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International praise for Rahman's music - MondoIndia CD

Topic started by Karthik S (@ 164.164.82.29) on Wed Aug 14 03:15:37 EDT 2002.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

http://www.mondomelodia.com/mondoindia.htm

Check out the info on this CD compilation and track list. Has mostly ARR songs, 2 by other composers (Vishal and RDB). Check out the very interesting liner notes in the same page.

Here are the international reviews:

http://www.technobeat.com/COLUMNS/Caffeine.html

""World music label Mondo just sent me its new anthologies, Mondo
Africa, Mondo Greece, and Mondo India. I already have so many African
music samplers in a back closet that my house leans to one side. And
the Greek disc didn't grab me. Mondo India throbs with originality,
however, and that's as much to do with the bass and drum-heavy
production as the modern approach of filmi impresario A. R. Rahman.
Compiler Gerald Seligman is so taken with Rahman that all but two
tracks on the disc are his, and one of the stragglers belongs to
Vishal, a composer influenced by Rahman. The late R. D. Burham ,
credited with introducing non-Indian musical elements to soundtracks,
fills the other non-Rahman slot with 1994's "Ek Ladki Ko Dekha." The
lean arrangement is a far cry from the heyday of filmi when
everything from jazz, country, soul, and European classical music
motifs crowded into a single three-minute opus. Rahman's hallmark is
the same homogeneity. Instead of yesteryear's exciting kitsch
collages, he assembles glassy panoramas that blur Indian elements
with a familiar world music topography of effects-laden vocals, up-
front electronic percussion, samples, and synthesizers. All is
tastefully integrated with dreamy voices and melodies evoking
romantic themes, while percussive wallops jab the thrill-seeking
contingent of the audience awake at regular intervals.

Saving these songs from the realm of Joi, Atman, and other plunderers
of Indian treasure is faithfulness to the subcontinental material
that generally rings true. Instruments may dive and surface, rhythms
may be parsed, but the lead vocals maintain their integrity and
therefore a sustained power of mood. "Narumugaiye" is contemporary
more by attitude than instrumentation as sarangi, vernacular flute,
zither, and tuned percussion join a lovely duet by Unnikrishnan and
Bombay Jayasree. Atmospherics and a synthesizer solo put it in the
1990s, but the entwined vocals convey the eternal spirit of pop chart-
style young love. "Gopika Poornima" pushes a similar concept into the
realm of the maudlin. And "Alyayio Kanavaa" is so diluted it could be
from anywheresporting a church choir opening, hip hop beats, and the
kind of vacuous signifying that passes for passion in place of the
more traditional delivery that make Indian vocals unique. But even
this is done with real appeal. In a crowded soundtrack field that
sees something like 800 films produced each year, Rahman is really
onto something, selling over 40 million cassettes in the last three
years. That's usually a guarantee of mediocrity, but this sample
culled from 35 cds proves that Rahman is the raja."

http://www.ink19.com/issues/february2002/musicReviews/musicM/mondoIndia.html

"Henry Ford lives! Sure, his surname may now be Patel or Singh, and
he hails from Madras instead of Motown. But he does live and, instead
of producing cars, movies are his thing. Bollywood, baby. Where
singers are locked up in sweatshops, belting out thousands of songs a
day and new movies deluge the subcontinent like monsoon rain. But in
this maelstrom of activity where conformity is king (tons of music,
tons of action, boatloads of dancing, and heaps of love scenes --
with no kissing!), truly artistic jewels do emerge. After all, the
company that gave us the Model T did also deliver the '68 'Stang.

A.R. Rahman is just such a jewel, and Mondo India is a tribute to his
artistry. This film composer has a nice, subtle touch, able to mix
Western sensibilities with Indian tradition that can satisfy both
East and West alike (which is a difficult task, since Indian music
can grate on Western ears). But, who would expect anything less from
Deepa Mehta's (Fire and Earth) personal composer?

