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30th April 2012, 09:27 PM
#1091
Senior Member
Diamond Hubber
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
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30th April 2012 09:27 PM
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30th April 2012, 09:40 PM
#1092
Senior Member
Platinum Hubber
# 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 , 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.
Last edited by Plum; 30th April 2012 at 09:53 PM.
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30th April 2012, 10:01 PM
#1093
Senior Member
Diamond Hubber
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 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.
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30th April 2012, 10:03 PM
#1094
Senior Member
Diamond Hubber
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.
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30th April 2012, 10:13 PM
#1095
Senior Member
Platinum Hubber
# 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.
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30th April 2012, 10:26 PM
#1096
Senior Member
Diamond Hubber
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!
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30th April 2012, 10:33 PM
#1097
Senior Member
Platinum Hubber
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" .
Then LS said "24 studies for violin. I believe you can write".
Our man replied " I can write so many things"
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".
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 .". 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"
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.
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30th April 2012, 10:44 PM
#1098
Senior Member
Platinum Hubber
Karthikeyan Nuggets
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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!
Last edited by Plum; 30th April 2012 at 11:02 PM.
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30th April 2012, 10:49 PM
#1099
Senior Member
Platinum Hubber
"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
Last edited by Plum; 30th April 2012 at 11:27 PM.
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30th April 2012, 10:52 PM
#1100
Senior Member
Veteran Hubber
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