AR Rahman Uses AI to Recreate Voices of Legendary Singers for Lal Salaam

Chenani: In a first, Oscar-winning composer A.R. Rahman used Artificial Intelligence (AI) to recreate the voices of two late legendary singers — Bamba Bakya and Shahul Hameed — for a song in the upcoming Tamil film Lal Salaam.

Rahman informed about it through a post on on X.

Rahman used AI to recreate Bakya and Hameed’s voices for the song Thimiri Yezhuda, to be used in the Aishwarya Rajinikanth-directed film Lal Salaam which has Rajinikanth in an extended cameo.

“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,” Rahman wrote on X, sharing Sony Music South’s post highlighting how an AI tool was used to recreate the voice of the legendary singers.

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 🙏 https://t.co/X2TpRoGT3l

— A.R.Rahman (@arrahman) January 29, 2024

“The mesmerizing voices of Bamba Bakya & Shahul Hameed in #ThimiriYezhuda from #LalSalaam made possible by @timelessvoicesx AI voice models. This marks the first time in the industry that a late legend’s voice has been brought back to life,” Sony Music South wrote on X.

Bamba Bakya and Shahul Hameed were close collaborators with Rahman, contributing to numerous chart-topping hits. Unfortunately, Shahul Hameed met a tragic end in a car crash in 1997, while Bamba Bakya succumbed to a cardiac arrest in 2022.