Rehmaania

Recently, ‘The Mozart from Madras’ a.k.a. A.R.Rehmaan was in town for a concert. (Here ‘town’ stands for Pune, my hometown. Nowadays I’m living in Rehmaan’s hometown itself.) I was one of those fortunate thousands, who witnessed his live performance, on 31st May.

The concert was at the Balewadi stadium and was named as ‘Jai Ho.’ Quite straightforward and uncomplicated. (To be frank, this track is not there in my list of personal favorites. I find it somewhat soul-less. What you say? You are free to criticize me or to introduce me to the beauty of that song, my ears are still not able to discover. )

As soon as I entered the stadium, I felt some strange vibrancy in the air. The venue was totally charged up. There were people selling T-shirts depicting the Oscar doll with Rehmaan’s speech after he grabbed that one. (Something like…’I chose love and today I stand here’.)
Then there were some ‘dudes’ from ‘A.R Rehmaan fan club’. They had traveled all the way to Pune from various regions of the country to catch a glimpse of their icon.Each one of them was wearing that ‘Oscar doll + Rehmaan speech T-shirt’ and was carrying long curls like him.
Felt like watching 100 prototypes of A.R. in front of me.( Those were mere prototypes and not clones. You can not clone a genius like him.)

The huge stagecraft that was set for the event, was lifeless when we entered.The speakers were silent and the lights were yet to be turned on . However, through that inertness also I sensed that every single light, every single speaker and that gigantic stage is screaming at me ... Something really really big is in store for you this evening. Be Ready !

An hour went without any sign of the concert getting started. The audience was slowly shifting from boredom to irritation.Those dudes got desperate and started shouting.
However I found no reason to get annoyed.It was a pleasant May evening with amazing breeze; I had a nice seat with full view of the stage and a can of my favorite cold drink to complete a perfect moment.Perhaps first time in my life, I was enjoying the process of waiting for something.My wrist watch indicated 7.30pm.The stage was now looking midnight-black. All the halogens were still dead.

And then all of us heard one melodious tune. It was a Sitar. Just one sitar. In a fraction of second, there was pin - drop silence in stadium that was jam-packed with almost ten thousand people.
My brain received a dose of adrenaline from nowhere and started searching its database.
hey…which song is this….
who is playing….
why the stage is still dark….
But that mysterious sitar tune continued for a minute without answering any of those questions.
The music paused for a millisecond and unexpectedly the entire stage sparkled with a glittering blast,at the same time those huge halogens were turned on, the sitarist who was quite delicate with his instrument a moment ago suddenly turned in to a rockstar, Shivamani joined him with his drums like a wild beast and all those walls of speakers started thumping with their full potential.The same audience, that was bored, irritated and confused a minute ago was now dancing with all their energy reservoirs on the tunes of ‘Mousam & Escape’.

WOW… what a beginning!

Then ‘He’ arrived with his trademark shy , shoulder down posture.
'Jaage hai der tak hame ,kuch der to sone do'
In the climax of this song his voice actually touched the sky and compelled Punekars to give him a well deserved standing ovation.

The event was unfolding and we were losing ourselves. I do realize now that some of my excited reactions were attention grabbing and my voice rose many times beyond decibel levels that are normally accepted in public places.For two elderly aunties sitting near me, I was a live example of undisciplined new generation. I could read it through their eyes. One of them was constantly giving me ‘what-a-spoilt-kid’look and the other one was staring at me with ‘shut-up-and-sit-down’ look. I ignored both of them. I’m sorry, but you can not just sit down and watch when Marium Teller is performing Belly dance in front of you.And I was not alone. Except few people who could not relate with those songs, everyone was dancing,screaming, reacting weirdly or you can say enjoying fully!

After Marium who literally set the stage on fire, it was Suzzane’s turn to soothe the atmosphere with her olive oil voice. She created magic with ‘Dreams on Fire’.
Rashid Ali extended that romantic mood with ‘Kahi to Hogi Wo’.

We were already high but the heavenly experience was yet to come.
After Rashid’s performance, all the lights were switched off. After a gap of two long minutes the stage was illuminated with dark green light. The kind of light we usually see at mosques or dargahs.
Typical holy Islamic green color. Color of Allah.
To my surprise, the stage was totally clean this time, without any fancy , hi-tech musical instrument.
Is it over ?
Nope. It wasn’t.
Rehmaan appeared wearing one traditional black Sufi outfit with a white cap on head.
He sat down in the middle of the stage on a modest mat with single harmonium.
Again there was that same pin - drop silence, Again guessing started in our minds.
He closed his eyes for one full minute.
Too long pause for us.
Too much of suspense for us.
And then with all the feelings and devotion, he started...
‘Arziyaa saari main chehre pe likh ke laya hu.. tumse kya mangu main,tum khud hi samaz lo maula.’

According to me that was the highest point of that event.

Rehmaan and sufi music has always been a lethal combination.
Whether you like Rehmaan or not, you like music or not , you can not escape his sufi songs.
Most of his songs are like Vodka. It takes two or three listenings, then only we start feeling them from the core. But once they are absorbed in our bloodstream, their hangover persists for months.
And some songs pierce their way into our hearts the moment they strike our eardrums.
His sufi songs come under second category.

To be very specific….he made us meditate and introduced us to nirvana in those five minutes.

There are very few things in this world, when they are rubbed off against our hearts, we cross the borders of mere enjoyment and enter in to the lands of ecstasy. Music is one of them.
And when it comes to Rehmaan, this ecstasy becomes intense and turns into euphoria.

We danced like crazy, we shouted like maniacs, we got inspired, we felt romantic, we suffered the pain of losing someone, we experienced passion, we laughed our hearts out, we felt blessed, and we got connected with the almighty. All in two and half hours !

Thanks A.R…..and thanks Rahul who remembered me while booking the tickets.