8.21.2007

Rahman and Me on a Nostalgic Trip



2000-word blog post becomes 18000-word e-book



Memoirs of a Rahmaniac is a celebration of twenty years of omnipresence of AR Rahman's music in Sureshkumar's life.

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Zip file contains e-book in all major formats: mobi (Kindle), epub (Nook, Kobo, Sony, iBooks), and PDF.

Reviews

"Speechless."

"Lost for Words."

"I had tears in my eyes."

"I think we should share this with Rahman and I cannot imagine how happy he would be."

"Read it twice. What a nostalgic trip, just that u had taken it for me too."

"You made me cry with Nostalgia."

"I can't believe I had a very similar journey as a Rahmaniac."

"Stunned!"

"Excellent. This is the story of many Rahmaniacs, especially people nearing 30."

More Reviews..

More Reviews..

12 comments:

Prabakar Ramalingam said...

Excellent Suresh!!! Whenever i used to hear Rahman's music it is like 'Travelling into a Musical Genius Mind'. I don't know how else i can describe about his music... Each and every tune of his can be matched with the nature.

Adiya said...

hey cool man. so nice and very practical. the more u try to understand or analysis music more ur naturaliticy will go. ur right. good man. did u studied in trichy.. nice.. me 2.

Anonymous said...

Nice write up! Read it twice...:-) What a nostalgic trip, just that u had taken it for me too.

Surprise in one thing. I happened to discover 'Thiruda thiruda' the same way as you have mentioned. In a neighbour's house. As such the stylish and detailed Casette cover and lyrics booklet are the ones which caught my attention first... and then only I got to hear the
music of it...which i feel till date remains to be one of best of Rahman in terms of experimentation and innovation.


In my case we bought a humble philips cassette player when i was in my 1st or 2nd standard or so (i think)...but i know for sure that the first ever original cassette we bought and I played endlessly was Ilaiyaraja's 'Anjali (it was his 500 th movie, i still remember the cassette cover). So i was introduced to film music with Raja first ...even before Rahman came in with Roja.

Abubaker said...

Very nostalgic. Thanks for taking me with you on this nostalgic trip :) ...(dint you miss gentleman's chikku bukku and kadhalan's urvasi/muqabla songs?)

P.S. Suresh Kumar said...

Prabhakar - Thanks

Adiya - Thanks. i studied in REC, Trichy

Muthuvel - my entry to Illayaraja music was mostly only while watching movies in TV and only few years back, i started listening to IR songs.... but my realisation of IR music is worth another longer post like this

abubaker - No, i did mention about Kadhalan.... there was so many other xperiences in my unedited version... thanks

Naren said...

Like the guys that have commented before me, I also enjoyed your nostalgic trip down the years. It brought some fond memories back for myself. Ofcourse like you said, we tend to do the time relation in our life with the songs and movies that came out during each period. Especially enjoyed the 'kaathu kaathu pudhu kaathu' reference; Interestingly, I was introduced to raakoli rendum muzhichirukku song through the SunTV pre-telecast screen. He had used the same composition for an earlier movie and the song goes like this 'nee yetti yetti'... My first 'paatu book' was 'maalayitta mangai' for 'senthamizh thenmozhiyaal'. Once again, thanks for taking us along with the ek se badkar eks , lyrics books, Onida TVs, maariyamman speakers, kadhalan period insecurities, etc..
BTW, do you ever think that the aahs in the Lagaan climax sound a little bit like 'jana gana mana ena jathi sollum neram' from 'Vaanamey ellai"?

P.S. Suresh Kumar said...

Naren - Thank you so much for taking time to read my long personal ramblings. Though it has the similarity, the tempo is different and 'Ghanan' takes a diff course after few similar notes. Thanks for reminding me, 'Vanamey ellai' music, one of the best efforts of M.M.Kreem/ Maragadhamani, simple and beautiful melodies. the other K.B and Maragadhamani combination i like the most is 'Azhagan'.

kannan said...

I really enjoyed reading this entry, suresh. Though there are some things i cannot completely connect to, because i'm younger and was way too young then to appreciate rahman's early music, I have similar experiences. I think the first album that I really listened to properly was Uyire, when me and my family was touring all over south india on a tour bus, and Uyire was playing again and again on the radio.
The first album to really entrap me didn't come from rahman but harris. Minnale was the album I would ignore all my studies for and sit next to the hi-fi and play the cd again and again for hours. Then came Boys, which was what got me hooked to film music. I think it was then that I started to explore Rahman, listening to all of his earlier songs. And each song I listened to, the more amazed and enchanted I was, the more I realised how much rahman's music had been a part of my life. Dancing to Senthamizh naatu thamizhachiye in school for a performance, listening to Kadhalan at the same time that my sister was born, every song I had grown up with I realised was from Rahman. And it is while listening to those older tracks that I fell in love with his music.
My regret nowadays is that I can hardly point to an album and say this matches up to Thiruda Thiruda or Kadhalan or Bombay or Roja. There is a lot of experimentation, a lot of innovation, and admittedly there are many songs I get completely hooked to. But it's been a while since a song touched me emotionally. Maybe I'm expecting too much, maybe I'm analysing him too much. But I still await to be swept off my feet like the Rahman of the 90s did...

Balakrishnan R said...

Hi Suresh,
Now that u have mentioned REC, Trichy... I'm currently studying third year BTech (Chemical Engineering) there ... ARR is GOD, i have felt each and every emotion u have described, only that i felt them, a few years later than u, being younger... If it was rhythm for u, for me ... it was Rang De Basanti, Guru, Sillunu Oru Kadhal, Sivaji and now ATM; along with all the older songs... that do not run in a loop in a walkman, but as a looped playlist on my ipod or laptop.... 24-7, when doing night outs before exams, or when just relaxing; there is no feeling in the world for me better than being repeatedly given goosebumps by rahman compositions, the most recent one being ella pugazhum. I have a video of rahman's 2001 US concert, and cry every time i see him perform Vande Mataram or the 'yelelo' interlude from Choti Si Asha, which is almost everyday... I'm a rahman fanatic, and i'm pleased that i got to read a passionate post on the GOD by one of my college alumni.

Arrchana Raj said...

i jus now finished reading this post's contents on orkut arr fans grp! i had tears in mah eyes...i mean i could see so much of ME!hmm...its the same feel with many rahmaniacs too! the excitements of a new album release,cheering and shouting in theatres when ARR's name is flashed,Waking up early morning for a ARR song(alarm tone),Listening all night long to his melodies! The feel of the name AR RAHMAN tself gives me Goosebumps! Cheers!!:)

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Varun said...

awesomeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee POST .... !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

when the topic is rahman - it cant be lesser than awesome - but u have made it all the more brilliant - adding your personal touch - and someone performing to @kaathu kaathu@ must have had the same rahmaniac ear as u had :) .... !!! please go thru this when you have time :-

http://varunpsycho.blogspot.com/2009/01/infinite-arr-ay-of-thoughts.html