thiruvasakam in symphony

alwarpet_andavan,

"What Sandhya Vandhanam and Gayatri japam cannot do, Thiruvasagam by Ilayaan will! "

You are trying to start a new debate / clash. I am not sure whether you are atheist..or against these rituals etc..

But one thing is for sure..To praise one thing, you dont need to underrate another..
Believe me..You have to experiment chanting Gayatri Mantra atleast for a month and then judge its power ! Sandhya vandhanam / Gayathri do not belong to any particular community. ( though it appears to be like that throughout times..)
Any man can bring his thoughts under control and attain peace through these methods, that our ancient rishis gave us for free

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tmrrmt

alwarpet_andavan - adhu yenna 'Sethu' Seeyan maadhiri TiS Ilayaan ?!! --))

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:lol:
Coined by a friend and fellow-"Ilayaan" fan......

raja_fan,
Thangal (matravargal) manadhai punpaduthiyadharkku mannikkavum.

Maybe i have to rephrase it as "What Sandhya Vandhanam and Gayatri Japam didn't do for me, Thiruvasagam By Ilayaan did".....

Dear Guys,

As you all mentioned, Kothumbi has got attention now and u know? Umbarkat karasey... is still greater....
Appa...! I cannot express the joy I get after hearing Umbarkat karasey...

Just hear it in Earphone to feel its greatness. That too.. when Raja melts into the lines... "Vidaividaathu handa vinnavar kovey.. " Really chanceless buddies....! I saying to myself every day that I should've been sooooo lucky to born in this era. This is IR's era.

My friend Mr. Gomathi Nayagam said after hearing Kothumbi, ' Anda saraswathiye nerla vandhu padina mathiri irukku'.

I bought a CD for my house and u know for the first time my cousin (8 yr old kid) was hearing to the songs and unconsciously she was tapping her fingers according to the rythm and that knocked me of the success of TiS and the greatness of IR.

Masters create masterpieces...
Here our Maestro has created a Maestro piece.

This week's India today has published a cover story of IR. Its really great. They've taken an interview also.

No words to express the joy that we enjoy hearing TiS. In SS Music, IR was saying that he cannot go about saying people to have a calm mind but he could do it through his music... Anyone could give the exact words? In SS music itself, those foreign musicians were speaking about IR. Will they include those info in the VCD?

Is the VCD coming? Father Jegath, we're ready to buy original versions of the VCDs. Please release it soon.

Regards
Irfan

irfansong,
Same here...to me, umbarkatkarasE is THE best...he choral chant is divine...and you can really feel it when Raja sings "empoRuttunnai chik ena pidithEn, engezhundu aruLuvadhiniyE"

Check this week vikatan , to know what ARR has to say about IR and Thiruvasagam.

Letter from Fr.Jegath

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ilaiyaraaja/


Dear Friends,

I just returned from the USA. The launch of Thiruvasagam in Dallas
and Washington were grand. The feedback has been tremendously
positive. The TIS-USA team under Dr. Sankar Kumar is doing a great
job propelling the promotional efforts in USA.

A royal salutation has to go to the friends of Yahoo Groups who have
successfully ensured that Thiruvasagam is not abused by MP-3
downloadable websites. You have achieved what no policing or
enforcing authorities could ever imagine to achieve. This is the
supreme beauty of any activism that emanates out of genuine
conviction.

While I happily inform you that the market demand for Thiruvasagam
has been unprecedented the supply has been unprofessional and
disappointing. It is painful, but I am helpless.

Now that I am back in India I would like to focus on corporate and
institutional bulk sale. If you have good contacts please talk to
them and do let me know.

With your activism and fervent support it may not be difficult to
sell a million copies in one year. Let us do it. This is an honor
this album deserves.

Fr. Jegath Gaspar.

Dear all,
While we are appreciating this great music album to our heart's content, please take a moment of your time and make just one moreperson o buy this Original CD to brighten our day!
The order page at our site is not reflecting the enthusiasm you all express.
I am sorry to say this repeatedly and hope you all will pitch in and let us not face the same apathy as we experienced during its production, now that we have delivered the goods and it is upto you all to make it sell.
YIA!!

I had the pleasure of watching the programme "Talking with the Maestro" on SS music.( If you missed it, but have access to numtv.com you san still watch it from the archives). This should be an interesting watch esp. for IR fans.

A few snippets that I remember from the programme. Some of the foll may also go a long way in explaining some misgivings/complaints/criticisms about the projects that we have seen so far :

1. IR opens the programme with a gentle smile with "Naan yaar en uLLam yaar"(Thanks TISK for the meaning) playing in the background besides other pieces. He is shown walking inside the studio in slow motion. He says that studio is like his house since he spends most of his time there and goes home only to sleep.

