Yugendran Vasudevan will join him on September 24 at Trusts Arena West Auckland
Venkat Raman
Auckland, August 21, 2022
Music lovers can expect a torrential downpour of melodies next month as scores of musicians and instrumentalists get together to render the immortal melodies of Isaignani Ilaiyaraaja, one of the greatest musicians of all time in Auckland next month.
The Maestro will be present at the event, scheduled to be held on September 24, 2022, at Trusts Arena, 65 Central Park Drive, Henderson, West Auckland.
The event is being organised by Hals Studios and Mercuri, with Rambutan Media Works NZ Limited as the local logistics coordinator. Indian Newslink and Num Tamil are Media Partners.
Indian Newslink will publish further details shortly.
About Ilayaraja
Ilaiyaraaja is the world’s most prolific musician and has composed more than 7000 songs in over 1400 films (a majority of them in Tamil) and performed hundreds of stage shows all over the world. He was one of the earliest artistes to use Western harmonies with Indian arrangements, broadening the scope of the Indian music industry.
He is rated among the 25 greatest film composers in the history of cinema among Ennio Morricone, John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith.
The Indian government honoured him with two Padma Awards- Padma Bhushan in 2010 and Padma Vibhushan (the second highest civilian award) in 2018. He also received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2012. Nominated by the BJP government, he was sworn in as a member of Rajya Sabha, the Upper House of Parliament on July 25, 2022.
He is 79 and his admirers are taking him around the world for stage shows styled ‘Raja at 80.’
The Raja of the Village
Ilaiyaraaja was born on June 3, 1943, but changed the date to June 2, to match the birthday of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister the late Muthuvel Karunanidhi who gave him the title of ‘Isaignani.’ Born as Gnanathesigan in a poor family in Pannaipuram of the present-day Theni District in Tamil Nadu, his father changed his name to Rajaiya, but his village people used to call him Raasayya.
Ilaiyaraaja joined Dhanraj Master as a student to learn musical instruments and the master renamed him ‘Raaja.’ In his first movie Annakili, Tamil film producer Panchu Arunachalam added ‘Ilaiya’ (meaning younger) as a prefix to his name Raaja, and called him “Ilaiyaraaja,” to avoid confusion over another music director A M Rajah.
Married to Jeeva, the couple has three children- Karthik Raja, Yuvan Shankar Raja and Bhavatharini, all film composers and singers. Jeeva passed away on October 31, 2011.
His brother Gangai Amaran is also a music director and lyricist in the Tamil film industry.
As well as working for most producers and directors, Ilaiyaraaja has utilised almost all singers of Indian cinema including the famous (the late) Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle. He has employed the poetic services of lyricists the late Kannadasan and Vaali; and Vairamuthu, O N V
Kurup, Sreekumaran Thampi, Veturi, Aacharya Aatreya, Sirivennela Sitaramasastri, Udaya Shankar and Gulzar.
Ilayaraja is one of the few composers who write their music notes first before singing them. He is also believed to be the only person to have composed a song in ascending notes.
The Concert Tour of 2022
Among the highlights of the forthcoming Ilaiyaraaja Concerts in Australia and New Zealand in September 2022 will be the presence and performance of Aucklander Yugendran Vasudevan, son of the late Malaysia Vasudevan, who rendered almost 10,000 songs in Tamil and other Indian languages, lending his voice to almost all leading actors of the era.
Yugendran has continuously proved that he is a chip off the old block at many events in New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, India, the United States of America and Europe.
This is Ilaiyaraaja season, for concerts were held in recent months in Chennai, Coimbatore and Madurai, the current tour includes Singapore (held on August 20, 2022) Sydney and Melbourne in Australia and Auckland in New Zealand.
At each of the concerts, Ilaiyaraaja introduces Yugendran with warmth and love, paying homage to his late father Malaysia Vasudevan. Yugendran is endowed with a voice that not only resonates with the softness of love and romance but also the depth of strength, power and courage, everything in fact that makes him a good singer.
Among the songs that he has performed in the current tours were ‘Aasai Nooru Vagai,’ rendered by his father for the 1983 Tamil film ‘Aadutha Varisu’ picturised on Superstar Rajinikanth.
‘Pothuvaaga En Manasu Thangam,’ is a song composed by Iaiyaraaja for the 1980 film ‘Murattu Kaalai’ to suit the temperament of Rajinikanth. This song, originally by Malaysia Vasudevan, has been rendered in subsequent years by many singers including Yuvan Shankar Raja and many others, but Yugendran brings more authenticity to the original.
In Madurai, Yugendran drew continuous applause for his rendition of ‘Ooravittu Orruvanthu’ because his voice was almost the same as that of his father and because the hero of the film ‘Karagattakkaran’ (a blockbuster of 1989) Ramarajan hails from the city.
Yugendran’s talent as a singer has been well matched with those other singers featured in Ilaiyaraaja’s Concerts, including Mano, SPB Charan, Karthik, Mukesh, Shwetha Mohan, Vibhavari, Bhavatharini Ilaiyaraaja and Usha Uthup.
“The Concert in Singapore held on August 20, 2022, was one of the finest in recent memory. The presence of our master Ilaiyaraaja on stage brings out the best in singers like me. I was thrilled to be introduced to this greatest music master of all time. I now look forward to the Ilaiyaraaja concerts in Sydney and Melbourne, scheduled to be held on September 17 and September 18, 2022,” Yugendran said.
About Yugendran Vasudevan
A showman, composer, writer and singer, Yugendran commenced his career in music as a Mridangam artiste and had his first public performance when he was ten years old. Accompanied by the late and great singer Dr Balamurali Krishna on the Viola, the performance was attended by Ilaiyaraaja along with many other dignitaries.
His first song as a playback singer was ‘Pollachi Santhaiyile’ in the 1999 Tamil film Rojavanam,’ followed by the title track in ‘Parthein Sirithein’ (a duet with Rashmi).
Among the music directors for whom he has rendered songs include Ilaiyaraaja, A R Rahman, Deva, Bharadwaj, Adityan, Yuvan Shankar Raja, Sirpy and Sri Kanth Deva.
Yugendran lives in Auckland with his wife Malini Yugendran and their three sons.
About Rambutan Media Works
Yugendran and Malini are directors of Rambutan Media Works, a TV content and events production company established in Singapore in 2009, producing content for Singapore’s only local broadcaster MediaCorp Pte Ltd. The Company has been nominated for its works at all the Television Awards Ceremonies since its inception. It expanded into New Zealand in 2018 and has been successfully organising community events in Auckland. Miss Heritage 2021 and Mrs Heritage 2021 held on February 12, 2021, marked the launch of the Company’s annual pageant.
Rambutan regularly organises events for ethnic communities.
