"Pray for Me Brother" is a single by

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n composer

A. R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967) is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer and songwriter, popular for his works in Indian cinema; predominantly in Tamil and Hindi films, with occasional forays in int ...

. Released in 2007, being one of the earliest vertical music videos, the song was conceived as an anti-poverty anthem for the Millennium Goals for the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

. It is part of a joint venture between the A. R. Rahman Foundation and

Nokia Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporatio ...

. The song had lyrics by

and

Blaaze Lakshmi Narasimha Vijaya Rajagopala Sheshadri Sharma Rajesh Raman (born 15 October 1975), professionally known as Blaaze (), is an Indian Tamil language playback singer and rapper in Indian cinema who specializes in writing and performing rap m ...

with additional lyrics by

Sukhwinder Singh Sukhwinder Singh (born 18 July 1971) is an internationally acclaimed Indian playback singer who primarily sings Bollywood songs. He is famous internationally for singing " Jai Ho" from the film ''Slumdog Millionaire'' which won an Academy Awa ...

. The main vocalist was Rahman himself, while

accompanied him by providing backing vocals.

Clinton Cerejo Clinton Cerejo is an Indian singer, music composer and musician. Life Clinton Cerejo was born into an academically inclined family with no known musical background. His father was an engineer at L&T and mother is a French professor. His elde ...

Dominique Cerejo Dominique Cerejo is an Indian female playback singer best known for the song "Yeh Tumhari Meri Baatein" from Rock On!!. She has sung in over thirty bollywood soundtrack albums. She is married to Clinton Cerejo, who also works in the Indian mus ...

Vivienne Pocha Vivian (and variants such as Vivien and Vivienne) is a given name, and less often a surname, derived from a Latin name of the Roman Empire period, masculine ''Vivianus'' and feminine '' Viviana'', which survived into modern use because it is the ...

and Hrishikesh Kamerkar have also provided backing vocals. The video of the album was directed and conceived by

Bharatbala Bharath Bala is an Indian film director, screenwriter and film producer based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Career Bharat Bala produced the acclaimed album ''Vande Mataram'' and '' Jana Gana Mana Video'' and heads BharatBala Productions based in Che ...

of BharatBala Productions, who is a usual associate for Rahman's album videos. It has been shoot by the ace cinematographer Tassaduq Hussain Mufti. Rahman said about the song, "It’s a simple song, which will be very unique in its concept. The idea behind this is to spread the message of humanity. We will tell people to preserve humanity."

Background

In 1998, after averting a major crisis in the Middle East through diplomatic means,

UN Secretary-General The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or SG) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations. The role of the secretary-ge ...

Kofi Annan Kofi Atta Annan (; 8 April 193818 August 2018) was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. He was the founder ...

had spoken the following words, "Never underestimate the power of prayer". In his eyes, it was prayer that finally gave any material means the agency to make the world a better place. The

Foundation represents a movement to eradicate poverty through facilitation of education to poor and needy children. As part of the initiative, it has joined with several institutes across the globe. ''Pray For Me Brother'' is an initiative by the A.R. Rahman Foundation, with

Nokia Corporation Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, established in 1865. Nokia's main headquarters are in Espoo, Finland, i ...

to collect funds for the U.N. Millennium Development Programme aimed at eradicating poverty by the year 2015. It is a song about the emotion that lies at the heart of prayer – the emotion of love. It reinstills our faith in love’s power to heal and reminds us that there are those in this world who need of our gestures of healing and comfort. The song was made available for a free download at the official website of U.N. Millennium Goals. Speaking on the occasion of the audio launch, Rahman said, One thing is common about hunger-everybody feels it. This song is a statement from India to the world. Otherwise we listen and the world talks. I have seen beggars everywhere. This song is not a remedy but an inspiration to do something.

