The newly launched band aims to fuse cultures, break down boundaries, and eliminate divisiveness, promoting a sense of shared humanity.
On Friday, music composer AR Rahman unveiled his metahumans project, a global musical band featuring six dynamic virtual musicians that symbolize diverse people and cultures worldwide. The launch took place in Dubai at the ‘Abundance For The Future by SWFI’ event. Rahman will offer content and creative direction to the band, whose members will be embodied by Synthetic Avatars. Utilizing cutting-edge technologies such as visual effects and motion capture, Rahman and the band aim to seamlessly blend the realms of reality and virtuality.
Rahman’s band aims to foster cultural integration, eliminate boundaries, and mitigate divisiveness, with the overarching goal of promoting a unified sense of humanity. The project receives support from The HBAR Foundation, a prominent web3 ecosystem fund. Additional technology partners joining this innovative venture will be announced in the near future.
AR Rahman harnesses the power of AI to recreate Late Singer’s Voice
In a recent development, Rahman employed AI software to replicate the voices of late singers Bamba Bakya and Shahul Hameed for a track in Rajinikanth’s upcoming film ‘Lal Salaam‘. This move triggered a controversy, with opinions varying on whether it was ethically sound or constituted cheating.
Addressing the controversy, Rahman clarified that his team had obtained permission from the families of Bakya and Hameed to recreate their voices for the song. Furthermore, he emphasized that fair compensation had been provided to their families as fees for their contribution to the project.
In a tweet, Rahman stated, “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 rendition of popular songs like the recent ‘Ponni Nadhi’ in Mani Ratnam’s ‘Ponniyin Selvan,’ passed away in September 2022 at the age of 42. He had also lent his voice to tracks such as ‘Pullinangal’ from Rajinikanth’s ‘2.0,’ ‘Kalame Kalame’ from Vijay’s ‘Bigil,’ and ‘Simtarangaran’ from ‘Sarkar.’