AR Rahman welcomes movers and shakers of chess to Namma Ooru Chennai

Chennai is bracing itself for the upcoming Worldwide Chess Olympiad, 2022, which is ready to be held from July 28. Grammy and Oscar-winning composer AR Rahman was not too long ago seen performing in a promotional video for the Olympiad.

In the video titled ‘Welcome to Namma Ooru (Our Metropolis) Chennai’, Rahman was seen wearing all white. He donned a fusion of conventional and modern clothes. The composer paired the normal veshti with a white shirt rounded up with a white jacket and black footwear.

The video reveals the composer singing and swinging to the jingle beats created by him as he walks on the well-known Napier bridge constructed over the Cooum river. The bridge which connects Madras College and Island Grounds has been painted thematically like a Chess board.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin additionally joins Rahman within the video as the dancers carry out towards the backdrop of Mamallapuram monuments. The clip begins with ‘Welcome to Namma Ooru Chennai’, and the phrases ‘Varuga Varuga Tamizh Nattukuu Varuga’ (Hearty Welcome to Tamil Nadu) are interspersed, as the lyrics go by.

The Worldwide Chess Olympiad, organised by Federation Internationale des Echecs (FIDE) is a biennial chess match during which groups representing nations of the world compete. The 2020 and 2021 Chess Olympiad were held online, owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, which affected the participants’ online ranking.

The history of the Chess Olympiad dates back to 1924. FIDE organised the primary Official Olympiad in 1927 which started in London.

Rahman's music is one of the chords that connect India, but we still don't know how the creations of a shy Tamil boy found a devoted audience around the world. Everyone seems to have a favourite Rahman song, but the elusive composer remains a mystery.

While many of his collaborators believe that Rahman's compositions are so emotionally charged that they don't need lyrics, Rahman says he learned the value of language from Subhash Ghai, who used to say, “If you don't learn the language, you can't compose.” The two worked together on Taal, arguably Rahman's biggest hit in Hindi cinema.