Vande Mātaram by A.R. Rahman

Vande Mataram is a 1997 studio album by Indian musician A. R. Rahman. It is Sony Music India's largest-selling non-film album to date. It released on December 9, 1997 by Sony's music labels Columbia Records and SME Records. It was released on the Golden Jubilee anniversary of India's independence and has been instrumental in instilling a sense of patriotic pride and national unity amongst the people of India. Ever since release, both the album and its title song "Maa Tujhe Salaam" have had a profoundly positive and unifying impact on the nationalistic and patriotic mood of the country. The album also features "Gurus of Peace" which Rahman recorded with the late Pakistani Qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. A critical and commercial hit, the title song from the album is one of India's most popular songs of all time. Sung by Rahman himself, the song has come to represent a feeling of patriotic unity for India and has been performed or played at several national and regional events in the country. The popularity of the song was such that in 2002, when BBC World Service conducted an international poll to choose the ten most famous songs of all time from around 7000 songs selected from all over the world, "Maa Tujhe Salaam" was voted second. The track also holds two Guinness World Records for being the song performed in the most number of languages. Indian singer Sai "Psychuck" Manapragada performed the track in 265 different languages (individually) and again in 277 languages (with chorus) to achieve this feat twice. Rahman was also issued an Guinness World Record certificate for being the composer of the original song which was ceremoniously presented to Rahman after his concert in Oakland, CA, USA on September 12, 2010.The album won the 1997 Screen Videocon Award for Best Non-Film Album.