Ilaiyaraaja (born R. Gnanathesikan, 3 June 1943) is an Indian musician, composer, arranger, conductor,
orchestrator
Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble, such as a concert band) or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orch ...
,
instrumental
An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...
ist, lyricist and singer, popular for his works in
Indian Cinema
The Cinema of India consists of motion pictures produced in India, which had a large effect on world cinema since the late 20th century. Major centers of film production across the country include Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, ...
, prominently in
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nativ ...
films. Reputed to be one of the most prolific
Indian composers
Indian or Indians may refer to:
Peoples South Asia
* Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor
** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country
* South Asia ...
, in a career spanning over forty-five years, he has composed over 7,000 songs and provided
film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...
s for over 1,000 films,
apart from performing in over 20,000 concerts.
Ilaiyaraaja received
several awards for his works throughout his career. In 2012, for his creative and experimental works in the field of music, he received the
Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, the highest Indian recognition given to people in the field of
performing arts. In 2010, he was awarded the
Padma Bhushan
The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service ...
, the third-highest civilian honour in India; and was conferred the
Padma Vibhushan
The Padma Vibhushan ("Lotus Decoration") is the second-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "exceptional and distinguished service". All persons without ...
in 2018, the second-highest civilian award by the government of India. He is a nominated Member of Parliament in the Indian upper house,
Rajya Sabha
The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...
, since July 2022.
Early life
Ilaiyaraaja was born as Gnanathesigan in a Dalit family
belonging to
Pannaipuram
Pannaipuram is a panchayat town in Theni district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located hill foot of "Western Ghats" sharing its border with Kerala State and has very good literacy. Pannaipuram Town panchayat includes 4 villages name ...
, in present-day
Theni district, Tamil Nadu, India, on 3 June 1943.
In his later years, Ilaiyaraaja started to celebrate his birthday on 2 June instead, so that people of
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...
can celebrate only that of
Karunanidhi on 3 June, as both their birthdays fall on the same date. It was done out of respect for the late politician who bestowed him the title "Isaignani".
At the time of joining school, his father changed his name from Gnanathesigan to "Rajaiya", and the people in his village called him "Raasayya".
When he joined
Dhanraj Master as a student to learn musical instruments, the master changed his name to "Raaja".
While working for his first film ''
Annakili'', Tamil film producer Panchu Arunachalam added the prefix "Ilaiya" (Ilaiya meaning younger in
Tamil language
Tamil (; ' , ) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia. Tamil is an official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the sovereign nations of Sri Lanka and Singapore, and the Indian territory of Pudu ...
) to the name Raaja, and renamed him as "Ilaiyaraaja", as in the 1970s there was another popular music director with the same suffix, namely
A. M. Rajah
Aemala Manmadharaju Rajah, popularly known as A. M. Rajah, was an Indian playback singer and music director.
Early life
A. M. Rajah was born on 1 July 1929 in Cchamanchipuram, Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh. His father died when he was thr ...
.
Initial exposure to music
Ilaiyaraaja grew up in a rural area and was exposed to a range of
Tamil folk music in his formative years.
[Mohan, A. 1994. Ilaiyaraja: composer as phenomenon in ]Tamil film
Tamil cinema, also known as Kollywood is a part of Indian Cinema; primarily engaged in production of motion pictures in the Tamil language. Based out of the Kodambakkam neighbourhood in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, it is popularly called ''Kollywo ...
culture. M.A. thesis, Wesleyan University (pp. 106–107). At the age of 14, he joined a travelling musical troupe named as "Pavalar Brothers", headed by his elder brother
Pavalar Varadharajan, and spent the next decade performing throughout Southern India.
While working with the troupe, he penned his first composition, a musical adaptation of an
elegy
An elegy is a poem of serious reflection, and in English literature usually a lament for the dead. However, according to ''The Oxford Handbook of the Elegy'', "for all of its pervasiveness ... the 'elegy' remains remarkably ill defined: sometime ...
written by the Tamil
poet laureate
A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch ...
