Ever wondered how the tune for a melodious Hindi song would play out in an auditorium with a foreign orchestra recreating it? Academy Award-winner AR Rahmans Indian fans will be in for a treat as the German Film Orchestra Babelsberg,in India for a multi-city tour this month, will pay tribute to the Indian musician by recreating his compositions,including songs from films such as Roja,Bombay,Swades,and Mangal Pandey. Titled Classic Incantations: The German Film Orchestra Babelsberg performs AR Rahman,this concert tour will premiere in Mumbai on January 20,followed by performances in Delhi,Kolkata,Chennai and Bangalore. The choir members from Rahmans Chennai-based KM Music Conservatory will join the orchestra. Dr Marla Stukenberg,Director,Goethe-Institut,Mumbai,and initiator of the project,points out that this tour marks the centenary year of both Studio Babelsberg the oldest large-scale film studio in the world thats located in Potsdam-Babelsberg,Germany,and Indian cinema which was born in 1912. This event salutes the Year of Germany in India,and celebrates 60 years of diplomatic ties between the two countries. The German Film Orchestra Babelsberg is the first Western classical orchestra performing the music of AR Rahman in his home country, she says. Founded in 1993,the German Film Orchestra Babelsberg derives its name from the legendary Studio Babelsberg. As one of the remaining film orchestras in Western Europe and the only German professional film orchestra,it has a sizeable repertoire of live synchronised soundtracks of silent films. Today,they also do concerts,opera,jazz and pop programmes,apart from recordings. Im sure that this will be a new experience for lovers of music scores in India. Hopefully,it will also motivate and inspire younger artistes to become orchestral musicians, says Rahman. However,the scores for all the songs have been rewritten. This implies that the orchestra will play tunes which are not the same as the orginal. Vijay Iyer,a member of Rahmans team,explains that a medley of songs will be interwoven with the films background score to create the orchestral impact. Rahman himself has put together the compositions for this concert tour but he wont be performing. He will be attending the concert in some cities, explains Iyer. The orchestra will be conducted by Matt Dunkley,a well-known orchestrator,who has collaborated with Rahman in the past. He has also been the orchestrator for all of Rahmans symphonic orchestral scores,including the Hollywood projects Elizabeth: The Golden Age,Couples Retreat and 127 Hours. Dunkley has also worked with Hollywood musical heavyweights such as Hans Zimmer,James Newton Howard and Clint Mansell and has conducted London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. This being his first performance in India,Dunkley is looking foward to it. The tour will be a journey in more ways than one and,not just for me,but for the other members of the orchestra too. It will be fascinating to see the reaction of an Indian audience to the sound of a full symphony orchestra and classical choir even as we perform some of Rahmans orchestral film music, he says.
