Ilayaraja's 'How To Name It?' A Splendid Affair - Photos
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THe link i posted yesterday, updated with 33 fotos, Excellent ones, shows the ambiance and mood perfectly!
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...6108221&type=3
Sample this!
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Reg my ribs on jenma sabalyam etc, don't take it too seriously. Obviously, as I was telling KV and Wizzy yesterday, I attended this only because the venue was just 15 mins away from home. There is no reason for me to flaunt pride at my raja-loyalty etc. I am the least committed Raja follower here possibly. What I meant was irundhirundhu once in a blue moon, I attended a concert - and it turned out to be a historic event with unprecedented connect to the man. Adhai thaan poorva jenma palan endrEn. What else could it be when more committed followers missed just this one opportunity and missed out on the connect while I took just this one opp and it hit the bulls' eye?
Plum, usually you kuthirai thaaNdufying only against a person or a group of few. This time, using this HTNI concert opportunity you jumped nicely on the whole jana samoothiram!
Heard glimpses of Raja Speech. As usual great!
Fans, as usual torchaal :evil: Always clapping passing comments, irritating! Netizens aa ivlo uncultured aa irukkaanga :shock: Won't you guys don't know how to remain silent and make noises ONLY at gaps and at the end?!? Shame on you guys
:rotfl:Quote:
Originally Posted by venkkiram
Plum oru adi adichchA neenga 100 adi adikkiReenga :-)
On the morning drive to office, I heard this gem in Iowa Public Radio..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUCgS7OYtvE
Indha Raaja, Lsubbu, Rahman ivingallaam sendhu idhai maadhiri oru piece poattaal nalla irukumyaa.
Andha piecekku namma santosh sivanai vechu oru pichurisashan panninaal innyuum sooperaa irukkumla.
Plum,
Thoroughly enjoyed your posts, but as you expressed authoritatively, it is the biggest miss and sin of my lifetime, since I have not attended. Also this is my top most soundtrack not just Maestro's. Only one excuse I can give is distance I am at. Nice to read about Maestro's fascinating mind and the 'right' humility through you. :clap: He is the one who introduced me to Western trinity; Bach, Mozart and Beethoven and the whole world of western classical music and expanded my horizons from a very narrow musical sense to wider perspectives (whatever little I could grasp), of course through many friends like you all, bloggers and musicians who sincerely brought-forth his musical genius and diversity. In short, he answered, how the music should be and how to listen to it. Whatever music sense I have cultivated over these years, it is only because of Maestro and I owe him a lot. If he has already expanded my horizons and ready to expand my vision today to witness this show and also seeking a rare opportunity to see him (only once I got a opportunity to see him while I was in college, but very very far though in Nehru Stadium, Coimbatore), I know how costly this miss could be, a miss of a lifetime. No two thoughts about it.
vennkiram,
Wonderfully written about your college memories and HTNI. Thanks to your friend.:smile:
Expecting more from KV, wizzy, skr and others who witnessed the show.
What did IR say about Karthik Raja?
:ty: for the FACEBOOK- PHOTOS SET!
Quote:
Originally Posted by sakaLAKALAKAlaa Vallavar
I haven't listened to the speech yet.
thanks for all the updates, will enjoy with Raja's sedhi tonight.
but regarding... silent aa erukkaradhu!
namba jantha konjam appadithaan erukkanga.... yennu theriyalai?
go to theater, just sit calmly before the previews, trailers... panna maattanga!
pesittey eruppanga... same AMC theaters complex, enter & check inside a non-Indian film theater, people will be sitting quiet.
Even before the movie starts, namba jantha give you headaches!:roll::(
vinatha.
Plum, lucky you!
I have seen him once - ThiruvaNNAmalai around 2003. Was too overwhelmed and before I could react, he was gone.
Was in India in December last year. The concert happened on the ONLY date in the entire freaking month in which I could not attend. I was so mad during the entire trip. America vaanga sir :oops:
# That his music is yet to be comprehended fully by even trained personnel came to the fore when Anil Srinivasan confidently introduced "Mad mod mood fugue", talking about how fugue segues into waves of melodies and how he found atleast six in this when 2 or 3 is the usual norm. Just a piece later, he had to sheepishly announce that Raja had called him in between the piece and informed him that this wasn't a fugue in the first place! This was the state of a renowned pianist who has been widely respected for his musical acumen in music circles of Chennai. Imagine what kind of surface scratching TFM fans have done over the years then?
