A really talented good friend of mine (Shashwat Singh) got signed with AR Rahman (Slumdog Millionaire), the grammy winning composer. His voice is the lead vocals in this song 
Let me know how this sounds !
7 Likes
Sounds fantastic! I was a big fan of Slumdog Millionaireās sound track. I have a few friends in the Indian music industry, there are lots of really talented people there.
1 Like
What a great story to shareā¦ lovely singing!!!
1 Like
Congratulations to your friend. This song is really pleasant sounding and soothing. Your friendās voice has a nice tone and the production is excellent!
1 Like
It sounds really good, which Iām sure is no surprise. Itās not a genre Iām familiar with though, so I was just listening for discovery and enjoyment. This is from India it looks like, but Google Translate seems to think the language is Filipino (Tagalog?). I would appreciate more background on the story, and certainly English lyrics (or a lyric sheet Google could try to translate) to better understand the story. Itās clearly a love story, but since the culture and language are a bit exotic Iām sure Iām missing lots of subtleties.
Not really being familiar with AR Rahman (though I did see SDM years ago), I found this documentary interesting. Of course I havenāt watched the whole thing yet, but for anyone else that wants to take a deeper dive, the guy is apparently the Hans Zimmer of India.
.
1 Like
I found this and it helped things make a little more sense. The movie is ā99 Songsā, and that song is from the soundtrack apparently. If you open this video on YouTube and enable Subtitles/CC you can see English subscript. Near the end the lady says to the kid āMusic is the last bit of magic in this world.ā Now, that one really got me. 
.
.
Hereās even more info. And it could be the language is Tamil (?), which I know virtually nothing about except that would be South India.
.
1 Like
The language is Hindi, but India has a mix of several languages based on which part you travel to. When I was there āexploringā myself like the Beatles lol, I made several friends in each parts. I performed at some weddings. The North speaks Hindi and the South speaks Tamil. There are 4 other main languages in the East and the West.
Shashwat, the lead singer who is now AR Rahmanās go-to guy for Bollywood songs, is a great composer himself. We go ways back and have composed things together. Good to see him rise to fame. I am itching to travel there again and meet the gang againā¦ some day!
he is, I have only met him once, long time ago. He was not as famous then but his composing genius had impressed me several times over.
1 Like
Thanks for the info, definitely an education. My first guess was Hindi just by the circumstances but I didnāt think it looked like Hindi. In retrospect, I guess I know very little about Hindi. I knew the North and South part, and many dialects are present, but thatās really a smorgasbord. I am familiar with some Sanskrit from yoga and Vedanta, but apparently thatās more different from Hindi than I realized (perhaps what thousands of years can do to culture and language).
1 Like
Hey Michelle, this sounds excellent! There is some serious low end happening here, but it sounds really super controlled. Your friend has an amazing voice, and the production is superb. Did you have any involvement in it?
1 Like
Grew up speaking Hindi and Punjabi - The song is beautiful and I consider myself lucky for being able to understand it without subtitles!
A R Rahman is a hero of sorts to us Indians, not just the fact he makes music which seemingly is accepted in India and Hollywood, but also for the amazing amount of good he does.
And yes, India has a silly number of languages and once you throw in the dialects itās gets even sillier. Hindi is spoken all the way up to the north where something funny happens around the Tibet and Nepal area. In the north west you get Punjab (where my family lived) and hence we speak Punjabi. Cross the border and you get to Pakistan where they speak Urdu, which can be understood by Hindi speakers. On the other side you have Bangladesh, where they speak Bengali, and Gujarat where they speak Gujarati. Go southward and all bets are off. You get so many dialects of Hindi that it is incompressible to anyone other than locals. Then keep going south and youāll hit Tamil, Marathi, Malayalam, Kanada, Telegu all with their own local dialects. Insanity. My local area has a number of these Indians living and working, and when we pick up our kids from school you can see the look of utter confusion on our faces as we all realise that no two people in the group speak a common language. So English is what we end up with.
