Saturday, April 20, 2013

Engeyum Eppothum Raja Show in Toronto









Engeyum Eppothum Raja was a concert that happened in Toronto on February 16th, 2013 put together by Trinity Events. It was a star studded concert to celebrate the success and musical history of music composer, songwriter, singer and Maestro Ilayaraja’s hits in the Kollywood music industry. He composed over 4000 songs over his 30 plus career. A gold medalist in classical guitar, Ilayaraja is the first Asian to compose a full symphony with over 120 instruments. His sons Karthik Raja and Yuvan Shankar Raja who also are in the music industry came to support their father and perform. What was bizarre was Dr. Raja did not want his fans to whistle and that is hard for his Tamil fans because we get super excited and rowdy at concerts. However, comedian Vivek stated that although Ilayaraja requested for no whistling, he would allow it.

I ran into the host of the show, poet, director and actor Parthiban who brought his daughter, award winning child actress P.S. Keerthana who acted in the critically acclaimed film 'Kannathil Muthamittal'. After that movie, Keerthana decided to focus on school. She may go back into acting after. I interviewed Parthiban who was the only actor who was keen on talking to his fans. Other Kollywood stars who came to support Ilayaraja were newlyweds actress Sneha and actor Prasanna. Everyone thought the couple would dance to an Ilayaraja hit song since she said it was Ilayaraja who encouraged the couple to be together but they just thanked him on stage and said they were big fans. Many fans said that Sneha was being a diva backstage and would not take pictures with them, including me. Another incredible singer who took the time to say hi to me while he was running back and forth backstage was hit maker and singer, Hariharan. Find out who Hariharan was excited to see in my video. Other legendary singers included; S.P Balasubrahmanyam, Karthik, Chitra, Ramya and more!

My favorite Ilayaraja song was ‘Rasathi Unna Kanatha Neram’ and he performed it! Sadly, there were many hits he did not perform because the show started 2 hours late due to road closures and bad weather conditions. Some fans were really disappointed. Nevertheless, many mega fans were just thrown back with emotions of all his songs from the past. I heard one father who told his daughter that, this is what original real music is and that she needs to really enjoy it.
Thank you Trinity Events for inviting me to the show! Click on the link to see some quick interviews and a little clip of my favorite Ilayaraja hit. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_z_YtVptww&list=UU8sbqnKmIE08gqksjvBdcgQ&index=1

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