## the fans - yes, they were an unruly mob and a lot of them were keen on passing smart alec comments - while I am fine with the "thiagarajarum ilayarajavum onnu dhaaneppa" kind of comments, it wasn't at all edifying to hear the constant interruption of pieces with applause even as the performance was in progress, the smart alecs who showed off their prowess by whistling the tunes just in advance and gave an unwelcome impromptu sing-along during the performance :banghead:, and my kolaiveRi is reserved for the gentleman who, when the crowd was urging Raja to sing and suggesting a wide variety of songs for the purpose, quoted kolaiveri song. Enge vandhu ennadaa pEsuRa, even assuming you just wanted to sound funny? I was half expecting Sir to shout "ore edathula okkarndhaa neeyum naanum onnaa". But He wasn't in that kind of mood, hence the crowd escaped.
Avar paavamga! Even in the NothingButWind Concert, these non-sense crowd was givng taarchal then and there, and the tipping of ice is, when a fan shouted and interrupted "ungaLaala mattum thaan mudiyum" at a point, when Raja was speaking. He really got irritated and said "Tha chi! summaa iru. Neeyum naanum ore idathula irukkomgrathaala enna vENaa pesidrathaa" and left a gap, then continued. Mahaa Paavam illayaa :cry: :evil: Interrupting and irritating a Mind of Genius, who, already caught between heavy traffinc of thoughts in his Terra Hertz speed Mind, getting interrupt.
Even after this, when Vaali was speaking, again a real stupid commented something meaning that vaali was ushaar enuf to "earn well", Raja reacted with a gesture "Ennayyaa ithu?! Ippadiyaa pesurathu??". This time he didn;t speak but only did a hand and facial gesture. Just think. This comment after already Raja becoming and expressing his anger once.
The most shocking thing is, even after all this, those on stage who had access to Mic - RohiNi, Arigiri Mottai guy(forgot his name), BhavathaariNi, and few others, none of them cared to get Mic and pass a soft warning to the crowd to keep quiet.
If anyone gets an un edited version of his speech in NBW Live concert, they can see Raja say ""Tha chi! summaa iru." Enna kobam. ippadi kovappada vaitha antha rasigarai, naan SaabamE viduven! What to do, i am a poor guy and my Curses don't have power.
# kitta thitta Kamal mAdhiri multi-threaded speech - at one point, he started off explaining how he wrote "Study for Violin" in the flight from Malaysia to HongKong, while travelling to attenda Paul Maria(t silent, and I didnt know that until Raja pronounced it as Maria yesterday). It started off with the fact that there was a Mariat concert in Hong Kong, went to Paris(fast forward a few years later) where Maria explained to him how it was impossible to change even a note in the works of WCM maestros("Can you change even a note", Mariat asked me, said Raja), and that in turn was a tangent from his explanation of how Kalyani wasnt his favourite raga as Anil Srinivasan had ill-informedly guessed in his compering. Infact, this was preceded by a lengthy self-made short story to illustrate why Ragas arent that important in the bigger scheme of music, and how music simply reflects the manodharma of the musician/performer at the point of composition/performance. A parallel thread ran in the same segment of conversation wherein he explained how he used to walk 200 miles just for listening to/learning music(I lost trakc of whether he meant himself or Saint Thiagaraja who did this) and licking a chappi pOtta mAngottai** to satisfy hunger in the meanwhile, such was the devotion to music. He also recalled how his brother used to beat him up(vividly expaining the process of pirambadi on the fingers like only a sensitive artist can) for touching his harmonium, and how Bach had a similar incident in his life, wherein his brother used to beat him up for touching his music books, and how Bach's aNNi used to help him steal the book to the terrace in moonlight for copying the notes - and how that helped Bach master clasical music, the process of writing being considered a scientific tool for memorizing and imbibing a subject. At this point, he came back to the "Can you change a note?" meme, and explained how the geniuses did what their manodharmam at that moment dictated, and that stands as reference and musical theory for us today to explore. He linked this to why he cannot answer Karthikeyan's very perceptive question on how the crowd wanted him to explain the thought process behind the creation of each piece(I dont know about the others in the crowd, but this was what i was baying for in my mind, and true to my telepathy with him, it was Karthikeyan who latched on to this point and pushed his father to answer. enakkum Karthikeyanukkum oru connect irukku. meendum uNarndhEn. sari idhu thani thread. idhukku appuRam varrEn). That is when he gave the widely reported punchline "If I understand and explain the process, music will stop coming".
