“Who is a local and who is not ? Music is universal. You will see the best of musicians — 85 of them, playing my Telugu songs on November 5 for my first live performance in Hyderabad.”
For someone who is believed to be a man of very few words, the Raja of music, Ilayarajaa was very free when he made the announcement of his concert here on Wednesday. That was his reply when a journalist asked him if there would be local singers accompanying him at the concert.
“I came in person for announcing my concert because I have loved Telugu-speaking people for the way they have enjoyed my music all these decades,” he said, adding that Telugu people had been the most supportive of all the South Indian states.
Thanks audience
Ilayaraaja has composed music for over 6,000 songs in 1,000 films including Telugu and Tamil and is well-known among people speaking both the languages. “Applause cannot be asked for by the artists concerned. It has to come from the hearts of audiences on its own and in that way I am blessed and lucky to have won audiences with my music,” he went on.
The athletic stadium at Gachibowli that has a capacity of 45,000 persons is expected to come alive when the maestro presents his compositions in Telugu films of the past few decades. The event is put together by by Temple Bell Events and MLN Events.
Signature songs
The maestro spoke briefly and made his announcement of the venue. Speaking on behalf of Temple Bell Events, Sandeep Gudi said he was extremely lucky to have got the opportunity to organise Ilayaraaja’s first live performance in Hyderabad.
In his usual soft-spoken voice, he recalled how director K. Balachander had for the film ‘Rudraveena’, asked him to use a ‘raaga’ that had a woman’s name because he would then name the heroine similarly. “That was how the song ‘Lalitha Priya Kamalam ...’ came up,” the music composer recalled. ‘Sagara Sangamam’ (1983), starring Kamal Haasan and ‘Rudraveena’ (1988) with Chiranjeevi and Sobhana were two films that got national awards for the music composed by Ilayaraja.
Tickets
Tickets will be available exclusively on www.bookmyshow.com and there is an early bird incentive for those who buy them the first two weeks.
