The interview which appears below, was originally aired on Rahmania - Aaha FM in February 2008. Interview excerpt is written by V.R. Vithur from the A.R. Rahman Yahoo Fans Group. ©The rights to this material are reserved to the owner. If you have any concerns or comments, please send an email to info@rahmaniac.com.
Murtaza Mustafa is the son of Ustaad Ghulam Mustafaa Khan, who has been the Guru of Asha Bhonsle, Sonu Nigam, and also A.R. Rahman. He lives in Mumbai, and during his transit in Chennai, he was interviewed for the Rahmania Program.
He hails from a traditional music family. All the male members of his family used to sing, and it was like breathing for them. Uncles have been court musicians. They belonged to a respectable Hindustani Classical Music. Music is basically improvisation.
Who met A.R. Rahman? Your father first or you?
Rahman Bhai was in Bombay, after finishing his Bombay Dreams work. There was a friend by the name Bridge Bhushan, who called up and said, “There is a music director by the name A.R. Rahman, who would like to meet you.” So, we said, “Okay. Let’s go and meet.” Rahman Bhai had earlier known about my father and his music. Then he came down to meet my father, and we all met. Rahman Bhai asked me if I would also sing, and told me, “Why don’t you sing something?” Then I started singing something in Rag Hindolam. It was classical music. After the meeting, he told my father that he wanted to learn from my father, and he became a disciple.
Suddenly, one day I got a call from Rahmanji’s office. It was 12 years back, and I sang a song in Marcons Raaga (Hindolam in Carnatic raaga). We sang some Khayal (imagination about a particular scale). Rahman liked the voices of Murtaza and told Hariharanji that he is going to use my voice in a film.
Basically, I came here to Chennai for some Tamil stuff. Then he gave us a CD containing this song “Piya Haji Ali,” and told me to listen. I listened to it so many times, liked it, and told him that it was good. Then after some days, he himself called me and told me to come to the studios. The track that was played was Piya Haji Ali, and it came out very well.
Favorite Raaga
There are so many time-bound Raagas. I like Malcons, Darbari, Bihang. Every raag has its own flavor. They are beautifully framed work by ancestors. Every note can make you cry.
I have been with him for so many recording sessions. One of the most memorable ones was for “Meenaxi – Tale of 3 Cities”. Rahman Bhai was on the keyboard, and the lyrics were being written. The making of the tune, and the recording was simultaneous. It was fun working on that. Even for “Al Maddath Maula” (Mangal Pandey), the last antara was not ready. Rahman Bhai is such a sweet person. He asked us, “Is this suiting?” The energy levels in Rahman Bhai are so high, and he is always sweet.
When Rahman Bhai was working on the Background Score of “The Legend of Bhagat Singh,” Rajkumar Santoshi was present, and he called me. The reels were going on, and suddenly he told me, “Murtaza. Just go inside. We will record some piece now.” He was working the entire day, the entire night. He was working on Bombay Dreams, the background of Bhagat Singh was going on, and also there was a Tamil producer sitting for his background score…So he was into so many things. Only Rahman can do this multitasking.
I have done a lot of background scores in Tamil. Innisai (Varalaaru). He told me to sing something in Hindolam. We sang so many pallavis. He said, “Not this. No, no… I have called you… I want some Hindustani flavor.” We didn’t remember any tarana at that time. Myself and my brother sat down and started writing some taranas. It sounded very well, and it came out quite well in the Godfather film.
Hindi Version of Sneghidane (Alaipayudhe, Saathiya) – (The starting bit was sung by Murtaza) (In Tamil, it was sung by Srinivas)
I also sang for “Dum Hara Dum Hara Mast” for Guru (both Hindi & Tamil). I also sang some improvisation bits (Hindustani) for Anarkali (Kangalal Kaidhu Sei). I always sing with my brother Qadir for Rahmanji.
Rahman’s handling of music
Basically, the trend has changed after he came into the industry. He got computers involved. It’s a great gift to the industry. He brought different sounds into the music.
