Oscar winner musician A.R. Rahman will headline the world famous “Sydney Festival 2010” in Australia on January 16.

Rahman’s two-and-a-half hour free and exclusive music-dance performance will also see over 40 Bollywood dancers, singers, and musicians at outdoor Parramatta Park near Sydney, starting 7-30 pm.

Festival website says about Rahman: “Sydney Festival is proud to celebrate this inspiring and multidimensional artist”. New South Wales Premier and Festival President Nathan Rees reportedly described Rahman as “without doubt one of the world’s great talents”.

Acclaimed Indo-American statesman Rajan Zed has applauded Rahman for creating a bridge between the music of east and west and for strengthening the worldwide market and stature of Indian music.

Forty-three Rajasthani musicians from India will also stage during this Festival “The Manganiyar Seduction” concert in a whimsical custom-built ‘magic box’.

Directed by Roysten Abel, the repertoire ranges from ballads about kings to mystics written Sufi songs and songs marking marriage-birth-feasts-rains; and the ensemble spans three generations.

Showing multi-cultural Australia, Festival First Night will include music-dance performances by “Bobby Singh & Friends”, including Australia’s leading table player Bobby Singh, Sarangan Sriranganathan, The Bollywood Sensations, Rasa Duende, etc.