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"If
a music artiste wants to blossom into a full-pledged person, it's
not enough if he knows only classical music; nor it's enough if
he's well-versed only in raagaas and techniques.Instead, he should
be a knowledgeable person interested in life and philosophy.In his
personal life there should be, atleast in some corner of his heart,
a tinge of lingering sorrow." - A.R.Rahman
Childhood
& musical background-
Rahman
was born A.S.Dileep Kumar on the 6th January 1966, in Madras, to
a musically affluent family.His father R.K.Sekhar was an arranger
and conductor in Malayalam movies and had worked under the likes
of Salil Chowdhary and Devarajan.Dileep started learning the piano
at the tender age of four.At the age of 9, his father passed away
following a mysterious illness.The pressure of supporting his family
fell on Dileep. At he age of 11, he joined Illaiyaraja's troupe
as a keyboard player. It was his mother Kareema Begum who encouraged
him to follow in his father's footsteps. But all this had an adverse
affect on his education. Infrequent attendance and an unaccommodative
management forced him to shift schools from the prestigious Padma
Seshadri Bal Bhavan to the Madras Christian College and finally
he dropped out of school altogether.
Religion-
Dileep's family embraced Islam following
his father Shekhar's illness and passing away.His mother’s
belief in spiritual healers grew stronger after his family went
through a rough patch following his father’s death. Sufi saint
Karimullah Shah Kadri changed their lives with his strong spiritual
influence and that led to the conversion to Sufism. But it wasn’t
an instantaneous decision — it took them 10 years to convert.
Rahman feels that the change in religion was like washing away his
past.
Advertising-
Rahman spent 5 years in advertising where he went on
to compose more than 300 jingles. Rahman did a lot of popular ads
like those for Parry's, Leo Coffee, Boost featuring Sachin Tendulkar
and Kapil Dev, Titan, Premier Pressure Cooker, Hero Puch and Asian
Paints. The jingles that he composed for the Leo Coffee ad starring
Aravind Swamy and the Asian Paints ad directed by Rajeev Menon also
won him awards and recognition. He also won an award for composing
the theme music of the Madras Telugu Academy's Spirit of Unity Concerts.
Studio-
Rahman started a small studio of his own in
1989 'Panchathan Record Inn' , attached to his house.This would
later develop into one of India's most well equipped and advanced
recording studios.In his established state of the art sound and
recording studio he began experimenting in sound engineering, design
and production. He also began a collection of sound samples, creating
one of the most comprehensive sonic libraries in Asia.
Earlier
Non-film work-
During
his stint in advertising, he released his first album, of Muslim
devotional songs, titled `Deen Isai Malai'. This was followed by
`Set Me Free', an album of English songs which was the launch album
of singer Malgudi Subha, by Magnasound, where Dileep set the songs
to tune. Both the albums went unnoticed in the market.
Introducing
new talents-
Rahman
is well known for introducing several unknown voices into the main
stream playback.He has shown an extraordinary flair for experimenting
with untrained voices. Singers who have worked with him have repeatedly
said that Rahman's open approach during recording sessions has spurred
them on to giving their best. Suresh Peters,Shahul Hameed, Srinivas,
Shankar Mahadevan, Harini, Anupama,Dominique, Minmini, Shubha, Febi,
Hema Sardesai are some of the singers who have thrived after the
advent of Rahman. Singers like Hariharan, Sujatha, Unnimenon have
had successful comebacks in the industry after working with Rahman.
Unnikrishnan, Bombay Jayshree and Nithyashree Mahadevan who are
successful Karnatak classical vocalists have been introduced into
film playback by Rahman.
Collaborations
& inspirations
At the age of 32, Rahman has already worked
with internationally reputed artistes like Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan,
Apache Indian, Zakir Hussain, Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan, Dominic Miller,
L.Shankar, Kadri Gopalnath, Vikku Vinayakram, Ustad Sultan Khan
and Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt among many others. Rahman has in collaborations
with artists such as L. Shankar, Zakir Hussain, David Byrne, Talvin
Singh and Apache Indian - both recording and on tour. On a trip
to India, David Byrne met Rahman and was so impressed that he went
on to record some sessions with Rahman for a project he is currently
completing (as yet unreleased).
He
was an invited member of the jury of the prestigious music festival
"Voice of Asia" competition held annually at Almaty, Kazhakstan.
The jury comprises of top music composers of the world.
In
October 1999, Rahman performed a song "Ekam Satyam" in
a charity concert in Munich with Michael Jackson called "MJ
and friends". The meeting between Rahman and Michael Jackson
was arranged by Hindujas and Bharat Bala. Rahman and his troupe
performed after Michael Jackson in the concert. Melodious strains
of 'Satyameva Jayate' by Rahman provided the closing to the concert
by pop king Michael Jackson.
Rahman
lists among his favourites Naushad, R D Burman,S D Burman, Vishwanathan-Ramamoorthy,
Illayaraja, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Carpenters, Carnatic, Rock
and fusion.
He
credits all his inspiration and success to Allah.
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