2. TIS was not composed with an aim to show his creativity/ingenuity in composing WCM pieces. It was not meant to stimulate the intellect in the listener but to move him and make him appreciate the spirit behind the work.(explains why some didnt find this to be a grand symphony). He says although he wrote 90 lines for all instrument players(he actually shows the score sheets and says he is still the only MD to operate this way in India), overall he would call it a simple orchestration set to convey the spirit and now show off grandeur.

3. Amongst the ppl, who were left out during the thanksgiving ceremony at the TIS release function, he mentions Karthik Raja as a behind-the-scsnes guy who did a very critical part in the album. It seems they had to prepare what he called a "click track(?)" with just the instrumentals alone which later had to be synchronized with his vocals. The track needs to have appropriate markings in order for Raja to be able to sing and synchronize easily. The timing aspect of this was very difficult to do and he said KR is the one who prepared this track. He expresses his thanks to Peter of Hungary too who tooks pains feeding to the computer all sheets that IR wrote and did it over a month.

3. Programme then shifts to IR's longtime loyalaists and co-musicians -Viji Manuel(KB), Sundarraajan(vocals assistant), Purushottaman(or Puru -rhythm guru), Sada(guitar guy) and Bharani(KB)

4. Viji Manuel said once he had to play 2 KBs at the same time. All his fingers were in use at the same time and Raja still wanted him to hit one more extra note with a bang. Viji said he had no more fingers to do what IR asked him to do and when the time came he had to hit the note on the KB with his nose!He ended by saying that he would go all out to do anything Raja asked him to do. He also sings the English lines in TIS and mentions that Stephen Schwartz selected a singer who sounded exactly like him. He has been with IR since day 1 and recalls playing for IR for the BGM of Uravaadumm Nenjam- IR's second or thirs movie upon IR's insistence.

5. Sundarajan said they were all kind of MDs themselves - a bunch of MDs working together for one big MD. It gave them the utmost satisfaction. He says although the flow of the music is unpredictable, there is a cogency to the whole work.

6. Arunmozhi(the flutist Napoleon) says that IR is the only MD he has come across who does everything himself. Other MDs atleast had a portion of the music making process given to someone else. But IR does the entire composition work himself without delegating any of it to his assistants. In that sense, he was a complete composer.

7. Sada - a long time guitar player for IR says everyday its something new at the studios for them. Everyday, new challenge playing for IR.

All the above artistes, after having been with IR for a long time wanted to contribute something musically to TIS and expressed their wish to IR. IR, in turn, used them at appropriate places in TIS. It was heartening to see the mutual respect these artists shared for each other.

8. IR thanks someone named Govindh in NJ, who take care of the hospitality/food and someone named Arvindh in Hungary whose wife took care of food/hospitality during his entire stay in Hungary. He mentions someone else in Singapore too. These names might have been missed earlier during the release function and hence IR recalls them. He also said that he is unable to express thanks to his fans who waited for hours outside the academy. Some of them even got injured from the rush, glass breaking etc. and he hopes that his music would provide the healing.

9. He also mentions with a smile that this work is copyrighted and cannot be copied like some of his TFM songs without proper action being taken. He looks almost embarassed while making this statement.

10. They also show a couple of Hungary artistes , Laslo showering praises on the work and the recording of the "vel vel" chants towards the end of Polla vinayen

11. He says when ppl ask him "ippo irukkara cinema music paththi enna ninaikareenga?" he says the answer is present in their question itself. It is "ippo irukkira music" meaning something like this wasnt present before nor will it remain long after. But he is not willing to criticize the present day MDs but mentions in the same breath that he minimizes loops usage("ilai marai kaayaaga use pannugiren")
and focusses on imparting soul to the songs.

12. He says he had his own doubts as to how it sound nitially and whether it would be accepted by the people. He wrote 2 scores for Polla vinayen before settling on the final one. After sometime hejust concentrated on what he would do and didnt bother himself with the commercial success/acceptability of the project. He says anything that is atempted with genuine conviction would reach the ppl and so he no longer felt any doubt.

13. He says the order of songs/verses had to be re-arranged because in his opinion he thought this would convey the main concept "oneness of God" better. He didnt mean to offend any "Odhuvaars" and nor is this the only way that TIS has to be sung. He says he did it that way(song 2 ) so that it conveys
the meaning better in his opinion.

14. He says that since he has repeated often that since this was done keeping the younger generation in mind, he wanted to hand over a copy to a "representative" of the young generation to see how they respond. He then hands it over to his grandson (KR's 2-year old son) who gets it gleefully much to this Thatha's pleasure :-)

15. He concludes by saying that he hopes to meet us in many such programmes in the future and hopefully he would have the opportunity to do a lot more such projects. In slow motion, he walks into his house, a satisfied man atleast for the present, with strains of "Puttril vaazh aravam anjen" playing in the background.

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If I remember something I missed out, I'll add it later on.

If there is some way to capture the stream file and store it as an .asf file without too much hassles I can do it. If any one has ideas let me know. Its a 40-50 min programme with ads.