Discussions on ARR

Wizzy wrote:
@Raaga_Suresh, I wouldn't add AR in trendsetters list, all his trendsetting can be roughly tagged under Music Production.
strictly on musical ideas what are the trend setting things he brought in that Raaja didn't have already in his palette?

Wizzy,

As I said trend setting is a trend which others follow. In Rahman's case it has been loops, samples, recording quality or as you say music production. After he came in, music production became a trend both in Tamil and Hindi. The loops, the samples, the vocal distortions, the autotune etc etc. So music 'making' became easy. Musically he did create a sound of his own, which we may not be a great fan of and may get bored but there is a 'Rahman sound' which got created and people can recognize that 'sound'. (Nowdays in many songs he is too generic but that is a different debate)

As I said earlier, the trend created may have been frivolous and harmful but it is a trend nevertheless. I am definitely not talking about musical ideas. I am strongly of the opinion that Rahman has not come with any original worthwhile musical ideas. Anything which seems interesting can be traced to western influence or to MDs like MSV.

As I said trend setting is a trend which others follow. In Rahman's case it has been loops, samples, recording quality or as you say music production. After he came in, music production became a trend both in Tamil and Hindi.

@Raaga_Suresh, then we may as well add a asterisk to AR's name in trendsetter's list else it would be unfair to others on that list 

I am strongly of the opinion that Rahman has not come with any original worthwhile musical ideas. Anything which seems interesting can be traced to western influence or to MDs like MSV.

sokka sonnega, /discussion.

not relevant to the discussion but MSD as a kepper is behind not only Kirmani, More and Mongia but also Engineer, and on Engineer's word. Kunderan. Sadanand Vishwanathnu solla nA thudikkum but that's an unfulfilled talent so leave that aside.


Coming back to the discussion, as I said, lets try to discuss the
A) trends brought in by each person whom we call trend seter - Surehs already listed for Rahman. We can continue along those lines
B) musical ideas and great paradigms brought in.

Wiz and CK - lwould be great if you can drop the part-quoting each other which will always lead to nowhere. Can we discuss along above lines...

(Not prescribing, mind, just a suggestion.)

I think I devoted a lot of text earlier already to establish what was it that Rahman brought to the table and why it makes his music a little superficial.  I don't have the energy to start that discussion all over again.  I only wanted to impress that he is one of the most influential TFM composers and wittingly or unwittingly that seems to have been conceded.  I never made any observations about the quality of his influence in that statement so the question of whether his influence is worthwhile has no bearing here.  But I would like to point out that the composer doesn't get to choose who he influences.  It's an accident in a manner of speaking; that's why I said it was MSV's adishtam and IR's thalayezuthu.  After all, IR's vision was way broader than MSV's.  What is MSV's contribution there, Raja only took the essential Tamil film song template from him and was influenced to some extent by his melodies but no more.  R D Burman influenced IR but he also influenced Anu Malik, Nadeem Shravan etc *cringe*.  In the film music scene, what kind of composers he influences would also be a function of the state of the industry overall in the period following his commercial peak.  RD and IR both arrived as the golden years of their respective industries were coming to an end.

OK, digression

One ARR song I enjoy from time to time (includes today):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_xqPVH2C_w

apparently AR was given a tap by granite mafia(real ones) to do a concert for them. poor guy had to give in,
his plight can be summed up with this song

Wizzy wrote:apparently AR was given a tap by granite mafia(real ones) to do a concert for them. poor guy had to give in,
his plight can be summed up with this song

lop. I heard it was a sand mafia. Paramapadham God (name edited on Wizz's suggestion ) guy's, which is starting a "World Class Tamil News Channel; News 7" (adhula anglicized Tamil'a thavara enga da Thamizh irukku?!) and ones that have been running posters across the town saying "who said youngsters don't like news channels? Now coming, a news channel liked by youngsters." and predictably, they've got aNNan to do a concert to launch their channel. The concert I hear came out really well with a lot of his 90s melodies which was well received.

^avarary than, therinja thaen spelling mistake pannaen, name'ai edit pannum ellaina ootukku auto varum  

The concert I hear came out really well with a lot of his 90s melodies which was well received.

usual'a AR concert mathiri mothama hindhi'la paadieruntha AR'a Mersal pannierupaanga. edhula AR'oda deikate position theriyama maniacs cheering him

humility thilakam claiming to have creative arrogance

app_engine wrote: humility thilakam claiming to have creative arrogance

Like one gaNavaan pointed out on twitter, creative arrogance is the new tomato chutney while sadism is the real blood now.

PS: To be clear, I really like ARR's statement there. But idhukkapparamum avar fans avara humility icon'nu sonnAingannA, severe LOL comedy wonly.

DM,
In our previous forum (the hub) I've presented a hypothesis that whenever there is (apparent) exhibition of 'ghamandi' by IR, his creativity seems to be at its peak

So, there seems to be a link

ஆக, வெளியே காட்டும் ஹம்பிள் வீறாப்பெல்லாம் - ஒன்னெங்கில் நடிப்பு, இல்லெங்கில் உள்ளிருப்பு இல்லா (உண்மை) நிலை

This interview was shared by many on twitter: http://variety.com/2014/film/features/a-r-rahman-slumdog-millionaire-1201335817/

For me this was the real   question and answer:

"You compose for Hollywood films, Hindi films, Tamil films and Chinese films, and your music often incorporates styles from all over the world. How do you absorb so many different styles?
To learn a different style, you have to respect the culture. You have to start by loving the people, the way of life, and then ultimately the music comes by itself as a part of that respect. It’s not something you can just pick up and use like a sample."
His managers know that he is seriously accused of not have any nativity in his music. Now they go all out to make it look like he imbibes not just the music but also the culture  If he had actually done that he could have given much superior music in a movie like 'Kaviya Thalaivan'. Instead what we get is sura mokkai songs which have no understanding of history or culture.

