i think "Boys" has only a DTS cd, not a DVD-A disc.

you might be right but what is a DTS-CD is ?? .

BTW saw this article ( sounds little controversial to me )

http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fo ... F%29&sid=1


Tandav Tenor
Christianity and Shaivism meet in Ilayaraja, and yet...
S. ANAND profiles Ilayaraja
e-mail | one page format ! feedback: send read

Manickavasagar is a name most non-Tamils may mispronounce. Oratorio isn't familiar terrain. Hungarian conductor Lazlo Kovacs is not someone we know. Yet, Ilayaraja, the little master from Murugesan Street, T. Nagar, Chennai, brings all this together and weaves magic. To ears attuned to listening to Manickavasagar's Thiruvasagam sung by Oduvars (Shaivite temple singers) in traditional panns (precursors to ragas), Ilayaraja's attempt could amount to blasphemy. To upholders of "tradition", this fresh engagement with the ninth-century bhakti saint's ecstatic outpourings—involving the 90-piece Budapest Symphony Orchestra, 60 East European voices with a choir of 25 children, a choir of 60 Indian voices, 40 Indian musicians and 10 voices from New York—may seem an odd mixture.

He's waltzed past social obstacles, but Raja hates reminders of his past.


As P. Unnikrishnan, classical/playback singer who lent his voice to Thiruvasagam puts it, "Only Ilayaraja could have done it."

However, Ilayaraja's choice of form doesn't seem inappropriate given that George Uglow Pope,
who translated the text into English in 1900, was a Catholic missionary. K.A. Nilakanta Sastri writes in his History of South India that the main theme of Thiruvasagam is "the supreme power of divine grace to liberate the soul.... Some would trace Christian influence in the trend of the saint's thought and feeling." Ilayaraja's rendition of it as a 'symphonic oratorio' was made possible thanks largely to the efforts of Catholic priests Fr Jegath Gaspar Raj and Rev Vincent Chinnathurai and their outfit, 'Tamil Maiyam'.

But the Catholic pursuit—from G.U. Pope to Tamil Maiyam—over a text that espouses Shaiva Siddhanta is intriguing. "Tamil Maiyam borrowed Rs 70 lakh to make the album possible," says Raj. He rhetorically raised the obvious question during the launch: why is a Catholic group spending time and energy on Shaivite hymns? The answer: god is one, and the oratorical Thiruvasagam is one of many paths towards the universal god. But the Shaivism of eighth and ninth century Tamil society did not believe in mouthing such safe inanities. It was fiercely monotheistic and had no love lost for other religions. But Manickavasagar himself was benevolent, even being appropriated by the Siddhars tradition who espoused an egalitarian worldview.

It's such a text that Ilayaraja uses to showcase his conductor capabilities, taking us through several zones of musical experience in the hymn, Polla Vinayen, ranging over 20 minutes and the piece de resistance of the album. Topping his favourite Keeravani raga with a crescendo of violins and vocals, he daubs the invocation Namashivaya Vazhga in Kalyani, culminating in Shanmugapriya. American singer Ray Hartcourt unobtrusively complements Ilayaraja's voice with Pope's lyrics.

The leitmotif that goes "I am just a man/ imperfect lowly/How can I reach/for something holy?" is loaded with spiritual and sociological meaning. Ilayaraja's beginnings were rather humble. Born in 1943 as Gnanadesikan (but known as Rasaiyya) into a Dalit Christian family in Panniapuram of then undivided Madurai district, Raja had formal education only up to Class viii. Yet, fusing Tamil folk idioms, Indian and western classical genres, he almost monopolised film music in Tamil and Telugu till the early nineties. He has scored music for some 750 films in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi and English for directors ranging from Bharatiraja to Adoor Gopalakrishnan.

But despite his achievements, Ilayaraja is uncomfortable with the truth of his origins. When K.A. Gunasekaran wrote Isaimozhiyum Ilayarajavum (The Language of Music and Ilayaraja) in 2002, the composer was offended by the fact that Gunasekaran had discussed his Dalit origins. Ilayaraja sued the publisher and author for defamation. He has tried ceaselessly to merge himself into all that Hinduism holds in high regard: he contributed several lakhs to the building of the 13-tier gopuram (tower) of the Srirangam temple; he is an ardent devotee of Thiruvannamalai; he had planned to start a music research centre with the aid of the now-disgraced Kanchi math. Apparently, just being a musical genius is not enough.

So why does Ilayaraja, having waltzed past many social obstacles, hate being reminded of his past? Outlook asked Ilayaraja about Bob Marley, Bob Dylan, Gaddar, his communist brother Varadarajan and even the recent Live-8 performances where music became a mode of protest. "I am beyond such garbage," was his curt reply.

