A.R. Rahman Receives Honorary Doctorate from Berklee College of Music

Musical genius A.R. Rahman will be conferred an honorary 

Doctorate by the prestigious Berklee College of Music, Boston  

(Oct 24) at a glittering event. 

In recognition of his two decade-long musical legacy, the double 

Oscar and Grammy winner, best known for his original scores and 

songs from movies like Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours, etc.

The Golden Age and Million Dollar Arm, Rahman will receive the 

honour where the students and faculty will perform songs, paying 

tribute to his memorable compositions. Reportedly, Rahman will 

also join them for select pieces.

In honour of Rahman’s new relationship with Berklee, the college 

will establish a scholarship in his name to help bring in students 

from India. All proceeds from the October concert will go toward 

this scholarship fund, the college statement reads. In addition to his 

performance, Rahman will conduct a master class at the Berklee 

Performance Centre.
 

“I’m deeply moved to receive an honorary doctorate from such a 

distinguished school which has contributed so much to the worldof 

music,” Rahman said earlier. “I’m especially proud and honoured 

that the college is graciously establishing a scholarship in my name 

for future generations of musicians to follow their dreams,” he 

added.

Rahman’s visit comes in conjunction with the Berklee India 

Exchange, a new endeavour, aiming to connect Berklee students of 

all nationalities with successful players in the Indian entertainment 

industry.

Berklee College of Music President Roger H Brown had said, “A 

friend from India described A. R. Rahman to me as John Williams 

and Sting rolled in one a leading film composer and a wildly 

popular, brilliant songwriter and performer. We welcome him to 

Berklee, where the college and our students look forward to paying 

our respects.”

When guitarist Prasanna applied to attend Berklee in 1993, he 

asked none other than A. R. Rahman to write him a letter of 

reference. Rahman agreed, and the letter “is a lovely memory for 

me now”, recalls Prasanna.

A 60-piece Berklee student and faculty ensemble will honour 

Rahman’s two-decade-long musical legacy, which not only 

includes distinguished soundtracks and film scores, but also 

compositions for the 2012 Olympic Games and collaborations with 

iconic artistes like Mick Jagger, Michael Bolton, Andrew Lloyd 

Webber and Will.i.am.

Fusion Touch

The Jiya Jale number from ARR’s film, Dil Se, which starts with 

its Tamil lyrics, Nenjinile Nenjinile from the Tamil version, Uyire, 

with a fusion of several musical instruments was performed by the 

Berklee Indian Ensemble.

This video, in gratitude to Rahman’s contribution to the music 

world, has been trending on YouTube. Touched by their gesture, 

Rahman wrote on his microblog recently as follows, ‘Immensely 

talented students as part of the Berklee Indian Ensemble 

performing one of my songs’.