Home   Forum   Wiki   Notes   Register   FAQ   Sitemap   About Us   Contact Us  

ARR's Unity of Light World Concert Tour 2003

Topic started by Anon (@ 202.41.76.192) on Fri Jan 10 23:11:30 EST 2003.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

Will kick off at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata on March 1st. Other Indian venues are Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad. International venues are Dubai, Toronto, Fairfax(In Virginia) and two other venues in the USA. Possible additions could be London, Singapore. Lata Mangeshkar will perform on the international leg of the tour.

---

Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: Jay (@ 203.124.234.166) on: Wed Feb 5 01:12:36 EST 2003
  
  http://www.rahmanonline.com/
  
  
• From: aruvi (@ 24.102.23.161) on: Thu Feb 6 18:02:12 EST 2003
  
  Check www.unityoflight.info site for information on the program in Chennai. Nice site with some new pics of ARR.
  
  My biggest disappointment:-( Chithra is not featuring in this concert.
  
  
• From: Are Yaar (@ 203.115.31.67) on: Fri Feb 7 02:26:08 EST 2003
  
  This is a write-up from some one close to ARR and who also has his family in Culcutta.
  ----------------------------------------------------
  
  anandabazar patrika carried a very nice article as well..
  I don't want to sit down and translate that because it's too long and a p
  has a tendency to take several paragraphs to say things that could
  have been said in one line (most bengali newspapers are like that!
  they're good to read though).
  But anyway, the show was wonderful according to them, and perfect
  except for when a r sat on the piano for bharat humko and the
  microphone created problems. a r had said that it was one of his
  favorite songs etc. They also were in full praise of mahalaxmi who
  apparently ignited the crowd with her voice. They also referred to a r r
  as a mad man on the keyboards in a complimentary way, called him the
  showman of showmen because he did not need to perform songs in
  bengali but he did (apparently he took usha utthup's help in this). There
  were apparently FOUR huge tv screens. when a r first appeared there
  was a HUGE uproar from the crowd that a r r was amazed by. he
  said "Good evening Kolkata! what a welcome! when I first started
  thinking about the concerts some of my friends said this is the best
  place to start. they were right".. There were small little riots in the
  crowd that the police had to settle. also said that the who's who of
  calcutta were all there, including mayor, governor, all the popular actors-
  actresses etc. Said that sponsors hero honda, itc shonar bangla, the
  telegraph etc were airing ads before the show started. And also
  amusingly said of a r r's being caught in the traffic jam on eastern
  bypass "Little had he known that he would be caught in the traffic that
  he was responsible in creating!" at some point in the show a r r got so
  comfortable that he was walking around on stage as if it was the
  garden of his chennai residence. all according to anandabazar ha ha.
  also that sukhwinder singh had shaved his mustache off and hariharan
  was wearing jewelry of some sort. don't know how the writers come up
  with this stuff to write!
  anyway, that's it from them. will look up if "aajkaal" has an online
  version. these two and the statesman and the telegraph are the four
  major kolkata newspapers, at least they were when I used to live there..
  It's the city of my birth so I am happy that a r chose to perform his first
  indian concert there!
  anyway, it was a great success and calcuttans loved it from what I've
  learnt from reviews and in speaking to my parents who are there at this
  point and relatives, and i think that's what matters..
  of course there was going to be a problem with sound! the stadium is
  too big! it's a full blown soccer field, with tracks around it, and then
  80000 seats. imagine the size.
  
  
• From: fan (@ 202.9.147.226) on: Fri Feb 7 23:03:38 EST 2003
  
  arr says spb can create magic. spb would have made most of arr songs the same as roja had he sung most of arr's songs like spb did for illayaraja.that is the quality of this gifted artist sp balasubramanyam
  
  
• From: Are Yaar (@ 203.115.31.67) on: Sat Feb 8 00:23:24 EST 2003
  
  The Show: A.R.Rahman's Unity of Light World Tour 2003
  
  Venue: Central Polytechnic - India Pistons Stadium, Taramani, Chennai
  
  Date: February 21, 2003
  
  Time: 7 P.M. onwards (gates open at 5 P.M.)
  
  We have 2 main ticket options in the show:
  
  The first one being seats as all of us are ised to in India and the second is on the lines of international rock shows - standing crowds.
  
