Musically Yours: Clinton Cerejo : Bollywood News

First Big Break

I was doing a lot of vocal arrangements for a lot of Bollywood composers such as Anu Malik, Ismail Darbar and one such day it so happened that one of my arrangements was heard by A.R. Rahman. He heard the harmonies and really liked what he heard. The next thing I know is that I get a call from him and I headed straight to Chennai. The first film which I worked with Rahman on was a Tamil film Mudalvan. After that we worked on Takshak, Lagaan and a whole lot of films. For Lagaan, I put together a choir called Voices in the Wilderness consisting of a group of really good singers. I also conducted a 16 piece Methodist choir for Lagaan in Rahmans recording room in Chennai. I spent a lot of time in Chennai during that phase of my life doing everything from backing vocals to music arrangements etc.

On producing and programming the songs for Kaminey

It was great working on Kaminey. I had worked with Vishalji on Omkaraas well. For Kaminey I was working along with another programmer Hitesh Sonik. He is a brilliant music producer and arranger and I really admire his work. Kaminey was a departure for Vishalji from his usual sound which is very earthy and folk music. He tried to get a more slick and commercial score this time around. Also, this is probably the first time that someone has given credit to the music producers and arrangers and I am really thankful to Vishalji for that. He is one of the few music directors who realizes the value that music producers and programmers bring to the table.