"Narumugaiye" is a sweet ballad that combines classic raga percussion
with a peculiar symphonic quality that is charming. There's the slow-
crawling, funk bass in "Pachaikiligal." And "Aiyaiyo Kanavaa" is a
true culture clash that sounds like it's been mixed by a minimalist
DJ, whose been strongly influenced by Laurie Anderson and Kate Bush,
and an R&B diva who wails as though she's back in the Church.

One can tell that the producers of this compilation specially hand-
picked each track with an American audience in mind. Each song
contains elements with which we can identify and enjoy. It makes one
wonder if this is truly representative of Rahman's work. However, the
disc works quite well. The only problem is that they should've just
made this a Rahman disc. In an attempt to give the composer some kind
of historical context, they picked one song each by his mentor, R.D.
Burman, and his disciple, Vishal. While both are good songs, they add
nothing to the compilation (since most of us don't know the history
of Bollywood composers, what kind of context do we get from one guy
we don't know being influenced by another guy we don't know and a guy
we don't know who is strongly influenced by the first guy we don't
know?) and distract from an otherwise excellent overview of Rahman's
work (or Rahman's work we're sure to like)."

Amazon.com

"While a compilation, Mondo India is essentially a celebration of the
work of A.R. Rahman--possibly the greatest of the modern filmi
composers, and a man who can seamlessly marry Indian and Western
melodies, instruments, and techniques in a way no one has managed
before. While there's a track each from his mentor R.D. Burman and
his disciple Vishal, it's Rahman's work that sparkles with melody
upon melody and an almost infinite sense of invention in the songs.
He is to the Bollywood scene what Ennio Morricone or Nino Rota have
been to European cinema: people who transcend the idea of score and
soundtrack to bring forth pieces like "Dheeme Dheeme" that can stand
alone as pieces of music. He's not perfect--the ambient-
oriented "Alyaiyo Kanavaa" never really goes anywhere, for example--
but the vast majority of Rahman's work outstrips his contemporaries,
both Eastern and Western. He's been called a genius; on the basis of
this collection, that's not idle chatter. --Chris Nickson"

A search for reviews of MondoIndia CD in Google would throw up many more like the above. We know how good his music is. Most of these reviews are by non-Indians who might not be exposed to Indian music at all. And they comprehend Rahman's music and shower accolades to such extent, it truly means ARR's music transcends boundaries!

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Responses:

• From: OISG (@ 193.188.97.152) on: Wed Aug 14 03:35:37 EDT 2002
  
  Karthik
  
  RDB - When did he become ARR S mentor?
  
  These Northies simply hijack.
  
  Anyway ,the article is good and Tamil songs have been discussed.
  
  
• From: satsona (@ 203.199.192.162) on: Wed Aug 14 03:45:50 EDT 2002
  
  OISG is right..
  and also, Vishal cannot be called a disciple of ARR. his style is different, although he faded out.
  
  none other than HJ is best disciple of ARR.
  
  
• From: Karthik S (@ 164.164.82.29) on: Wed Aug 14 04:10:56 EDT 2002
  
  Those references are factual errors which we Indians might have more info on. I noticed them too, along with the fact that the song from Thenali, 'Porkalam' is called 'Gopika Poornima' while its actually the name of the singer!
  
  I was amazed at the depth of the actual reviews of music - they've expressed ARR's USPs really well from an American perspective.
  
  
• From: Are Yaar (@ 203.197.141.186) on: Wed Aug 14 08:22:14 EDT 2002
  
  Karthik S:
  
  Infact, I posted this article from you in some other thread. I have given credit to you too.
  
  But, I am really happy and elated in seeing some of the Rare gems of ARR being projected in Best.
  
  
• From: ST (@ 64.229.222.31) on: Wed Aug 14 10:00:14 EDT 2002
  
  If you click on "FULL TRACKING LIST" you will see that the majority of the songs were written by ARR. Even Piraisoodan's name appear on that listings but I can't see any Vairamuthu's name there (majority of the songs in that listings were written by Viramuthu). I wonder whether ARR tries to take all the credits for writing these songs???
  