  The ticket denimnations are as follows
  
  Seated: 5000, 3000, 2000, 1000
  
  Standing: 1250, 750, 500, 250
  
  Tickets available at:
  
  Food World
  Music World
  Landmark
  Odyssey
  Connections
  Crafts and Weaves
  All branches of HDFC Bank
  
  All Visa Card holders - Call Toll Free 1-600-225-222 to book your unity of Light Show tickets and avail a special 5 percent discount. All tickets will be delivered to your doorstep.
  For enquiries and cash bookings call
  
  Chennai and Bangalore - 9622 006868
  Rest of Tamil Nadu 98430-21302
  
  contact:
  contact@unityoflight.info
  (044) 2813 1527
  
  
  
  http://www.unityoflight.info
  
  
  
  
  
  
• From: STS (@ 12.240.77.242) on: Sat Feb 8 01:02:39 EST 2003
  
  Film illaatti enna panrathu?
  
  
• From: rohit (@ 195.229.241.233) on: Sat Feb 8 02:45:47 EST 2003
  
  friends,
  
  when the show will be in Dubai ? Is the date fixed ? I heard its somewhere in March
  
  
  
• From: abdul (@ 202.156.2.7) on: Sat Feb 8 04:23:28 EST 2003
  
  i heard he is goin to tour East Asia. which countries in East Asia? Is Singapore included??
  
  
• From: Karan, London (@ 213.2.111.98) on: Sat Feb 8 07:14:37 EST 2003
  
  Dear Fan,
  
  Well said!!:))
  
  
• From: STONE COLD (@ 210.186.79.180) on: Sat Feb 8 09:07:46 EST 2003
  
  message from Arr group
  
  "music of udaya is releasing on feb 14th (this year mind u).
  an audio shop had the poster of udaya (with vijay's face on it,
  ofcourse it had ARR's face also). i askd him abt the music
  release, they said its releasing on feb 14th. thank u"
  
  IS IT TRUE?
  
  
• From: sakti (@ 212.10.38.252) on: Tue Feb 11 06:21:24 EST 2003
  
  Which songs were played???
  
  
• From: bb (@ 12.234.176.52) on: Wed Feb 12 00:17:37 EST 2003
  
  From Rediff:
  
  Rahman's cause for concert
  
  Shobha Warrier in Chennai | February 11, 2003 14:53 IST
  
  Ad filmmaker P Jayendra's office Real Image buzzes with activity. On the walls are huge posters of A R Rahman's Unity of Light concert slated for February 21 in Chennai. You get the impression everyone at Real Image is working with one aim: to make the Rahman show a huge success.
  
  More than the concert it is the cause behind it has them charged.
  
  All proceeds from the concert will go to the Mahesh Memorial Trust created by some of Mahesh's close friends, which include Jayendra, filmmaker Mani Ratnam, actor Kamal Haasan and cricketer K Srikkanth.
  
  Mani Ratnam knew Mahesh from college; Jayendra from school; Kamal Haasan after Mahesh composed music for Nammavar.
  
  Mani Ratnam simply fulfilled a close friend's wishes when he requested Rahman to perform in Chennai.
  
  Mahesh died of cancer a few months ago at 47. Jayendra remembers Mahesh was depressed when he was first diagnosed with cancer in 1989. To help him get over it, Jayendra asked him to pursue whatever he loved most: music. Mahesh chucked his management job, joined Real Image and started composing jingles.
  
  In his short career as composer, he composed over 400 jingles; one film Nammavar, which fetched him a National Award; the background score for P C Sreeram's Kuruthippunal and Kamal Haasan's Aalavandhan, before he died.
  
  Jayendra, the driving force behind the trust, says Mahesh's positive approach brought all of them together to form the trust. When he died, Mahesh wrote in his will that he would like his friends to do something for cancer, especially for poor, cancer-afflicted children.
  
  "At the memorial service for Mahesh, everyone was visibly moved and upset thinking of Mahesh as a person. All of us thought that that feeling should be channelled into something positive. That is how the trust came into being. But we had no idea where we would raise the money from. Suddenly, we thought of Rahman's concert, and Mani Ratnam said he would convince Rahman," Jayendra remembers.
  
  Rahman didn't need convincing. He had lost his father to cancer. At a recent press conference, Rahman said he was doing it for his father and Mahesh. He had no plans to perform in Chennai at the time Unity of Light was conceived. In addition to performances in Kolkata and Hyderabad, he was to tour Los Angeles, Toronto, London, New York and Dubai. After Mani Ratnam spoke to him, Rahman changed his plans and accommodated Chennai in his calendar.
  
