20 minutes of electric shock!

No matter which language you choose, sometimes words aren't enough to describe what you feel. I experienced that feeling this evening when i was put through 20 minutes of blissful shock!
I bought a CD of Ilaiyaraaja Live in Italy CD before i went for the Ilaiyaraaja Fan club meet at the Santhom Communications Center at Luz Church road. I booked my pre-release order of 8 audio CD's and a Collector's Edition. Pandiarajan, CEO of Ma Foi Consultancy came first, followed by two people from Chennai online. There were three other press persons also, to cover the event. Dr.Vijay had even made a banner of our club with a portrait of the Maestro.
Then came Rev Father Jegath who gave a very clear and information-filled speech.
He was tired and at the same time releived that the perseverence of the TBI team had paid off but gently reminded us that more work had to be done on our part to promote the album. He even said that IR was not very easy to work with, as is the case with any genius. He didn't mean to put down IR's character, but rather, on the contrary, eccentricity and unpredictabilty exists where genius exists. The Maestro's mind is constantly chruning out tunes, from an ocean of swaras and his plane of existence is so different from ours that it is best if we remain just as his fans. He should know, as he has seen the Maestro churn out notes on his pad at an astonishing speed, the notes flowing into his head like a gush of a waterfall. Imagine writing notes for 36 instruments entirely in his head and not by having them played when he is composing.
He gave the sweet shock of the day when he announced that he was going to treat us with a sample of Thiruvasagam By Ilaiyaraaja in his modern studio. The buzz started amonst us from the moment.

We switched off our mobiles, removed our footwear and stepped into the studio whose lights were soon turned off. Father told us that he would be playing the master-piece from the album, the 18-odd minute Oratorio.
20 minutes passed. None of us knew what hit us. I'm not going to waste too many words describing the music or the experience. It will suffice to say that we were hit by 440 volts of electric shock. I heard the guy in front of me sobbing, literally. I held myself together even as i felt myself melting to Raaja's voice and the unbelievable mix of counterpoint (English lyrics), the western and the Indian harmony. No one has ever heard such a composition before.
One remark by a person said it all:

I don't believe in God, as i'm an atheist, but i just had a spiritual experience. That's enough for me for a lifetime

Father explained that one objective which evolved out of the excercise was to change the culture of music in our land. Remixes, kuthu songs all sounding alike, and noise masqerading as music - these should not be our identity as a cultural entity. If TBI were to reach the people, it would lead to a spiral of cultural recovery, as far as our music and arts are concerned. How true!

One word on Ilaiyaraaja and other music directors. They were all invited to the same studio for a sample hearing of the TBI, in IR's presence. Everyone was there - M.S.V, A.R Rahman, Vidhyasagar, Dhina, S.A Rajkumar (!?!). I can very well guess what their reaction would have been. ARR said "This is extraordinary, he is a national treasure".
IR first and daylight second

Get the album on June 30th, i can't wait.......