CHENNAI: On the occasion of his 76th birthday today, Isaignani Ilaiyaraaja will be hosting a special Live-In concert in association with Mercuri today. In the event, for which The New Indian Express is a print partner, the maestro will perform alongside his orchestra a set of handpicked songs and unlike other concerts, he will be explaining the origins of these compositions in the form of stories. The event, named Isai Celebrates Isai in honour of the legendary composer, will see him uniting with his frequent collaborators Padma Vibhushan KJ Yesudas, Padma Bhushan SP Balasubrahmanyam as well as Mano, Usha Uthup and Bombay Jayashri.
SPB and Ilaiyaraaja had a much-publicised fallout two years ago when, during the USA tour of SPB 50 (to honour 50 years of his singing career), he was sent a legal notice by Raja to stop singing his songs because the latter was not paid royalty for it. Following this, SPB decided to not sing Raja songs for the rest of the tour and in later concerts sang them only after ascertaining that IPRS (Indian Performing Right Society), a copyright society that handled Raja’s royalties, were paid. Earlier this year when the Tamil Film Producer’s Council organised a grand 75th birthday concert, SPB, KJ Yesudas and S Janaki all were a no show, much to the disappointments of fans.
The 76th birthday concert’s collection will go to the Cine Musicians’ Association and SPB had released a video announcing the return of the famed partnership to celebrate the occasion. Yesudas had also shared on his social media account that, “My friend Ilaiyaraaja is organising this program for our musicians family. I invite all music lovers to be a part of the evening.”
This event has brought together SPB and Raja for the first time in two years. Earlier this week, pictures of them hugging each other and practicing together were widely shared online. Yesterday, it was announced that SPB will be singing a song for Raja for Vijay Antony’s upcoming cop film Tamizharasan. Incidentally, KJ Yesudas has also recorded a song for the same film.
Ten years ago, when KJY and SPB sang together for Raja, they brought the roof down with their rendition of Kaatu Kuyilu from Thalapathy. At EVP Carnival Cinemas today, which hosts the four-hour-long live concert today, you can count on a potential repeat scenario. Maybe, there will be a story to go with it. A story you can tell your children and grandchildren for years to come.