About the 99 Songs Special Concert, A.R. Rahman says<\/strong>,<\/p>\n\u201cMy initial idea was that I should go to every city, every college and perform, for you, the songs of this movie. But given the times, the least we can do is present a show with the incredible singers and musicians who are part of the soundtrack. I hope you’ll go to cinemas on 16th April with masks on and show some love to the film.”<\/p>\n
In a first-of-its-kind presentation, the 99 Songs Special Concert sees music maestro A.R. Rahman, who makes his filmmaking debut as producer and writer with this movie, invoke the power of music during an uncertain time. Amidst the trials of the pandemic, Rahman weaves a musical concert that traverses through the tracks of 99 Songs to deliver a show that reflects the magic of the live A.R. Rahman experience.<\/p>\n
The 99 Songs Special Concert features the global music legend alongside vocalists Benny Dayal, Shashwat Singh, Shashaa Tirupati, Vijay Yesudas, Sreekanth Hariharan, Poorvi Koutish, Haricharan, the Sunshine Orchestra, and more. The show is truly a celebration of the power of music. Much like in the art of filmmaking, Rahman combines music with storytelling to take viewers on a journey through the soundtrack of 99 Songs, as if turning the chapters of a book. The songs are accompanied by a story told by the maestro, the lyricists Navneet Virk, Dilshaad Shabbir Shaikh, Kalpradah, and more, as well as the vocalists, about how the track came to be.<\/p>\n
\u201c \u201899 Songs\u2019 is the story about one man’s struggle between the old world and the new world. The antidote is music,\u201d said Rahman as he invited viewers to witness the music of 99 Songs. The concert began with the spiritual love song \u201cO Aashiqa,\u201d sung by Shashwat Singh. Rahman graces the stage throughout the concert film, weaving melodies at the piano. \u201cO Aashiqa\u201d is flush with choral voices and the memorable piano riff rendered by Rahman. Singh\u2019s passionate bridge drives the message of the song home. As lyricist Virk explained, this song embodies the spirit of 99 Songs. It\u2019s about selflessness; it\u2019s a prayer for a better world. Virk even recalled Rahman\u2019s brief for \u201cO Aashiqa\u201d while speaking on stage. \u201cThat song has to say everything we want to say. That song has to have the lesson of the movie,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
99 Songs\u2019 director and screenplay writer Vishwesh Krishnamoorthy also took to the stage to speak about how his relationship with filmmaking changed during the production of 99 Songs. As a fellow musician (Krishnamoorthy has also been the frontman for Mumbai hardcore band Scribe), the director delved into how each day on set propelled him to evolve as a creator. \u201cYou wanted to make a film about music and you wanted me to direct it. I tried to explore it to the deepest depths. You really pushed me towards becoming much better on this film,\u201d he said to Rahman who concurred on how the challenge of making 99 Songs led them both to transform as creatives.<\/p>\n
The dialogue between the producer and director was followed by a mesmerizing performance of the quintessential 99 Songs love song, \u201cSofia.\u201d Singh returned to the stage to belt the beautiful track as the delicate and exhilarating guitaring by Carl Fernandes and Joshua Satya infused \u201cSofia\u201d with a magical lead. Subsequently, Poorvi Koutish, the volcanic voice of \u201cJwalamukhi,\u201d rendered a spellbinding performance of the powerful heartbreak track. As lyricist Virk explained, \u201cStill waters run deep. Love is passion and pain; that’s Jwalamukhi \u2014 a volcano.” Up next was a performance of the ballad \u201cTeri Nazar\u201d by Singh. Lyricist Shaikh explained, \u201cIt’s a song about the great pain of being separated from your lover.