When you are treated to an evening filled with Ilayaraja music, there can be nothing more soulful to experience. On the occasion of Ilayaraja’s birthday, on Friday, June 3, Ragamalika, Jaya TV’s music talent show, ushered in its 400th episode coinciding with the Isaignani’s birthday and also 35 years of Annakili. The four-hour long musical extravaganza titled ‘Strings, Wind and Raja’, saw a packed auditorium at the Narada Gana Sabha.
While GN Rangarajan, Gangai Amaran, K Rangaraj, Santhaana Barathy, Manobala, Manivannan and Vasanth were honoured on the occasion, Deepan Chakravarthy, Manikkavinayagam, Uma Ramanan, Soumya, SN Surendran, Haricharan and Saindhavi also presided over the occasion. Anchor Balaji’s brilliant compering and performances by the Ragamalika participants, with nostalgic tidbits and stories about the way the songs were composed certainly made it a memorable evening. One such composition was Poove Ilaya Poove from Kozhi Koovudhu, actually based on a Thalattu song which his mother used to sing. Director Manobala shared an experience with the audience, associated with his film Pillai Nila, the songs of which were composed by maestro Ilayaraja and were released in a single CD at that point of time. Shortly after this, Haricharan got the crowd grooving to racy favourite, Raja Kaiya Vecha from Apoorva Sahodarargal. Despite a little technical snag during this time, the enthusiasm of the audience at the event didn’t stop. Although the maestro himself was not present on the occasion, his presence was certainly felt by the performances of his compositions. Evergreen songs like Raja Maghal, Rojavai Thalattum Thendral, Thaalattudhey Vaanam, Naan Thedum Sevvandhi Poo Idhu and the like were sung by Ragamalika participants.
The event is being aired in the Ragamalika series in four parts every Sunday.