Is A.R.Rehman that great?

[evanoruvan]

Yes. Next question please!

Seriously though. Why the constant urge to compare between these two greats ? One is a master of melody while the other excels with his new sound. Sindhu Bhairavi and Thiruda Thiruda are two completely different set of compositions yet full of aural delight.

Both have given (and continue to give) me hours of listening pleasure along with the two Burmans, Shankar Jaikishan, Madan Mohan, MSV, Raveendran, Deverajan, Salil Chowdury, Bombay Ravi and several others.

 

[grubyhalo]

I also think that Rahman has created much better fusion of genres than other so-called 'fusion' artistes. To me his music is (was?) more 'organic' than a lot of other music, if that makes sense.

My favorites in order:

1.Thiruda Thiruda

2.Pudhiya Mugam

3.Dil Se

4.Iruvar

5.Bombay

6.Taal

7.Roja

8.Kizhakku Cheemayile

9.Alaipayuthey

I stopped holding my breath for his releases after 'Alaipayuthey' when I couldn't differentiate his music from a lot of others.

 

[mr_grump5]

whatever loops he uses to make music but he is sure a star and a crowd puller,
i have never seen a crowd of 70,000+ for a concert that took place 80km from chennai with poor amenities to top it but still the crowd braved it till the concert got over. I can't think of any other contemporary composer who would have accomplished this!

 

[thevortex]

Spot on spot on......Iruvar is fabulous....Thiruda Thiruda as well.

Agree with Praveen as well. This is just a progression. AR Rahman is a fantastic pop musician. Of course he can't do jazz or classical, but then who says jazz or classical are in any way superior to pop music?

Actually I see a couple of songs in Iruvar as having a strong Jazz influence.

Classical - yes, that is not something he attempts doing. His take on classical music as in Jeans (with Nithyashree shouting down the house) was OK, but that was it. But I guess he knows his strong points and uses them to his advantage.

 

[gobble]

Psychotropic - after I finished submitting my message, I found a lot of what we have said is the same.

And I read that review. I just wont praise the Bombay Dreams soundtrack so much. There are other pieces that are much, much better than this one.

Surely there were other tracks for the oscar nominated movies that were much better than bombay dreams ... anyone heard the contenders that lost out this oscar season?

Regards

 

[thevortex]

On a side note, I fail to understand why Bollywood would not make use of such a prodigious talent as Ismail Durbar! Any non-musical reasons for this, perhaps...

Sorry for the digression.

 

[thevortex]

Surely there were other tracks for the oscar nominated movies that were much better than bombay dreams ... anyone heard the contenders that lost out this oscar season?

Regards

Like I said I did not like Bombay Dreams. And I absolutely did not like the music done for Slumdog Millionaire.

But if I remember right, in one of his interviews he made it clear that this music will be more liked by Western nations than our own.

 

[srramanujam]

No matter what, Ilayaraja's songs are timeless. I have heard this said many times. That Rahman's songs are not timeless. I beg to disagree. There are a few gems among Rahman's compositions that are indeed timeless. The numbers as compared with Ilayaraja's is less. But that is as should be, considering the total number of movies both have to their name.

Thanks Vortex, Psycho, Moktan, Raja and Jith. Valuable comments and i am yet to read the rest.

We often make the mistake of comparing 5 years of a new artiste (17 in the case of Rehman) to 50 years of Lata or Kishore or someone else.

When Rehman is done with his 50 years of limelight, what he may achieve gives goosepimples.

Another interesting point in this thread is all recollection of good Rehman music seems to stop around Alai Payuthe. Isnt that concerning. A similiar thing happened to Ilayaraja when in 80s he was just churning out cookies worth nothing, save for an occassional brilliance. Fortunately, Rehman's islamic songs (Fiza - Piya Haji ali, Jodha Akbar - Khwaja) have phenomenal energy in them.

One song of Ilayaraja that gets me up and running any moment is "poduvaga en manasu" - Murattu kalai. I dont think any song has captured rustic energy like this one has.

 

[prakasse]

AR Rahman is good, humble and i love his Music. But Illayaraja is a musical genius.

Thanks,
Prakash

 

[manu4panjab]

only like ar rehman's dil se and taal after that he's not making any great music and sulmdog is craaaaaap

 

[micjak77]

Here's my 5 cents....as much as I admire Illayaraja and the musical genius he was. I dont think he ever pushed musical boundaries or cultural barriers he was pretty much stuck to his native style. ARR is a game changer who in lot of ways made everything that came before him irrelavant. Ground breaking musician who's way bigger than most us can imagine - a cultural icon. I dont think anyone needs to post his best songs or compositions here. He's way beyond .......

 

[srramanujam]

On a side note, I fail to understand why Bollywood would not make use of such a prodigious talent as Ismail Durbar! Any non-musical reasons for this, perhaps...

Sorry for the digression.

True, cant figure out why someone who made Hum dil de chuke sanam should vanish from memory. Hes had only ten or so releases in total.

 

[suri]

As far as i can see, the man (A.R. Rahman) has invested the best monies in his recording studios - and the results are there for everybody to see - a shade short of the resources that Diana Krall seems to have.

 

[Raghav]

If Slumdog can get Oscars, what will happen when they listen to Lagaan, Bombay, Taal etc....

 

[srikarkav]

Hi,
I find myself reluctantly agreeing with SRR's bro.I don't say ARR has not given songs with soul. But Ilayaraja in the same time frame as ARR has taken now,has given many soulful songs.

as far as timeless songs,as bala says we have to wait a little more.When Ilayaraja started out i thought he can't give timeless songs like MSV did.But i was proved wrong. So i don't want to jump the gun.

micjack here has mentioned that raja has not pushed the boundaries.I hope he is only mentioning the boundaries of tamil nadu stateThat may be true.But wrt music he certainly did.


Well this is a personal opinion.For me MSV and Ilayaraja are the greatest MDs of TFM.

PS: I am delighted an young man like praveen is appreciating CSJ. My son is refusing to go back further than Ilayaraja.

cheers,
sri

 

[anm]

I couldn't read the whole thread. I agree that A R Rehman may not be the greatest. Though I liked all his songs in Legend of Bhagat Singh, besides the other hits that everyone maybe talking here.

 

[srramanujam]

I keep doing a simple test to check if i really like a song.

I visualise a song without its music and play it back in my mind. The ones that i can really relate to are the ones which haunt you even without the instruments.

In that test Kannalane, Maula, Khwaja, Pudhiya Mugam all stand out with immeasurable appeal. Rang de basanti is a class act too, especially the way Rehman oscillates between the irrevent energy of Paatshala, the spirutual energy of Ik onkar and the rustic energy of range de.

I cant say the same about Chikku Bukku or similiar ones. He seems to be so capable of captivating you as well as disappointing you. He really seems to come to his own if the movie has a different theme. For the formula movies he seems to have formula music too.

Another related question, which i think is more pertinent.

Once an icon like Rehman sets a style, isnt it natural that the next generation takes that as a benchmark and replicates it. I will be surprised to see another MSV or RDB popping up. Is it more likely to see another Rehman or a clone of the MTV reality pop bands.

 

[murali_n]

Some are born great

Some achive greatness,

Some have greatness thrust upon them

 

[suri]

Some are born great

Some achive greatness,

Some have greatness thrust upon them

hi murali,

but what about A.R. Rahman - born great? achieved greatness? or greatness thrust upon him?

regards

 

[murali_n]

Hai Suri,

To sum it up :

Ilaiyaraaja = Vinyl record

AR Rehman = Compact Disc

The CD is only superior till one hears the Vinyl , once you hear the Vinyl, the opinion about CD is altered.