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: Are Yaar (@ 203.115.31.67) on: Tue Feb 4 23:50:05 EST 2003
  
  First hand report by a some one who attended the concert.
  ---------------------------------------------
  Hi all fans
  
  Firstly I should say that whoever resides nearly to where the rest of "Unity of Light by ARR" concert is going to be held - shall by not any chance miss the program.
  
  Friends of Chennai - I truely envy you since in the Kolkata concert no such tamil songs were there,and I was truely mad for some Tamil numbers.
  There were also some technical problems regarding sound and others which created some transient disturbance.Lets hope that the other programs do not face such probs.
  
  Lets come to the point (Sorry for those who will get bored while reading this stuff):
  
  ARR was there on the stage amidst huge applause and 60K watt lightings with his fingers on the keyboard(YAMAHA).He was in the centre stage.
  On his right side there was the chorous singers / Naveen was there on flute and there were the violin and chello players.
  On his left side there was guitarist Rashid and the whole percussion group.
  
  Suddenly from background we heard SPB's voice.He gradually came on the stage from left side and took his position in front of ARR.
  The song was the tamil number "Manni Mini"(sorry for not spelling it properly).I think this is from film Muthu (correct me if I am wrong).The song was superbly sang and the whole stadium was silent.
  
  After that ARR told "Hello Kolkata!!".Thats all.The whole stadium burst with the thunder of claps and shoutings.He told some few words abt his planning behind choosing Kolkata for the first show.
  
  Then Shankar Mahadevan came with "O Humdum Suniyo Re".This was also accepted with huge applause.
  
  Then ARR came in frontside of the stage and started singing the Bengali song on Kolkata (original Mustafa Mustafa).This created a real magic on the audience.
  
  Suddenly somebody came from right side clad in white shirt and trousers and stood beside and ARR told "Hello Sonu! Good Evening".
  Once again great sound from audience.Sonu started "Saathiya".
  Sonu started words Saathiya without music and gradually Naveen and the other musicians added music to the song.(I was dying for Pachhai Nirame - Hariharan sang it better in the film as well as on stage in some of ARR's previous program broadcasted).
  
  Then came Vasundhara Das and Sukhbinder Singh with "Ramta Yogi".Sukhbinder was at his peak in this program.He also started the song with some new chords and some improvisations - superbly done.
  
  Then Sadhna Sargam came with Saathiya (once again I was dying for Snehidhane).Sadhna is truely awesome.But maybe due to lack of rehearsing or due to nervousness she missed the mukhra of the song and started from second line.Any how greatly sung by Sadhna.
  
  Then it was ROJA by SPB and Mahaluxmi.When SPB pronounced "ROJA ...." with his meliflous voice and with all his emotions the whole stadium got simply mad.At the end of the song while SPB was on exit suddenly ARR called him and told "SPB its great--you can create magic!"
  SPB answered modestly "Actually Bengalis love fat people."
  ARR : "But they are praising the song and the music!! Well done."
  SPB : "Thank You Sir".
  
  Then came Sadhna Sargam and Udit Narayan with "Madhuban Mein" from Laagan.Greatly delivered by both the singers but here again Sadhna Sargam missed the mukhra and forgot repeating the line of antara.Anyhow at last audience was too happy.
  
  Then it was Sonu with "Ishq Bina" and no beats and only chord.And suddenly all music stopped and the dholak for "Mera Rang de Basanti Chola" started.Greatly sang Sonu.
  
  Then it was Hariharan with "Tu Hi Re" but only the mukhra part (may be since Kavita or Chitra was not there).Then suddenly he started "Chanda Re Chanda Re" and Sadhna stepped in the stage.The audience was simply mad.Superbly sang by both singers but Hariharan cracked his voice while throwing "..in dhunli dhundli ...." (I think this happened before also).
  
  Then it was Mahalaxmi Iyer in "Kahi Aag lage lag jabe" from Taal.
  
  Then greatly sang song "Sona Sona-Mahi Sona" by ARR and Sukhbinder.
  Both had done some superb aalaps with the word " Mubarkaa " for around 4 minutes and then started singing.ARR had done some truely intricate notes in this song.
  
