More than three decades after making his debut, A R Rahman is still reinventing himself.
The maestro is all set to launch an AI-powered band called Secret Mountain.
'Secret Mountain is basically a virtual band. I see it as a United Nations in the form of a musical band -- one that brings together different cultures to unify the world,' Rahman tells The Hindu BusinessLine newspaper.
Rahman got the inspiration for this when he was in Los Angeles for the Oscars a couple of years ago. He thought of starting a Western band that could bring in an Eastern perspective.
Unfortunately, the idea did not take off at the time, and he made a second attempt at it during COVID.
At the time, a 3D creation platform called Unreal Engine was developed by Epic Games and it came out with MetaHumans, a tool that gave creators the power to create virtual avatars, and that's what gave Rahman the idea to go virtual.
'This way, the band members don't have to fight with each other, don't disband or don't die,' Rahman says in the report.
Interestingly, all this began before AI became a 'big thing'. Still, AI has not worked to replace artists by generating music or lyrics. It has simply 'sped up the work and added finesse'.
Photograph curated by Satish Bodas/Rediff