http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._R._Rahman

well if ur indian then u must know the music maestro and i dont think i need to explain more bout him!

my personal favourites of his works are songs of
Roja uyire by hariharan
Gentleman ennavale by unnikrishnan

and many many more!

bloody this topic is at the bottom of the list. i bet many people won't comment because they tend to superiorise english music to hindi. frankly speaking, english music seems repetitive. there is a dearth of instruments used. mostly guitar, drums, and and...? MY ASS. on the other hand there is versatility in hindi music and the god of this versatility- a r rahman.
what angers me is after he was so recognised after slumdog, ppl all over india were criticizing his music in the film. i agree jai ho was hardly rahmanious. but what about o saya? mausam and escape? dreams on fire? those who didn't like these too, they know shit about good music. besides, didn't rahman himself say THIS FILM MUSIC IS NOT AS GREAT AS AN INDEPENDENT ENTITY. IT COMPLIMENTS THE FILM.
otherwise, rahman, no praise can match his genius. rang se basanti, lagaan, swades... man o man.

Hindi music MY ASS!

Listen Rehman's first Tamil songs. They pwn.

frankly speaking, english music seems repetitive. there is a dearth of instruments used. mostly guitar, drums, and and...? MY ASS

Your ASS, hmm? how do you play that one? it it percussion or wind?

And If you suggest comparing instruments, It's true Indian music has several thousand different ones, ranging from the Mridangam to the Zwitar. But are they played by a lot of people? hell, find me one sample of music from the Surbahar...

Traditional Indian music is too closed, they won't accept the participation of anyone and everyone, it's a performance art in it's purest form. Compare that so called 'English' music- by Which I'm assuming you mean Europe and America, where the guitar, piano, violin etc, are learnt by several thousand people. That encourages mass connection and appeal to their music.

Also, Rock bands and MTV aren't the pinnacle of 'English' music. Try classical Orchestra Music at it's golden age- Schubart, Mozart, Tchaikovsky . with a host of instruments such as- Violin, Cello, Flute, Clarinet, French Horn, Triangle, Tuba, And in one case, a friggin Cannon.

Also, as Shady says- His tamil music is real good. (Roja and Bombay, off the top of my head)

you err when you say guitar, violin, piano etc in mentioning 'etc'. you are talking about mass music learners. and when you say that, there's no etc. these 3 instruments are all. maybe you can just add drums there.
traditional music isn't exactly closed as you might think. its a bit hesitant, accepted, but then you can't deny the fact that its regarded 'so not cool.'
so its true, you can't outwardly find sitar, sarod etc. learners here. but when it comes to popularised music, dude, its much more than guitars, synthesizers and drums that dominate. look at the current top 20 songs, if you are doubtful. NOW compare it to uk or us top 20. THEN talk about variety.
you talk about classical orchestra. how is it appealing to current scenario? when i talk about repetitive english music, i mean the masses outlook-wise. when on the other hand, look at hindi music scene. notice any difference?
lastly, arrow, you are hardly into hindi music. so when you say BOMBAY AND ROJA off the top of your head, THAT'S ALL that is in your head! i betcha you can't mention 5 songs off each album but if i ask you the RELAPSE soundtrack, you''ll mention all 14 and the skits too!
@saintexotica: i am not a tamilian. so i can't enjoy that south indian music. for me, lyrics too matter.

First:
Piano, Keyboard, Guitar (I'm not even going into the varieties here) , Bass Guitar, Flute, Clarinet, Saxophone, Drums, Cello, are apparently the popular instruments according to a search on google. (Though, it only talks about popularity in terms of no. of people taking practical performance exams in it).

Second:
What are the top 20 songs for this week? There's hardly a standardized list in India, (Since 1958 the Hot 100 has been published, combining single sales, radio airplay and Digital Downloads.)

