The year was 1992 and i was close to being 10, that is when i first heard the sound of Rahman, a sound which would grow with me and has become eternal in my mind and in the minds of many others. AR Rahman was my first instance of music, an entity by himself and a man who was able to talk through his tunes and i know for sure he was not the first person on earth to do it, but he was MY first.
A time when only Ice Cream and Giant Robert mattered most to me, here was a man who made me equally happy every time i heard his songs. He was fun and i loved it, there was no computer and just a B&W Dyanora TV at home which would play his song once in a while and i would wait for hours for it to show up. AR Rahman means a lot to me now and he meant the same when i was 10, that in itself is a stellar achievement.
As i completed schooling, in 1999, i still remember listening to Dil Se uninterrupted without understanding a word of Hindi. He again, introduced Hindi to me and made me think it sounded nice and likable. I have loved the man for his music and had barely seen his interviews or for that matter any video to form an opinion on what kind of person he was, not that it makes any difference to his compositions. When i started to look out for him and his music, thats when i was told that there were better composers than him and hailing from Tamil Nadu, i was often told Ilayaraja was leaps and bounds ahead of the young Rahman. I had listened to Ilayaraja numerous times before and loved his music without knowing they were his, but i have to admit, the feeling was never the same in comparision to Rahman. Ilayaraja sounded Great and his melodies were soulful, but i missed the freshness which i found in AR Rahman. Every time, i think loud of what a Genius Rahman is, i am reminded by some one that he is not better than Ilayaraja.
Now, i am not a musician, but i know what i like and what i love. Ilayaraja, RD Burman are great in their own respect and i have to admit that i cannot compare them with Rahman as i have not listened to all their scores to know what they have done, but from what ever i have heard, they seem right up there and thats precisely what good musicians do. Music, from my experience has the ability to transform ones mood and impacts the soul, there is a huge difference between a good song and a good composition. Having listened to AR Rahman right from Roja Days till Rockstar, i can confidently say he has never composed anything less than a great score. Accepting Rahmans music as my most favorite, doesn't mean i have to compare him with others, it simply means he and his music matter the most to me.
Quite a few seem to have problems with his Achievements and credit the era of globalisation for his immense popularity. Few seem to know that what ever he has done in this era was not done by any of his contemporaries which speaks of his talent more than the marketing, there is something called "cause and effect" and the era helps widen the horizon, no doubt but, that doesn't diminish the cause by any means.
He is definitely a Genius and as the definition goes "a Genius is one of its kind with the ability to influence others" and as far as i know, Illayaraja or RD Burman did not create a want in me to learn music and what Rahman did amazed me and it made me try to learn how to do what he does (like i mentioned before i am not a musician yet) and i think he deserves to be credited for the impact he had in me. I was able to appreciate music in its entirety, Thanks to Rahman, without whom, i would have never known the power of music and for this very reason, i think he is my definition of music and not anybody else.
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