Attended a concert of A. R. Rahman titled 'The journey, celebrating music'.
Singers of the concert were Neeti Mohan, Jonita Gandhi, Harshdeep Kaur, Javed Ali, Arman Malik, Hari Charan & Benny Dayal. Accompanying Artists were Sanket Naik (Tabla), Elin Sandberg (Base guitar), Ranjit Barot ( Drums), Keba (Acoustic Guitar), Asad Khan (Sitar), Gulraj (Keyboard) etc. The concert took place at Dubai Parks on 26th Jan 2018. I attended the concert with Aditi, Mihika, Ravi, Akshata, Pooja, Sameer, Rucha, Prakash, Swati Gauri, Gargi, Priya, Santosh, Vijay, Jyoti, Pratyush, Sucheeta and Jayant.
Concert started with a grand instrumental medley of all his famous songs. First song of the concert was 'Oh nadan parinde ghar aa ja (ओ नादान परिंदे घर आजा)' from film Rock Star. Ranjit's drums were fabulous. It was followed by 'Mukkala mukabla Laila (मुकाला मुकाबला लैला)'. Neeti Mohan joined Rahman for this song. Neeti, in a stunning red evening gown, then presented 'Chandralekha (चंद्रलेखा)' from film Thiruda Thiruda. I found this one more refined than Anupama's original. ARR then played piano and Jonita Gandhi, in shining blue flowing top and black slacks, sung 'Dil hai chhotasa (दिल है छोटासा)' from film Roja with Neeti.
Rahman then sung 'Dilse re (दिलसे रे)'. He was accompanied by Sitar for this song. This was followed by 'Sathiya (साथिया)'. Hari Charan, in black shirt, white jacket white black floral design, joined him for the song. Neeti sung her own song 'Jiya jiyare jiyare (जीया जीयारे जीयारे )'. Benny Dayal, in a white shirt, black hat and huge shades, then sung medley 'Kaise muze tum mil gaye (कैसे मुझे तुम मिल गए)' and 'Tuhi meri dost hai (तुही मेरी दोस्त है)'.
Jonita sung 'Gar tum sath ho (गर तुम साथ हो)'. Rahman then presented 'Inna sona kyun (इन्ना सोणा क्यूं)'. Arman Malik, in black jacket, sung 'Tuhi tu (तुही तु)' from film Dilse. A belly dancer graced the stage with her sensuous dance moves. It was followed by ARR and Jonita's 'Tere bina (तेरे बिना)'. Arman, in stylish red sweat shirt presented medley of 'Matargashti (मटरगश्ती)' and 'Masakkali (मसक्कली)'. Arman and Jonita then sung 'Tuhi re, Tuhi re (तुहीरे, तुहीरे)' from movie 2.0. I heard this song for the first time.
He asked if audience wants to hear a Malayalam song? Some said yes, some no. It was presented nevertheless. The song was 'Padakali' from the film Yodha. Benny and Hari sung this duel song originally sung by Sreekumar and Yesudas. Although I did not understand the words, it was very enjoyable and audience loved it. It was the highlight of the concert.
Neeti presented 'Maiya maiya (माया मैया)' from film Guru. Sitariya then played the theme music of film Slumdog millionaire. A medley titled 'Time machine' was presented. It consisted a mukhda of 'Kehna hi kya', 'Pyar ye jane kaisa hai', 'Kismat se tum', 'Tu bin bataye', 'O bhanware', 'Ye hasin wadiyan', 'Kehne ko jashn-e-bahara', 'Chanda re Chanda re', 'Saans me teri', 'O re chore', 'Ae ajnabi', 'Jiya jale jaan jale', 'Awara bhanware', 'Ghanana ghanan ghan', 'Mitwa sun mitwa', 'Rang de', each. There was a drums jugalbandi in this medley.
Harshdeep Kaur presented 'Ik omkar', a prayer from Rang de Basanti. It was followed by Qawwali medley. ARR presented 'Phool Khile bagiyan mein (फूल खिले बगियनमें) of Amir Khusru followed by Javed Ali's 'Maula maula (मौला मौला)' and 'Kun faya kun (कुन फाया कुन)'. Then they presented 'Kwaja mere khwaja (ख्वाजा मेरे ख्वाजा)'. Although this section was good, the tempo of the program was lost. Probably it's position in program was wrong. They should have started the program with this.
Harshdeep Kaur presented 'Tinga linga linga (टिंग लिंग लिंग)'. Rahman then presented 'Patakha guddi (पटाखा गुड्डी). 'Tanha tanha (तनहा तनहा) from film Rangeela was presented by Jonita, now in red evening dress, next.
Neeti, now in black attire, presented 'Rangeela (रंगीला)' in her own style. This rendition was different from original of Asha Bhosle, but it was very good. I liked it. Rahman presented 'O humdum suniyo re (ओ हमदम सुनियो रे)'. Rahman presented 'Mustafa (मुस्तफा)'. He forgot one line in this song but recovered quickly. He made the audience sing the vocables in perfect tune, at the end of this song. He then sang 'Hamma hamma (हम्मा हम्मा)'. This appeared to be an impromptu addition. He then sung 'Urvasi (ऊर्वशी)'.
Audience demanded Vande Mataram and he complied by singing the final song of the concert 'Ma tuza Salam (माॅ तुझे सलाम)'. All the audience was on their feet for the grand finale, entire song.
The concert audience must be more than 10000. Audience went ecstatic when Rahman did anything, even announcement and whenever he began a new song and during the song. In the later part of concert fog joined-in to watch Rahman perform, obscuring view of the audience. Return journey was bad as visibility was about 10-15m due to heavy fog.
Although it was publicized as 'All Hindi' concert, ARR could not stay away from a couple of songs from other languages. But no one seemed to mind. It was an extravaganza with laser graphics, that hurt the eyes some times, dances and music. We were sitting so far away from the stage that the only way we could recognize the artists was from the strategically placed video screens. Our position did nor allow us to enjoy the dances.
Names of singers, musicians and back stage staff were displayed in an AV one after another, they were not introduced. So I missed some names.
It was a very good concert with two flaws. Qawwali should have been at the start and length should have been 15-20 minutes shorter. All the performers were good, Rahman was excellent but Neeti and Ranjit were the stars of the night.
Entertainment rating 8.5/10.
