Thiruvasagam

"I pray to god that he lives as long as he wants and accomplishes all that he wishes" - Dakshinamurthi Swamigal

"Ilayaraja isai-ku urugaar oru isai-kum urugaar" - BalaMuraliKrishna

"This must have happened 20-25 years ago. We know its late" - KamalHasan

"It is a seamless cultural crossover" - N.Ram, Chief editor of The Hindu

"Its not easy to link Thyagaraja and Beethoven" - Jaypal Reddy, Union Minister

"You have no death, only births. You will be born again and again for 300 times, 3000 times and in every birth you will achieve more and more" - Bharathi Raja

"Peace is hard to get in Life. I know Ilayaraja is in pursuit of peace and I am following him" - Superstar Rajnikanth



Yaaiiieee. I was at the launch of Ilayaraja's "Thiruvasagam - a Symphonic Oratorio". Many thanks to Ramya, who was kind enough to spare the additional invite she had.(As Sudish would say she is really Sokka-thangam)

Unaffected by all these encomiums sat the hero of the evening, the maestro himself caressing his beard and a zen-like vision in his eyes. The blessed ones, I mean those who assembled at Music Academy yesterday got to hear three of his numbers from the album.

The first one to come was "Polla Vinayen" sung by Ilayaraja himself and Roy Harcourt(Lion King fame).For the entire 20 minutes that the song played, not a single soul among the 2000 odd people showed any symptoms of life. No calls were answered. Even the late comers who could manage enough to standing on only one leg, stayed in absolute silence. Such was the divinity of the music that has transcended many boundaries.

It gave me goose-bumps when someone in the crowd exclaimed, "Unmayilaye saami dhaan yaa nee" at the end of this song. His ecstasy was understandable.

Then there was a dance performance for the song "Muthu Natramam", which is originally sung by Unnikrishnan, Madhu, Vijay Yesudas, Manjari, Asha, Gayatri & chorus. It was composed in Malayalam style and the dance was neatly choreographed to match the mood.

Another highlight was the presentation of the song "Putril Vazh aravum anjen", by a youth choir comprising of some 30 odd school students with only a keyboard.

Thankfully enough the cds were sold at the venue itself. I grabbed one for myself and another for my friend.

For me the pick of the album is the song "Pooerukonum purantharanum" sung by Ilayaraja and Bavatharini. Simply soul stirring one. The other two songs also exude the same divinty.

One need not know Symphony, or the aarohanam and avarohanam for a raaga. Mere sensuality is enough to fill the hearts with bliss.