The interview which appears below, was originally published on Hindu in May 2006. ©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.
As Allah Rakha Rahman crosses the 40-year mark in 2007, this mid-career whizkid peaks as the uncontested national trendsetter in contemporary film music.
He has, arguably, introduced the new sound that is the chic-techno film music; music that gets created in the intimacy of the music-maker and his machine with the song visualisation as their common purpose.
Mixed milieu
Rahman is perhaps the third generation novelty in film music, a novelty that emerged from the fertile backdrop of south Indian and, specifically, Tamil film music. Rahman emerged from a milieu that is a curious mix of Carnatic and western fusion, quintessential of the new globalised Tamil Nadu sensibility; a trend set by the likes of L. Subramaniam in classical fusion, and Ilayaraja in film music. By his own admission, among Rahman’s early influences are Zakir Hussain and his fusion group, Shakti, which has a strong presence of Carnatic rhythm. And there is no mistaking the subliminal influence of his predecessors in his musical impulse.
M.S. Viswanathan immortalised his first forays into experimental film music in Kollywood in the 1960s and 1970s, when he introduced genres ranging from bhangra to western jazz and pop. MSV’s repertoire was mostly real-time compositions by full-fledged orchestras. MSV’s contemporaries include musical giants like S.D. Burman, Naushad Ali and Madan Mohan.
Ilayaraja’s arrival was heralded by the nascent new-techno music of the 1980s. He is acclaimed as the pioneer of multi-track techno music and sounds in composing and orchestration. Ilayaraja’s best-known Bollywood counterpart was R.D. Burman. MSV and Ilayaraja have left a legacy of composition-value film songs, which served the requirements of their films and yet hold their own as creations for posterity.
Emergence
After MSV the creator and Ilayaraja the pioneer came Rahman the innovator. The 1990s belonged to him. Rahman emerged at a time when technology was a given, and was creating global access to musical sounds from anywhere to anywhere. He was moulded by the age of jingles and music videos, downloads and virtuality.
Rahman is the innovator of what may be described as `Studio music’. It is often critiqued that while Ilayaraja controls the machine, it is the machine that controls Rahman! Harsh as this criticism might be, Rahman’s music is the outcome of separately and distinctively worked out multi-track musical phrases and sounds that are subsequently mixed and patched together as one layered musical piece. The lyric is often fitted in.
In contrast to MSV and Ilayaraja’s virtuosity, Rahman’s music reflects his effort to synergise his musical vision with the possibilities of technology and musical arrangement. His is studio music that does not easily accommodate a sense of the `live’. One is often amused by Rahman’s stage shows where the technical sound is cleverly managed, but the singers struggle to cope with their breathless songs simply because the songs were never meant to be sung live. They are musical phrases pieced together for a cinema trend that itself is predominantly cut-and-paste.
What makes Rahman the numero uno of Indian film music? Despite contemporaries like Anu Malik, what has made Rahman the first among equals?
It is clearly a combination of his audio and visual appeal. His musical arrangement is technically excellent and justifies his musical vision. He has the special talent to enhance the digital ambience to produce sound with a three-dimensional feel. He has the ability to evoke energy and mood through a song, and create touching moments through sound. He is intuitive in picking on the right inspiration for the right musical moment, say, Arabic for Hamma Hamma (“Bombay”), Indian raga-pop for Que Sera Sera (“Pukar”) or Turkish for Maya Maya (“Guru”). And even if he is not the first to pick on the right inspiration, he will ensure some kind of a `first’ — a new voice, a new instrument or just a new turn of phrase. And he is the best at wrapping and delivering sound so that a nation swings to it.
International profile
And then there is the international profile to boot. Rahman packages what is now known as global music. He simplifies the main melody, fuses it with sounds from world music and arranges it skilfully. This has made his music more edible and sought after in the international scene. From the remixed versions of Vande Mataram and the Indian national anthem to the Broadway musical “Bollywood Dreams”, Rahman is the mascot for new-age nationalism and international merchandising.
In an era when people see rather than hear music, Rahman is also camera-friendly. He comes across as an eclectic fusion of spirituality and youth. He is casual and yet not informal. He exudes humility and confidence at once. He is the cool dude that the young can identify with, and the elderly find endearing. Along with the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, he has fulfilled the great Indian populist need for a `national hero’.
What next?
As Rahman’s career hits the halfway mark of his life hitherto, one wonders, where does he go from here? He is still riding high, but his audiences are somewhat over-familiar with his sound, which is also easily imitated and replicated by others.
And cinema and its music is, almost reflexively, looking for a dark horse to emerge and take on its new trends of reality cinema, docu-drama, and an “Indianness” that is seemingly less enamoured with the great American dream. A multiplying Indian, middle-class global audience that wants to “go back to its roots” or desires to explore the “Indian” narrative; and an increasingly aware slum, small-town and rural audience that is celebrating its own robust rhythm.
Will Rahman be able to think outside his box and reinvent himself to synchronise with future cinema? Will he cope with the changing face of audiences? Will he be able to churn out never-before surprises and sounds yet again? If his musical acumen is any indication, we can certainly hope that the songster will outlive the studio. But as the adage goes, only time will tell.
