 Tamil Maiyam hails Raja's musical epic
 The founder and chairperson of Tamil Maiyam, Fr Jegath Gaspar Raj, has hailed maestro Ilayaraja's international music project, 'Thiruvasagam by Ilayaraja', as a vital instrument in taking the richness and greatness of Tamil classical works like Manickavasagar's Thiruvasagam abroad and enabling people across the globe to enjoy the magnificence of Tamil music.
"None else than Ilayaraja could have enabled the rendering of Thiruvasagam, confined to Tamil Nadu, worldwide and there is justifiably great expectation both in India and abroad about his musical work for the project," said the Tamil Maiyam founder which conceived and executed the project with the
Maestro.
Fr Jegath gave a preview of the musical album at the Thiruvasagam contest organised by chennaionline.com, Sornammal Educational Trust, Ilayaraja's Thiruvasagam-Tamil Maiyam and MOP Vaishnav College for Women, at the MOP College in Chennai on June 25, 2005. The contest was organised for school and college students. Each student could sing or recite some verses from Manickavasagar's Thiruvasagam for a maximum period of two minutes. Six winners were selected (two each from students in batches up to class-8 and from class 9-12) and two from college students.
These winners will receive prizes from Ilayaraja at a function organised by him and Tamil Maiyam in Chennai on June 30, 2005.
Fr Jegath sang some portions from the songs sung by Ilayaraja. Displaying immense musical knowledge and prowess in Tamil, Fr Jegath regaled the audience with his audio preview of the songs. "You are applauding me. Just imagine the effect of Ilayaraja's songs with some 100 musicians providing music. Every Tamil should encourage Ilayaraja's non-film work by buying the CDs and cassettes."
 Westerners who could not appreciate much Tamil classical music now had an opportunity to comprehend and enjoy music from south India, thanks to Ilayaraja, he said. He gave away some of the prizes to the winners.
The managing director of Ma Foi Consultants Ltd, K Pandiarajan, who was the chief guest at the prize distributiom function, said Ilayaraja had made a phenomenal contribution towards Tamil music, culture and spirituality through this project which deserved all-round support and encouragement. The richness of Tamil literature in the form of Thiruvasagam would reach different parts of the world in a format that they would understand and appreciate, he added.
Pandiarajan is the founder of the Sornammal Educational Trust which is one of the sponsors of the Thiruvasagam contest being conducted in different parts of Tamil Nadu. The idea was to expose students to the treasures available in Tamil language.
L Ravichandran, managing director, chennaionline.com, in his welcome addresss, said the contest aimed at promoting awareness of Thiruvasagam among the youth. He appreciated the efforts of students and their teachers in participating in the contest.
S Chitra, Editor of Chennaionline, co-ordinated the contest in Chennai along with co-ordinators from MOP Vaishnav College for Women - Anuradha, Devi and M P
Chitra.
The first Thiruvasagam contest was held in Kancheepuram on June 18, the second in Coimbatore (June 22), third in Thiruvannamalai (June 23), fourth in Chennai on June 25, fifth at Nagercoil on June 26, sixth at Madurai on June 27, and the seventh at Tirukazhukundram on June 28, said R Rangaraj, Chief of News Bureau, chennaionline.com, adding that students had participated in the contest in various centres with great enthusiasm and interest.
The winners of the contest in Chennai were:
Class 4-8:
S Anuradha and K Padmaja (first and second - 7th and 8th standard of Modern Sr Secondary School and Kendriya Vidyalaya (Kalpakkam) respectively;
S Prithi and T R Srikrishna of Modern Sr Secondary School, (first and second) in
9-12 standard batch; and Sripriya Venkatesan, Alpha Arts and Science College (first) and
Priyanka (second) of MOP Vaishnav College (second).
Rohini Sankar and Dastadir (4-8 standard) of Modern Sr Secondary School and SET Anne's School of Excellence and
B Dhivya, Modern Sr Secondary School in the 9-12 category were awarded consolation prizes.
Prizes were sponsored by Sornammal Educational Trust, chennaionline.com, Amudham Music and Super Audio (Geetanjali). Judges for the contest were Pasupathi, retired principal of Thirupananaandhal Tamil College, and presently curator, U Ve Swaminathan Library; Sargunanathan, Oduvar, Kapalaeeswarar temple, Mylapore; and Dr Vel Karthikeyan, lecturer, Sindhi College, Poonamallee.
R Rangaraj
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