Rahman launches 'Jai Ho' world tour with musical extravaganza

 It was perhaps an experience of a lifetime for over 40,000-music lovers as Oscar winning music maestro A R Rahman launched his worldwide 'Jai Ho' tour here, holding them enthralled with a range of popular hits from Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam movies.     

It was a musical extravaganza this Kerala town has never seen before as music lovers from across the world thronged the corporation stadium last night to see their idol perform for the first time after winning a double Oscar for his score in 'Slumdog Millionaire'.     

Such was the response of the crowd that Rahman himself acknowledged at the end of the show that he would be delighted to return to Kozhikode once more.The show is the first of the 39 such live shows to be conducted by the maestro all over the world during the next five years.     

The show was enlivened by the participation of noted playback singers Hariharan, K S Chithra, Benny Dayal, Rahid Ali, Javed Ali, Mohammad Aslam and Sayanora who sang 30 popular songs from Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam movies. But the song that had the audience on their feet was undoubtedly the Oscar winning 'Jai Ho'.     

The proceeds of the world tour would be spent for the welfare of HIV-positive children.