As he returns to the Nassau Coliseum after four years, composer and signer A R Rahman has another challenge: To show that a composer and accompanying singers can pack the 11,000 seats in the auditorium at this, his Three Dimensional Tour, just the way he did the last time he was in New York for a concert. Normally, you expect a combination of stars, say Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta, supported by a raft of minor stars to pack the coliseum.
"Rahman has proved time and time again that his musical events are quite unlike those featuring other composers or singers," says Bharat Jotwani, whose Poojanka Entertainment is hosting the New York show, June 16. "His music has as much appeal as that of any big Bollywood star."
The year 2007 has been one of Rahman's busiest. Apart from working on the soundtrack of The Golden Age, his first British-American assignment, he has also added new music and songs to the $20-million musical, The Lord of the Rings, which opens in London in a few weeks. And then there is the much expected Jodhaa-Akbar, the historic love story, that brings Rahman and director Ashutosh Gowarikar (Swades, Lagaan) together for the third time.
"It has been a very busy year. Yet I thought of the concert tour for many reasons," the composer says. "There have a lot of interesting films in the last three years in Hindi and Tamil; and that means I can offer old and new hits."He also loves being with his singers off the recording studio but doesn't get many opportunities to do so in India. "It is a different feeling when you work with them for a stage show," he explains. "The challenges are different, and we come alive even more than when we are in a recording studio. The friendship also grows."
Coming with him are some of the singers such as Chitra and Hariharan, whose careers had begun a years before Rahman himself took off with the astounding success of Roja in 1992. They were part of the film's immensely popular score, along with S P Balasubramaniam. Then there many singers who either made their debut in a film with Rahman's score such as Naresh Iyer (Rang De Basanti) -- or shot to prominence thanks to his tunes. Sukhvinder Singh (Dil Se), Madhushree (Tezaab, Guru), Sadhana Sargam (Water, Earth 1947), Blaaze (Rang De Basanti), and the multifaceted percussionist Sivamani, are among those in the latter category. There would also be several young, up-and-coming singers.
The New York event follows concerts in half-a-dozen cities, including Vancouver, San Francisco and Dallas. The one held in the tristate area will have the polished version after several tryouts in other cities. Never mind how well rehearsed the musicians, singers and dancers are, every show becomes finetuned as it goes from one city to the next.
Rahman's biggest challenge, however, is not assembling first-rate artists or
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"There are fans who have long memories," he says. "And there are fans who love the recent songs. Now, I would have a good mix of the old and new. Even then it is not easy to choose one beautiful song over another."
"I take up a film even though I know its commercial prospects may not be very bright," he says. "You respect someone's arts and Husain is one of the people I have a lot of respect. I can never refuse to d film for him." He may have a song from the Hussain film at the New York event. 
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