  Then came "Mitwaa ..." from Laagan with Udit,Sukhbinder and Sadhna.We all started singing " O Mitwaa....tujko kya dar hai re..".
  
  Now it was raag PuriyaDhanasree -- "Paayal ki jhanakaar mori".Mahalaxmi started the song but Hariharan truely created magic with aalaps and some intricate but superb taankaris and sargam which automatically took us to "Hai Rama yeh kya huya.." from Rangeela.
  Hariharan is truely great.
  
  Then Shankar M and Vasundhara Das came with "Muqaala muqabla..".But it was too short--only the starting.
  
  After this ARR was felicitated by Pavan Munjhal and there was a 5 minute docu on 'Unity of Light'.
  
  Then suddenly a big acoustic piano was brouht in the centre stage and ARR came and started playing it.Wow I was so happy bcoz he started playing and humming "Vellai Pookkal.." from KM.But suddenly what happened I don't know.Everything stopped.
  ARR told "Where is Hari? Please come here."
  Hariharan came.
  ARR told "This is the song where me and Hari worked together for the first time."
  Hari:"And we both enjoyed working in this song."
  ARR:"Sure."
  Then it was "Bharat humko jaan se pyara hain".
  (Notice the similarity of chords in these 2 songs).
  Once again the audience was just mad.
  
  Then Sonu came and told that he and Hariharan will sing a song on stage for the first time.Then Sonu bowed down to touch hariharan's feet.Then it was "sar farosi ki tamanna..".Superb work.Aalap in raag Des was excellently done by both.Sonu was in his full emotion and Hariharan was truely magical in his touches.
  
  Then it was a Bombay Dream song "Journey How..." by Rashid.Great song and greater music by ARR.
  
  Now Sonu once again with "Satrangi re" from DilSe.The choreography was good in this song.
  
  Then it was "Ghanana Ghanana.." from Laagan by Shankar Mahadevan solo.One of the best performance of the evening.Shankar is truely great.
  
  Then came Sadhna Sargam with bengali version of "Dil hain Chottasa".
  Audience of Kolkata was too happy.
  
  Then it was "Ori chori.." from Laagan by Udit,Mahaluxmi and Vasundhara.
  
  And now once again ARR magic "Dil Se Re......".Yes - whole Salt Lake stadium was just bursting of applause for our master.
  
  After Dil Se it was Sonu but not with his own song.It was "Aaye uri uri".Sonu has copied Adnan's voice with utter perfection.
  
  Now again Dil Se."Jiya jale..." by Sadhna Sargam.Great rendition of a truely great song.
  
  Then "Shakalaka Baby" came.But this was the Bombay Dream version.
  I personally liked this version more than the tamil or hindi one and Vasundhara was too good in this number.
  
  Yes now came the very rare moment which we all and also ARR will remember for rest of his life.Some female singer(cann't tell her name) threw "Jin ke sar ho Ishq ki chaon..." and the whole atmosphere changed.As Sukhbinder started " Chal Chaiya Chaiya " the whole stadium stood up to dance.We were sitting in the playground chairs.Suddenly I saw ARR left his keyboard and came in the front portion of the stage beside Sukhbinder.It seemed he was staring at the audience.Suddenly I moved my vision towards the stadium gallery side and wow it was mesmerising-the whole stadium was holding with paper torches and all of us swang and sang with "Chaiya Chaiya".
  Sukhbinder sang both the version and he told the audience:
  "This is ARR who gave true spirit to this song and a real platform to me"
  ARR was so humble.He told "O No!Its not like that."
  Then ARR told "Its great to get such a response in my first show in India". Chaiya Chaiya stopped.
  
  Suddenly the audience started screaming.ARR told "I cann't hear you." Then he found that audience is claiming for "Vande mataram".
  Within a moment he jumped to the keyboard and chanted "Maaaaa....".
  Once again we were mad.Crackers started bursting sprinkling silver papers on all of us.
  
  Then all the singers came and it was "Jana Gana Mana...".
  
  And thats the start of the "Unity of Light" - a full packed superb performance with 80,000+ odd spectators for full 3 hrs 40 min.
  
