I went to the concert "Nothing But Wind" and expected it to be a good show but never thought it'll strike such a chord within me.Now that i've attended the show i truly feel blessed,blissed,hypnotised and mesmerised by the man they call Ilaiyaraja and his music.No words can describe the sheer class and mastery of this man.
When i heard about such a show,i badly wanted to go and also asked another enthusiastic musical friend of mine and when i got the nod, I dare didn't want to miss the chance.But alas,it wasn't all rosy.I went to Landmark and got the bad news that the tickets were sold out.Then came to know that an online option was available.Though I was a bit apprehensive, I didnt want to miss this golden opportunity and was willing to take any risk,come what may.My efforts paid off and
I got the tickets in the nick of time.I feel happy that my perserveance helped me in being part of a privileged lot.
Another spoiler was the heavily crowded TTK Road which made our journey longer than ever was,but however we just about huffed and puffed to reach Music Academy in time for the show.
Then,the moment of truth arrived.The man or rather 'God' walked gently up the stairs in his serene white pure avatar to the stage and deservingly got a raptourous applause from his ever loving fans.It was the first time i was seeing him and was palpably excited.Felt like seeing music in its physical humane form.
The show began with the divine Janani Janani sung by Bhavatharini.The song may be divine,but the performance was anything but that.There were some blatant errors in the interludes , the sound was jarring and the shruti went out of place a couple of times.It was somewhat made up towards the end.
After that,it was a total roller coaster ride.The pieces from Nothing But Wind were showcased and it was just simply put 'mindblowing',courtesy the articulate Navin Iyer and the 30 Piece Orchestra headed by Mr Prabhakar comprising of Violin,Viola and Cello,not to forget voice add ons by Haricharan.
Navin Iyer on the flute was masterclass.The Ustad showed how aesthetic and symphonic the sound of the flute can be and truly displayed his wizardry in what can be called a performance of a lifetime.To recreate the magic of Hari Prasad Chaurasia is no joke and he did it so effortlesly.He shook me,tilted me,knocked the stuffings out of me and completely bowled me over.
It was so enticing,enchanting,enthralling and enriching to hear the compositions of Nothing But Wind.Kudos to the entire orchestra Team for reviving the magic of the maestros compositions in such a spectacular fashion.
Then was the felicitation ceremony where Uttam Singh spoke highly about Ilayaraja being the only complete music director.Kaviarasar Valli too had praises for the great man.Also got to hear new trivias like how Valaiyosai was initially composed for NBW but then Kamal Hassan used it in his movie Sathya after hearing the splendid song and also how the compositions were composed in a mere half an hr.(are wah!)The Anchor Rohini was good but was clearly outshadowed by Bosky who kept the audience in splits with his naughty one liners.
After the felicitation were performances from Ilaiyaraja's film songs mostly from Mani Ratnam Movies.Songs from Anjali,Mouna Ragam,Agni Natchathiram,Thalapathy,Tik Tik Tik etc made us sing[We went gaga over Idhu Oru Nila Kalam esp.that Nathruthana Interlude portion :)],cry,revel and revive old memories [My friends 1st ever movie was Anjali and i guess mine too :) and yeah it was emotional].
The final song of the evening was the chart busting Ennamma Kanna from Mr.Bharath.It was sad but like all good things,this show too had to be wound up,much to our displeasure.
Hearty Congratulations to Bhavatharini for conceptualising such an idea to revive the glorious compositions of Nothing But Wind.
As the audience chanted many a time "When is How to Name It??",hope that too turns out to be a reality very soon.
You do not need to be a connossiuer to understand good music,you just need to hear Ilaiyaraja's music.It was indeed a once in a lifetime surreal experience.Can never forget the spellbinding musical evening of Jun 5,2010.
