India's gotten mixed reviews. Some friends find it scary, polluted and dangerous. Others have told me it's changed their lives: people's pure joy despite poverty and danger, and of course the South Asian religions and cultures. I'd love to grow the balls to put my fears aside and just go there for a few months and experience it. We all know I love yoga. And curry. And East Indian music! Last year, just a week after the Mumbai bombings, I got a call from A.R. Rahman, the superstar Bollywood composer who did the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack. Amazing. He told me about living in India today, collaborating with M.I.A. (**which reminds me, I should post the interview I did with her where we talked about heartbreak and how geniuses can sometimes be the biggest assholes in relationships) and why he's fighting to make music a legitimate career choice for his country's youth. O.. Saya!
(Here's the uncut version of my story from Dazed & Confused)
“To understand each other, art is important," says Indian composer A.R. Rahman a week or so after the devastating bombings in Mumbai. “It has to do with the world scenario. If you’re an artist you can do stuff politicians can’t. With a song, you can bring love back in a way that makes sense to the community and society. It’s very subliminal. I feel blessed.”
A star throughout South Asia, A.R. Rahman has sold more than 100 million albums, 200 million cassettes, worked with Andrew Lloyd Webber, Michael Jackson and David Byrne, and scored more than 100 films -- most recently, English director Danny Boyle’s acclaimed Slumdog Millionaire, shot in India..
Already, A.R.’s soundtrack, which blends big, bright Bollywood vibes with gritty hip-hop and grinding electronic beats (he collaborated with M.I.A. on “O...Saya”) has won an IPA Satellite Award and Golden Globe nomination. On a more, subtle level, the powerfully unpredictable score drives the movie’s feeling and pacing.
His music may be a force of nature, but the man himself is gentle, joyful and authentic. A Sufi Muslim, he doesn’t drink alcohol and considers his studio a shrine. “People take off their shoes, there’s incense all over the place,” laughs the 42-year old, from his home in India. “It also shows you also respect what you do -- that’s very important.” Less concerned about making “cool music,” he feels the “soul and intention” of music and art are what count.“ I write all kinds of scores, sentimental scores, hip hop, dance tracks... I listen to my stuff and ask, ‘Do I want to listen to it? Do I think it’s cool?’ It’s also passion; I want to love every bit of what I do.”
Sharing this passion, A.R. recently opened a music school, the KM Music Conservatory. “The students are from all over India, Malaysia, Singapore,” he says with childlike delight. “In India, people are proud to say, ‘My son is studying doctor or lawyer,’ but never take pride in saying, ‘My son is studying to be a musician. I want to give it status as a legitimate career path. Today, there is the technology side and the artistic side. We’re teaching both so people have options when they come up.”
An expert at both aspects, A.R. enjoyed “a lot of freedom” while working on the Slumdog soundtrack, composed in just three weeks. “Sometimes you go with what the director wants, and sometimes you go with what he needs,” he says. “Danny’s point of view of Bombay is completely different from what an Indian director would do. Sometimes I asked myself, ‘How does this guy know so much about my country?’” Just released, the Slumdog Millionaire Soundtrack album also features M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes,” and, of course, “O...Saya.”
“I started when I was 12 years old, three generations ago, so she’s a completely new generation and it’s rejuvinating,” says A.R. of his collaboration. “When people say, ‘Why don’t you work together, it’s not a publicity stunt, it’s about genuinely trying to create something new that completely takes you, shocks you. ‘O Saya’ is the result of that.”
It’s no wonder M.I.A. and A.R. Rahman inspired each other. Both instinctively experiment with different influences, twisted and torn into something so new. In this high-frequency world of ideas, sophistication is the new naiveté, ghetto is the new couture, and creativity reminds us how we’re all connected.
“An awakening is happening in India,” says A.R., ever optimistic. “[People are starting to be] less complacent.”
*** A.R. Rahman’s Connections is just out on Nokia XpressMusic. The Slumdog Millionaire Soundtrack is available on N.E.E.T./Interscope Records.
