Oscar Thamizhan 'Isaipuyal' AR Rahman News/Updates

[A.ANAND]

A whole lotta Shakthi!

With 61,93,72 YouTube views and counting, A R Rahman’s ‘Nenjukulle’ for Mani Ratnam’s Kadal is making waves. Understandably, so is the girl who sang the song - Shakthisree Gopalan. Having just sung the title track of Shah Rukh Khan starrer — Jab Tak Hai Jaan, alongside Javed Ali, her career graph is soaring at the moment. With a barrage of praise flowing in on social networking sites, the singer admits that all this has left her “overwhelmed”. The 24-year-old says, “I knew the song was brilliant from the first time I heard.” She adds quickly, “But I had no idea that it was going to get this big!”

Add to that an anonymous fan on Facebook who has set up an elaborate fan page for her and a fictitious story about her and a lovestruck fan, on a blog. She still has her feet firmly placed on the ground though — Just to say thank you to all her friends and fans who voted, she stayed up all night to respond to every single post or comment that came her way. “If somebody is taking five minutes of their lives to appreciate my song, that was the least I could do,” she smiles.

It was only four years ago that she was introduced to her idol, A R Rahman. This was shortly after winning a television-based voice hunt conducted across the South that year. “One of the judges, Suresh Peters took me to his studio to meet him,” she recalls. “He was really nice. I remember one of the first things he asked was: ‘Pallakad ah?’” she laughs. But the more interesting part is yet to come. “I didn’t hear anything from the studio after that,” admits Shakthi.

Much later, the singer found herself in AM studios to record for a Tamil movie with a newcomer director. She remembers, “I was standing outside the studio and practising my portion when ARR Sir walked past me.” The singer goes on, “A little later, somebody came up to me and said: ‘Sir is asking for your number.’” A month later, she got a call to do the backing vocals for Ghajini. Shakthi confesses, “The thing is I was so excited that day, I gave them the wrong number!”

Since then, it’s been mostly backing vocals and the occasional Tamil film song – in movies like Taxi 4777, Rajadhi Raja and Vettaikaaran. This has been alongside her eclectic western music outfits, ranging from rock to jazz and easy melodies to unwind to. At the moment, the songstress who is an architect by day is composing a new single of her own that is set to release online shortly. Just how soon are we talking about? “In a week, hopefully,” she responds casually

“For now I just want to focus on my music and my architecture,” she states. “Every time I need to go to the studio and record, I just know. It’s a feeling - like when you know you have to take a vacation,” she adds with a laugh. From the sudden mass craze for Nenjukulle, it looks like there’s going to be a whole lot of vacations to come.

http://newindianexpress.com/cities/c...cle1339661.ece

[Sunil_M88]

Making Of JBL Part 1



Making Of JBL Part 2



Making Of JBL Part 3

[A.ANAND]

