The weekend is here. It's Friday and time to unwind. You could head to the club shake a leg, get cosy with a tub of popcorn at any of the multiplexes, shop till your wallet protests or sit back and enjoy an evening of light music with Adnan Sami. Having recently performed at live shows in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, the singer-composer is in town to perform tonight at an event organised by the Madras Esplanade Ladies Circle 100.
With so many live shows happening, does he ever get nervous? “No, this is what I do for a living!” he laughs. Adnan first performed in Chennai around 10 years ago at a charity event. “Even though that was a brief performance, it was a memorable experience,” he says. Tonight's concert will be the artiste's first full-fledged solo performance here.
The Mumbai-based artiste seems to have a fair idea about the Tamil music industry. He's also recorded a few Tamil songs for A.R. Rahman, Devi Sri Prasad, Yuvan Shankar Raja, and Imman. He may not have managed to pick up any Tamil but he says whenever he is singing in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam or any regional language, he ensures he gets the pronunciation right. “I insist on having a linguist who can coach me. I work on the words, and the emotion. That's why if it takes me half an hour to record a Hindi song, it takes me two hours to record in Tamil,” he explains.
Adnan hopes to work with Ilaiyaraaja and feels that the composer is a living legend. “He is so humble. In fact, people in the Tamil music industry itself are unassuming.”
About this evening's concert, Adnan says, he is going to sing film songs and compositions from his albums. “I'll be playing an electronic piano and there will be also be a jugalbandi.”
In spite of all the hectic travelling, concert schedules and judging ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Lil' Champs, Adnan's found time to work on his next album, “Main Tere Paas Hoon” for which he has composed for the first time a Sufi and a Punjabi song.”
