Vande Mataram (album)

Untitled

Vande Mataram is a studio album by Indian composer A. R. Rahman. It was released on December 9, 1997 by Sony Music and Columbia Records. The album was made made on India's 50th anniversary of independence to reinstill Patriotism amongst the Indians. In 2002, BBC World Service conducted an international poll to choose ten most famous songs of all time. Around 7000 songs were selected from all over the world. Maa Tujhe Salaam from Vande Mataram, was second in top 10 songs.

Concept

The album was made to commemorate the fifty years of India's independence. Initially it got criticized as some phrases of India's national song Vande Mataram were remade as Maa Tujhe Salaam, but later, they were all withdrawn following the immense popularity and influence, especially of that song.

A. R. Rahman wrote on the album cover of Vande Mataram, "I dedicate this album to the future generations of India. I wish that this album inspires them to grow up with wealth of human values and ethics that this country is made of."

Several postcards were supplied with the album, so as to spread messages of aesthetic values. The themes were

• Freedom
• Love
• Harmony
• Peace

Tracklisting

Track #	Song	Singer(s)	Length	Lyrics	Notes
1	Maa Tujhe Salaam	A. R. Rahman	6:11	Mehboob	Backing vocals by Rita Campbell, Deepika Thathal, Joy Rose, Chris Ballin, Sophia James Percussion by Peter Lockett Guitar by Mark James
2	Revival •	A. R. Rahman	7:40	Bankim Chandra Chatterjee	Traditional Song Backing vocals by Anuradha Sriram, Sujatha, Kalyani Menon, Seema Percussion by Sivamani Santoor by Srinivasalu Saxophone by Chris "Snake" Davis Oboe by Sara prosser
3	Gurus of Peace	Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, A. R. Rahman	6:27	Mehboob, Tim Cody, Dinesh Kapoor	Backing vocals by Katy Stephenson, Emma Bigwood, Gemma Austreng, Brittaney Love, Georgina Gill Acoustic guitar by Mahesh Tinaikar
4	Tauba Tauba	A. R. Rahman	6:11	Mehboob	Indian Rhythms by Laxmi Narayan, Neelakantan, Veda Shehnai by Appa Rao
5	Only You	A. R. Rahman	5:40	Mehboob	Percussion by Sivamani
6	Missing (Vande Mataram)	Instrumental	5:11
7	Thai Mannai Vanakkam	A. R. Rahman	6:11	Vairamuthu	Tamil version of Maa Tujhe Salaam
8	Masoom	A. R. Rahman	6:08	Gulzar	Sitar by Janardhanan
9	Musafir	A. R. Rahman, Faye	5:43	Tim Kody, Kanika Myer Bharat	Percussion by Peter Lockett Oboe by Sara Prosser

• Revival is not composed by A.R.Rahman. It is a traditional composition, with lyrics by poet Bankim Chandra Chatterjee.

Album credits

Personnel

• A. R. Rahman – vocals
• Pete Lockett – percussion
• Sivamani – percussion
• Merk James – guitar
• Sara Prosser – Oboe
• Ganesh - Violin
• Srinivasalu - Santoor
• Dominic Miller - Acoustic guitar
• Mahesh Tinaikar - Acoustic guitar
• Appa Rao - Shehnai
• Chris "Snake" Davis - Saxophone
• Janardhanan - Sitar

Production

• Producers: A. R. Rahman, Kanika Myer Bharat, Bharatbala
• Engineers: H. Sridhar, Paul Wright, Shivakumar
• Mixing: H. Sridhar
• Programming: A. R. Rahman, Yak Bondy

Design

• Art direction: Sunil Mahadik
• Design: Thotta Tharani
• Photography: Thejal Patni