02/06/2013

LIFE IS MUSIC - MUSIC IS ILAIYARAJA

The line perhaps best sums up the genius of Ilaiyaraja:

Imagine..
Mani Ratnam's Romantic Classic ‘Geetanjali'
Super Star Rajnikanth's ‘Thalapathi'..
Ram Gopal Varma‘s cult hit ‘Siva'
K.Viswanath and Kamal Hassan's Timeless ‘Sagara Sangamam'..
Vamsi ‘s Sitaara
K. Balachander's ‘Punnagai Mannan'
Bharathi Raja's Seetakoka Chiluka
Mega Star' Chiranjeevi's Jagadeka Veerudu –Athiloka Sundari..
Balki and Amitabh Bachhan's ‘Paa'.. or even ‘Cheeni Kum'..

And the list goes on.. over 950 films and counting..
Now imagine these films… WITHOUT their most defining element.. MUSIC
Unimaginable… most certainly..
That's what Director Balki had demonstrated, at a recent musical event in honor of Ilaiyaraja, in Chennai. He played a sequence without the music first and then with the Maestro's magical mouch and the result is beyond words..

That IS Ilaiyaraja for us!!
India's Greatest Film Star Amitabh Bachchan says of Ilaiyaraja, ''We've always been great admirers of his work the world over. I cannot express in words what he means to the music industry and his contribution to our cinema. I consider him a genius. He knows everything about music. I consider myself fortunate to have worked in movies that had his music.''

And on February 23, 2013 at the prestigious Prudential Center in Newark is set to play host to the Legendary Indian Musical Genius himself.

The sprawling Prudential Center, which can house more than 18 thousand audience, was the venue for world famous Rock bands like the Eagles and the Rolling Stones (for their 50th Anniversary Live Tour, December 2012) in the past and is now hosting this Great South Indian Musical Spectacle and Ilaiyaraja's first ever live concert in the USA.

The Maestro is set to descend on Prudential Center, along with a host of Best known Indian singers and musicians to create three and half hours of sheer magic with his music.

The list includes Dr. S.P.Balasubramaniam, K.S. Chitra, Hariharan, Sadhana Sargam, Mano, Karthik, Vijay Yesudas, Yuvan Sankar Raja, Karthik Sankar Raja, Shwetha Mohan and so on.

The concert is a dream come true for the vast community of Indian music lovers, and numerous fans of Maestro Ilaiyaraja in the USA, particularly in the east coast.

iDream Media which has been offering South Indian movies and entertainment to the Indian Diaspora, for over a decade is bringing this rare event to the audiences of east coast.

Tickets are available through TICKETMASTER.COM on February 6, 2013.

It's not just a musical night. It's a memory you can cherish forever.

A brief note on the Maestro

Regarded as one of the finest music composers in India, Ilaiyaraja has composed over 4500 songs and provided scores for more than 950 Indian feature films in various languages in a career spanning more than 30 years. Some of his most notable works include Abhinandana, Swathimthyam, Nayakudu, Gharshna, Yeto Vellipoyindi Manasu in Telugu, the latest Neethaane En Ponvasantha and, Agni Natchathiram, Nayagan, Punnagai Mannan in Tamil and ‘Paa' and ‘Cheeni Kum' in Bollywood. He also composed the internationally acclaimed instrumental fusion albums, ‘How to name it?' and ‘Nothing but Wind'. His songs and background score played a very crucial role in the success of many films.

In 2003, according to a BBC International poll, people from 155 countries voted his composition "Rakkamma Kaiya Thattu" from the 1991 film, Thalapathi fourth in the world's top 10 most popular songs of all time. Ilaiyaraja is usually referred to as Isaignani (Musical Genius) and also as The Maestro. He has won four Indian National Film Awards and is also recipient of one of the Highest Civilian Honors ‘Padma Bhushan' award from the Government of India.

Ilaiyaraja heralded an era of Fusion Music and introduced broader Western musical sensibilities into the South Indian musical mainstream. A gold medalist in classical guitar from Trinity College of Music, London, in 1993, he is the first Asian to compose a full symphony performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London's Waltham stow Town Hall.

Ilaiyaraja rarely performs his music live. His first Major Live Performance in 25 years was a four-hour concert held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai, India in 2005.