A.R. Rahman: My experience with Lata Mangeshkar goes back to my dad

Shortly after he tweeted his fourword tribute to the Nightingale the Mozart of Madras AR Rahman posted a glowing tribute video in honour of Lata Mangeshkar with whom he had collaborated most memorably in movies such as Dil Se and Rang De BasantiEarlier in the day Rahman had posted a picture of him sitting at the Nightingales feet and tweeted Love respect and prayersLove respect and prayers mangeshkarlata pictwittercomPpJb1AdUdcmdash ARRahman arrahman February 6 2022In the video Rahman talked about the music icon at length Observering that it was a very very sad day for all of us he said Somebody like Lataji is not just a singer not just an icon She is I think a part of the soul a part of the consciousness of India Hindustani music Hindi poetry Urdu poetry Bengali and so many other languages she sang in And this void is going to remain forever for all of usRemembering the respect his father had for Lata Mangeshkar Rahman said My experience with her goes back to my dad he passed away when I was young who I believe had a picture of her near his bed So he would wake up and get inspired and go to the recordings It starts thereHe then talked about his association with the Nightingale saying Coming to me I was so lucky as to record a few songs with her sing along with her be a part of her show where I learnt probably one of the most important things about performing on stageThe music director said he had once observed before a live show after the rehearsals got over at 4 pm going back to her room with her assistant and starting to sing each song againVery slowly every lyric clearly I just passed that side and asked myself Is that her practising for the show That one incident changed my life After that every show that I go to I go out and take up the tambura and practise Get the warmups done Every lyric coming out the way it should come out Rahman notedThe music director also spoke about the time and effort that the legend invested in each songOne day I was speaking to her and she said Those days Naushad saab would make us come for 11 days for rehearsal I said How long would you take Ill learn the song immediately Still he would insist that we came for the rehearsal on all 11 days Rahman rememberedAnd then he commented You then understand the depth of each song It has so much investment of time love spirituality passion For the younger generation I think it is so important to lean into something so deeply believe in it Give it all Not expecting any returnsThis is probably the kind of thing that I learnt from one of the last pillars of last centurys legacy of Indian musicRahman concluded by saying A huge void is going to happen Even though we have the wealth of her songs not having her physically is a void which is going to be very difficult to fill in I know that there are hundreds and thousands of singers who got inspired by her songs and are singing and probably taking it much further in their own wayStill I think the impact the foundation which her generation has laid she along with Rafi saab Kishore Da Manna Dey Shakeel saab Naushad saab SD Burman Salil Chaudhary all legends is something I really will value for the rest of my life All we can do is celebrate and learn from this legend who has left us God bless her soulThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever