On Friday, AR Rahman launched his metahumans project in Dubai, introducing a global musical ensemble featuring six dynamic virtual musicians representing diverse people and cultures worldwide. Taking place at the ‘Abundance For The Future by SWFI’ event, Rahman, the musical maestro, will steer the content and creative direction of the band, with members portrayed through Synthetic Avatars. The collaboration between Rahman and the band aims to seamlessly merge the realms of reality and virtuality using cutting-edge technologies such as visual effects and motion capture.
With a vision to integrate cultures and eliminate boundaries, Rahman’s band seeks to promote unity and harmony, transcending divisions. The project is endorsed by The HBAR Foundation, a prominent web3 ecosystem fund, with additional technology partners set to be announced soon.
AR Rahman Utilizes AI for Resurrecting Voices of Deceased Singers
In a recent development, Rahman employed AI technology to recreate the vocal tones of the late singers Bamba Bakya and Shahul Hameed for a track featured in Rajinikanth’s latest film, ‘Lal Salaam.’ This action stirred a controversy, prompting public discussions on whether it was ethical or amounted to cheating.
Addressing the controversy, Rahman clarified that his team had obtained permission from the families of Bakya and Hameed before using AI to recreate their voices for the song. He emphasized that fair compensation had been provided to their families as fees for the project. Rahman took to Twitter to share, “We took permission from their families and sent deserving remuneration for using their voice algorithms… technology is not a threat and a nuisance if we use it right…#respect #nostalgia.”
Bakya, known for his renditions, including the latest ‘Ponni Nadhi’ in Mani Ratnam’s ‘Ponniyin Selvan,’ passed away in September 2022 at the age of 42. His notable tracks also include ‘Pullinangal’ from Rajinikanth’s ‘2.0,’ ‘Kalame Kalame’ from Vijay’s ‘Bigil,’ and ‘Simtarangaran’ from ‘Sarkar.’