The Grand Stage!!
Blogger Prashant Pillai, who was present at A.R.Rahman’s concert in Pune, tells us some interesting points about the Maestro, which he noticed at the concert!!
- Rahman interacted with the crowd asking questions of hate and love as a prelude to his pretty under promoted track “Jiya se Jiya”
- Rahman using his immense hidden sense of humour to cheer up the crowd not by purpose but by the situation, especially when Lata Mangeshkar was addressing the audience in Marathi.
- Rahman saying short anecdotes before/after songs, some of them incomplete especially the one before the unplugged version, which never got completed.
- Rahman seen in a wide range of simple yet robust sherwani outfits.
Khwaja mere Khwaja
- While performing these Sufi numbers, his simple smile turned into a muted laughter when he almost goofed up one of the Hindi words, which Raja Hasan, one of the two accompanying singers covered up.
- The stage lighting for the Sufi performance almost replicated the one that was used in Rahman’s first concert in Dubai where he performed a tribute to the deceased legend Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s “Chanda Suraj”.
- With Rahman’s successful efforts to make his solo performances a standout, he seemed discomforted on being lifted by a hydraulic stage and left deserted while performing “Dil Se”. The music interludes of the song couldn’t help Rahman from being perplexed in his movements, coz he wasn’t able to maintain eye contact or move around freely on the risen platform.
- The continuum was not missed at the concert for the song Rehna Tu, where Rahman hummed its part so seamlessly that it resonates in the mind, till date. The dedication towards his Carnatic learnings could be seen in the thalam given with his tender fingers with utmost passion and sincerity.
Raja Hasan with A.R.Rahman
- The genius crafted his brilliance on the grand piano by the impromptu lead and backing he gave for the unplugged session with Hariharan, Roop Kumar Rathod and Rashid Ali. The running notes played were almost like that of an unstoppable chirpy river expressing its happiness and engulfing everyone with love and peace.
To read the whole account of ‘Jai Ho, Pune’ concert, visit : http://prashantpillai.com/music/a-reminiscent-rahman-concert/
