There are Christmas carols and Pongal folk tunes. But a song for Ramzan? That’s not something you hear of every day. However Chennai-based composer and singer Al Rufian says his soon-to-be-released track Ramadan-e-Kareem has been a long time coming. “My mother has been telling for ages to do a song for the community, but I was waiting for the right time,” he explains. So when he put out a random Facebook post asking for interested lyricists for a Ramzan song – he got a response from AM Studios. No doubt, this was the right time.
And being a huge fan of AR Rahman, Rufian, who incidentally shares the same initials as his music god, could not believe his luck. “I was put on to two lyricists who have worked with Rahman before, Munna Showkath Ali (Piya Haji Ali, Fiza) and Mashook Rahman (Khwaja Endhan Khwaja, Jodha Akbar).”
The crazy part? The lyrics for both the Tamil and Hindi versions of the song were ready the day after the Facebook post was put up! For better reach, Rufian also roped in Malayalam lyricist, Arif Koyilandi. He adds with a smile, “We’ve made it a point to keep it simple.”
The composer adds, “While the song is about the significance of the festival, the lyrics are easy enough for everyone to understand, even non-Muslims.”
With a montage video in the works being shot across Chennai, Hyderabad, Kerala and Abu Dhabi – there will be visuals of mosques far and wide, kids playing, prayers during the day and ifthar at dusk. “Basically the different phases of Ramzan in four-and-a-half minutes,” the 27-year-old Rufian summarises. “And the whole video is being shot as though the festival is being narrated to a child,” he reveals – hence the little boy on the poster.
Apparently, he is in talks with Rahman’s mother and sister Rehana for the release of the song. He adds, “We’ve also been in touch with a couple of audio labels and will be releasing Ramadan-e-Kareem online and via DVD.”
(The song will be released 10 days before Eid.)