Tag: a.r. rahman (last 300)
Rahman gets the statuette
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Reddit thisGrammy voting for Grammys
(Indiecision) Grammy voters’ age worked in Rahman’s favour — ‘Slumdog’ beat ‘Twilight.’ Going by the charts, most music appears to be downloaded by 14 year old girls. (via @dpanjana)
‘Couples’ advance
Falu gong
Falu at White House
(Twitter) Falu Shah, Bhangra Empire performing at state dinner along with A.R. Rahman, jazz musicians. (ht: @gorisf)
‘Couples Retreat’ #1
(AP) Despite bad reviews, A.R. Rahman’s full score debut ‘Couples Retreat’ was #1 over the weekend with $34M at the U.S. box offic.e
‘Couples’ retreats
Jai O.
(Tabloid) Michelle Obama and Oprah broke bread with A.R. Rahman and the Time editor at the Time 100 party. (ht: Aseem)
So Apatovian
‘Jai Ho’ Lincoln Center
(Time Video) Falu, A.R. Rahman sang at Time 100 party at Lincoln Center. Michelle Obama keynote. Related vid: M.I.A.
Rahman gets tweaked
(Vid) BJP’s parody of Congress’ ‘Jai Ho’ campaign ad: ‘Bhay (fear) ho, bhook (hunger) ho, atank (terror) ho, mahangayi (inflation) ho.’ [via]
Punching your buttons
(Vid) Air India and, of course, the desh get big-upped in this ‘Swades’ clip. This musical theme was used as Latika’s ringtone in ‘Slumdog Millionaire.’
‘Jai’ credits
(Prefixmag) You know what the ‘Jai Ho’ remix didn’t need? Reversing the credit to ‘The Pussycat Dolls feat. A.R. Rahman,’ because it makes it seem like the Dolls had something to do with this song’s creation.
Rahman on Apple
Gulzar on ‘Slumdog’
(Screenindia) Gulzar did the Hindi lyrics for ‘Jai Ho.’ ‘A.R. doesn’t use the harmonium to compose. It’s him, his BlackBerry with his voice and me. He stores his ideas and tunes and even records his voice on that.’
Indian King
(WSJ) MLK traveled to nine cities including Delhi, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Kolkata and Trivandrum. The younger King met with Pratibha Patil and attended a rendition of Rahman’s ‘Jai Ho.’
Watering down ‘Jai Ho’
(WSJ) A Pussycat Dolls songwriter in LA worked with Rahman in Chennai over Skype. ‘We formatted it so his music would fall into our formats for verse and chorus.’ The original has been in the iTunes top 10 all week.
‘Jai’ gig
Rahman in Tamil
This palette is too monochromatic
(Gettyimages) A.R. Rahman surrounded by backup dancers at Oscars. The entire series misidentifies singer in yellow as M.I.A.
Gabriel refuses to share spotlight with Rahman
(Telegraph) Peter Gabriel has refused to take part in an original song medley with AR Rahman because he felt 60-65 secs of ‘Down t oEarth’ was too short. (ht: SN)
NYT profiles Rahman
(NYT) ‘Bombay Dreams’ spent $14M and closed in 8 mos on Broadway... Only 2 Indians have received Oscars: Bhanu Athaiya for ‘Gandhi’ costume design and Satyajit Ray, lifetime achievement.
AR Rahman on Jay Leno
An appointment with Jay the Chin
Chennai calling
(WaPo) Rahman’s ‘Slumdog’ score jumps from a punk song by the Clash to a Hindi anthem to an aching sitar solo. ‘It was really fresh ground for me’... he scored ‘Elizabeth: The Golden Age’ and the Mandarin ‘Warriors of Heaven and Earth.’
Pieces of Rahman
(NYT) 2 songs from ‘Slumdog’ could give the Oscars a Bollywood flavor. Part of each song will be played in a single production number... Hugh Jackman will sing in a Baz Luhrmann number.
Rahman on NPR
(NPR) A.R. Rahman’s usual shows include up to 80 people on stage: a string section, 20 dancers, many kinds of ethnic instruments and India’s superstar singers. [But unlikely to be that large for the Oscars.]
Rahman, Sukhwinder performing at Oscars
(NDTV) A.R. Rahman will adapt ‘Jai Ho’ to the live orchestra for his stage performance. Sukhwinder Singh will sing. Lyricist Gulzar will also show. [And M.I.A.?] (ht: Sapna)
Best pic nominees are all niche
(WSJ) ‘Slumdog Millionaire,’� ‘The Reader,’� ‘Milk’� and ‘Frost/Nixon,’� combined have brought in only $105M worldwide. [Similar complaints about the Booker Prize.] Rahman has sold more than 100M albums but isn’t well-known in the U.S.
Obscure Oscar noms
(Tribune) The Academy decided Jai Ho’� and ‘O Saya’� from ‘Slumdog Millionaire’� were worthy. Yes, why would you want to hype Springsteen, Eastwood, Cyrus and Beyonce when you have A.R. Rahman? [Err, thank you Chicago Tribune.]
Slumdog gets numerous Oscar nominations
(Oscar) ‘Slumdog’ gets Oscar nominations for best picture, director, cinematography, editing, score, 2 out of 3 best song noms (‘Jai Ho’ and ‘O Saya’), sound editing, sound mixing and adapted screenplay. None for acting.
Predicting ‘Slumdog’ Golden Globe
(LAT) The Golden Globes are voted upon by the Hollywood Foreign Press Ass’n, outlanders comfy with foreign-set films as long as the pix are popular in Hollywood... ‘Slumdog’ has better music, but ‘Button’ has a lush, symphonic sound.
Audible planes
M.I.A. too electropunk for Rahman
(WSJ) Rahman worked with M.I.A. for ‘Slumdog.’ ‘She speaks my language, but her sensibility is completely different.’ He’s working on scores for ‘Paani’ by Shekhar Kapoor and ’19 Steps,’ an English martial arts flick by Disney.
L.A. critics do the ‘dog
(LAT) L.A. Film Critics Ass’n gives best music to A.R. Rahman, director to Danny Boyle for ‘Slumdog.’
A.R. Rahman live webcast today
(SAJA) A.R. Rahman, on tour to promote his ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ soundtrack, live webcast and phonecast 12-1:30 pm EST.
M.I.A., Rahman collab on ‘Slumdog’
(NY Mag) A.R. Rahman: M.I.A. had followed my work for ages. I said, cut this ‘my idol’ crap. You have to teach me... Directors usually want loud effects, soft music. Danny wanted it loud: ‘Never put a cello in my film.’
‘Millionaire’ harkens back to old-time Hollywood
(Calendarlive) ‘Slumdog’ is the best old-fashioned audience picture of the year, a Hollywood-style romantic melodrama. Jama’s tale is of romance, brotherhood, poverty, crime and the rapid modernization of India. A.R. Rahman adds a propulsive score.
Rahman on ‘Rolling Stone’ India cover
(Baradwaj) A.R. Rahman felt that by not becoming an engineer, ‘I’ve missed out on something great. I just have two or three’ friends who opted for conventional careers. ‘One is in Microsoft.’