Originally posted by: Rindam
I beg to differ on the AR Rahman singing capabilities.
In my humble opinion I think he is not a great singer.
He has a fascinating musical mind, not voice.
Heard him live and and in concert many a time and with no instruments you can catch him losing sur (-apasruthi-) a few times. Its possible because he handles many a thing at the same time on the stage.
To judge a voice the easiest way for me is to listen to the voice without any instrumentation or back up.Someone who misses -sur- gets a cushion with instruments and we dont notice it that much.
Just listen good vocalists never need an instrument to make it a musical evening.
Hemachandra is a tad better in my opinion again compared to Karunya. But both have the gift of voice but have just started and so comparing them with professionals is unfair.
Rindam ji, the reason I go goo gaa over A R Rahman is his passion he induces in his songs. How many singers in reality shows can sing a Vande Mataram or a Dil Se Re ? When Nihira sang the swar part in Kehna Hi Kya which was done by Rahman, she goofed up and ID said that it is very hard to do wat Rahman does.. Hemu and Karu were techincally almost perfect.. but neither could get A R Rahman's passion... that is A R Rahman's trademark..
Lukkha Chuppi from RDB is a great example, Rahman's part is not hard to sing.. but quite frankly, forget a singer from Reality TV, I dont even thing a normal singer could do justice... Rahman induces passion.. and so much of feeling that u tend to forget the sur flaws.
Rahmans genius as a musician also comes across in the work he drives from his singers. He brings out the best in Chitra, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Sadhana Sargam and offlate, the only MD in my opinion to do justice to Lataji.. and in males, Hariharan and Sonu Nigam. Infact some of Sonu Nigam's memorable works which were totally passion induced were Saathiya and Satrangi Re..
This is the reason why I say that Rahman is a great singer.
A lot of singers sing, all sing with feelings and all sing from soul but Rahman does something else.. be in a Lukkha Chuppi or a Yeh Jo Des, or a Vande Mataram, goosebumps come....
I liked ur point about singers without music. On the Maahi Ve performance of Amey, he sang 2 lines for Sushmita Sen, Tum Aa Gaye Ho Noor Aa gaya hain, and without music and he was just MINDBLOWING ! It was better than his Maahi Ve that day.. When Nihira and Himani sang their farewell songs Rahen Na Rahen Hum and Ae Zindagi Gale Lagale without music, I was crying that why did they get voted out (When it came to top 5 of SRGMP, barring Debo I was really attached to the other 4 and was praying that either one should win. My opinion about Debo changed after he sang Ek Haseena Thi in the episode Hemu got voted out, Debo was great.. if Hemu hadn't given such a mind blwoing performance, Debu's wouldn't have been side tracked so much!).. and when Hemu sang Nahin Saamne again without music, it sounded just divine..
It was really good in SRGM when they had rounds without music which is a good measure of a singer..