Singapore President praises A R Rahman for working with local musicians

A R Rahman with Singapore President

Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam has praised India’s leading musician A R Rahman (ARR) for collaborating with local musicians and giving them ”valuable exposure”.

”ARR has also done our own talent good over the years, by giving them valuable exposure,” The Straits Times quoted Tharman as having said in a social media post on Monday (June 2). ”Our Indian music and cultural talent, from classical to the most contemporary and edgy, are naturally a minority in the local scene. But they make Singapore’s multiculturalism all the more special,” Tharman said.

Tharman listed the home-grown acts who have worked with Rahman — rapper-songwriter duo Lady Kash and Krissy, singer-musician Shabir and rapper Yung Raja. Rahman’s collaborations include ”Wanna Mash Up?,” a song with Lady Kash and Krissy for the 2014 Hindi film Highway.

Tharman added that Singapore was the first place the Chennai-born Rahman travelled to outside of India in the 1980s and how the musician bought his equipment from local music stores Swee Lee and City Music. ”Good to see that both local music stores are still going strong after all these years,” Tharman wrote.

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Tharman uploaded photos of himself meeting the Grammy-, Oscar- and Golden Globe-winning music and film icon popularly known as ARR, who was in town on May 10 and 11 for the premiere of Le Musk, a multi-sensory virtual reality (VR) film he directed that is screening at Golden Village Suntec City theatre until August 12.

Le Musk, a 37-minute film that marks his directorial debut, uses pioneering camera technologies to present an immersive film that blends VR, haptics, music and fragrance. At GV Suntec City, viewers will wear VR headsets and sit in special egg-shaped chairs that release scents. Rahman has staged several concerts in Singapore, most recently at the National Stadium on August 31 (2024). He also performed at Gardens by the Bay in 2014, the Singapore Indoor Stadium in 2005, and Marina Bay Sands in 2011.