A CD with DTS 5.1 sound on it. I don't know if they are still made, with DVD-Audio here these days, but many albums were released on the format. I posted a cover for Boys DTS in some other thread.

From the IR Yahoo group:

Dear Murali & all members who posted this article to our group,

That is really a disgusting article and the author should know that
he can't just get away with it. At the same time, I agree with Anand
and Ramji that we should not popularize this article unnecessarily.
So, let us write to Outlook as individuals rather than 'His fans'
because the quoted words would give a different meaning to them for
the thoughts that we put down in our emails. Let us make our reply
factual and cut down our emotions. I say this because letters of
emotional outburst would only give the author another point to write
bad about.

Let us demand an apology note from Outlook by writing to
mailto:letters@outlookindia.com , mailto:mail@outlookindia.com ,
mailto:freespeech@outlookindia.com , mailto:feedback@outlookindia.com and
mailto:outlook@outlookindia.com. I will write to them personally and then
share my email with you all. I am enclosing relevant portions of
Ramji's and Srivatsan's emails to Outlook which will be useful for
people wondering how to respond to this issue authentically and
specifically, without getting too emotional.

Let's leave this issue with this and not discuss about the content
of the article at all because it would only lower our standard. I
hope everybody here will agree with me.

Yours Always Musically,
Vijay.



Ramji's Email:

Dear Sir,

With reference to your article Tandav Tenor by S. Anand published in
the latest issue of your magazine, I would like to bring to your
notice, the following points:

1. This article was supposed to be centered on Thiruvasakam by
Maestro Ilaiyaraaja, but I doubt whether author understood it as he
has not said much about the album.

2. To the best of my knowledge, this is first time Outlook published
an article regarding this project and it is disheartening to see
that it has given a wrong idea.

3. It is better to concentrate on Maestro Ilaiyaraaja, our country's
colossal talent and his latest work Thiruvasagam, a musical work
which by itself is a new genre. Nobody from India has done such a
project before and for this reason we should respect him and not
pull him into controversies involving his personal life which I feel
is unnecessary.

4. If the controversy was something about musical content and
something right or wrong about it, that can be reported. When the
Indian constitution allows right of speech and __expression to her
citizens, how could this composer alone be denied right to freedom
of speech and __expression and why does the author find fault with
the composer in sharing his personal past?

5. There is no logic in questioning anybody's personal life,
provided it doesn't harm any other person.

6. Magazines and newspapers should be more civilized and mature
enough to handle such as this. When all other newspapers and
magazines have focused on the standard of musical work and the
coming together of religions why did you alone want to focus on the
microscopic features that separates each of us from one another?

7. Further, G. U. Pope's version of Thiruvasagam was not used in
this. The English portion was written by Mr. Stephen Schwartz and
this shows how informed the author was.

Kindly check before approving such articles that is to be published
in your national magazine.

Yours truly,
Ramji.


Srivatsan's Email:

Sir,

It is with utmost shock and disappointment that iam writing this
email to you. I have been a avid reader of your esteemed magazine
for the past 3 years.

When i read the article "Christianity and Shaivism meet in
Ilaiyaraaja, and yet..." by one Mr. S. ANAND in the latest edition
of your magazine, i just could not believe my eyes.

How on earth could a magazine known for its values and ethics can
publish a casteist article like this. I was just stunned in
disbelief. I have got around 20 phone calls from my friends who also
echoed the same feelings.

I would like to bring the following points to your notice.

1. The article does not have any focus. It neither focuses on
the 'Thiruvasagam' project nor on its composer Mr. Ilaiyaraaja. But
it has taken Mr. Ilaiyaraaja head on a personal note.

2. This project was taken up by Mr. Ilaiyaraaja to show the value of
India's rich culture and tradition to today's youngsters. The fact
that Father.Jegath Gasper produced this prestigious project speaks
volumes on the Secularity of this project. So far no one in the
press, media and the general public have talked linking
Christianity, Shaivisam and this project. Everyone are thrilled
after hearing the album. People are commenting only on how Mr.
Ilaiyaraaja has managed to fuse east and west and come up with this
musical master piece. This album has been a stupendous success all
around the world and has achieved it purpose - that is reaching out
to the youngsters and show them the value of our rich culture and
heritage. But the author has taken a very cynical view on the entire
project.

