India

A. R. Rahman’s new song captures impact of demonetisation

Mumbai: A. R. Rahman’s new single “The Flying Lotus” was released today and the Oscar-winning composer said through his single he wanted to show people’s “admiration and resentment” towards demonetisation.

Last year on November 8, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the biggest-ever demonetisation exercise India has ever seen by suddenly withdrawing Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes from public use in a bid to clamp down on black money and fake currency menace, a PTI report said.

“November 2016 was an interesting phase for India as the government announced demonetisation. As India continued to rise on the path to progress, what were its citizen’s feelings? And what about the impact of demonetisation on ordinary folks?” Rahman said in a statement.

“I thought the common man felt extremely good about the move. I like to live a very normal life, and I live in a normal neighbourhood. For this song, my voice is their (common people’s) voice,” says the composer.

“Sometimes, I travelled economy class to understand what people thought about it. You can’t live a comfortable life and then try and have an opinion about something. You have to see both sides of the world, and then derive your opinion from it.

“With ‘The Flying Lotus’, I have tried to capture people’s unspoken admiration as also the loud resentment of an interesting occurrence of historic proportions through the language of music,” Rahman said.

Conducted by Ricardo Averbach, “The Flying Lotus” is a 19-minute-long music piece in collaboration with the Internationally renowned Seattle Symphony, the report said.

“The Flying Lotus” is available Worldwide on physical and digital formats exclusively on Universal Music Group.

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