The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
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Rahman: Human artists will beat AI by deliberately breaking creative conventions
“Humans have this evolutionary spirit, and we will do something else. We'll go back and do something which is completely wrong, which will be very cool.”
Rahman: Singer Raye intentionally constructs songs to counter AI predictive patterns
“Like, the, recently there's a song by Ray, R-A-Y-E, and it cleanly shows that she's trying to beat AI.”
Rahman: Innate musical talent exists, but anyone can achieve the same mastery
“Some people understand something better than other people because it comes the way the mind works. It doesn't mean that other people can't reach there.”
Rahman: Hollywood stars bluntly refuse fans, whereas Indian actors are more accommodating
“Whenever I've worked with rock stars abroad, they just straight on the face of, I don't do that, sorry. Whether it's Hollywood actor or, I've been with a couple of them, and they're straight on the face. That's why people don't come, because most of them are l…”
Rahman: Governments must impose strict operating rules on AI to prevent joblessness
“Now you're not shooting people, but you can pull the carpet off, make them jobless. It's like making families going into poverty. So it is the rules. Humans have to set the rules. You have traffic rules. You have immigration rules.”
A. R. Rahman: India does not have a single proper symphony hall
“And we don't even have a proper symphony hall in any of India. Now, nowhere.”
Rahman: The NMACC is probably the only world-class performing venue in India
“I went for the Phantom premiere at NMACC. Incredible. And that's probably the only place which is world-class in India.”
Rahman: Kannada film industry leaped after dormant 20-year period
“Canada industry is now rocking, right? There was a dormant, 20 years, nothing happened after the grades. Now they just leaped.”
Rahman: Home recording studios did not exist in 1980s India
“No, those days, studios means, like, the big halls where 90 people can play together. The concept of home studio never came.”
Rahman: Artists must withhold parts of themselves from commercial industry demands
“Be careful in not giving every part of us to the industry. We should have soul left with us so that I can do other things in art.”
Rahman: Composers will be discarded unless they continuously evolve artistically
“Because I'm giving away all the stuff I learned, but if I don't have anything new to offer, I'll be thrown away. So it's important to evolve artistically as a musician, composer”
Rahman: The soundtrack for 'Roja' sparked the 1990s Indian music trend shift
“The trend happened because of Rojo. There was a denial that, oh, this won't last. And I think there was a denial constantly.”
Rahman: Language and production standards kept Indian music from global audiences
“When we are listening to Pink Floyd, McQueen, John Williams, Evangelist, Beatles, Michael Jackson, they don't listen to us. So what's the reason? Language, production, and vibe, feel, recording.”
Rahman: Indian classical music succeeds when delivered with mastery, not condescension
“And if we put our energy in mastery in how we deliver the songs to people, definitely they'll like it. It should not be the, you know, I'm giving you classical music. Listen to it. It's good for you. No, give something good and make it masterful with the whole…”
A. R. Rahman: The Academy Awards are more fascinating from the outside
“I think when you see from outside, it's much more fascinating. Than being inside.”
Rahman: Public figures are only recognized when surrounded by security entourages
“Because when you don't go with security, people don't take you seriously. Only when like a group of six people come over, somebody is important, oh, that should be him.”
Rahman: Live concerts and symphonies will become more valuable alongside AI
“Live concerts, live dance, live musical theater, symphonies will be respected even more. Right. The value of that is going to go.”
Rahman: Applying traditional cinematic techniques to virtual reality induces viewer nausea
“I think what happened was for making VR movies, you need to unlearn many things for content. So film people come and use their techniques to do virtual reality. It makes people throw up.”
