Monday, June 17, 2013

Bheemboy BheemboyKV 16th June 2013 Raaja70Blr

And so the day eventually arrived - #Raaja70Blr.

I need to start off with a clarification - only the basic idea was mine. The planning, logistics, food, venue, etc – everything was taken care of by annan @Seevin & @Nchokkan. This couldn't have happened if not for the magnanimity of @Seevin and his folks! (Imagine putting up with an enthu gumbal of around 20 makkal engaged in high decibel singing & gibbersh in the name of orchestration; asura porumai his family folks must have! pakkathu veettu kAranga complain pannAlum aacharyam illa, so loud we were!). And he also went a step ahead and had made arrangements for personalized Raaja70 memorabilia! @seevin yengyO poiteenga saar! :bow:

The introductions (though I missed out on a fair number) gave a glimpse into each person's journey with Raaja; always makes a very interesting topic. The singing sessions then started with @Seevin’s friend (Sridhar?) donning the role of the lead vocalist (who later on sang some fantastic thodi pieces from Gangaikarai Mannan while narrating an interesting anecdote of KJY laboring to nail IR's ponging-like-aruvi sangathis during recording of this song) and others chipping-in with a lot of energy. @thachimammu was sakkapOdupOding on the rhythms! The gathering was clearly missing people who could play the chords (on either the keyboard or guitars) - would've added so much more texture! I tried to initially keep company with some chords but very soon realized it was far beyond my novice abilities on the instrument and happily retired. (Had hurriedly 'practiced' vandhAlE allippoo, pani vizhum malarvanam & kAdhal Oviyam with cousin for about 30mins previous evening but 'take' appo kayyum Odala kAlum Odala :embarrassed: :oops: :nesstumeetpannuvOm:). Taking a break from the singing sessions, @nchokkan shared some very interesting perspectives on ‘Raaja the vocalist’ in his typical articulate style. Mr. & Mrs. Usha and @equanimus made the conversation even more interesting with their thoughts & experiences. The singing sessions resumed and @Seevin’s friend then pulled out the next weapon from his armory - violin! Though it was towards the end of the day, his solo performance featuring some passages from HTNI were superb and brought the event to a great finish! Thank you, sir! Looking forward to more jamming sessions with you!
Notes to self for future Raaja jamming session - hunt down a bassie, keyboardist/pianist & guitarist!

(I had put-together an agenda of sorts (that went largely unused) for the day and Raaja quiz was one of things on the list. I’d tempo-vechu-kadathified quiz-expert aka hub-quiz-terrorist @aravindmano for questions and he’d sent me a list of some very interesting & fun questions. Alas, kinda ran out of time and wasn’t able to do the quiz this time. AM sir, sorry; we could probably do a kutti quiz over twitter or in Raaja Forumms with the questions.)

All the Raaja-fetish apart, it was of course good to put a face to the twit handles and to catch-up with people like Mr. & Mrs. Usha Shankar (who are probably among the nicest and warmest people I've met! Their enthusiasm is just infectious!). And all you folks who’d dialed in online and those who stayed up so late into the night – so nice of you all! :pullarips: :Anandha-kanneer:!

(Also got the original Naadi Thudikudhadi CD from @Seevin. Nandri'nga!)

Raaja naamam vAzhga!
http://tl.gd/n_1rkrs51

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