Illaiyaraaja Not Performing At Concert Tonight Despite Family and Organiser Assuring He Would The Last Few Days

Indian music maestro Ilaiyaraaja not performing at concert tonight

BY T AVINESHWARAN

PETALING JAYA: Hours before he is due on stage, noted Indian music composer Ilaiyaraaja informed his fans he is not fit to travel, much less perform at his King of Kings concert.

The 70-year-old Ilaiyaraaja was hospitalised for a mild heart attack at Apollo Hospital in Chennai, India on Monday, putting doubt to the highly-anticipated concert at Merdeka Stadium scheduled to start at 8pm on Saturday.

But by about 3.30pm, the King of Kings Maestro Ilaiyaraaja live in Kuala Lumpur Facebook page posted a video of him conveying his apologies to fans for not being able to perform.

Concert organiser, My Event International, confirmed that doctors have advised the maestro from travelling to Malaysia. However, My Event urged fans to go for the concert which would go on with other artistes.

In the video, Ilaiyaraaja urged his fans not to demand for a refund but to attend the concert.

“Wherever you are, my music will never go away, I will never leave you too. But for the sake of the sponsors and organisers, I urge people to go for the concert. They’ve worked hard to organise it,” said Ilaiyaraaja.

Throughout his 40-year career, Ilaiyaraaja has composed over 4,500 songs with scores for over 950 Indian films in various languages.

The concert is billed as "the biggest Indian music concert in Asia outside India."

Over 15,000 tickets have been snapped up for the concert which will be attended by popular playback singers S.P. Bala, K.S. Chitra, Krish and Madhu Balakrishnan, actors Ramarajan, Poornima Jayaram and Ramki and acclaimed directors P. Vasu and Gautham Vasudev Menon.