Rahman: Virtual reality will coexist as a personal medium alongside communal cinema
“It shouldn't be a replacement for cinema, but an alternate coexisting, right? So what you don't get in cinema, you'll get on this one. In cinema, you get the kind of community feel, like, you all whistle on the same thing. You all, all, all stack. I look at th…”
Rahman: Artists must intentionally impose constraints to disrupt formulas and innovate
“That's why they say, you know, like if you paint with the right hand constantly and you get comfortable with it, you know, tie your right hand and paint with the left hand. But then you will find a different way, because your mind wants to express, and the lim…”
Rahman: Artistic self-validation is essential to withstand initial commercial failure
“When they say something is good, everybody says, oh, that's a hit song. Listen to it. If it's not good enough for me, then throw it out. It has to do something to my heart. It has to do something to my soul. And, That's why I don't care when some song, some of…”
Rahman: Film composition avoids monotony through unique multidisciplinary collaborations
“If a Western artist has to do an album, they have to think about it. I'm getting help from the script, from the director, from the screenwriter, from the lyricist. My part is just music, right? So each album is different because the different combination of di…”
A. R. Rahman reveals composition slate: Ramayana, English films, and Arabic horror
“There's Ramayana, there's so many secret mountain and Couple of English ones going on, and an Arabic movie. Horror movie. Called Bab.”
Rahman: Multisensory, immersive venues like the Las Vegas Sphere are the future
“I think immersive thing is the future, like the spear, what, what's doing Vegas. Everything looks so unbelievably spiritual and it's something very human about watching with that quality. I've never been there, but I've seen the videos. It is incredible. Yeah.…”
Rahman: He will create content for entrepreneurs building Sphere-like venues in India
“Bring them in. We'll create the content for that. We'll create everything.”
Rahman: School's primary value is socializing across diverse backgrounds
“School is not just about education. It's about understanding humanity. It's about seeing each other and getting to know the stories and learning things from other kids.”
Rahman: Building his Panchathan home recording studio in 1989 empowered him
“No, actually, magic happened when I built my studio. It's an 89, Panchitan studio, which I have, is when I felt, like, empowered. Like, I had something which nobody had.”
Rahman: He relocated to London to escape excessive Indian film industry demands
“I went to England and sat with Henry Lloyd Webber doing Bombay Dreams. The reason is to resist And grow.”
A. R. Rahman could not afford petrol while composing for 'Roja'
“When I was doing Roja, I didn't have money for even putting petrol. Because I was just doing that one movie because I had concentrated so much. The days where I didn't have my petrol was, I used to drive that time. It was zero.”
A. R. Rahman advised Mahindra on their electric car sound system uncompensated
“I got my Mahindra electric car. And there I have Why Mahindra electric car? I don't know. I just love it. For the first time, I felt like it's world-class quality, and I also worked on it. I was also constantly suggesting them, do this to them. The sound syste…”
Rahman: He limited output to ensure Tamil songs reached global standards
“Each Tamar song I do should go around the world. And it was planned. It was, I worked for it. That's why I did less work.”
A. R. Rahman reveals new band Jala and the Bharat Master Award
“I have a band called Jala, which, and we're also floating an award called the Bharat Master Award to find the next Zakir Ozan, next Ravi Shankar.”
Rahman: Ed Sheeran promised to write songs for global band Secret Mountain
“And the lyricists, they're, I'm composing all this stuff, but then we have partners like, people like Ed Sheeran, they promised to write songs for this. He was hearing a couple of songs. I love this. I want to do something.”
Rahman: Virtual band project Secret Mountain uses live musicians, not AI generation
“Live musicians are going to play with it. So it's not AI-created composition or anything. It's all live.”
Rahman: Corporation school students from his foundation performed in Canada
“And then recently we went to Canada for the Glen Gold Foundation. They invited us, and they all played. It's such a great moment to see kids from corporation schools taking your flight, going to Canada, And playing for, you know, billionaires sitting there.”
A. R. Rahman: Releasing a subpar song mix causes months of self-torture
“I won't be able to sleep if I let a mix pass by or a song which could be better, and I didn't work enough for that, that'll be the biggest punishment or self-torture for me. For at least three to four months, I should have done it, but I should have done it. S…”
Rahman: He invested three years developing global creative project Secret Mountain
“I'm looking forward to the success of Secret Mountain. If it deserves, and because we are putting all our hard work, and we want to create something extraordinary from India to the world, and because we put three years of a life in it, you want to make this th…”