  Chitra, Mahesh's wife and one of the trustees, remembers that a couple of days before Mahesh died, he called Srikkanth to the hospital to discuss ways to raise funds for the Cancer Institute. "He was discussing all this while blood transfusion was going on. Unfortunately, he died after two days," she says.
  
  The trust wants to create awareness among people through screening camps that some types of cancer, if detected early, are curable. The most important thing the trust wants to do is help cancer-afflicted children who come to the Cancer Institute in Chennai.
  
  "Mahesh was so positive in spite of cancer," Jayendra says. "That is what saw him through. We want to pass the positive feeling to other people in addition to raising the level of awareness and helping the poor."
  
  "They [Ratnam, Jayendra and Rahman] are all very busy people but they have kept everything aside to give priority to this show," Chitra says emotionally. "They don't have to do it, but they are doing it for Mahesh. If Mahesh is seeing this from somewhere, he will be touched!"
  
  
• From: Are Yaar (@ 203.115.31.67) on: Thu Feb 13 03:35:47 EST 2003
  
  
  Tune into Rahman rhythm
  
  WANT TO take your life partner out on the Valentine's Day? Want to gift something memorable to your ladylove? Here is a chance for you. It may not be a visit to a place where Valentine's Day programmes are being organised. It need not be a Valentine Day card too. This time, it could simply be a ticket to a programme, for which everyone seems to be waiting for.
  
  Yes, it's the Unity of Light Concert by none other than A.R. Rahman and Lata Mangeshkar slated to be held in GMC Balayogi Stadium at Gachibowli. The concert, recently held in Kolkata, now comes to Hyderabad. Promised to be the first-of-its-kind of an event ever witnessed by anybody in the twin cities, the show is certain to be a dazzling one what with the organisers going whole hog on arrangements at the recently built state-of-the-art stadium.
  
  A giant stage with hi-tech acoustics systems is coming up with latest gadgetry from London. The organisers, Musicurry Records and Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. and Grandslaam Network Pvt. Ltd., are promising that the show would not only come as a surprise because of several novel aspects in sound and light technologies, but also in atmospherics. The highlight of the show would be that Rahman would draw from the musical traditions of the cities the concert travels to make it all the more appealing to audiences. He will also sing Telugu numbers.
  
  
  
  
  Lata Mangeshkar
  
  According to the organisers, the show has been named the Unity of Light Concert because Rahman believed music had the power to illuminate hearts in these times of trouble. The concert that will unify the seven colours that form light and the seven notes that make music.
  
  If the initial response is any indication, the event is going to be a sell-out. In addition to the living legends, Lata and Rahman, 95 other artistes like S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, Hariharan, Udit Narayan, Sukhwinder and Shankar Mahadevan will participate in the concert.
  
  By Srinivas Reddy K.
  
  
  
  http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/lf/stories/2003021100970200.htm
  
  
• From: Are Yaar (@ 203.115.31.67) on: Thu Feb 13 03:36:22 EST 2003
  
  Lata, Rahman have a date with the city
  
  This Valentine's day, all you guys can forget about making plans for romantic dinners because Hyderabad has a date with the one and only AR Rahman.
  
  Of course, by now most people are aware that the maestro will be performing here on February 14, but what they don't know is that Hyderabad is in for a special treat. This is the only city on the 15 city international tour where Lata Mangeshkar will also be performing.
  
  Says Abhijit Bhattacharjee of Grandslaam Network Pvt Ltd., "It is a rare honour for the city that a Bharat Ratna and a Padma Shri awardee will be sharing the same stage."
  
  When he was approached to manage the Hyderabad leg of the tour, he hit on the idea of getting Lataji to perform as well. "After the overwhelming response she got from Hyderabad, Latadidi immediately agreed," says Abhijit.
  
  As a result, the show is being jointly organised by her nephew Adinath Mangeshkar of Musicurry and Abhijit. "This event will go down in history, and I'm proud to be a part of it," says Adinath. In fact, even Smita Thakeray, who is organising the Mumbai event is keen that Lataji performs there as well, but Adinath is clear that his commitment is to Hyderabad alone.
  
  There are also rumours that Rahman may compose a special number as a tribute to Lataji. "The CM agreed to be present for the show, but when we approached him with the proposal three months back, he kept asking us if we were sure we could pull this off," laughs Abhijit. Well, this is a first for the city, and we hope, the first of many.
  
  
  
  http://www.deccan.com/features/hyd/template.shtml#Lata,%20Rahman%20have%20a%20date%20with%20the%20city
  
  
  
  
  
  

---

List all pages of this thread

Post comments