The genius of percussion in A. R. Rahman’s ‘Taal Se Taal Mila’ Premium

How the A.R Rahman-Sivamani combination in ‘Taal’ put percussion on the musical map

AR Rahman; Anil Kapoor with Aishwarya Rai In ‘Taal’

Sports and music go hand in hand.

In 2013, after India lifted the World Cup, M.S. Dhoni, one of the main architects of the triumphant team in the finals, went on record to talk about the most emotional moment in the finals. And that wasn’t the exciting cricket or the steep run chase, but a song. “The stadium started to sing ‘Vande Mataram’. That atmosphere, I feel, is very difficult to recreate,” recalled Dhoni.

In the recently-concluded Olympics 2024 held in Paris, there was yet another marriage of song and sports, when the U.S. artistic swimming team took to the waters. The talented eight-member team performed to ‘Taal Se Taal Mila’ from the 1999 superhit Bollywood film Taal, directed by Subhash Ghai, featuring Aishwarya Rai, Anil Kapoor and Akshaye Khanna in the lead.

Taal had music by A.R. Rahman, then fast rising in popularity in Bollywood after several superhit albums in Tamil cinema. Beyond the melody in the songs, Taal also featured a percussion-led track titled ‘Beat of Passion’, a portion of which was used by the swimmers in their Olympics outing. ‘Beat of Passion’ starts almost like a whisper. A few finger-snapping sounds later, the drums come into play, albeit slowly, almost like it’s a trailer for the main course that is to come. When the drums kick in, your feet start moving, and by the time the ‘Beat of Passion’ ends, you’re in a frenzy.

The ‘Beat of Passion’ is percussion mastery by ‘Drums’ Sivamani, with whom A.R. Rahman shares a long-standing professional relationship, and who brings forth the magic that beats make you feel.

Here, Sivamani doesn’t use just the drums alone; he uses sounds from finger-snaps, the tonking of the vessels and buckets and even the sound of water flowing from a bottle.

There’s also some heavy breathing at the end of that particular track, which contributes quite well to the befitting musical soundscape of Taal.

This is just one example; there are many more; like the last minute or so in the ‘Dhandiya’ track from Kadhalar Dhinam. There’s also another silent hero in all these musical gems: audio engineer H. Sridhar.

Sivamani and AR Rahman in a photo from 2009

Track record

Percussion and melody are two sides of the musical coin, with beats enhancing our theatrical experience. The Nineties were a time when percussion peaked in Tamil cinema. This is not to say that percussion didn’t exist before; in fact, M.S. Viswanathan and Ilaiyaraaja have used it extensively in their songs. But the A.R. Rahman-Sivamani combination and the boom of computers and technology in the Nineties were like a match made in heaven; Sivamani’s beats resonated in all walkmans of that era, changing the way we consumed music. The recent epic saga, Ponniyin Selvantoo, saw work from the duo.

While many state that melody is the core of any music, some magic happens when percussion combines with a core melody. ‘Nadaan Parindey’ from Rockstarmight be a soulful cry of a track, but it still has some rollicking drum work to kickstart things before the guitars and vocals take over. Jodhaa Akbar’s musical landscape would be incomplete without the catchy rhythmic patterns that accompany ‘Azeem-O-Shaan Shahehshah’. More recently, the staccato beats of Ponniyin Selvantook us back to the Chola empire. Such historical subjects also help composers and musicians use rare instruments and recreate sounds that are not often heard in modern-day cinema. We hope to hear more of those in the upcoming Thug Life, which sees Mani Ratnam and Kamal Haasan coming together after many years.

Percussion work is vital not just in albums and films, but in concerts too, where they add to the overall atmosphere and elevate the mood; look no beyond percussionist Ranjit Barot’s performance in an A.R. Rahman concert where he shifts the musical mood from ‘Putham Pudhu Bhoomi’ to ‘Jai Ho’ with some pulsating work on the drums.

More than 30 years on since the unforgettable Roja, the A.R. Rahman-Sivamani combination continues to enthral audiences. They have also paved the way for younger composers to take up percussion in a big way, in this age of techno-driven soundtracks. Anirudh, for instance, lifted the theatrical experience of Rajinikanth’s Petta by several notches with the ‘Rhythm of Petta’ that featured kuthu-style drumming. Without missing a beat, the percussion journey continues.