Pray for me, Brother: reflecting Rahman’s brilliance
A R Rahman does not stop surprising me. ‘Pray for Me, Brother’ is an exceptional composition. The modulations, especially towards the middle of the song when Rahman reaches a vocal crescendo are out of this world. Gave me goose bumps. Brilliant vocals, mind blowing music, and the presence of the genius make it one in a million. Amazing!
One goes deeper and discovers that the song as been composed under the aegis of the UN and who better to lend voice and music to an idea that germinates at the end of the road for floundering humanity than A R Rahman, the epitome of cultural amalgamation and religious unity. One of India’s greatest exports to the world of international music, he deserves every accolade that he gets. The song serenades, cajoles and forces you to think. The world’s getting smaller, but every one’s having problems making the distance. There’s death, destruction and destitution. And no one’s willing to take the first step towards reconciliation. Rahman does it with this song. The song has the potential for bridging gaps wherever they exist – a great mascot of world peace and human co-existence.
The video is cutting-edge. Neat editing and cuts make it a stunning sequence. The last scene of an African-American man embracing a Caucasian white girl is symbolic of whatever the song stands for and advocates. Another still of famine-stricken children in Darfur is mind-numbing. There’s hunger and squalor. There’s pain and pity. And Rahman evokes emotions any which way. With new-found success with his immensely improved vocal strengths (with Tere Bina from Guru becoming a huge hit) the musical genius is on his way to the hall of fame. If he has not reached one already, that is.
And this, mind you is not the first time he has attempted something like this. But ‘Pray for Me, Brother’ is by far his best attempt at theme-based music. Written against poverty and hunger and in consonance with the UN Millennium Development Goals, the song is a brilliant portrayal of the urgent need for more food reaching the famine-affected people, aid reaching the war-ravaged million, and a change of heart in general.
Tags: Soundtrack, Television, Video
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Good one, Roshni. glad to know that you gave so much time to analyse the brilliance of Rahman, away from his populist fan-talks.
I listen to this song a couple of times everyday now, its diverse patterns, brilliantly gelling and bleeding amongst each other prove that it is hard to match Rahman.
he might not have a ‘genre’ in the western sense, but ‘Rahman’ is a genre no genre can challenge.
he is innocent in his confessions of being a philanthrope and someone who wants his artistic dominance to benefit the world around him.
the simplicity with which he speaks up on any ’social’ issue is rare. it takes guts to say the obvious.
“are you searching, for a reason, to be free….”
wow!!!
i never thaught that someone takes A R rahman so seriously.
I really appriciate the way u analyzed his song, it’s really nice of u to let others know wat Rahman wants to say.
welldone.
Excellent lyrics by Blaaze, Outstanding composition made by Music Legend AR Rahman. Liked very much when I listen the AR Rahman vocal crescendo in the middle of the song.
Me too really appriciate the way you all analyzed this song.
“Are you searching for a reason, to be Kind”
Where can you get sheet music of “Pray for Me Brother”?
No words……..its a great album…….he sings from his heart…….must be first indian….who has achieved the feat. god bless him