,
Kannadasan
Kannadasan (; 24 June 1927 – 17 October 1981) was an Indian philosopher, poet, film song lyricist, producer, actor, script-writer, editor, philanthropist, and is heralded as one of the greatest and most important lyricists in India. Freq ...
for India's first prime minister,
Jawaharlal Nehru
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat—
*
*
*
* and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...
.
[Rangarajan, M. ''The Hindu''. 9 July 2004. Retrieved 19 November 2006.]
In 1968, Ilaiyaraaja began a music course with Professor
Dhanraj
Dhanaraj may refer to:
People
*Dhanraj (actor), Telugu actor and comedian
*Dhanraj Bhagat (1917–1988), Indian sculptor
*Dhanraj Giri (1811–1901), Indian abbot of Kailash Ashram
* Dhanraj Pillay (born 1968), Indian field hockey player
* Dhanr ...
in Madras (now Chennai),
the course included an overview of Western classical music, compositional training in techniques such as
counterpoint, and study in instrumental performance. Ilaiyaraaja was a gold medalist in classical guitar after completing the course through distance learning channel from
Trinity College of Music, London.
[Author unknown. ''The Hindu''. 19 June 2005. Retrieved 1 February 2007.] He learnt carnatic music from
T.V.Gopalakrishnan
Tripunithura Viswanathan Gopalakrishnan (born 11 June 1932 in Tripunithura, Kerala), known as TVG, is a Carnatic and Hindustani musician from Cochin, Kerala, India. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 2014.
Ea ...
.
Career
Session musician and orchestrator
During 1970s in Chennai, Ilaiyaraaja played guitar in a band-for-hire, and worked as a
session guitarist
Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...
, keyboardist, and organist for film music composers and directors such as
Salil Chowdhury
Salil Chowdhury (19 November 1925 – 5 September 1995) was an Indian music director, songwriter, lyricist, writer and poet who predominantly composed for Bengali, Hindi and Malayalam films. He composed music for films in 13 languages. This in ...
from
West Bengal
West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...
.
[Gautam, S. ''The Hindu''. 13 November 2004. Retrieved 13 October 2006.][Chennai, S]
"Looking back: flawless harmony in his music".
''The Hindu''. 20 November 2005. Retrieved 15 November 2006.[Choudhury, R. 2005]
The films of Salil Chowdhury: Introduction
. Retrieved 16 November 2006. Chowdhury once said that Ilaiyaraaja is going to become the best composer in India.
After being hired as the musical assistant to
Kannada film
Kannada cinema, also known as Sandalwood, or Chandanavana, is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Kannada language widely spoken in the state of Karnataka. The 1934 film '' Sati Sulochana'' directe ...
composer
G. K. Venkatesh
Gurusala Krishnadas Venkatesh (21 September 1927 – 17 November 1993) was an Indian film score composer who primarily worked in Kannada cinema during the 1960s, 1970s and until the late-1980s. He also composed music for Telugu, Malayalam and Ta ...
, he worked on 200 film projects, mostly in
Kannada cinema
Kannada cinema, also known as Sandalwood, or Chandanavana, is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Kannada language widely spoken in the state of Karnataka. The 1934 film ''Sati Sulochana'' directed ...
.
[Vijayakar, R]
"The prince in Mumbai".
''Screen''. 21 July 2006. Retrieved 6 February 2007. As G. K. Venkatesh's assistant, Ilaiyaraaja would
orchestrate the melodic outlines developed by Venkatesh. This is the time when Ilaiyaraaja learned the most about composing under the guidance of
G. K. Venkatesh
Gurusala Krishnadas Venkatesh (21 September 1927 – 17 November 1993) was an Indian film score composer who primarily worked in Kannada cinema during the 1960s, 1970s and until the late-1980s. He also composed music for Telugu, Malayalam and Ta ...
. During this period, Ilaiyaraaja also began writing his own scores. To listen to his compositions, he used to persuade Venkatesh's
session musicians to play excerpts from his scores during their leisure times.
