In time for my return from India, I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to explore world music, starting with Indian music. When I was leaving to India, a friend of mine asked me to get some instrumental Indian music. Granted, this type of oriental music can be really soothing at times.

One of my training instructors was a music lover. He used to play music on his laptop until everybody gathered in the morning. I asked him once if he could recommend any such type of music. I was looking specifically for instrumental music, because as far as Indian singing is concerned:

  • I don’t understand a word of it.
  • It annoys the hell out of me (I’m talking specifically about those high-pitched female Indian vocalists).

Bombay_poster_film So in the last day of training, the trainer played a beautiful composition that took my breath away. I asked him about the artist and he said it was A. R. Rahman, an Indian internationally renowned musician, best known for composing film scores and soundtracks. The song playing, Bombay Theme, was from the soundtrack of the award-winning 1995 feature film, Bombay. I haven’t seen the movie, but I have seen how enormously talented A. R. Rahman is. I have recently downloaded more of his film scores and he literally blew me away with the sophistication and diversity of his instrumental composition. I also like the fact that he is a converted Muslim (according to his Wikipedia page), which just makes me proud, especially seeing the many achievements he’s made along his career path.

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