The excitement of ending a lifelong wait was challenged by perplexing weather reports on a passing snow storm around the Boston area.  A possible 1’ snow accumulation in the cards made us reevaluate our travel plans a few times, but trip cancellation had never been an option due to sheer exuberance.  Yes, our team of a few families from the Boston area were all set to experience possibly a once in a lifetime event in New Jersey on 23rd Feb 2013. The south Indian music legend Padmabhushan Dr. Ilayaraja, was to perform in the North American continent for the first time ever in his life.

All the surprise started when a sudden ad popped up in my facebook page about the legend’s concert in New Jersey. For hoards of people, who have an emotional bond with his music, this was ecstatic and beyond belief.  Like crowded rats, we followed the “Pied Piper of Hamlen” towards the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. It would be a gala to see a grand western orchestra with deep Indian flavors where 60+ instrumentalists have orderly settled on tablas, violins, flutes, saxophones, trumpets, french horns, drums, keyboards, violas, basses, guitars, sitar, veena etc. When was the last time we saw this in Indian music? These days, with sounds shred into bits and pieces with the latest digital technologies, it would be so innate and buoyant to listen to flowing violins and dancing flutes.  

A feather drop silence persisted in the 15,000+ crowd when the announcement came on Maestro’s appearance on stage.  At about 7 pm, in the sheer darkness, middle of the focused beam, wearing pure white dhoti and kurta, Raja walked up on the stage. For a moment, it felt purely divine as if some religious guru was walking on stage. The flying whistles, claps and shouts could barely overtake the chorus singing “guru brahma guru vishnu guru devo”, a prelude for the first opening song.   It was such a precious moment that no one will ever forget.

The show started with the legend himself singing “Janani, Janani” (tamil) in carnatic kalyani raga from the movie “Thai Mookambigai”. I still remember, in this movie, this particular song was sung by the great Hindu sage Adi Sankara while treading and wandering on mountains after attaining sagehood. Undoubtedly, this is one such song that could bring tears as it brings one’s soul so close to divinity.  The next two songs were much more recent ones, also very devotional in nature, namely “Om Sivoham” (tamil) in pantuvarali raga from movie “Naan Kadavul”, and “Jagadananda Karaka” (telugu) in raga suddha dhanyasi from “Sri Ramajayam”.  It was so delightful to see two six times national award playback singers both S.P.Balasubramanyam and K.S.Chitra standing politely and respectfully besides the Maestro.  Lead singers Mano and Karthik were two other prominent ones with many other upcoming singers present on stage. When Chitra sang “Ninnukori Varnam” in mohanam from movie “Agni Nakshatram”, the intense beats of the subwoofer inspired the entire audience to clap along.  At the age of 66, SPB’s magic voice still did not fail to render a virtual lover’s  feelings and emotions what he used to do in the 80’s and 90’s.  The crowd remained completely mesmerized, tied to their seats, when he delivered “Lalitha Priya Kamalam” (telugu) in lalitha raga from “Rudraveena”,   and  “Oh Priya Priya” (telugu)  in keeravani from “Geetanjali”.  Singers like Mano, Karthik and Yuvan did justice by filling their part of the cup perfectly.  My song count stopped at 42, when ilayaraja sang the lullaby “Thenpandi Cheemayile” from the tamil movie “Nayagan” and shared his experience of converting this lullaby to a hardcore beat song “Nila Athu Vaanathu Mele”, when the jubilant crowd erupted to show their final rejoice before the show ended on a high note.  While stepping out, I saw my friend’s 2 yr old was still awake on his shoulder. I twisted my wrist to see the time and it was exactly 12 past 5.  None of us could believe the Ilayaraja’s music drenched our souls for full 5 hrs with no one seemed either tired or sleepy.

The highlight of the show was when SPB requested Ilayaraja to do more shows or to make something like a world tour, Raja replied softly but authoritatively that every time he hears a musician playing a wrong note he feels the pain of 1000 needles piercing his heart and he does not like that happening often.  What a purist, especially, in this modern era where every rookie longs for name and fame by all means.  Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, Vivaldi, Wagner and many other symphony creators are still living in our hearts through their eternal creations. We never had the opportunity to see them alive. But all that longing dwindled down in a moment on seeing this greatest Indian composer standing tall on stage and performing some of his immortal creations in front of our eyes. We all felt we were immensely blessed.        

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