\u201d The evocative tabla by Sai Shravanam and mellifluous flute by Naveen Kumar lent a delicate melancholy to Singh\u2019s silky vocals. Rahman further revealed details about the track by sharing what the song was meant to embody, \u201cIt was about the journey of a person who starts with simple melodies, and [then] goes to a very, very complex [place], and [then] goes back to simplicity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The ballad was followed by moving performances of the lullaby from 99 Songs, \u201cO Mera Chand,\u201d as well as the spiritual track \u201cSai Shirdi Sai,\u201d by Bela Shende. The singer\u2019s saccharine vocals melded with the transportive flute and sparkling instrumentals to create a transcendental musical stage bolstered by Rahman. After this meditative interlude, Rahman invited vocalist Shashaa Tirupati to render his incredible jazz composition, \u201cSoja Soja,\u201d which was made all the more triumphant by Lisa & Rameethha V\u2019s brass. The 99 Songs Special Concert came to a close with a performance of \u201cNayi Nayi\u201d by Singh. Director Krishnamoorthy (with his guitar!) and actor Ehan Bhat joined the singer on stage to amplify the celebratory theme of the track. This performance was made all the more special when Rahman himself departed his position at the piano to take up the keytar and end \u201cNayi Nayi\u201d on a jubilant note.<\/p>\n
99 SONGS SPECIAL CONCERT: CREDITS<\/p>\n
SINGERS<\/strong>: Bela Shende, Shashaa Tirupati, Poorvi Koutish, Benny Dayal, Haricharan, Sreekanth Hariharan, Sarthak Kalyani, Shashwat Singh, Rakshita Suresh, Vijay Yesudas, Abhay Jodhpurkar.<\/p>\nBAND:<\/strong>
\nDrums – David Joseph
\nPercussion – Yash Pathak
\nKeyboard – Karthick Devaraj & Nakul Abhyankar
\nBass Guitar – Carl Fernandes
\nGuitar – Joshua Satya
\nTabla – Sai Shravanam
\nFlute – Naveen Kumar
\nGhatam – Karthik
\nSunshine Orchestra – Adithyanarayanan Shankar, Angad Singh, Deepthi Raghu, Drishti Tandel, Noor Bhatia, Rajnarendran Rajagopalan, Rameethha V, Riddhiman Dutta, Rijul Chakraborthy, Shivam Karadwal, Sneha Symon, Vanshika Arora
\nChorus – Adithyanarayanan Shankar
\nAngad Singh
\nDeepthi Raghu
\nDrishti Tandel
\nNoor Bhatia
\nRajnarendran Rajagopalan
\nRameethha V
\nRiddhiman Dutta
\nRijul Chakraborthy
\nShivam Karadwal
\nSneha Symon
\nVanshika Arora
\nModular – Damini Chauhan
\nBrass – Lisa & Rameethha V
\nViolin – Vignesh. U, Nandhini. A, Balaji. A, Vignesh.S
\nViola – Ebinezar Gnanraj. M, Dinesh. A, Harish Kumar. K, Hrithik Roshan. G
\nCello – Vaijayanthi. R, Deepa. S, Balaji. M, Mohammed Ismail. S
\nDouble Bass – Anish Franklin. V, David. K
\nConductor \u2013 Anupam Roy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"a Magnificent Digital Show Chronicling the Songs of the Mega Film Streaming on JioSaavn\u2019s LIVE Anywhere platform, the special concert film brings to life the Academy and Grammy Award-winning musician\u2019s debut production, \u201899 Songs\u2019 A.R. Rahman has released the 99 Songs Special Concert \u2014 a digital show chronicling the music of his upcoming film 99 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":499118,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,6198,17],"tags":[39337,39338,39336,7473,39339],"yst_prominent_words":[12011,38453,39320,39323,39327,39333,39334,39330,39331,39324,39332,39328,15671,39335,9844,39321,39329,39325,39326,39322],"class_list":["post-499117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-press-notes","category-slideshow","tag-99-songs-film","tag-99-songs-movie","tag-99-songs-special-concert","tag-tollywood-trending","tag-vishwesh-krishnamoorthy"],"read":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/industryhit.com\/t\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/industryhit.com\/t\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/industryhit.com\/t\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/industryhit.com\/t\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/industryhit.com\/t\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=499117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/industryhit.com\/t\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499117\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/industryhit.com\/t\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=499117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/industryhit.com\/t\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=499117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/industryhit.com\/t\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=499117"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/industryhit.com\/t\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=499117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}