“Naanum Rajavum”,

Dear Friends,

 

It was a wonderful evening we were blessed to be present in “Naanum Rajavum”, fully participated by SPB alone, conducted at Kamarajar hall, Chennai on 19.05.13.

 

The output or the essence of the concert was superb and spellbound.  It’s like wetting ourselves in the musical rains.

 

Would like to share you both the positive & general feedback as follows:

 

Positive:
1. Output of the audio or Sound Engineering was awesome. We had never got such an 100% experience from any other group. This is neither comparison nor exaggeration – but a real fact.

2. Secondly, the key board player. Let it be any instrument...he played the same in key board with ease & perfection. When Balu sir was applauding him also, he didn’t look up or down or even notice that recognition, but was fully concentrating in his job. What an involvement & dedication!!! I was amazed when he played “Nadaswaram” as well    “ violin” in the key board just casually. Hats off to him! (Sorry..didnt know his name)

3. Next was the female singer Ms. Suchithra. Her voice (luckily) didn’t resemble S.Janaki mam or any other singer but had unique style & pitching and the way she rendered certain songs looked as if her tone itself is an instrument! What a perfection & range...She was simply inspiring & felt like listening more.  (example: Adhi kalai nerame..song. She rendered very neatly & sangadis were too nice & pleasing to the heart!

4. Same with the case of Dipashika. We have been watching her in the recent years. Already she has given good numbers with Balu Sir in the same stage. Her level of confidence in presenting songs with no strain on our face and her sharp eyes always looking straight at the audience were significant.

5. Most highlighting factor is the limited number of persons sitting in the orchestra but giving maximum productivity.

6. Happiest thing about the event is the selection of songs and the unsung hit numbers in stage. We were spell bound when heard “poonthalirada” or “yeh orayiram” or “vizhiyile manivizhiyile” the super-duper hits of those days.

7. Also would like to mention, Mr Gopal was applauding as a token of encouragement to his team when they rendered their portion to their best. This showed how keen he was recognising their talents and also how important his role as the key person.

8. We had a feel of “Give me more” and never felt like leaving the auditorium as the output of the sound was superb, superb & simply excellent and the complete orchestra team members were enjoying their participation with dedication & involvement. (example: 2^nd key board person smilingly waving his fingers in the keyboard zig-zag with full smile, during kattu kuyilu song)

9. The female & male chorus were totally entertaining  

10. It’s a good thought of saluting the Maestro thereby making the Troupe Singers sing few hit songs as a dedication to Shri K J Yesudas & Malaysia Vasudevan.

 

General Feedback:

1.     Most of the auditorium was full by 6.00pm itself whereas the stage wasn’t open till 7.15.

2.     While there was comments on those who come by free & complimentary passes, 90% of the audience had purchased tickets by spending their money to enjoy the event. When the team delays to start the function or here as a rare incident, after Sir appeared in the stage there is a forced pause and he left back to the back stage....& when majority of the good numbers were  sung only after 9pm, as 50% of the crowd started to leave, there is absolutely disappointment in the hearts of ‘rasigas’ who arrived on time but were deprived of good songs, just becos of lack of time due to poor administration & poor organising of seats & tickets. Kindly keep in mind, for an average family spending Rs.300/- or Rs.250/- per head is of course a big money and for a family they spend so much, only to enjoy the concert and not to land up in disappointment. On behalf of all rasigas I request the Organisers, to start the programme on the time and to give good hit numbers in the beginning itself, so that it would benefit the real music lovers.

3.     The comperer (dont know her name) seemed to be unexperienced & didn’t have  specific points while presenting but was poking us always only to keep on clapping. For such a beautiful concert, compering could have been better.

4.     Just because the programme started late, the number of songs were also reduced. In between this, known songs like “Sundari kannal”; “Kadhal kavithaigal padithidum neram” consumed time hugely. Those songs could have been replaced with some more good numbers, as a matter of compensation atleast.

5.     During Kattu Kuyilu song, the female chorus were zero heard, whereas the singers were singing!!! May be some problem in the mike or output but through out the song, the chorus section came thrice but all three times their voices were not heard but the girls were singing sincerely. There is lack of coordination in this aspect.

Last but not least, this program is not covered by any TV channels to telecast this on a later date!

 

 Balu sir had dressed up in a nice attire (“Nehru dress”) & was in his best of mood, fully praising & sharing interesting anecdotes about his friend-cum-colleague Maestro. He shared lot of technicalities about Raja’s knowledge to the usage & max output instruments. As usual, he admired & encouraged upcoming singers (Dipashika & the other Male singer). He also remembered with respects his co-singers Janaki Mam & P.Suseela Mam and complimented even North singers cant compete with them and profusely thanked lyricists & song writers for sketching such good lyrics for Raja sir’s tunes. We felt like keep listening to him more as Sir spoke in a very good mood & also sang with lot of happiness.

 

(One sample: He repeated Charanam of O-Vasantharaja mentioning that he didn’t render it properly earlier. Further added..in that song the name ‘raja’ appears frequently..and he wont bear a small mistake even in a live show & would make singers repeat. Hence did that as a humble conscious decision!)

 

As usual, Sir announced modestly that his music knowledge is very less compared to other musicians and he had learnt lot of nuances from his seniors like S.Janaki & through out from Raja sir. He repeatedly mentioned “Ilayaraja is the best” on various occasions & justified why he admires him so much. “Nalla iruda nee” he screamed at one point of time.

 

Sir commented intentionally that he’s unaware why Raja appears as a ‘sanyasi’ when he created such mesmerising tunes like ‘meendum meendum va’ and also said Raja is qualified to become a Film Director as he possesses all qualities by imagining scenes in his mind, while he closes his eyes and completes composing...

 

 

Here are the much-awaited list of songs:

 

1.     Mounamana Neram (thr was pause of 10min, as audience didn’t assemble due to lack of seats but huge crowd...”where thr is mounam” he commented & left the stage. Came after a brief time!)

2.     Poonthalirada (the starting of ‘poonthalirada’ line was sang in different manner, as sir felt most of the today’s songs were new to him, to sing on stage and took time to practice (!). He even congratulated Mr.Gopal, the Program conductor, for the same.

3.     Pattu Thalaivan (gave intro about the hiccups in the beginning)

4.     O-Vasantha Raja (repeated saranam once for his satisfaction)

5.     Kanmaniye kadhal enbadu (sang with Ananthu for male duet & dipasika for female duet...Ananthu sang his portion exactly like those days’ Balu sir’s voice & it was so soothing to hear! Sir congratulated Ananthu for his performance)

6.     Yeh...yeh...orayiram

7.     Roja Onru Mutham ketkum neram

8.     Meendum Meendum Va

9.     Andhi varum neram

10.                        Kadhal Kavithaigal

11.                        Rojavai thalattum thenral

12.                        Vizhiyile mani vizhiyile (simply superb!! )

13.                        Adhigalai nerame (Complimented Mr Gopal for selection of such a song)

14.                        Kaatu kuyilu

 

 

 

Regards,
Priya Venkat

SPB FANS CHARITABLE FOUNDATION (Regd) Group Member

Chennai