  More well wishes to all u waiting for the other shows.
  
  Longlive ARR
  
  
• From: Are Yaar (@ 203.115.31.67) on: Tue Feb 4 23:51:46 EST 2003
  
  Through a lens, the pulse of the nation
  ------------------------------------------
  
  Through a lens, the pulse of the nation
  - DOCU-FEATURE on team rahman in concert
  
  IN-CAMERA CRESCENDO: Music-maker A.R. Rahman at the Unity of Light show at Salt Lake stadium last week. Picture by Pradip Sanyal
  On stage, all the artistes were singing Vande Mataram. In the stands, the paper torches that had burnt so bright during Chhaiya chhaiya were starting to flare up again, one by one. And perched on the highest gallery at Salt Lake stadium, on the night of February 1, taking it all in on his Sony hi-definition camera, was film-maker S. Muthu Ganesh.
  
  "It was awesome," Ganesh gushed later. This was just one of the magic moments he had captured during his city sojourn. The man from Chennai, who owns Fine Frames Productions, is travelling with Team Rahman on the Unity of Light concert tour.
  
  "The project is the brainchild of Deepak Gattani (of Rapport Global, event managers for the show). We want to show A.R. Rahman through the eyes of the nation, and also capture the pulse of India through the adulation of the fans across the country. Every concert will add a shade to the theme, Unity of Light. It will be a docu-feature, something like Woodstock, the Movie."
  
  The yet-unnamed project got the green signal at 3 am on January 26, six nights before The Telegraph Unity of Light concert in Calcutta. "We decided to shoot on wide background. I picked up this camera from Wizcraft, Bangalore, which has just acquired the first three pieces to reach India. This is what George Lucas had shot ET on." From then on, it was a mad race against time, capturing the rehearsals at the Madras Race Course ground in Chennai, making the cuts and holding hasty meetings with the man himself.
  
  "His (Rahman's) involvement is amazing. Through the evening, he was in a series of meetings with music directors, discussing his forthcoming assignments. In the middle of it, he gives me a call and says: 'Hold on, I'll give you another track,' and comes over to the studio with Mustafa Mustafa on a DAT player."
  
  But that did not surprise Ganesh. For he has known the king of the keyboard since 1989, while he was doing jingles for ad films. "Rahman can work the whole night at his studio and be in office at 8 o'clock the next morning if a meeting is scheduled," he reveals. The master melody-maker also thinks 'visually'. "The afternoon we came to Calcutta, I was supposed to have handed him the recording of the rehearsals by 5 pm. But the tapes reached late. So he had to see it on his laptop on the flight. The song Tauba tauba was supposed to have opened with a background scene of a single drum beating on the videoscope backstage. He wanted the footage to start with 50 drummers ('It'll look better. You go ahead. I'll change the track', Rahman said)."
  
  Ganesh is "thrilled" with the footage he has got - the little moments on stage, like the hug SPji gave Rahman, or the glint of light reflected on the silver foils that fell in a shower at the end... "I used up eight 50-minute tapes here," he laughs. The morning before the concert, he was busy shooting the streets of Calcutta from a tram. "I ran it in stop block motion (one second per frame) to get the feel of life whizzing by before I zoom in on the stadium," he explains.
  
  The show over, it's time to be back in the Chennai studios for a meeting with the Hyderabad team (where the concert is headed next), and Rahman himself. "I also plan to meet Mani Ratnam as Rahman is keen that I discuss the style of the project with 'Mani sir'," he says. The Chennai show, in fact, is a fundraiser for Ratnam's Mahesh Cancer Trust, dedicated to the film-maker's classmate Mahesh, director of the Kamalahasan starrer Kurdipunal, who succumbed to cancer recently.
  
  - SUDESHNA BANERJEE
  http://www.telegraphindia.com/1030205/asp/calcutta/story_1634844.asp
  
  
• From: Jay (@ 203.124.234.166) on: Wed Feb 5 01:11:58 EST 2003
  
  Visit:
  
  http://www.rahmanonline.com/
  
  

---

List all pages of this thread

Post comments