Rahman in Love

You’ve probably heard a lot about Nenjukulle, the preview of a song from AR Rahman’s forthcoming soundtrack for Mani Ratnam’s December release Kadal. If you haven’t heard the song itself, in spite of the collective crush that sections of the Internet are harbouring for it, you must not be Tamil-speaking. Or possessed of a heart, I guess.
I’m kidding. This is pretty great, though, and if you follow this helpful guide to the Vairamuthu-written lyrics, with Tamil, English transliteration, and a rough English translation, you’ll probably be inclined to think so yourself. (Here is another good English translation.) Shakthisree Gopalan’s beautiful smooth-jazz voice has a lot to do with the success of this song; you probably missed her singing in Jab Tak Hai Jaan’s title track, given that the song appeared during the end credits, but queue it up if you haven’t heard it already, because she is a winner.
I’m still in two minds about the champagne-y concertina. I know this is rich coming from an unabashed fan of Rohail Hyatt’s work on Coke Studio Pakistan, but this MTV Unplugged set, where Rahman previewed the song to widespread surprise and delight, was a little too smooth and pleasantly-pitched for me. Rahman has always been a master manipulator of the pleasant pitch, but a wonderful thing about his best work is how he can surprise us — scratchy percussion here, an unexpected dip in a vocal there — even when he is lulling us into submission. What’s can a full orchestra do with Rehna Tu that the original soundtrack hasn’t already done? So as much as I’m enjoying this, I await Nenjukulle’s appearance on the soundtrack of Kadal, reportedly releasing on 23 November.
The heart of this song’s success, and the reason so many fans are calling it a “comeback” for Rahman (who I, personally, don’t think went anywhere), though, is its clean, waltzy melody; one of those instances when you understand why certain kinds of film music have endured for generations. My grandfather would have loved Nenjukulle just as much as a teenager in Madras does. Songs like this make me think about an early strand of Rahman criticism, which claimed that he was a synth merchant whose talents with machines were superior to his grasp of melody. This was really a laughable accusation to level at someone who debuted with the music of Roja, but now that we have two decades of his work on which to pronounce judgment, this becomes a little easier to refute.
I think there are times when Rahman doesn’t quite tell the stories he’s supposed to with his music -- this happened most recently on his soundtrack for Jab Tak Hai Jaan (my review). He’s sometimes described, even by fans, as a composer whose work has increasingly needed patience and repeated listening to get into, because he’s sacrificed spontaneity for textural complexity. But I’m also going to go ahead and propose that Rahman on form has produced some of the finest love songs of the last few years. Think of Rang de Basanti’s Tu Bin Bataye, or Ay Hairat-e-Aashiqui from Guru; my own favourite is the aforementioned Rehna Tu from Delhi-6, a strange, luminous thing sung by Rahman himself. These songs all fall well within the tradition of the epic Hindi movie love song, which has been a somewhat beleaguered genre in the last few years; but I don’t think any of Rahman’s contemporaries, even the talented innovators, could have pulled them off with quite the same grave resonance. And these are just the product of the recent, more gnomic years. This is the composer who gave us Kaadhal Rojaave and Uyire; his Yennavalae from Kaadhalan is enchanting even in the piped muzak form in which it plays over lunchtime customers at Saravana Bhavan in Delhi’s Janpath.
However, many of these have been duets, or male solos. This is much in keeping with the gendering of our movies. Rahman, you will have noticed, composes for a lot of movies that include happy women singing about their freedom and oneness with the universe -- does anyone have a word for this category? I’m stuck on “cool singing girl” — from his very first hit song, Minmini’s Chinna Chinna Aasai (Chhoti si Asha) in Roja, to Sujatha’s Poo Pookum Osai in Minsara Kanavu, transformed by Hema Sardesai as Aawara Bhanwarey Sapnay, to Neeti Mohan belting Jiya Re in last week’s Jab Tak Hai Jaan. But these are different from songs about love, which, while certainly not new to Rahman, are altogether fewer. So Nenjukulle doesn’t have as many predecessors as it might have had if it were sung by, say, Naresh Iyer. But it reminded me of at least one other great Rahman composition for a Mani Ratnam film, Sadhna Sargam’s Snehidane in Alaipayuthey (transmuted into the somewhat duller Chupke Se in Saathiya, Shaad Ali’s Hindi remake). Will it become as popular? Let’s give it another decade.

http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/PMN3...n-in-Love.html

[A.ANAND]

Rahman's music has stifled lyrics, says Karnad


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/17302929.cms

[satissh_r]

'வந்தே மாதரம்’ போன்றதொரு ஆல்பத்தின் பணிகளில் இப்போது ஏ.ஆர்.ரஹ்மான் பிஸி. 'மா துஜே சலாம்’ எனும் அந்த ஆல்பத்துக்காக இரவும் பகலும் உழைத்துக்கொண்டு இருப்பவர், ''அனைத்து ரசிகர்களையும் இந்த ஆல்பம் நிச்சயம் கவரும்'' என்கிறார் பூரிப்பாக. முதலில் இந்தியிலும் பின்னர் தமிழிலும் வெளியாகுமாம் 'மா துஜே சலாம்’. ரஹ்மான் துஜே சலாம்! (via ஆனந்த விகடன்) (via Twitter)

[SoftSword]

ivangalae peru vechu sorum vechuttaanga...
i don think the title is out yet...

[A.ANAND]

Holy inspiration for AR Rahman

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Entert...e1-963313.aspx

[lancelot]

BOOK YOUR TICKETS NOW!!!!!!

http://www.indianstage.in/events/ar_...n_concert.html

[A.ANAND]

A.R. Rahman playing the harpejji at his home studio in Los Angeles for National Geographic Traveler's iPad

[satissh_r]

Vishal Dadlani @V1SH4L on Twitter:

Watching Rahman's MTV Unplugged episode. What an absolute genius! Ranjit Barot too, and all the stellar musicians! Amazing!

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Refreshing to see MDs have respect and interest in each others works, Vishal Sekhar