A R Rahman concert

This evening, we attended the A R Rahman concert at the Hollywood Bowl, with a bunch of friends. We were twenty of us. The concert was a sold out and seemed that everyone you knew in LA was there. People who hadn't kept in touch for years had bumped into each other there!!

Surprisingly, the show started on time, with a performance by Musafir, a troop from Rajasthan that plays the traditional folk music. It also included tradiotional dances and balancing acts. The actual concert began with the instrumental piece from the movie 'Bombay'. The star studded performers included Hari Haran, Sukhwinder Singh, Sadhana Sargam and Anisha Nagarajan.

The songs were a mix of the old and the new. The evergreens, namely 'Chaiya Chaiya' (sung by Sukhwinder Singh) and 'Roja Janeman' (sung by Hari Haran) were enjoyed tremendously. Rahman sang 'Dil Se Re' which was an awesome performance. Some of the new songs were from movies like Yuva, Rang de Basanthi and Krish. Some songs were sung partially in Tamil and partially in Hindi (like 'Tu hi Re' and 'Chupke Se')

The drummer did a solo in the middle of the concert, which was a lot of fun and had the audience participating in it. The group Global Rhythmns - which consisted of people with different nationalities like Chinese, Mexicans, Americans and Desis did a fabulous job of singing some of tough tunes ( I really enjoyed their performance of 'Veera pati' from Thirda Thirda - and yes, they sang it in Tamil! )

There were also 2 troupes of dancers - one from Bollywood and another set of Bhangra dancers who performed alongside the singers. Their choreography was really nice.

The concert ended with A R Rahman's 'Maa Tuje Salaam'. All in all, the evening was enjoyable, and the Park and Ride worked out very well, so getting back was just a joy ride on the bus!