A.R. Rehman
All you want to know about A.R. Rehman
| A. R. Rahman | |
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 A. R. Rahman
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | A. S. Dileep Kumar |
| Also known as | A.R. Rahman |
| Born | January 10, 1966 |
| Origin |  Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. |
| Occupation(s) | Composer, record producer, music director, singer, instrumentalist, arranger, programmer |
| Instrument(s) | Keyboards, Saxophone, Oboe, Santoor, Sitar, Flute, Violin, Violas, Harps, drums, Bass, maracas, Vocals, Guitars, Piano, Harmonium, percussion, other |
| Years active | 1992 – present |
| Label(s) | Sony BMG, KM Musiq |
| Website | ARRahman.com |
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Allah Rakkhha Rahman (Tamil: ஏ.ஆர்.ரஹ்மான்), born on January 6, 1966 as A. S. Dileep Kumar in Chennai, India, is a composer, record producer and musician. He has composed for soundtracks such as the National Film Award winning Roja, Dil Se, and the Academy Award nominated Lagaan. He has also collaborated with a variety of international artists, including the Finnish group Värttinä for The Lord of the Rings musical, Craig Armstrong, Andrew Lloyd-Webber, and Vanessa-Mae.
In a career spanning over a decade, Rahman, by 2003, had sold more than one hundred million records of his film scores and soundtracks worldwide,[1] and sold over 200 million cassettes[2] making him one of the world's top 30 all-time top selling recording artists.
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Biography
Early life and influences
A. R. Rahman was born as 'A S Dileep Kumar' to R. K. Shekhar (Christian) and Kasthuri (Hindu) in Chennai, India (Now Kareema Begum). R. K. Shekhar was a composer, and conductor for Malayalam films. He passed away when Rahman was about nine years old. Following the demise of his father, Rahman and his family rented out musical equipment as a source of income. His family converted to Islam from Christianity in the late 1970s.
During these early years, Rahman served as a keyboard player and an arranger in bands such as "Roots" and "Nemesis Avenue" with friends including Sivamani, embracing numerous music genres. He played the keyboard and piano, in addition to, among others, the synthesizer, the harmonium and the guitar. His curiosity in the synthesizer in particular increased because, he says, it was the “ideal combination of music and technology".[3]He began early training in music under Master Dhanraj. At the age of 11, he joined, as a keyboardist, the troupe of Maestro Ilaiyaraaja,[3] one of many composers to whom musical instruments belonging to Rahman's father were rented to. Rahman later played in the orchestra of M. S. Viswanathan, Raj-Koti and Ramesh Naidu, accompanied Zakir Hussain, Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan and L. Shankar on world tours and obtained a scholarship to Trinity College of Music in London, where he graduated with a degree in Western classical music.[4]
Summary of career
Film scoring and soundtracks
In 1991, Rahman began his own music recording and mixing studio, attached to backyard of his house, called the Panchathan Record Inn. He initially composed music jingles for advertisements, Indian Television channels and music scores in documentaries, among other projects. In 1992, the first time he got chance to enter in film field, through a Malayalam film named Yodha. Its director Sangeeth Sivan who realise Rahman's talents already. And with this good entry he was approached by film director Mani Ratnam to compose the score and soundtrack for manirathnam Tamil film Roja. The debut led Rahman to receive the Rajat Kamal award for Best Music Director at the National Film Awards, the first time ever by a first-time film composer. Rahman has since then gone on to win the award four more times for his scores for Roja (Rose, Tamil) in 1993, Minsaara Kanavu (Electric Dreams, Tamil) in 1997, Lagaan (Tax, Hindi) in 2002, Kannathil Muthamittal (A Kiss on the Cheek, Tamil) in 2003, the most ever by any composer.[5]
Roja's score met with high sales and acclaim, in its original and dubbed versions, bringing about an effective transformation in film music at the time, and Rahman followed this with scores for films including, among others, Bombay, Kadhalan, Indira, Minsaara Kanavu, Muthu and Love Birds, which gained him notice. His soundtracks gained him recognition in the Tamil film industry and across the country for his versatality in classical, Folk, jazz, reggae, soft rock and other styles in his pieces. Rangeela, directed by Ram Gopal Varma, marked Rahman's debut in Hindi films. Many popular and superhit scores for films including Dil Se and Taal followed. The sales of these albums prompted several film producers to take film music more seriously.
