MELBOURNE, 19 October, 2024: It was an evening (18 Oct) which cannot be forgotten. As me and a friend walked from the tram stand outside the Rod Laver Arena (famous for the Australian Open) with a massive stream of people walking towards the entry gates, little did we realise the magnum A. R. Rahman concert we were about to witness. The sea of people were endless and then the entry queue for security check looked like not ending. On the side was the display of a parked new brand Mahindra’s Black Edition XUV700, the ultimate Indian utility vehicle for the Australian market, but, I suspect, it was the pull of A. R. Rahman, the bridge between South and North India, and a global music icon, that people were longing for.
Inside, the Arena was fast filling up with thousands of disciplined fans, waiting for their mega music star to turn up. When I say, there were thousands around, it means between 12,000 to 14,000. The capacity of the Arena is officially 14,200 for concerts. The astonishing, but a fact, was that the crowd was mostly (my friend estimated Tamil speakers were 95 %) Tamil, and me being an exception was no aberration. After all, Rahman is popular both in south and north India. Still, in this Indian Diaspora concert, the absence of North Indian migrants, speaks for itself. The fault-lines, well, I saw it.
Tamil people sitting next to and near us, talked to us in Hindi. This, I feel, is the power of A. R. Rahman. How powerful a mother tongue (any) can be for a people was there to see. Anyway, the concert kicked off with, the world famous ‘Jai Ho, Jai Ho.
Beautiful and captivating computer graphics and excellent moving roving stage lights in different directions set the tone for the evening’s musical bonanza. The music tsunami had started with thousands engulfed in joy. It was entertainment at its best. No doubt, the PT’s special trams that took fans from Flinders Street to Rod Laver Arena was paying off.
There were many Tamil songs laced with A. R. Rahman’s piano mastery. The accompanying music was overwhelming, the master’s style was in action. I could see people dancing with their iphone torches on, the scene in the dim-lighted Arena like a massive crown moving around.
‘Roja Janne Man.. Tu he mera dil tujh bin tarse naina…’ (Roja, 1992) both in Hindi and Tamil was mesmerising. A. R. Rahman debuted as a film composer with Roja, and got numerous awards for his work in the movie. The same song in Tamil “Kadhai Rojave’ originally by Haricharan was well presented.
Talking to South Asia Times (SAT), Sriram Iyer ‘Siyer’, who was emcee along with Srividhya for the concert said, ” Introducing such a legend in a venue like this was truly a life-long experience.”
No doubt, what Siyer says, is also true for me, but as a common human sitting in the crowd. Yes, this was my life-long experience in music coming from A. R. Rahman and his team. I had attended a Zoom media-conference where I asked Rahman about the use of Artificial Intelligence in music. He said, there is an amazing advantage to get more richer music from new tech, but there is also a charm in every kind of music without new tech or AI as it was in the olden days. In the Melbourne concert one could see how music and new tech blended from the stage. And, without diminishing the originality of the songs and music.
I have always seen A. R. Rahman as a bridge between South and North India, so much evident at the Rod Laver Arena. So, I asked him, about it and he humbly replied, ” When I came, I never thought about South India or North India, I just wanted Indian music to be listened by the whole world because we were listening to, Chinese, Arabic, African. I felt like, why is our music not listened to by non-Indians and that question actually propelled and motivated me to be better in my productions and every marketing and credibility before people. And, trying to be as virgil as possible”.
Well, these are the words well proven, as A. R. Rahman today is globally recognised as a music icon, the Melbourne concert started with Jai Ho, Jai Ho…, his global hit.