Now, read that paragraph again and understand the overall thread - I am very proud to say that since I was there, the parallel threads were all sensible and I could fully comprehend the nuances of what he was saying. I dont know if I conveyed it that effectively but I think I have done a very good approximation - and that is why, friends, yesteryda's concert was nothing like what you have ever seen, nor I suspect will be ever seen again.
Flau, Ultimate yaar! Even NBW concert speech was not as technical as this. This is a real miss!
And that 200 Miles is about Thiyaagaraajar, not Raja himself! He said 3 things in the 3 artists life where they struggled to even have the access to listen music!
On L Subramaniam, he recalled how he grew up as one of the kozhandhais in LS's father's household. "Lloyds lanela oNNA vaLarndhOm"). This presumably must have been after he started learning from Dhanraj master. He recalled how he wanted to write 24 studies for Violin, and asked LS if he will play "neenga vaasichaa naan ezhudharennu sonnEn but avaru busy-nu sollittu pOittAr"). At this point, LS interjected and jokingly said "enge internal panchayat ellAm publicA solli mAnaththa vAngaRAr" :lol:.
Then LS said "24 studies for violin. I believe you can write".
Our man replied " I can write so many things" :lol: :thumbsup: :bow:
LS acknowledged the truth in that statement with a gesture.
Now, this is what I want from a genius. idhu dhaan fact. A genius must be able to say this about himself - worldly humility requirements be damned. ulagam enna nenaikkumnu nenaichu idhai sollAma vudaRa talented person genius kedayAdhu.
Then, commenting on Ambi, he recalled how, as a child, Ambi used to cry that his father scolds him saying he is playing the music too fast. Raja recalled that he advised the young Ambi to retort to his father that "avasaram illainA musicE illainu sollu avar kitta". :rotfl:
Some more nuggets:
#I dont remember which piece but a piece played in Trombone was actually written for 2 guitars, it seems. It was recorded in 2 parts but the result was not satisfactory hence he decided to restructure it to Trombone
## We had a lec-dem of this so it is difficult to explain in words but let me try. "In Western countries, children et to know harmony, melody etc by the time they are 4. It took me 27 years to know a weestern scale even though I had been playing music for years before that." It was on a Bach record during the time he was working for GKV. He saved for 3 months to buyt 3 records in Poppat Jamaal(one by Bach, one by Chaurasia and one dont remember). "Oho idhu dhaan (E major or whatever) scaleAnu nenaicnhudEn". Then he hums the first few notes of the Bach fugue - and slowly shows us the process of "Ada idhu namma charukesi pOla irukkE". "All I did was to write an indian counter-melody for it that's all". **** DEMONSTRATES IT!!!!!!*****
"So, music epdi varudhunnu epdi solRadhu. uNmaiyAna music engEyo irukku, naama engeyo pOROm. WCM, ICM, FolkOda isai mudinju pOchA? andhandha periodla periyavanga avanga mind frequencykku thONinadhbai paNNinAnga adhu namakku innikku referenceA vandhu nikkudhu"
"ippO Thulasi dhalamuna(Chamber welcomes thiagaraja piece) vai ippadi ellAm pAduvOmnu Thiagarajar nenaichiruppArA? idhu evLO kodumai :lol:.". It is at this point that he turns towards Yuvan and says "Yuvan, Thiagarajar pAttu iLaingargaLukkAnadhu". Presumably, Yuvan must have expressed his ignorant dismissal of Thiagarajar as "fit for old men" music at some point which is why I think he specifically addressed Yuvan for this when Thiagarajar came up for discussion. At this point, he made a self-dig "avaru pAttai nAn pAadina adhu light music Ayidum" :lol:
All this segued into "enakku kalyani pidicha raagam illai. andha nErathula thOnithu paNNinEn avLo dhAn".
kosuRu: the 2 pieces of paper he wrote 2 studies for violin, as to be expected, are lost forever.