Film score composer
At the start of his career, the music sensibility of Ilaiyaraaja was very different to the film music being composed in those days, so he spent a lot of his time in learning, but "wasn’t able to grasp how music was being made for films." However in 1975, film producer Panchu Arunachalam, impressed by a song casually sung by Ilaiyaraaja, commissioned him to compose the songs and film score for a Tamil film titled
Annakili (The Parrot).
For the soundtrack, Ilaiyaraaja applied the techniques of modern popular film music orchestration to Tamil folk poetry and folk song melodies, which resulted in creation of a fusion of Western and Tamil idioms. Initially he was little apprehensive about how his work would be received, and thought that musicians in the industry may write him off. Eventually, when Annakili released in 1976, the music became a huge hit. For his next following 12 films, Ilaiyaraaja based his compositions on the contemporary film music of the time, later when a new wave of films started to come, they opened the space for the kind of music he wanted to explore.
Ilaiyaraaja's use of Tamil folk music in his film scores injected new life in the Indian film score milieu.
[Baskaran, S.T. ''The Hindu''. 6 January 2002. Retrieved 15 November 2006.] By the mid-1980s, Ilaiyaraaja started gaining increasing stature as a composer and music director in the South Indian film industries.
[Greene, P.D. 1997. Film music: Southern area. Pp. 542–546 in B. Nettl, R.M. Stone, J. Porter and T. Rice (eds.). ''The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music. Volume V: South Asia—The Indian Subcontinent''. New York: Garland Pub. (p. 544).] He has worked with Indian poets and lyricists such as
Kannadasan
Kannadasan (; 24 June 1927 – 17 October 1981) was an Indian philosopher, poet, film song lyricist, producer, actor, script-writer, editor, philanthropist, and is heralded as one of the greatest and most important lyricists in India. Freq ...
,
Vaali,
Vairamuthu
Vairamuthu Ramasamy (born 13 July 1953) is an Indian lyricist, poet, and novelist working in the Tamil film industry. He is a prominent figure in the Tamil literary world. A master's graduate from the Pachaiyappa's College in Chennai, he first ...
,
O. N. V. Kurup
Ottaplakkal Neelakandan Velu Kurup (known as O. N. V. Kurup; 27 May 1931 – 13 February 2016) was a Malayalam poet and lyricist from Kerala, India, who won the Jnanpith Award, the highest literary award in India for the year 2007. He receive ...
,
Sreekumaran Thampi
Sreekumaran Thampi (born 16 March 1940) is an Indian lyricist, music director, director, producer, and screenwriter in Malayalam cinema. He also writes poetry and is a recipient of the Vallathol Award. In 2017, he was awarded the J. C. Daniel ...
,
Veturi
Veturi Sundararama Murthy (29 January 1936 – 22 May 2010), known mononymously by his surname Veturi, was an Indian poet, lyricist and journalist who is popular for writing Telugu songs. His career in the Telugu cinema spanned more than four de ...
,
Aacharya Aatreya,
Sirivennela Sitaramasastri,
Chi. Udaya Shankar
Chitnahalli Udayashankar (18 February 1934 – 2 July 1993; born in Chitnahalli) was an Indian lyricist and dialogue writer in the Kannada film industry for over three decades, who penned more than 3000 songs for films and devotional songs. H ...
and
Gulzar
Sampooran Singh Kalra (born 18 August 1934), known professionally as Gulzar, is an Indian Urdu poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, and film director known for his works in Hindi cinema. He is regarded as one of greatest Urdu poets of this ...
, and became well known for his association with filmmakers such as
Bharathiraja
Bharathiraja (born 17 July 1941) is an Indian film director and actor who works mainly in the Tamil film industry. Making his debut in 1977 with '' 16 Vayathinile'', he is known for realistic and sensitive portrayals of rural life in his films. ...