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...

official Sathya suggested I should come up with a song for the tuberculosis cause for which U.N. had appointed me as their Brand Ambassador. As I was doing this, I noticed the poverty around that we seem to have become immune to. I called my friend Blaaze and asked if we could do something, hence the song was born, he added. The film is set primarily in

Los Angeles, USA Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, where progress and plenitude abound. Lives and lifestyles there stand in stark contrast to those parts of the world where pain and suffering abound. The film attempts to bring these two worlds together through its story and in doing so depicts the dawning of a particular realization on its protagonist – that he need not wait for a reason to show kindness, that now was the time for him to offer a healing prayer to his brothers and sisters in need across the world. Several taglines and quotes that would inspire the world were given within the album art. Some of them were *"Our world spends 736 Billion every year on WAR, Our world spends 130 Trillion every year on weapons of mass destruction. This can provide food, shelter & clothing for all the people in the world, 20 times over." *"Our World Needs a Prayer." *"This song is dedicated to inspire people to eradicate poverty from our world. And to give hope to all people suffering from oppression, injustice and cruelty due to foreign forces or their own cruel leaders. And to those that are deprived of love and compassion. And to fill the void which exists in each and everyone of us. And to those that are ''searching for a reason to be kind.''" *"All Perfect Praises Belong to The Almighty Alone."

Music video

The film was conceived and directed by

in the banner of BharatBala Productions. The song was picturised in

, with cinematography by

Tassaduq Hussain Mufti Tassaduq Hussain Mufti is a former cinematographer known for his work in '' Omkara'' and ''Kaminey''. He is now the member of Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party and the former member of Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Council. He serv ...

. The choreography was done by Cassel Dixion Jr, Talent Bryan Clark and Adele Jones. The music video was the first to be shot on mobile cinemascope format.

Track listing

The official track listing.

Disc one

Disc two (limited edition DVD)

#Pray for Me Brother - Original unedited full length video film in 4:3 aspect ratio. #Making of the video Feat.

Trivia

This song is usually regarded as the first English song by

. But there were some songs in English, composed and sung by him before "Pray For Me Brother". This include eight songs from his first studio album ''Shubhaa's Set Me Free'', "No Problem" from '' Love Birds'', "I Wanna Be Free" from '' Tehzeeb'' (mostly in English), "My Wish Comes True" from '' Kisna: The Warrior Poet'' and rap portions from his various film songs. But neither of these songs, were sung by him but was composed by him (except "No Problem" which was co-sung by him). "Musafir" from ''

Vande Mataram ''Vande Mataram'' (Sanskrit: वन्दे मातरम् IAST: , also spelt ''Bande Mataram''; বন্দে মাতরম্, ''Bônde Mātôrôm''; ) is a poem written in sanskritised Bengali by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in the ...

'' (mostly in English) was the first song sung by him.

Album credits

Personnel

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

Srinivas Srinivasa (Sanskrit ) is a Hindus, Hindu name. The term Srinivasa is Vaishnavism, Vaishnava in origin, the combination of two Sanskrit words, ''Shri'' (श्री) and ''nivasa'' (निवास). It is a name for males in India as well as a fa ...

–

Sarod The sarod is a stringed instrument, used in Hindustani music on the Indian subcontinent. Along with the sitar, it is among the most popular and prominent instruments. It is known for a deep, weighty, introspective sound, in contrast with the sweet ...

Mikey McCleary Michael McCleary is a New Zealand songwriter, composer, performer, producer and director based in Mumbai, India since 2007. He has worked on a large number of advertisements such as for brands like Levi's, Coca-Cola, Vodafone etc. and films su ...

–

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

*Christy Samuels -

*Carry Hernley –

Saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

*Leigh Ann Woodard –

Oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. A ...

*Seetha Sivaswamy -

Flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

Production

*Producers:

*Executive Producer: Mohan Chopra *Engineers: H. Sridhar, Aditya Modi, S. Sivakumar, P. Deepak *Mixing:

*Mastering:

Design

*Artwork : Epigram *Photography: Akin

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pray For Me Brother Songs with music by A. R. Rahman Indian songs 2007 singles 2007 songs Universal Music Group singles