Karthikeyan Nuggets
===============
1. As I explained, it was Karthik who represented the crowd and urged Raja to explain the process, which is what led to the fascinating peek into the genius's mind. Karthik asked exactly the questions I had in my mind. Telpathy, telepathy!!
2. "We love you Karthik" shouted a smart alec after IR wound up his explanation. And he has my full approval for it, although KV pointed that I had competition now. I half-suspect that the gentleman in question was none other than our mumbairamki, which hopefully means there is no new competition among my Karthik fan club, consisting of 2 members in the world - MR and myself.
3. The Bach record that Raja bought, Raja said, is what used to be played to months old Karthik as thirupalli ezhuchi and as thaalaattu. In my paravasam, I dont remember the exact words, but a lengthy praise of his elder son followed with "That is why he is an unique musician, is Karthik. There is no one like him". : paravasam : , : pulagaangidham :, :sAndrOn ena kEtta thaai:
4. Yuvan was teased during the Thiagarajar story, Bhavadha got a nice reprimand for the choice of songs to be sung under the gaze of Thiagaraja and Bach but HIS voice when talking about Karthikeyan..........:wavecollar:.....it was abundantly clear that the elder-born was the favourite son, and that our Genius considers Karthikeyan as a worthy musician more than any of his other children(admittedly not a tough choice). But it means a lot to me - I am convinced that Karthik is special for IR as much as he is special to me - and not just because karthik is his son. It is clear he doesnt reserve the same level of admiration and respect for his other children. It is more of love, kaNdippu and lording over them as a loving but unbiased father who is not going to give them anything more than what is due to them as credit. With Karthik, whether it is just his fatherly love or not we dont know, but there is a special respect in his tone when he talks about Karthik. As a Karthikeyan fan, this is an Oscar and Grammy combined for my idol. Karthikeya, unakku vAzhkkaila vERa praise thEvai illaidA. nee sAdhichuttadA chellam, idhu pOdhumdA!
"How To Name it" is very special to me. While I joked that I went to this concert only because it happened close to my house, it is also true that I hold HTNI closer to my heart than NBW, and therefore had an extra motivation to attend this one.
What do God-fearing students listen to before examinations? Kandar Sashti Kavacham, perhaps? Vishnu Sahasranamam? Aiyappan Paamaalai? Yesu Thudhi? Allah Allah? Well, I used to listen to HTNI every day before leaving for my 10th and 12th examinations. The BGM in my mind as I wrote the exams was predominantly "Do Anything" and "How to Name it".
Even now, when I hear some portions of these pieces, vague memories of my Mathematics and Chemistry question papers in my board exams float in my mind.
You know what, such is the power of this God that I ended up with 99 in Chemistry in 12th when I had attempted all of 90 marks worth of questions :lol:
difficult job to follow up on Plum gaaru's post so doing a quick bullet points on the show..pliss not to expect technicalities on the music front..for that listen to the man himself at the end of this post.
-We planned to meet on or about 5pm to beat the queue and as my luck would have it my vehicle clanked and had to hop on two vehicles to get to the venue.
-KV and his band of friends drove all the way from Bang so that he could attend the show..taking devotion to music to uncharted levels :bow:
-Plum gaaru was the first to reach the venue and promptly updated the status in hub*
-I had visualized Plum to be Mr.Grumpy guy but much to my/our utter surprise he was no where close to being one ;-)
-KV too might have harbored similar doubts hence popped the proxy ref. and Plum had to retort to that post* to proclaim his identity :lol:
-After all the ice-breaking chats/kisu-kisu on things related to music/movies/hub/celeb spotting we were probably the last men left stranded in the queue.
