience
set the ball rolling by welcoming everyone. Then
Songstress par excellence, and one of the best voices on
the Indian music horizon Sadhana Sargam opened the show
with her lovely voice before Rahman resplendent in
white, took the stage starting with his popular khalbali
hai khalbali. Rahman then addressed the audience,
thanking them for coming back in such large numbers to
see his troupe perform.
After that it was a non stop three plus hours ride of
live music, amazing dance performances and a bonanza of
Indian and south Indian numbers that rocked the arena
and had the audience on their feet dancing non stop to
the beat.
Hariharan the maestro who came to Atlanta just a few
months ago and regaled us with ghazals and soulful
numbers in traditional finery, now rocked the stage in
western clothing singing Saathiya, telephone dhun mein
from Hindustani in Tamil and going on to Roja, a
beautiful rendition of a song from lagan, Chanda Re Ai
hairathey ashisqui, and other numbers, while Vijay
Yesudas the son of legendary singer yesudas belted out
sahara and joined other singers. They had people rocking
to other numbers from the new Rajnikant blockbuster
Shivaji: The Boss. Rahman himself sang Dil Se, Tere Bina,
Humma Humma and what was really cool about him was the
fact that he sang away in the back up vocals with other
singers. His voice joined theirs in many other songs
without any ego hassles or wanting to be in the
limelight.
Of course there was masti ki paathshala and rang de
basanti’s ever green title track by Naresh Iyer, and
Madhushree and Sadhana Sargam covered several exciting
numbers between them with kabhi neem neem, standing out.
A.R. Rehana who is Rahman’s older sister and a budding
music director as well, sang Chaiya Chaiya with Aslam
Khan a discovery from Rajasthan. Khan dressed in
Rajasthani finery sang kesariya as well.
Another outstanding performance was by Neeti Mohan, the
lovely 20 something dancer and singer from Delhi who put
up a superb performance dancing and singing the Rahman
chart buster Maiyya Maiyya from guru.
Blaaze entertained and worked the crowd with his rap
numbers and Rahman introduced the composition Pray for
me Brother, an initiative by the A.R Rahman foundation
to collect funds for the UN Millennium Development
Program for eradicating poverty by the year 2015. Blaaze
has collaborated with Rahman on that project and the
song was supported by a video that flashed across the
screen. The video was in black and white-perhaps because
pain and suffering is perceived as dark. It is shot in
Los Angeles and a collage of human suffering blazes
through the darkness onto the screen-it depicts a world
where affluence and abject poverty are only a horizon
away from each other. It’s a compelling video and the
song was as touching.
“Are you searching for a reason to be kind?” asks Rahman
in his song. what could be a sadder question than that?
Have we become so insensitive as human beings that
someone has to ask us such a question and shame us into
giving hope and help to others?
The highlight of the evening was a solo performance by
Sivamani the master percussionist whose talent has been
applauded not just by the world but the legendary tabla
maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain. Zakir has said that
percussionists like Sivamani walk only once or twice
across a century. Sivamani’s passion for his craft is
always evident in the joy with which he plays. His solo
as he went on to different drums, creating melody and
sounds that moved seamlessly into a harmonious collage
of rhythm makes him a genius at his craft. The ovation
he received was thunderous. All through the show
Sivamani jammed with various dancers and artists
effortlessly on different instruments and was a treat to
watch.
The dancers in this production were easily the best that
I have seen in a long time.
Rahman walked back for an encore and closed the show
with his evergreen Vande Mataram. It brought back the
grandeur, the beauty of the motherland many of us have
left behind, and simultaneously paid homage to all the
selfless mothers across borders.
Many people were still dancing in the stands as we made
our way out, and Mark Premji who spent a lot of
stressful time behind the scenes deserves kudos for not
giving up and making this a memorable evening for many
A.R. Rahman fans.
|
| Click on a
photo to enlarge/resize |
 |
|
|
|
|
