Monday, September 13, 2010

A R Rahman in Jai Ho Concert at the Oracle Arena

After nearly 75 days of waiting, we finally got to take in the A R Rahman Jai Ho concert at the Oracle Arena in Oakland yesterday. The original date of the concert was June 26, and an accident in an earlier concert forced the rescheduling of the Oakland event. You can see a video of the introduction here.

The concert was an audio-visual treat that I had not experienced in recent years. (Disclosure: I am not much of a concert-goer). Specifically, the thin translucent screen was used to great visual effect, particularly when a Lata Mangeshkar number was presented on the screen along with A R Rahman's live singing.


Some of the numbers that were presented are listed here.

बरसो रे मेघा मेघा बरसो रे:


दिल से रे:


भारत हमको जान से प्यारा है:


A surprise, not at all publicized prior to the concert, was the presence of Vijay Prakash, also of Jai Ho fame. The finale, as expected, was Jai Ho (जय हो) and was immediately followed by Vande Maataram (वन्दे मातरम):

Another good presentation point was that there was not much time wasted between numbers.

No event is perfect, however, and this was no exception. The concert started about 40 minutes late, it provided a spectacular feast more to the eyes than to the ears: Particularly from where we sat, someplace in the upper level, the audio was not loud enough. The two video screens that were setup for the benefit of the patrons that sat far from the stage seemed too small. And, there was a microphone snafu when Hariharan tried to present a couple of vintage numbers.

Overall, a B+.

1 comment:

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