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An encounter with IR

Topic started by Anand Mahadevan (@ freedum.proxy.lucent.com) on Tue Dec 15 12:05:24 EST 1998.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

Guys,
I was able to have a tete-de-tete with IR at prasad studios.My cousin plays tabla for him.I sneaked with him to the studio and had a 30 mins talk with IR.The topics ranged from GURU to the current trends.
A mention of GURU really brightnend his eyes and IR told me that they did'nt market it alright.
They spent 25 days for re-recording and it was a herculean task.
I also brought in TFM to his knowledge and he seems to be aware of this forum ,"Kelvi pattuiruken".
I told him about the BGM project and following was his reaction in tamil ."Pannalam.Aanal orginal tracks thedi pedikunum".Nalla project".I also asked opinions with sadanand(music director sudarshan's son) ,who is IR's lead guitarist for 20 years.He liked the idea but was wary of copyright problems.
I just came back from chennai after a 2 month vacation.
The BGM project is really exciting.We have to contact individual production companies for the soundtracks.I gave it a shot with raj kamal but could'nt get hold of Kamal.Somebody will have to do the leg work at chennai .we can really pull it off.

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Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: r.ravi (@ 178.birmingham-16-17rs.al.dial-access.att.net) on: Sat Dec 26 01:49:28 EST 1998
  
  Sundar Nenja thottuteemga ponga.
  
  
• From: r.ravi (@ 178.birmingham-16-17rs.al.dial-access.att.net) on: Sat Dec 26 01:49:47 EST 1998
  
  Sundar, yen Nenja thottuteemga ponga.
  
  
• From: SR (@ portal.ameritech.com) on: Wed Sep 1 15:41:41 EDT 1999
  
  Balaji, where are you? u are the most wanted friend now. pls tell us what transpired with I iis IRs job getting interestin or not?
  
  
• From: SR (@ portal.ameritech.com) on: Wed Sep 1 15:50:01 EDT 1999
  
  Anand only now reading your complete article about your meetin you have been blessed.
  
  
• From: R.Balaji (@ 129.130.133.15) on: Fri Sep 3 11:55:49 EDT 1999
  
  SR,
  SOrry about the delay.I will post it as soon as possible(mostly by today).
  Thanks for the patience.
  
  
• From: MS (@ 129.252.22.112) on: Fri Sep 3 17:16:57 EDT 1999
  
  RB:
  
  idhu anyaayam :-(
  
  
• From: ShibuTN (@ pppa11-resalespringfldpa1-2r1093.saturn.bbn.com) on: Fri Sep 3 18:37:14 EDT 1999
  
  Balaji:
  Waiting....
  
  
• From: anand (@ du139-20.cc.iastate.edu) on: Sat Sep 4 01:18:01 EDT 1999
  
  what else did he say?
  
  
• From: Jee (@ 193.188.124.246) on: Sat Sep 4 10:57:41 EDT 1999
  
  Seekkiram post paNNungappa ! Tension thangalay.
  
  
• From: chickoo (@ fw-virtual.powertel.com) on: Sat Sep 4 23:15:41 EDT 1999
  
  hello enna natakuthu enge?
  
  
• From: R.Balaji (@ 129.130.133.15) on: Sun Sep 5 18:41:30 EDT 1999
  
  Guys,
  I have been assigned a new office which has a crappy computer noone could ever imagine.It has Netscape version 3.
  Soon I am getting a computer on my own which will be done pretty soon by tuesday.(long weekend).
  Sorry about this.I thought of putting as a HTML page in my website.That is why it is getting delayed.
  IR has also asked me to put some stuff in it.
  
  
• From: aruvi (@ spc-isp-tor-uas-87-55.sprint.ca) on: Sun Sep 5 20:10:13 EDT 1999
  
  RB
  
  Thaanka mudiyalla, intha suspense-a!
  
  
• From: Madhan (@ 202.41.117.62) on: Sun Sep 5 22:49:59 EDT 1999
  
  RB, IR has asked you put some stuff in your website ?!! Man, this is something very thrilling to know !! Please I am desperate to know what exactly went on between you and IR
  
