SSC
Which music director is known as the 'Mozart of Madras'?
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Answer: Option B — A.R. Rahman
Detailed Solution
Explanation
Rahman. Allah Rakha Rahman, born in 1967 in Chennai (formerly Madras), is one of the most famous music composers in the world. He is popularly known as the "Mozart of Madras", a title that compares him to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the great Austrian composer.
A.R. Rahman was born as A.S. Dileep Kumar. His father, R.K. Shekhar, was a music composer for Malayalam films who died when Rahman was a child. Rahman began working as a keyboard player at a young age to support his family. In the late 1980s, he and his family converted to Islam, and he took the name Allah Rakha Rahman. His first film as a composer was the Tamil film "Roja" (1992), directed by Mani Ratnam, which became a huge success. He went on to compose music for many famous films in Tamil, Hindi and other languages, such as "Bombay", "Dil Se", "Taal", "Lagaan", "Rang De Basanti" and "Jodhaa Akbar". He is known for combining Indian classical music, folk music and electronic and world music. In 2009, he won two Academy Awards (Oscars), for Best Original Score and Best Original Song ("Jai Ho"), for the film "Slumdog Millionaire". He also won two Grammy Awards in 2010. He received the Padma Shri (2000) and the Padma Bhushan (2010).
Why not the other options?
- ✗Ilaiyaraaja is a legendary Tamil film composer, known by the title "Isaignani" (musical genius).
M.S. Viswanathan was a famous Tamil film composer, known as the "Mellisai Mannar" (king of light music).
R.D. Burman was a famous Hindi film composer, known as "Pancham Da".
💡 Exam tip
Link A.R. Rahman with the title "Mozart of Madras", his earlier name Dileep Kumar, his first film "Roja" (1992), and his two Oscars for "Slumdog Millionaire" (2009).💬 Discussions on this question
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Music & Musical Instruments — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Music & Musical Instruments, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers Indian classical music, its two main traditions (Hindustani and Carnatic), gharanas, ragas and talas, folk music styles, and the musical instruments of India along with the artists who are famous for playing them. It also includes the four classes of instruments: string (tata), wind (sushira), percussion (avanaddha) and solid (ghana). Exam questions usually pair an instrument with its maestro, such as the sitar with Pandit Ravi Shankar, the shehnai with Ustad Bismillah Khan or the santoor with Pandit Shivkumar Sharma. Other common questions ask about the origin of a gharana, the instrument a folk style uses, or the class an instrument belongs to. Making a two-column list of instruments and artists is the quickest way to revise. Practise the music and musical instruments questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.