-to our horror we found that queue which we were busy attending to was only to get the tickets verified and there was yet another queue running parallel to enter the auditorium.
- that called for command/control so we had to literally barge in and ended up with seats for which we ought to have paid twice the amount :lol2:
- found out this was Plum's first one-one with the god..was hoping he wouldn't faint with the Vishwaroopa darisanam with piano et al.
- the darisanam was at 6.45pm to a thundering applause and inexplicably it was nerve wracking exp. :shaking: for me..can't think anyone invoking similar pheelings.
- Bhava started the show with 'Janani' as a dedication to her mom and did a fairly competent job when pitted against her erstwhile stage performances.
- Anil Srinivasan(pianist+host) took it over from then and quizzed on how many peeps present were the bhakhts :lol: and warmed up by playing some bgms to a rapturous response and then rambled on what it takes to be a genius and why IR is special vis-a-vis other composers.
-'Do anything' was first track to played..when Ballesh took over..the audience took it onto themselves to down it with their applause :-(
-All this while we thot the kid in the first row of the string section was Ambi Subramaniam who later performed the duo with him.
-Ambi started with HTNI..nervy start..took a while to settle down.
-Two thumbs up the guys on the bass/drums
Jarring notes
- The guy on control knob must have been a noob..he had no clue about acoustics and pushed string section volume too low or high..same with the keys and we couldn't hear flute in 'Do anything'
- the intros to the tracks could have been done better..we later found out the CD from which they took notes had the track names goofed up hence the turbulence.
- seems Arulmozhi has given this concert a miss
- ellam therinja ekambarams torture :banghead: soduking(snapping)/foot-tapping/whistling/ringtones and all the means you could imagine which could deter our listening exp. :evil:
Speech
https://rapidshare.com/files/1808554482/IR-SP1.mp3
https://rapidshare.com/files/4167968321/IR-SP2.mp3
usually i am not a senti guy..
havent been to india/chennai in 5 years - havent missed even 1 minute till today morning.
you guys have made me sick.. and i need to listen to "Agila Agila - OK OK" song in loop for rest of the day to
forget all this..
<closing eyes> This never happened.. There was no concert and raaja did not speak... </closing eyes>
//Then, commenting on Ambi, he recalled how, as a child, Ambi used to cry that his father scolds him saying he is playing the music too fast. Raja recalled that he advised the young Ambi to retort to his father that "avasaram illainA musicE illainu sollu avar kitta". //
plum, i think it was 'abaswaram' not avasaram. :)
The songs section started of fwell with Om Sivoham by Sriram P with good support on the chorus by Sathyan, Agandhaiyik aaduvadhaa(Feeyar should have been there for this one from uLiyin Osai), and Bavadha singing Ninnai CharanadaindhEN. Wait, it wasnt that bad, honest, She faltered only in "midimaiyum acchamum", and surprisingly, held up very well for the rest of the song. And then the disco stuff took over, and although well intentioned to show off the brass parts and the string section thARumARu craeted by our man, it was clearly out of place under the gaze of Bach and Thiagarajar, something the man himself would point out later. And when Bavadha tried to pass it off as "unga pAttu dhAnEppA", you should have seen his reaction. Daughter or not, it was abundantly clear that you mess up with his musical Gods at your own peril!
naarayanan, you are right, I guess. nAn paravasa nilaila irukkEn. Forgive me for minor mistakes, please!
I have tried my best - hope you got atleast one millionth of the experience we had, from my wordsQuote:
Originally Posted by sakalakakavallavar
:omg: Even there, if it is even acceptable, that to comprehend a genius work, it is not that easy, whatever music skills they have. I am more concerned that how people just/frequently dismiss his work without even knowing what they are missing. Poor genius!Quote:
Originally Posted by Plum
Plum,
With all your posts I can only remember Saagara Sangamam climax scene after the dance is over, when Balakrishnan was introduced to the audience
as her Guru, and the audience start applauding, Kamal expresses with this glowing face that he wants to hear more of that and asks them continue
raising his hands. (Greatest film moment for me, that was/is/will be) This was because he was deprived of some great opportunities due to unavoidable circumstances and no one knows his true calibre. First time when he hears this uproar that too for him, he does not want them to stop. He feels that as a true recognition. Similarly your posts serves as that and everyone should read this and Maestro will be proud of. Thank you so much Plum. :notworthy:
When people bring in kolaveri di in this concert, I don't know what to say, except that guy was lucky that I am not there.:twisted:
கான்சர்ட் போன அத்தனை பேரும் புண்ணியவான்கள்.
