Happy Birthday Rahman!

January 6, 2007 at 8:20 am (A.R.Rahman)

As I look back, A.R.Rahman’s music has been there with me at all times in my life. Be it celebrating a moment of success or brooding over a failure or just relaxing, it is Rahman’s music that has been a constant companion to me. I can think of many instances when I have felt a bit low and cheered up immediately after listening to Rahman’s music. Only his music has that magic.

Right from Chinna Chinna Aasai to Barso Re, there is something special about each and every song. When you want to get up, dance and enjoy your life, I don’t think any other song can come near Humma Humma, Fanaa, Lose Control or Thee Thee (I can list many more!). At the same time, if you take some of his sweet melodies with a tinge of sadness like En Kadhale or Idhuthaan Vazhkkai Enbadhaa (Puthiya Mugam) you will be able to relate to the feelings of the characters even without the lyrics! Didn’t the music of Telephone Manipol sound so beautiful even without lyrics when it came as just background music in Roja? Talking about BGM in Rahman’s movies, there are a quite a few BGM for which alone you can watch the movie. The BGM that comes in Bombay when Arvind Samy sees Manisha in the bus (It goes like Pa Sa Ni Sa Ni Sa), So Gaye Hain (from Zubeida) as a BGM again in Bombay, the one in Alaipayuthey that comes whenever Shalini and Swarnamalya are shown, Munbe Vaa as a BGM in Sillunu Oru Kadhal when Suriya first sees Bhoomika, the BGM in Swades everytime Sharukh and Gayathri are shown. The list is endless!

I recently got hooked on to one of Rahman’s oldest compositions, the Spirit of Unity Concert title music. The moment I hit the Play button I lose track of the number of times the track gets played. The play count in my Player reads more than 500 times! The freshness or magic or whatever you call it has not been lost in all these years! His present compositions too have the same magic that was there in his earlier compositions. I am amused when some people say they feel the quality of Rahman’s music has come down over the years.

Recently when I was asked by someone what I do to motivate myself, I said I listen to Rahman’s music! I don’t know why but my efficiency almost doubles up when I listen to his music! I wonder what is it that is there in his music that fascinates me so much. I don’t think I can ever find the right kind of words to describe his music.

May he be blessed with a long musical life and may all the millions of his fans continue to be blessed enough to listen to more and more musical creations of this musical genius!

Happy Birthday Rahman!