As far as Rahmanās music goes, itās top notch in every way. He actually got famous India wide for the soundtrack to the film Bombay, and took a lot of flack because he decided to bypass the traditional film soundtrack orchestras and play the orchestral parts on synths. His discography is something to behold and youāll often her one of his tracks playing in my house!
Some listening:
2 Likes
nominal, mainly as giving direct feedback (about the low end as you have so aptly noticed), but not actually composing anything for it.
1 Like
He also has a great voice. I heard him sing back before he changed his name from Duleep I think? To Rahman. He used to go by both names for a while. Then the Rahman name really stuck with people. Then I never heard him sing again. Wish he would sing again.
Itās ironic - his birth name is Dilip Kumar - which happens to be the name of one of the most famous and highly regarded Indian actors of all time. Itās like being called Clint Eastwood or Katherine Hepburn and trying to distinguish yourself from your namesakes. But yes, he has a truly brilliant voice
1 Like
Nice song! I have recorded original songs with sampled instruments from India. Definitely exciting to get signed like that. Though itās really hard to make money in the music business, even with a record deal. Even before the mp3 killed off sales of most CDās etc, royalties were contingent on how many CDās you sell, typically. I met this guy on the internet, went to his home where he had a tiny home studio house in the backyard; would be hard pressed to fit a decent size drum kit inside. Anyway, a jazz band he was in long ago was nominated for a Grammy. He was making Muzak type instrumental music back when I visited him, and he mentioned if he wasnāt supported by his working wife he wouldnāt make enough money to support himself. Anyway, I wish your friend good luck; it will be interesting to see if he makes enough money to support himself in the music biz.
1 Like
yeah he is doing good in the financial area, but he wasnāt always good there. He has had rough days like everyone else. He has done a few songs already with AR Rahman, and Rahman producers pay very well. The royalties from the digital sales are also shared with lead singers in certain contracts. I am not sure exactly what contract terms he has. When I worked for T series, my contract was terrible and I didnāt negotiate the terms enough at that time because I needed whatever little money. Today, things have changed a bit and producers are less stingy in Bollywood. It is a great story regardless of the money he makes there, my friend used to be a backup singer and has moved up the ladder to be lead vocals, which is rewarding in itself. Thanks for your wishes, I will communicate that to him.
1 Like
Itās just so nice to read a positive story in these angst-filled times - thanks so much for sharing!
1 Like
Flute Cafe,
Thatās good to hear. I wasnāt aware you had a music deal earlier. What is T series? Even though Van Halen sold millions of records for their first two albums, they OWED Warner Brothers almost $2 million dollars after all of that! Apparently they renegotiated a better deal later. Iāve read the thing to do is hire a lawyer (assuming you are in the USA) to study your record contract (before you sign anything) because the record companies are notorious for giving you a crappy contract and most musicians will sign any contract, when it is their first. Iāve heard record companies like to keep their bands broke so they will play more live shows to promote the album.
T series is the behemoth that is Indian music! Growing up in an Indian household in the 80ās, you have a few fond memories. Firstly the smell of cooking from your kitchen. Secondly, listening to Bollywood music which would almost certainly be coming from a T Series cassette tape. Currently they have 179 million subscribers on YouTube (which coincidentally is almost 179 million more subscribers than I have on my channel)ā¦
2 Likes
@aaron_aardvark
yeah T Series is the most popular channel on youtube with the most subscribers in the world, followed closely by gamer PewDiePie 
It was a token of a deal. I was one of the extra writers for harmony arrangements for strings and orchestra. I was a recording artist for hire for woodwind sections for a few songs during my stay in India. Before it could materialize into a major lead role, I had to come back to the United States. Though I definitely plan on going back there in the future. I still have many contacts.
madpsychot/FluteCafe,
Thank you for replying; that was interesting. I had a friend (I live in California) live in India for at least a month after he got involved with the Bagwan Rashneesh (you might be too young to be familiar with that movement). As to not rain on anyoneās parade, I will not mention why he came back to California.
1 Like