Bollywood superstar composer A.R. Rahman and his 66 dancers, singers and musicians began their Patriot Center concert at 8 p.m. and were still receiving enthused screams three high-energy hours later. After Rahman wrapped up the performance at 11:20 p.m. Sunday, the crowd remained, and stayed pumped, until the confetti fell.

All ages and entire families from the Washington area's Indian community danced and sang along to more than 30 Rahman hits -- and they're all hits. The 41-year-old composer-singer- instrumentalist is one of the most important and popular artists in modern Indian music, mixing traditional sounds with hip-hop and dub-inflected electronica. He's a prolific genius who has scored more than 100 Bollywood films; in 2003 the BBC reported that he's sold more than 100 million albums, and there are estimates that he has moved twice that many cassettes.
   
Based on the ethnic makeup of the nearly sold-out Patriot Center audience, not many people outside those of Indian descent have a clue about Rahman, but that may change. He's slowly making inroads into the non-Indian populace, having collaborated with Andrew Lloyd Webber on the musical "Bombay Dreams," having scored "The Lord of the Rings" stage production and having his smash song "Chaiyya Chaiyya" open the Spike Lee film "Inside Man."

While the slamming "Chaiyya Chaiyya" received the evening's largest ovation -- and some of the audience's fiercest rump shaking -- it was just the 17th song in the set.