,
S. P. Muthuraman,
Mahendran,
Balu Mahendra
Balanathan Benjamin Mahendran (19 May 1939 13 February 2014), commonly known as Balu Mahendra, was a Sri Lankan-born Indian cinematographer, director, screenwriter and film editor who worked predominantly in Tamil cinema. Widely regarded as ...
,
K. Balachander
Kailasam Balachander (9 July 1930 – 23 December 2014) was an Indian film maker and playwright who worked mainly in the Tamil cinema. He was well known for his distinct film-making style, and the Indian film industry knew him as a master of un ...
,
Mani Ratnam
Gopala Ratnam Subramaniam (born 2 June 1956), known professionally as Mani Ratnam, is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer who predominantly works in Tamil cinema and few Hindi, Telugu and Kannada films. Ratnam has won six ...
,
Sathyan Anthikkad
Sathyan Anthikad is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and lyricist who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema. In a career spanning five decades he has directed more than 50 films, been the lyricist for 12 films and been the scriptwriter f ...
,
Priyadarshan
Priyadarshan (born 30 January 1957) is an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer who works predominantly in Malayalam and Hindi films, while also having done six films in Tamil and two films in Telugu. He has done about 31 films in ...
,
Fazil,
Vamsy
Vamsy is an Indian film director, screenwriter and music director known for his works in Telugu cinema. In 1985, he received the National Film Award for ''Sitaara''. Vamsy has his own style of making the movie with art like the director Bap ...
,
K. Viswanath
Kasinadhuni Viswanath (born 19 February 1930) is an Indian film director, screenwriter and actor, known for his works primarily in Telugu cinema. He is recipient of five National Film Awards, seven state Nandi Awards, ten Filmfare Awards South ...
,
Singeetam Srinivasa Rao
Singeetam Srinivasa Rao (born 21 September 1931), commonly known as Singeetam, is an Indian film director, screenwriter, producer, composer, and actor. He is widely regarded as one of the most versatile directors of India. He is credited with hav ...
,
Bala,
Shankar Nag
Shankar Nagarakatte (9 November 1954 – 30 September 1990) was an Indian actor, screenwriter, director, and producer known for his work in Kannada-language films and television. A popular cultural icon of Karnataka, Nag is often referred to as ...
, and
R. Balki
R. Balakrishnan, popularly known as R. Balki, (born 16 April 1964) is an Indian filmmaker, screenwriter and former Group Chairman of the advertising agency Lowe Lintas (India). He is best known for directing ''Cheeni Kum'' (2007), '' Paa'' (200 ...
.
Non-cinematic output
Ilaiyaraaja's first two non-film albums were explorations in the fusion of Indian and Western classical music. The first, ''
How to Name It?'' (1986), is dedicated to the Carnatic master
Tyāgarāja and to
J. S. Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...
. It features a fusion of the Carnatic form and ''ragas'' with Bach
partita
Partita (also ''partie'', ''partia'', ''parthia'', or ''parthie'') was originally the name for a single-instrumental piece of music (16th and 17th centuries), but Johann Kuhnau (Thomaskantor until 1722), his student Christoph Graupner, and Johann ...
s,
fugues and
Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
musical textures. The second, ''Nothing But Wind'' (1988), was performed by flautist
Hariprasad Chaurasia
Hariprasad Chaurasia (born 1 July 1938) is an Indian music director and classical flautist, who plays the bansuri, in the Hindustani classical tradition.
Early life
Chaurasia was born in Allahabad (1938) (officially called Prayagraj) in the I ...
and a 50-piece orchestra and takes the conceptual approach suggested in the title—that music is a "natural phenomenon akin to various forms of air currents".
[Oriental Records. Undated]
Nothing But Wind
. Retrieved 19 November 2006.
He has composed a set of Carnatic ''
kritis
''Kriti'' (Sanskrit: कृति, ''kṛti'') is a format of musical composition typical to Carnatic music. ''Kritis'' form the mental backbone of any typical Carnatic music concert and is the longer format of Carnatic song. "Kriti" also means C ...
