Friday, January 10, 2014

Rahmanism

 
I have been listening to some Rahman classics today. Coincidentally, I learnt that it is his birthday today. I thought this will be a great occasion to write about the genius of Rahman.

I have been a Rahman freak since time immemorial. It all started with Roja-Undoubtedly, many consider this album his best ever.Of course, I was too small to remember anything from 1992. But, I guess I saw the movie several years later. I still watch the movie just for the bgm and the songs.

Following this movie, he came up with real gems in the 90s. Rightfully, many consider this period his golden era. His genius lies in cross-contextual thinking. Anil Srinivsan, in one of his talks, pointed out an example-Chinna Chinna Asai/Chotti Si Aasha , in which he demonstrated that he fused Reggae, western classical and Indian elements in remarkable unison. This is how he created a change in the soundscape of Indian Cinema-He was ahead of his times by fusing different forms.

Clearly the difference between his music in the 90s and now is that he has lightened the emphasis on Indian Classical scales  or ragas. Indian Classical music enthusiasts might find this trend disappointing. But, if you dig deeper, you would find that his raw spirit(cross-contextual thinking) has not abated. Some songs post 2000 such as Dating from Boys(carnatic and rap) and Ommana Penne(carnatic and R and B) are wonderful examples of cross-contextual thinking.

After all, music is technically superposing melody over rhythm or rhythm over melody. If we can appreciate both aspects equally, this will improve musical openness. The reason why I came up with this apparent "Vigneshesque" digression is to help you open up your mind to the possibility that Rahman is still coming up with classy numbers despite not using Indian ragas. For example, one can really appreciate rap if you think music is created by superposing rhythm over melody. He is clearly exploring unconventional forms even today. His experimentation will never cease.

Finally, I urge non-tamil folks to open up and listen to Tamil songs as 80% of his masterful compositions are/were in Tamil.

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