In particular, he has worked with Mani Ratnam on ten films until 2006, all of which have been musical hits. Also notable is his collaboration with the director S. Shankar in the films Gentleman, Kadhalan, Indian, Jeans, Mudhalvan, Nayak, Boys and Sivaji.
His first movie album Roja was listed in TIME's "Top 10 Movie Soundtracks of All Time" in 2005.[6] Rahman continued to record frequently in his studio, the Panchathan Record Inn. In 2005, a newly developed recording studio, attached to the Inn called A.M. Studios was opened. It is considered to be the most developed, equipped and high tech studio of Asia. In 2006, Rahman launched his own music label, KM Musiq. Its first release was his soundtrack to the film Sillunu Oru Kaadhal which it released worldwide, in August 2006. Rahman co-scored Elizabeth: The Golden Age alongside Craig Armstrong. His latest work includes score and producing soundtracks for Azhagiya Tamil Magan, Jodhaa Akbar, Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na* Sakkarakatti, Yuvvraaj, ADA: A Way of Life and Slumdog Millionaire. He is a recipient of the Padma Shri award from the Government of India.
Other works
Rahman has been involved in several projects aside from film. He made an album Vande Mataram (1997) on India's 50th anniversary of independence to immense success. As of 3 October 2008, the song Maa Tujhe Salaam from this album is the 14th most viewed all time music video[7] on Youtube. He followed it up with an album called Jana gana mana, a conglomeration of performances by many leading exponents/artists of Indian classical music. In addition to writing jingles for ads, he has composed several orchestrations for athletic events and T.V. and internet media publications, documentaries and short films.
In 1999, Rahman, along with choreographers Shobhana and Prabhu Deva Sundaram and a dancing troupe from the Tamil film industry performed with Michael Jackson in Munich, Germany, for his "Michael Jackson and Friends Concert." In 2002, he composed his maiden stage production Bombay Dreams (2002) following a commission from famous musical theatre composer Andrew Lloyd Webber. Furthermore, A.R. Rahman, along with the Finnish folk music band Värttinä, composed the music for The Lord of the Rings theatre production. He composed the piece "Raga's Dance" for Vanessa-Mae's album Choreography (2004).
In the last six years, he has performed in three successful world tours of his concerts to audiences in Singapore, Australia, Malaysia, Dubai, UK, Canada, the US (Hollywood Bowl and 3d tour) and India.[5] A two-disc soundtrack, Introducing A. R. Rahman, (2006) featuring 25 pieces he composed from his Tamil film scores was released in May 2006.
Music style
Rahman's instant success is owed to his clever usage of Western instruments to invoke Indian sounds while his peers tried to invoke Western sounds through Indian instruments. His interest in the works of Classical and Romantic period composers, Carnatic composers, early film composers and predecessors K. V. Mahadevan and Vishwanathan-Ramamoorthy of the film industry of Tamil Nadu and others continued through his late teens. He further explored and trained in Carnatic music, Western classical, Hindustani music and the Qawwali style of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, in addition to numerous other styles.
His interest and outlook in music is said to stem from his love of experimentation and syncretic background.[4][8] As a result, his scores have alternated from songs and themes composed covering a variety of genres, with unconventionally-grouped instruments, and different vocal styles being used and combined together in some of his film soundtracks, to more traditional orchestral themes with leitmotif techniques composed in others. Rahman's works often feature a mix of minimalist songs and evocative, thematic pieces, building on his differing chord progressions and rhythms, and is credited with evoking new and varied melodic and percussive sounds from instruments of different music systems.
Social Work
Rahman is involved in various charitable causes. In 2004, he was appointed as the Global Ambassador of the Stop T B Partnership, a project of the World Health Organisation (WHO). He also supports charities such as Save the Children and has also produced the single "We Can Make It Better" by Don Asian alongside Mukhtar Sahota. [9]
Photo Zone
 A R Rahman with Kofi Annan, the then General Secretary of United Nations |
 A R Rahman with his mother Kareema Begum |
 At the Stop TB Forum |
 At the Stop TB Forum |
 At the Stop TB Forum-Giving Medicine to a Patient |
 His Pic |
 His Pic |
 Fan group's Tribute with his album's cover arts |
Awards
Filmography
as Music Director / Composer
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