  
• From: R.Balaji (@ 129.130.133.15) on: Mon Sep 6 19:34:28 EDT 1999
  
  Great moments with Ilayaraja.
  I take this opportunity to narrate some of the exhilarating moments in my life when I met Ilayaraja.
  It occurred on August 27 night 7.30 pm. There might be a question arising so as how a ordinary guy like me could meet Ilayaraja?. Well I was able to utilize my close relative's help in this.
  Probably folks interested in carnatic music might be aware of these names "vikku" Vinayagaram (plays Ghatam), Subash chandran (Mridangam) and Gurumurthi (violin). All three of them are brothers. And most of their family members are in the carnatic music field. Apart from this TV serial "Ragam Sangeetham" fame Mohan Vaidya and Ramesh Vaidya are also relatives of mine. I think mentioning of the family tree is waste of time and unrelated.
  It was a long dream in my life to meet him. When I was in madras I never had the driving force to do that as I kept postponing it. My relatives are well known to Ilayaraja and these guys have performed a lot in most of films. They also do go to his house during Navarathiri and perform in his house. I thought of meeting IR in his house but unfortunately came to know that he was going out of town so I rushed up and met him at Prasad studio. Ganjeera player Mr.Ganesh Kumar took me over there. The whole studio was so quiet. We were not questioned by the security guys.
  When I entered the recording theatre I felt sort of a divine feeling arising in myself. It was a very big hall with a big screen(nothing was on it). IR and his pianist Mr. Chandra sekar was seated in the middle with IR playing Yamaha keyboard while Chandrasekar was working on the computer. Later I saw that he was working on some proactive program similar to Goldwave but 1000 times more sophisticated. Both of them were wearing headphones. When we opened the door IR looked at us and smiled and nodded his head welcoming us. We took seats in one corner and started watching the recording process. IR was working on the re-recording of the documentary film (NFDC) "MUGAM". They had already seen the screen shot and was now adding the BGM to it. I couldn't hear the music at all. At times IR was hitting the keyboard and said to Chandrasekar "cut at 21-marupadiyum 29'lrinthu start pannuvom-" entha madri few sentences came from IR's mouth occasionally.
  Nearly 30 minutes passed by---IR took of his headphones and smiled at me. I introduced myself. I never expected him to be so simple and talk to me like that. I was looking upon a genius, innocent, simple guy. He was clad in his usual white clothes (sparkling). I started by saying how much of a fanatic I am from my seventh standard of schooling itself. I told him about my cassette and CD collections and also about my website. I told him that it is becoming increasingly difficult to get good quality cassettes of his earlier movies. He just smiled while Chandrasekar told me that I should buy original cassettes. Then I told him that I always buy the original cassettes. I suggested that something should be done to restore those old songs. Also added that some efforts has to be done to bring out the BGM's of his various films. He said that he has some idea about it and working towards it. I raised the topic of plagiarism. I told him how ashamed I (we) feel to see MD's copying from western music. No particular MD's name was referred upon. He said
  Music varavangalukkum varavechukiravangallukum vithyasam erukka thaaan seiyum. Oru paravai parapathai natural'aga thaan poda mudiyum. Paravai nama viruppathukku thagunthaar pol parakka vaikka mudiyathu.That won't look natural. Eppo varum music ellaaam natural'aga vara matengirathu.varavazhaikka padugirathu.
  Some philosophical talks were touched upon. Most of which I forgot. I thought of vidoetaping our entire meeting but unfortunately IR didn't like that idea. So I had to derive most of the information from my brain cells. "Learn but not for the sake of exams, manithanin kadaisivarai nirpathu avan kattra vazhkai paadam thaan". He said that he has been working on some project of writing "venba's" in tamil.
  Another work is on "Mugambikkai" bakthi paadalgal which I don't know when he is going to release.
  Later on I showed my website's hardcopies and told him that there were similar thousands of websites which does such good work. I particularly mentioned Rex's, Shibu's, Gopal prasad's, Ramasamy's, MPR's site and brought about the uniquness in each site. He asked how was I able to sepen so much time all these apart from education. I told him that his music is the driving force behind all these efforts and it is the responsibilty of every Indian to bring out his glory to the world.
  He specifically asked me to put this in my website-He asked me whether there are any MD who could possibly do a song in 3 notes (swarams). He said that he had done it. Later I came to know that it will atleast take 4-5 notes to do a song. Hmm…..Such a talent. What's getting on with our audience nowdays?
  I talked for some more moments touching upon his "Symphony". I told him that he must have been bugged all these years about that. Inspite of me asking the same question about symphony, he replied with a pleasant smile saying that he had lost interest in it as he had some copyright problems at that time. Now he doesn't want to pursue it further as he has better mental clarity than those times and lost interest in it. Moreover he said that if we want he can sit for a month and produce a better one than the prvious symphony. I sincerely pray to God to get this thing done. We all need to hear more music from him. At this point Chandrasekar said that his sons are trying to sort it out.
  After he left I had the chance to hear the bit of re-recording on which he was working on. Wow!!!. No words could explain that. I sincerely urge you all to see the film "Mugam" when it is released. You will be out of this world when you hear the BGM. Just few cymbals and drums. That's it. Great piece of work. Only Maestro can do it.
  I left Prasad studio feeling very much elated. I felt as if my mind was filled with serenity and rejuvenated. I had this sort of feeling when I met Kanchi Periyavar at Kanchipuram few years back.
  I thank the TFM page for providing me the opportunity to share this with the mass. I have some pictures taken during my visit with him. Please do visit my webpage at http://members.tripod.com/drbalaji96
  
  
  
• From: Raja Fan (@ spider-wg013.proxy.aol.com) on: Mon Sep 6 21:29:37 EDT 1999
  
  Dr Balaji, what a fascinating event! Raja by now must be really having a good idea what his fans are upto around the world. But his apathy to the symphony is disheartening. Is Mugham a full lenght feature film or a documentary like India 24 Hours? This is a good thing going, if it is a documentary. Variety of projects will keep Raja creative. Were you able to ask about the Miss World contest music availability? You know one thing, a close associate of Salil Choudhury told me once that Salil did make a song with 3 swaras. I am not sure if he said right, but I will check it. I am sure MSV would have done it. By the way, I have IR on tape singing that 3 note song on a 1999 new year ever programme on TV!!!!
  
  Balaji, did Raja say about any future mega projects? Please also tell us about Chandrasekhar and others
  
  Thanks much for sharing the experience.
  
  
  

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