Entertainment
Singing alongside Rahman equal to bagging Oscar, Grammy: Darshana
Chennai: Playback singer Darshana describes the experience of sharing vocal space with double Oscar-winning composer A.R. Rahman as equivalent to bagging the Oscar, Grammy and many such coveted awards.
In Rahman’s upcoming Tamil soundtrack “Ok Kanmani”, Darshana has crooned five tracks, including a duet.
“To see your name right next to A.R. Rahman is a feeling I can’t explain. It’s beyond my dream. It’s like winning the Oscar, Grammy and National Award all at the same time. To share the vocal space with him is a special feeling,” Darshana told IANS.
“Even though my contribution to this movie is very minuscule, it’s still special to sing three songs in Tamil and two in Telugu from the same album. And one of songs happens to be a duet with Rahman sir. It was only after I saw the track credits, I realised it was a duet,” she said.
According to Darshana, the album of “Ok Kanmani”, which is scheduled for release on Wednesday, is “very fresh and young”.
In the album, Darshana has sung “Kaara Aattakkaara”, “Theera Ula” and its Telugu versions. She also sang the female version of “Mental Manadhil” song in Telugu.
Darshana’s collaboration with Rahman started way back in 2007 with Rajinikanth-starrer “Sivaji”.
She sang the opening lines of the hit number “Balleilakka” from the film. In the same year, she also crooned “Maduraikki Pogathadi” from Tamil film “Azhagiya Thamizh Magan” and some portion of “Mayya Mayya” from Mani Ratnam’s “Guru”.
Her other Rahman songs include “Pappu can’t dance saala” and “Nazrein milaana” from “Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Naa, “Chinamma” from “Sakkarakatti”.
Darshana says singing for Rahman is special because he knows “how to get the best of a vocalist”.
“It has worked in my case really well because he’s given me different kinds of songs. While ‘Balleilakka’ was folk; ‘Maduraikki’ was complete folk with a western touch; ‘Mayya mayya’ was Arabic. ‘Pappu can’t dance saala’ was hip-hop and ‘Nazrein milaana’ was a melody. He has given me the opportunity to work on my vocals and showcase the best of what I can,” she said.
She adds one can’t realise how Rahman gets the best from his singers.
“I think that’s where the magic lies. I have not worked with many composers, but with the few I’ve worked, they say what’s expected from me and I deliver. With Rahman sir, he gives you the space to experiment with your own voice and at the same time, he guides you as well. So you learn how to own the song and he knows how to get what he wants from his singers,” she said.
“In ‘Ok Kanmani’, I’ve sung in three different genres. When you hear the songs, both in Tamil and Telugu, you know that he’s used my voice in a completely different way and for me, to get the opportunity in one album to sing in three different genres, I consider myself very lucky,” said Darshana, who stays in Chicago with her husband.
“I’m studying Jazz vocals at Berkeley. I teach Carnatic music to kids. I’m looking to take more vocal workshops. And if there are local bands where I feel I can perform, I do go and participate,” said Darshana, who is currently working on two singles that she plans to release by this year end.
International online casino Casino Days has published a report sharing their internal data on what types and brands of devices are used to play on the platform by users from the South Asian region.
Such aggregate data analyses allow the operator to optimise their website for the brands and models of devices people are actually using.
The insights gained through the research also help Casino Days tailor their services based on the better understanding of their clients and their needs.
Desktops and Tablets Lose the Battle vs Mobile
The primary data samples analysed by Casino Days reveal that mobile connections dominate the market in South Asia and are responsible for a whopping 96.6% of gaming sessions, while computers and tablets have negligible shares of 2.9% and 0.5% respectively.
The authors of the study point out that historically, playing online casino was exclusively done on computers, and attribute thе major shift to mobile that has unfolded over time to the wide spread of cheaper smartphones and mobile data plans in South Asia.
“Some of the reasons behind this massive difference in device type are affordability, technical advantages, as well as cheaper and more obtainable internet plans for mobiles than those for computers,” the researchers comment.
Xiaomi and Vivo Outperform Samsung, Apple Way Down in Rankings
Chinese brands Xiaomi and Vivo were used by 21.9% and 20.79% of Casino Days players from South Asia respectively, and together with the positioned in third place with a 18.1% share South Korean brand Samsung dominate the market among real money gamers in the region.
Cupertino, California-based Apple is way down in seventh with a user share of just 2.29%, overshadowed by Chinese brands Realme (11.43%), OPPO (11.23%), and OnePlus (4.07%).
Huawei is at the very bottom of the chart with a tiny share just below the single percent mark, trailing behind mobile devices by Motorola, Google, and Infinix.
The data on actual phone usage provided by Casino Days, even though limited to the gaming parts of the population of South Asia, paints a different picture from global statistics on smartphone shipments by vendors.
Apple and Samsung have been sharing the worldwide lead for over a decade, while current regional leader Xiaomi secured their third position globally just a couple of years ago.
Striking Android Dominance among South Asian Real Money Gaming Communities
The shifted market share patterns of the world’s top smartphone brands in South Asia observed by the Casino Days research paper reveal a striking dominance of Android devices at the expense of iOS-powered phones.
On the global level, Android enjoys a comfortable lead with a sizable 68.79% share which grows to nearly 79% when we look at the whole continent of Asia. The data on South Asian real money gaming communities suggests that Android’s dominance grows even higher and is north of the 90% mark.
Among the major factors behind these figures, the authors of the study point to the relative affordability of and greater availability of Android devices in the region, especially when manufactured locally in countries like India and Vietnam.
“And, with influencers and tech reviews putting emphasis on Android devices, the choice of mobile phone brand and OS becomes easy; Android has a much wider range of products and caters to the Asian online casino market in ways that Apple can’t due to technical limitations,” the researchers add.
The far better integration achieved by Google Pay compared to its counterpart Apple Pay has also played a crucial role in shaping the existing smartphone market trends.
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