Rahman rues lack of world class concert halls in India

New Delhi: Having performed at many major venues abroad, music maestro AR Rahman rues that India lacks state of the art concert halls and auditoriums where world class performers can entertain audiences. Citing two of his personal experiences in India where the venue was not equipped enough to accommodate the audiences as well as performers, the Oscar-winning composer said that lack of good halls mean many performers from abroad do not come here. "Many world class orchestral acts and classical performers don`t come to India because we don`t have such venues in many cities. So, our amazing music lovers who have never travelled abroad are denied this experience of listening to the organic sound of a symphony orchestra," Rahman wrote in a note on facebook today. He cited two examples where he faced problems while performing with the German Film Orchestra Babelsberg. "Yesterday, we performed in Chennai, at the Lady Andal school auditorium with the German Film Orchestra Babelsberg. It had 1200 odd seats. 4500 people wanted to see the concert but we couldn`t accommodate everyone. "When we performed in Delhi last Sunday, at the Siri Fort auditorium, the venue could not hold almost 10 musicians in the 100-piece orchestra, and it was claustrophobic and risky to sit on the stage. Hence, some of them couldn`t play." The 46-year-old called upon industrialists to build better facilities and other composers to take Indian acoustic sound to world standards. "Shouldn`t Indian composers think beyond film music?... Shouldn`t modern India build this in every major city? Wouldn`t this be an investment for intellectual musical awakening? Or is it an expense? "This is a pukaar(call) to individuals and corporates, who are shining bright... who are interested to take the lead and change the way we live and cherish our arts," he said. PTI