Tuesday, June 19, 2007  

A.R. Rahman
Washington Post, Tuesday, June 19, 2007; Page C03
[DIRECTOR'S CUT]

There must have been serving Red Bull-infused chickpea curry Sunday night at the Patriot Center. How else to explain the enthused screams that Bollywood superstar composer A.R. Rahman was still receiving three hours -- three high-energy hours -- into his epic performance?

Rahman and his 66 dancers, singers and musicians began their concert at 8 p.m. and wrapped up at 11:20 p.m., and nearly the entire not-quite-sold-out Patriot Center crowd remained, and stayed pumped, until the confetti fell.

All ages and even entire families from the Washington area's Indian community danced and sang along to more than 30 Rahman hits -- and they're all hits. The 41-year-old composer-singer-instrumentalist is one of the most important and popular artists in modern Indian music, mixing traditional sounds with hip-hop and dub-inflected electronica. He's a prolific genius who has scored more than 100 Bollywood films and sold a bazillion recordings: In 2003 the BBC reported that he's sold more than 100 million albums, and in 2002 the Indian news site Rediff.com wrote that he's moved more than 200 million cassettes.

Based on the ethnic make-up of the Patriot Center audience, not many people outside of those of Indian descent have a clue about Rahman, but that may change. He's slowly making inroads into the non-Indian populace, having collaborated with Andrew Lloyd Webber on the musical "Bombay Dreams," scoring "The Lord of the Rings" stage production and having his smash song "Chaiyya Chaiyya" open the Spike Lee film "Inside Man."

While the slamming "Chaiyya Chaiyya" received the evening's largest ovation -- and some of the audience's fiercest rump shaking -- it was just the 17th song in the set. And for all the fabulous dancing and singing, by the end of the grand concert, this pasty gringo was exhausted. I should have had the curry.

--Christopher Porter

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