Didn’t see anybody leaving: AR Rahman’s sister on language furore in London concert

Reacting to the controversy around the language of his songs at a London concert, AR Rahman’s sister AR Raihanah has said that people were asking the music maestro to perform more songs, and no one left the show mid-way.

With A R Rahman being trolled for performing more Tamil songs during his concert in the UK, the music maestro’s sister A R Raihanah has come out in his defence saying music is beyond language barrier.

Oscar winning music director AR Rahman poses for a picture during a news conference. (Reuters)

Music director AR Rahman holds the Oscars for achievement in music for both original song and original score for his work in Slumdog Millionaire, during a new conference in Chennai February 26, 2009.

In an interview to a TV channel, she said there was a decent number of Hindi songs in the set list and she did not spot any audience leaving in middle of the concert. “We did have pretty good number of Hindi songs. There were some songs sung in Hindi like Humma Humma, Enna Sona, Dil Se Re and Dil Hai Chota Sa. I think we are Indians. We should not think small. We should think as Indians. It’s an Indian language. So, we should think beyond boundaries. Music is all about love and harmony,” she said.

Composer AR Rahman and actress Huma Qureshi at the music launch of Partition: 1947 in Mumbai on July 4.

Raihanah claimed that people wanted Rahman to perform more songs. “He is a person who does not get into any controversy. People wanted more number of songs despite a two-and-a-hour- long performance. I didn’t see people leaving. Maybe 10 out of 10,000 people would have left,” she said.

The show, titled Netru Indru Nalai (Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow), took place at the SSE Arena in London’s Wembley Stadium on July 8. According to reports, Rahman performed Tamil songs at his UK show, which irked Hindi-speaking concertgoers and they staged a walkout.

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