The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Rahman to tour U.S. with Global Rhythms

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Feb 20, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Rahman to tour U.S. with Global Rhythms

Sudhish Kamath

The ensemble of 200 Americans promoting a brand of world music

CHENNAI: The biggest fans of A.R. Rahman in the West are not all Indians. They include a 200-member ensemble of Americans who do not understand the language but can sing Rahman's songs in sync with rehearsed perfection.

"They don't even need to look at the notes. They sing even the Urdu words with so much passion that you would think America's resistance to anything Islamic is a myth," says Srinivas Krishnan, artistic director of the Global Rhythms ensemble.

"I had kept it low profile, almost like a secret, for nine years: just building it, handpicking musicians from all over America. We started with 20 people and now we have about 200, and look at them," he adds excitedly, presenting video clips of near flawless performances by the ensemble.

Srinivas, himself a percussionist, has decided to take Indian music to the West by giving it the flavours of the world.

Hence, it's Indian film music with percussion influences from African, Israeli and even American folk.

The ensemble has been touring universities all over America to popularise their brand of world music, a representative of cultures and music from all over the world.

Recently, Srinivas was at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, to show the students clippings from the Global Rhythms in concert during the Rang De Basanti movie screening on campus, organised in association with A.R. Rahman and Global Rhythms.

"Rahman has encouraged us with so much support. It is his vision to reach out to the musicians at the grassroots of America. These musicians are not just from the big cities, they are from the small towns, truly representative of America," says Srinivas.

Rahman will tour with the ensemble this summer for a couple of concerts in the US. "We will surely be coming to India too, just a matter of time," he says.

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