And f you seem to think that the synth doesn't dominate in Hindi music, you've got another thing coming. All the 'traditional music' that makes up a hindi music track comes out of a pre-programmed synthesizer. It's because they don't need to perform it live, people don't give a hoot about where the music comes from.So, technically, there's a variety of sounds coming out of a box, but that can hardly be called a variety of instruments...( a lot of Rap/Pop music that's English is also the same way, but In India, 95% of music is this way) 'English' musicians, on the other hand, have concerts where they play their own instruments, and their individual skill makes a difference.

Thirdly- If it's in my head, and it's hindi, it pwn so hard you won't know what hit you. Only a few songs in bollywood stand out, thus I remember them. The main reason I'm not into hindi music, is because it suffers from a limit in the topics. I mean, there's only a limited number of times I can listen to people singing about how awesome love is, and then how depressing heartbreak is, and then random incoherent meaningless Dance tracks/Item numbers...

after ilayaraja the next music king is indeed rahman

Arr0wHeaD wrote:
The main reason I'm not into hindi music, is because it suffers from a limit in the topics. I mean, there's only a limited number of times I can listen to people singing about how awesome love is, and then how depressing heartbreak is, and then random incoherent meaningless Dance tracks/Item numbers...

While this is true... I would hardly consider the bulk of the current generation of English music artists to be much different... the topics here are... drugs, sex and violence... strip everything away and you bring it down to those three... this is not to say that there are no exceptions... But what is more unfortunate is that these trends seem to be gaining ground in India...

Arr0wHeaD wrote:
'English' musicians, on the other hand, have concerts where they play their own instruments, and their individual skill makes a difference.

Yes they do... and why do you think they do that? It is because they have both the incentive AND the opportunity to play... they have people who will come and listen... people who are actually allowed to come and listen... because they start playing music together in Middle School... because making music is actually considered to be a decent career option...
In India a middle schooler who wants to play any musical instrument is generally told to pick up his books and study instead... the government makes it next to impossible for people to hold live concerts... and people generally look down upon them...

Personally, while I enjoy the lyrics to some songs I have found that I am mostly into instrumental music... and more than the meaning, I care about the sound... In this regard my personal favorite genre is Jazz and the classic Rythm and Blues...

P.S. Almost forgot... I need to say something about Rahman... I dont understand Tamil, but I have heard some of his earlier stuff... I will say that he is extremely talented and has hardly ever failed to impress me... I think the first AR Rahman Soundtrack I had heard was from Roja... then Bombay... some to think of it... I have never actually watched the movie Bombay all the way to the finish... did see Roja though...

In a matter of few months, AR Rahman has lost two people he looked up to - sound engineer H Sridhar and Michael Jackson. Sound engineer H Sridhar passed away in December due to cardiac arrest and the cause of MJ’s death is still a mystery.

Consequently, AR Rahman has decided to put together a special album as a mark of respect to MJ. Of late, AR Rahman has been making several trips to the US because his secret dream project is ready to take off. Artistes from all across the globe will contribute to this album. It is believed that the album will have a few recreated songs of MJ, along with Rahman’s original compositions.

The King of Pop’s untimely and mysterious death unsettled Rahman. A source said, “The two deaths one after the other made Rahman realise the uncertainty of life. These tragedies have made him more spiritual.”

Rahman had earlier said, “Artistes and their art lives for ever. My late sound engineer Sridhar had brought me a video of the premiere of Michael’s Remember the Time when I was recording the track Kadal Rojave for my first movie Roja . That afternoon, that video inspired all of us. Now, there is no Sridhar and no Jackson anymore.”

AR Rahman was looking forward to working with MJ whom he had met during the Oscar Awards in Los Angeles earlier this year. Talking about his meeting with the pop star, AR Rahman had said, “MJ was concerned about contemporary developmental issues such as global warming, wars and their consequences. He asked me to compose a unity anthem on the lines of We are the World for him. I nodded in awe.”

When asked about the album, Rahman, who is going LA this week, said cautiously, “It’s too early to talk about it. Talking about it right now may jeopardise things.”
[courtesy:indiatimes movies]

*salutes* great man! brilliant! genius....may run out of adjectives but you know what i mean....amazing amazing amazing!