3. I strongly condemn the following sentence in the article.
"To ears attuned to listening to Manickavasagar's Thiruvasagam sung
by Oduvars (Shaivite temple singers) in traditional panns
(precursors to ragas), Ilayaraja's attempt could amount to
blasphemy"

This is again a cynical view of the author. This project has been in
the news for the past 30 months and everyone have been only singing
praise on the noble attempt by Mr.Ilaiyaraaja. Everyone even in the
Shaivaite Madams in Tamil Nadu are extremely thrilled about this
project. Iam really wondering whether this article was reviewed by
somebody before getting published. Words such as "blasphemy" should
not have found a place in a magazine as esteemed as yours.

4. Throughout the article, the author has made several casteist
remarks. To name a few - "Christian influence", "Catholic
pursuit", "monotheistic shaivism" etc...

This has really shocked all of us. While everyone in Tamil Nadu and
all around the world are rejoicing the success of this noble venture
and are thanking Fr. Jegath for producing such a venture, the author
has chosen to make casteist remarks. This project advocates the
concept of "one god, one power" irrespective of religion and caste.
It basically speaks about the concept of 'Secular Spirituality".
But the author has taken a totally disparaging view on the entire
subject.

5. The most shocking aspect of the entire article is the author's
personal remarks on Mr. Illayaraja's roots. The author does not have
any right to speak about the Dalit Origin of Mr. Ilaiyaraaja. While
everyone here are speaking about secularism and unity, the author is
talking about caste origin and stuff. Totally disgraceful.

This article has hurt the sentiments of thousands of people all over
the world.

I expect that 'Outlook' will respect those sentiments and do the
following.

1. Publish an apology notice in the next issue
2. Convey the message that the article is only about the personal
views of S.Anand and those are not Outlook's views.

Hope better sense prevail over the Editorial board of 'Outlook' so
that such trash, irrational articles are not published in future.

Regards,
Srivatsan.

I have told lot or IR fans to ignore this article. Instead they end up writing to Outlook. The more these people talk about, the more famous the article would be. According to TIS folks, IR didnt give interview to outlook in the last 8 years, so whatever this guy wrote was totally his imagination. This is lot like ppl now a days write on blogs. I would ignore this totally.

jealousy, moreover the article doesn't make any sense. it's an intentionally ambiguous article attemting to obviously stir up controversies

BTW, I LOVE this album!!!! I've listened to it many many times already. In fact, I'm listening to it right now!! It's beautiful.

There are a lot of people moaning about how Ilaiyaraaja is the playback singer for all the songs, but I can't imagine anyone else singing these songs or any other songs where he sings. For example, there are certain filmi songs where He sings one song in the album, but then there is a second version of the same song by other LEGENDS like SPBalu & Hariharan & I prefer Ilaiyaraaja's voice over theirs!!

DU, I thought you were crazy when you posted that you were crying, even though Ilaiyaraaja has had that effect on me on countless occasions, I couldn't beleive the same would happen for a western classical album. Well, after having listened to the album, I have to beleive my on tears

Thank you for your time on Ilaiyaraaja DU!

Devi Sri on Ilaiyaraaja





Linkage

Perhaps for Polla Vinayen someone else should have sung the Tamil parts, as there is an imbalance between IR's voice and Roy Harcourt's voice.

I cant imagine anyone else singing Polla Vinayen, but I do definitely agree that there was an imbalance between teh tones, specially when they both sing one after the other.

Since the CD is released, I listen to it atleast 2 times a day and it definitley bought some change to myself. I am feel like I am richer now (I am swiping my CC all the places). I feel like I am the best in my work, probably because of increased self confidence. I definitly feel like I am fit to be a father than before.

Guys I will disappear for 3 weeks in Aug, but will make sure that you all get the DVD as soon as it arrives us. It is in production now and will probably be shiped to us in couple of weeks, so expect the DVD by mid aug.

I don’t think that outlook article is derogatory - I mean all he does is inform readers of IR's "uncomfortable-ness" with his roots along with Thiruvasagam's chirstian 'flavour'. In my eyes there is nothing wrong in doing that - it is left to readers to either take it or leave it. Lot of artist have had issues with their roots - some are pretty proud others not so.

On another note, I have to admit I am lil disappointed when he called Bob-Marley's (among other muscicans) music "I am beyond such garbage" - that was un-warranted for , guess it proves that he is an artist with an attitude .

We confirmed from KR that IR didnt give any interview for outlook in the last year or so. So I wouldnt quote IR for what S Anand said.

, BTW who is KR ??, let me just go back and enjoy music instead of getting entangled in these controversies

Who is KR???? Did you watched 16th December? The MD for that movie. He is also known as Karthik Raja, IR's first son!

Ah now i see though I dont know of any movie called 16th December ( maybe a hindi one ) , never imprssed me except perhaps Dum Dum Dum