  
• From: Kaumudi (@ 136.142.153.250) on: Wed Aug 14 11:41:08 EDT 2002
  
  ST
  It is probably part of the many factual errors that Karthik was talking about. We all know which ones were written by Vairamuthu. I don't believe ARR wishes to take any credit for Vairamuthu's songs.
  
  I feel happy for ARR that he has made such a huge difference in the Indian music scene. I guess we should all be proud of him - I am for sure!
  
  
• From: ARR Kaalam Neram (@ 152.163.201.202) on: Wed Aug 14 11:50:07 EDT 2002
  
  Today's American music sensibilities are very diluted. Todays critics are very young reflect audience tastes and you can see that they have no perspective of the great unparalleled music of the 50s thru 80s. I have talked to a lot of music reviewers and fans, they are very oblivious to music of the earlier era where everything was pure and rich. Today, they compare ARR to something what is the frick? Nelly, it is so hot in here and that Australian new lady fricky. ARR is something similar to these idiots with very narrow tastes and who sneer at anything beyong the heavy metal or on the other side the aimless rap. ARR you'll be loved as long as the audience is all uneducated and unexposed to good music. There is a frickin limit to tolerating this ARR Genius - what did that Bombay Dreams tell you guys and the last 4 years of the Shankr-Ehsaan-Loy type trash comin out. Every tom-dic and hairy composer is found a shortcut to success - make that ARR brand of slow, irritating, meandering music. narumagaiye great song? IR has about 101 songs of that type set to much better and spontaneous feel and there is only one song of this composer.............
  
  
• From: ST (@ 64.229.222.31) on: Wed Aug 14 12:30:26 EDT 2002
  
  I think the moron above is an absolute idiot (uneducated and unexposed to good music). Hahahaaaaha...
  
  
• From: Unmai (@ 24.130.233.129) on: Wed Aug 14 12:59:31 EDT 2002
  
  ARR tried everything possible to stay completely different from IR. The only he could do is by changing singers, changing instruments, improving recording. I was thrilled in the beginnings. It was good as far as it went. Over a period i lost interest in his music as his liking to pop tunes has severely affected his composing. Most of his songs are the direct import of pop tunes with slight modifications here and there. Only thing is original pop tunes are peppier. I would rather listen to original tunes than his 'tamilicized' version. Probable reason is some ARR fans do not listen to recent english songs. He completely lacks originality. His Back ground music for movies are probably the worst i have ever heard!!!
  Over all he is a disappointment for a music fan like me. His popularity is largely due to the extensive ad. campaign launched by Bollywood biggies. Illayaraja is never after popularity.
  It is only ARR who is after popularity. Collabarating with Andrew Lloyd Webber is much easier job than entering into RPH. Peppy musics always get good reviews!! In classical music, be it is carnatic or hindustani or western, ARR's "so called talent" will be ripped open by critics. That's why he never tried any of the above. He cannot possibly succeed in any of the classical music because he is simply not good enough. I am a Pre-KK ARR fan. But i would say he is no match for IR in verstaility and giving music in its purest form.
  
  
  Anybody knows who this Bob Tarte? Is he a great composer? I cannot possibly believe the fact, our tamil can be easily fooled by some foreign reviewer. Just like we all appreciate their music, they all appreciate our music. Whatever music they listen they would still say it is good.
  Example!! Monsoon wedding.. all it had was some Annu Mallik songs and some ordinary tunes. It was one of the higest selling musical album alongwith Britney spears and Alicia Keys album. It is more difficult to get the appreciation of local fans. It is easy to get the applauds across the border.
  Wild Wild West was a hit in U.S. in the opening week amassing 49 million.But it won the Razzie award for worst picture of the year!!! Do you think an american would watch a movie based what an India writes about his movie? Possibly not. Because they are independent thinkers. We Indians respect the opinion of some junk reviewer from foreign than somebody from home or than own opinion. It is sad we still like to live like slaves!!
  
  

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