CHENNAI: A surprise two-hour concert by maestro AR Rahman and his group under the open skies — that treat came to residents of a tsunami-hit village in Tamil Nadu. Villagers in Kottucherrymedu had the musical experience of a lifetime on Wednesday when Rahman not only spent seven hours with them, but also played for them. The Bombay Dreams composer and his troupe were in Nagore to pray at the dargah there. The team then visited tsunami-hit Kottucherrymedu and joined people from 11 fishing hamlets for a community feast arranged by the coastal panchayats and a local NGO, which had quietly invited Rahman to perform for the villagers. The troupe, included Hariharan, Karthik, Chinmayi and Shivamani. Rahman asked the people to forget the tsunami and “march ahead with courage and faith”. The open air concert went on for nearly two hours. Rahman told the gathering he had come to the village on his own “to bring happiness to troubled hearts through music”. — HNS