The Rahman Effect: Pulling All the Stops at the Biggest Musical Event of the year

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.