Genius Needs Company

Considering the Rahman aura and the other heavyweights who were part of this concert,the attendance was remarkably thin. From outside Siri Fort Road you could barely tell anything was happening. Haphazardly marketed and poorly publicised,the audience consisted mainly of Doordarshan employees. The show began with the high-voltage and thoroughly entertaining Kailash Kher and his band Kailasa. The little man with the big voice sang Rahman’s hits from Mangal Pandey,Delhi 6,and Swades. “Everybody in Delhi is a VIP but I do think it would be nice if you could lift your bodies from those cushy seats and dance to the music,” chortled Kher as the band played the title track from Rang De Basanti. The evening also saw the debut performance of 30 students from Rahman’s music school,the K M Music Conservatory in Chennai,who performed a medley of seven raagas and Amazing Grace. “We have different musical cultures in India and these children are training in the best of Indian classical and Western classical music and I hope there is room for both tonight,” said Rahman,founder and Principal of the institute. It was only after the rousing applause for his students that Rahman settled down behind the piano and played uninterruptedly for 40 minutes,gems from Roja,Bombay,Lagaan and Guru,a rare treat for his fans and music lovers.