வாசித்தவர்கள்,வழங்கியவர்கள், பங்கு பெற்றவர்கள், அனைவரும் தேவதைகள்.
புது ராகம் படைப்பதாலே ராஜாவும் இறைவனே.
இது போன்ற நிகழ்சிகளில் பங்கு கொள்ள முடியாமல் தவிக்கின்ற கோடானு கோடி பேர் - என்னை போல் பாவிகள்.
எழுத்தால் தொகுத்து வழங்கிய அனைவருக்கும் நன்றி. கேட்க வெட்கமாக இருக்கிறது. யாரேனும் மொபைலில்
நிகழ்ச்சியை சுட்டிருந்தால், பகிர்ந்து கொள்ளுங்களேன்.
Great posts, Plum!
:clap: :clap: :clap:
:Pullarips:
Flau, Even Though I listened to the mp3 files (thanks wizzy :) ) reading ur posts was a simple WOW! I vaguely remember, you were saying in NEPV thread(during fights) and some other thread that you are not interested in dissecting raagaas, writing about music, its feel, write-ups etc. But HTNI and Raja the genius had broke your that very thought and you wrote one of the hubs Most great Write ups! The moment I shared ur 1st post on twitter, that was Re-Tweeted by many and Even i got new followers. Some have Favorited(i guess they bookmark it for future read) That is more than enuf to say! Above all, I am more interested to meet you in next possible hubbers meet.Quote:
Originally Posted by Plum
My only worry is, now what album is there to perfomr live, Thiruvaasagam? very tough right!
Ennathu Telecast kidaiyatha.....we do not have fate to even watch in tv ( correction, youtube. Tvley pottathan someone will record and upload in YouTube )Quote:
Originally Posted by San_K
Plum you were correct we are all in 2nd category
Concert was overall good ( and happy to meet kamesh , rajasaranam ) .. but sometimes the sound volume and tempo was not good consistently - still its a small dent in otherwise exciting program .. Its in the final 6 songs , that it was consistent and i enjoyed them completly ..
MOre importantly , had the opportunity to say a Hi to my man KR :)
Plum - Super posts on the concert experience :clap: :clap: :clap: I sincerely hope they release a DVD.
Wizzy - Thanks for your post about the concert and sharing IR's speech.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Plum
Plum, KR is spl for me too just because he is the only MD showcased different style when IR and ARR were showing their styles. World will understand KR once point of time, let's wait until that. Since the thread is ant IR, I m closing this conversation :)
Plum, at last I read all your post and visualised the concert. Your post gave me some thembu as I was down on Sunday and I m not in chennai and keep on reeling my friends in office that today missing the show. Great write ups.
wizzy, Thanks for your detail post on the concert. I could really feel I was there. :D Can't wait listen to the links you posted.
DhanyanaanEn wizzy! :notworthy: Totally enjoyed and laughed all the way. Thanks a lot for taking time and sharing this. He took the show on his own for more than 1/2 hour providing enlightening views and experience combined with his hilarious touches. :notworthy: Really loved the fugue explanation and how he relates to day-to-day activities. That raagam explanation was too good. Fascinating mind indeed! Thank you very much sir! :DQuote:
Originally Posted by wizzy
Mumbairamki, so you were there? Am I right in assuming you were the one who shouted "We love you Karthik" ? :)
Folks, thanks much for writing about your experience. Pleasure reading them.
Very important matter onnu marandhutteengalae. Ilaiyaraaja said, "Even I cannot do some of the stuff he (Karthik Raaja) does". And I guess, he meant it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Plum
And 36 voiceless Dum Dum Dum BGM clips for KR fans http://www.backgroundscore.com/2012/...und-score.html
:ty:wizzy for the speech audio!
interesting!
vinatha