It's a cliche and I know I am guilty of even over-using it but Bharathiyar summed up Raghu and friends: nenjil uramumindri nErmai thiRanumindRi vanjanai solvAradi vAi chollil veeraradi.

Raaga_Suresh wrote:This interview was shared by many on twitter: http://variety.com/2014/film/features/a-r-rahman-slumdog-millionaire-1201335817/

For me this was the real   question and answer:

"You compose for Hollywood films, Hindi films, Tamil films and Chinese films, and your music often incorporates styles from all over the world. How do you absorb so many different styles?
To learn a different style, you have to respect the culture. You have to start by loving the people, the way of life, and then ultimately the music comes by itself as a part of that respect. It’s not something you can just pick up and use like a sample."
His managers know that he is seriously accused of not have any nativity in his music. Now they go all out to make it look like he imbibes not just the music but also the culture  If he had actually done that he could have given much superior music in a movie like 'Kaviya Thalaivan'. Instead what we get is sura mokkai songs which have no understanding of history or culture.

it's also told he did 6 month research for this film

Anyone else heard Lingaa?

Loved 1 song, Mona Gasolina (Update: After a few listens, "loved" seems too much. The song obviously has some bleh portions and I may not listen to this after a few months. But it's quite good anyway for me). Meedhi la 2 were okayish (Indiane Vaa and En Mannavane). Solra maari perusa edhuvum illa. Nothing bad either. Didn't find anything going for me in the other songs (Oh Nanba and Unmai Orunaal Vellum).

Mona Gasolina (Update: After a few listens, "loved" seems too much. The song obviously has some bleh portions and I may not listen to this after a few months. But it's quite good anyway for me)

yov, just heard this on fm, if this is 'quite good' then rest must be massive clusterfuck. no wonder melthattu AR fans feign ignorance that album like this ever got released and to think that Milli gave 200 for this 

Wizzy wrote:

Mona Gasolina (Update: After a few listens, "loved" seems too much. The song obviously has some bleh portions and I may not listen to this after a few months. But it's quite good anyway for me)

yov, just heard this on fm, if this is 'quite good' then rest must be massive clusterfuck. no wonder melthattu AR fans feign ignorance that album like this ever got released and to think that Milli gave 200 for this 

 Yeah others are bleh. The other 2 decent ones have a Kochadaiiyaan hangover and the bad ones are verrryyy baaddd. Couldn't tolerate even for one listen. And I'm being quite liberal here. Others in this forum will be quite severe if they listen to each song

Half-listened to Mona and 30 secs of the other song which had a video promo.

Mona has Anirudh written all over it. Come up with a catchy hook, build an entire song around it. Truly, the dude is a trendsetter.

The other song sounded like a 90s bollywood reject.

And ARR fans excuses are like "He only had six months", "After all its a Rajini film" etc.

Veera was a typical Rajini film too. What variety in the songs!

And in fact, this one is a semi-period film.

The music of AR Rahman is a big let down. Not even one hummable number

அப்படீன்னு   SIFY எல்லாம் திட்டுற அளவில் இருக்கு தற்போதைய ரஹ்மான் இசை, அதுவும் ரஜினி படத்துக்கு!

app_engine wrote:

The music of AR Rahman is a big let down. Not even one hummable number

அப்படீன்னு   SIFY எல்லாம் திட்டுற அளவில் இருக்கு தற்போதைய ரஹ்மான் இசை, அதுவும் ரஜினி படத்துக்கு!

neela saayam veluthu romba naalaachu. ippathaan notice panraainga.

Needs no comments

புழுக்களும் தேள்களும்பூரான்களும்நச்சுபாம்புகளும் அந்த இயக்குனனை இடைவிடாது கொத்தி நஞ்சூற செய்யட்டும் எத்தனை பெரிய தவறு இழைத்துவிட்டான்

த்சொ..த்சொ..த்சொ..த்சொ

Wizzy wrote:

app_engine wrote: VB pulmabal on his movie with ARR

The movie is not even released yet - but director has already started lamenting about pozhappu

This is noteworthy :

வசந்தபாலன் wrote:
ஆடியோ பிசினஸ் இல்லை.

So, the latest person who makes a movie with ARR music is openly admitting that his MD's name does not sell

must have heard the final mix   ..with AR in peter mode this could end in tears for Vasantabalan.

commercial valuekunu AR kitta pOyi kEvalamAna pAttu vAngi adhuvum hit AgAma padamum thirisangu sorgamAgi polambum indha vasanthamukhiya pAr..

http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/chennai/Rahmans-Missed-Call-to-I-T-on-UK-Cell-Firm-Deal/2015/01/09/article2610815.ece 

Like I posted elsewhere been listening to I. The Aila Aila song particularly plays at home at least thrice a day thanks to the daughter. While the album does perfect justice to Rahman's present form ( ) need to bring up something here with my limited knowledge on world meesic. I may be making sweeping statements, feel free to correct me.

Rahman, the recent Rahman particularly when he takes a world genre, tries to stick to the idioms of it as closely as possible, which makes his compositions very, very unimaginative.

Aila Aila - He has tried opera and it sounds like every other opera song I have listened to . Same build ups, the final burst etc. Can't help but compare how our man subverts these sort of things. Satru Munbu, anyone?

Ennodu nee - So this falls under the rock ballad category, if I am not wrong. Same boring patterns of some of the western songs. But look at what our man did with Jeevane Jeevane

And this has been going on for a while. His Jazz/blues also strictly follows set patterns. Raaja just freaks out. That makes the latters compositions far more interesting.