Celebrating the long association

MUSICALLY LINKED

And as one entered Palace Grounds, it was evident that the name Yesudas holds a place of great love and respect in the heart of all music lovers. The occasion was to celebrate the singer’s 50th year in the Kannada film industry and also his 71st birthday.  The charity event Hridaya Raaga, was hugely attended and people kept pouring in many hours after the programme had started.

The programme began with KJ Yesudas speaking a bit about the role of music in his life. “My father always knew that my future was in music and always supported me in this line,” he said. This was followed by him singing the song Tu Tu Tu Bedapa which he dedicated to Dr Rajkumar. The audience cheered and clapped as he finished the song.

Soon director K S L Swamy, took the stage and spoke about Yesudas’s association with the movie Malaya Marutha. “I used to sit and listen to him practice for hours while we were creating the music for the movie,” he said.

The next song for the day was the popular Yellellu Sangethave, Yellellu Saundaryave which had everyone in a trance and many even singing along.

Singer Srinivas Murthy, sang the song Karunalathaye after which the event got a new twist as the famous musician Ilayaraja walked in. Everyone stood up to give him an ovation as he walked to the stage. “I was born in Bangalore and my mother is here too. I feel if you ever have any tension in life you should just listen to music,” he said talking to the crowd. “We should use music in the right manner and it is our fault that we don’t. We should select the sounds we listen to,” he said. He then honoured Yesudas by putting a Mysore Pet on his head.

The rest of the evening saw singers like Ajay Warrior who sang one of Yesudas’s song, Sharade Dayetoride alone and then a duet Kavithe ne with Archana Udapa. Also present during the event was Yesudas’s son, Vijay Yesudas who sang the song, Yare Nechuluve.

Though the place was crowded, some of the members of the audience were a little disappointed. “I don’t understand Kannada and am disappointed that Yesudas only sang a few songs. I had hoped that he would sing more,” said Lakshmi Murlikrishna, who was sitting in the audience.