Jai Ho was written for the 2008 Oscar winning film Slumdog Millionaire. While this is a British movie, director Tony Boyle wanted to acknowledge Indian tradition. He asked A.R. Rahman to write a song in the style of his music for the Indian cinema to be choreographed and performed during the ending credits. The resulting piece is a victory dance capturing the essence of the movie's story. Balleilakka is a song from the Tamil film Sivaji, which means "The Boss." The text of this piece is a tongue-twister lamenting how traditional Indian culture is being subsumed and listing the speaker's memories of his homeland in increasingly faster syllabic patterns. O Saya was written for the Oscar winning film Slumdog Millionaire. The song appears at the beginning as we are introduced to just how horrible living conditions are int he slums of India. The lyrics have no meaning, nor does the title. They are just nonsense syllables that form a wail. The melodic patterns are based loosely on the patterns one might hear in the slums as the Muslim call to worship blasts from the minarets, but they are more a call to action than a call to prayer. When people sing this piece, hopefully they will consider taking some action against poverty themselves. Barso Re, written by A. R. Rahman and arranged for choir by Ethan Sperry, appeared in the soundtrack of the 2007 film Guru. It is an Indian take on how beautiful it can be to sing in the rain. For percussion, use a beaded gourd shaker, rasp, or tambourine for the upper line and one or more djembes or floor toms for the lower line. |