'' which were recorded by electric mandolinist
U. Srinivas for the album ''Ilayaraaja's Classicals on the Mandolin'' (1994). Ilaiyaraaja has also composed albums of religious/
devotional songs. His ''Guru Ramana Geetam'' (2004) is a cycle of prayer songs inspired by the Hindu mystic
Ramana Maharshi, and his ''
Thiruvasakam
''Thiruvasagam'' ( ta, திருவாசகம், tiruvācakam, translit-std=IAST, lit=sacred utterance) is a volume of Tamil hymns composed by the ninth century Shaivite ''bhakti'' poet Manikkavasagar. It contains 51 compositions and cons ...
: A crossover'' (2005) is an
oratorio
An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is ...
of ancient Tamil poems transcribed partially in English by American lyricist
Stephen Schwartz
Stephen Lawrence Schwartz (born March 6, 1948) is an American musical theatre lyricist and composer. In a career spanning over five decades, Schwartz has written such hit musicals as ''Godspell'' (1971), ''Pippin'' (1972), and ''Wicked'' (20 ...
and performed by the
Budapest Symphony Orchestra
The Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (also known earlier as Budapest Symphony Orchestra) ( hu, Magyar Rádió Szimfonikus Zenekara; MRZE) is a Hungarian radio orchestra. It is part of the Hungarian Television and Broadcasting Organisation, Magya ...
.
[Viswanathan, S. 2005. . ''Frontline'' 22 (15), 16–29 July. Retrieved 13 October 2006.][Parthasarathy, D. 2004. . The Hindu, Friday, 26 November. Retrieved 1 March 2007.] Ilaiyaraaja's most recent release is a world music-oriented album called ''The Music Messiah'' (2006).
[Soman, S. 2006]
'The Music Messiah'
. The Hindu, Saturday, 30 December. Retrieved 27 February 2007.
He has announced on his birthday that his ‘Isai OTT’ application will be launched soon and promised the app will contain much more than just his songs, like behind-the-scenes trivia about how each of his songs were conceived, produced, delivered and collaborations with other musicians.
Musical style and sensibility
Ilaiyaraaja, once reflecting over his works ahead of turning seventy-five, said his "life experiences and learning" have been the fount from which his musical output poured, but sometimes felt that some of his compositions transcended them as if they were, "the reflection of the efforts of past lives — mine, or those of other musical exponents." When enquired if it was anyway similar to the case of mathematical genius,
Srinivasa Ramanujan, who insisted he received math formula in
dreams
A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5 to 20 minutes, althou ...
from a goddess, Ilaiyaraaja said that unlike Ramanujan who felt a supernatural being guiding him, he always felt a moment of clarity when a composition came to his mind, "It is as if I am the subject and the object of art at the same time when that happens," he said.
Ilaiyaraaja's musical style is characterised by an orchestration which is a synthesis of Indian folk music and Western classical music, with traditional
Indian instruments
Indian musical instruments can be broadly classified according to the Hornbostel–Sachs system into four categories: chordophones (string instruments), aerophones (wind instruments), membranophones (drums) and idiophones (non-drum percussion in ...
and
modes
Mode ( la, modus meaning "manner, tune, measure, due measure, rhythm, melody") may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* '' MO''D''E (magazine)'', a defunct U.S. women's fashion magazine
* ''Mode'' magazine, a fictional fashion magazine which is ...
. He uses electronic music technology that integrates synthesizers, electric guitars and
keyboards
Keyboard may refer to:
Text input
* Keyboard, part of a typewriter
* Computer keyboard
** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping
** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware
Music
* Musi ...
, drum machines, rhythm boxes and
MIDI
MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and ...
with large orchestras that feature traditional instruments such as the ''
veena
The ''veena'', also spelled ''vina'' ( sa, वीणा IAST: vīṇā), comprises various chordophone instruments from the Indian subcontinent. Ancient musical instruments evolved into many variations, such as lutes, zithers and arched harps ...
'', ''
venu
The ''venu'' (Sanskrit: ; /मुरळि; ''muraļi'') is one of the ancient transverse flutes of Indian classical music. It is an aerophone typically made from bamboo, that is a side blown wind instrument. It continues to be in use in the ...
'', ''
nadaswaram
The Nagaswaram (nādḥasvaram) is a double reed wind instrument from South India. It is used as a traditional classical instrument in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, and Kerala.
This instrument is "among the world's loudes ...
'', ''
dholak
The ''dholak'' is a two-headed hand drum, a folk percussion instrument. The instrument is about 45 cm in length and 27 cm in breadth and is widely used in '' qawwali'', '' kirtan'', ''lavani'' and '' bhangra''. The drum has two differ ...
'', ''
mridangam'' and ''
tabla
A tabla, bn, তবলা, prs, طبلا, gu, તબલા, hi, तबला, kn, ತಬಲಾ, ml, തബല, mr, तबला, ne, तबला, or, ତବଲା, ps, طبله, pa, ਤਬਲਾ, ta, தபலா, te, తబల ...
'' as well as Western lead instruments such as saxophones and flutes.
The
bassline
Bassline (also known as a bass line or bass part) is the term used in many styles of music, such as blues, jazz, funk, Dub music, dub and electronic music, electronic, traditional music, traditional, or classical music for the low-pitched Part ( ...
s in his songs tend to be melodically dynamic, rising and falling in a dramatic fashion.
Polyrhythm
Polyrhythm is the simultaneous use of two or more rhythms that are not readily perceived as deriving from one another, or as simple manifestations of the same meter. The rhythmic layers may be the basis of an entire piece of music ( cross-rhyt ...
s are also apparent, particularly in songs with Indian folk or Carnatic influences. The melodic structure of his songs demand considerable vocal virtuosity, and have found expressive platform amongst some of India's respected vocalists and playback singers, such as
T. M. Soundararajan
Thoguluva Meenatchi Iyengar Soundararajan (24 March 1923 – 25 May 2013), popularly known as TMS, was an Indian Carnatic musician and a playback singer in Tamil cinema for over six and a half decades. He sang over 10,138 songs from 3,162 fi ...
,
S. Janaki
Sistla Janaki (born 23 April 1938) is an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer from Andhra Pradesh. She is referred to respectfully as "Janaki Amma" and Nightingale of South India. She is one of the best-known playback singers in ...
,
P. Susheela
Pulapaka Susheela (born 13 November 1935), popularly known as P. Susheela, is an Indian playback singer associated with the South Indian cinema primarily from Andhra Pradesh for over six decades. She is one of the greatest and best-known playba ...
,
K. J. Yesudas,
K. S. Chithra,
S. P. Balasubrahmanyam
Sripathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam (4 June 1946 – 25 September 2020), also referred to as SPB or SP Balu or Balu, was an Indian playback singer, television presenter, actor, music composer, dubbing artist, and film producer. He is wi ...
,
M. G. Sreekumar
Malabar Gopalan Sreekumar (born 25 May 1957), better known as M.G. Sreekumar is an Indian playback singer, composer, music producer, television presenter and film producer, who works predominantly in Malayalam cinema. He has sung more than 2000 ...
,
Rajkumar,
Asha Bhosle
Asha Bhosle (; Mangeshkar; born 8 September 1933) is an Indian playback singer, entrepreneur
and occasional actress and television personality who predominantly works in Indian Cinema. Known for her versatility, she has been described in th ...
,
Lata Mangeshkar
Lata Mangeshkar () (born as Hema Mangeshkar; 28 September 1929 – 06 February 2022) was an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer. She is widely considered to have been the greatest and most influential singers in India. Her con ...
,
Jayachandran,
Uma Ramanan
Uma Ramanan is an Indian playback singer, singing predominantly in Tamil. She is also a Live stage performer who has performed for more than 6,000 concerts spanning 35 years. She hails from Tamil Nadu state of India.
Personal life and backgroun ...
,
S. P. Sailaja,
Jency
Jensy Gregory (née Anthony), also known mononymously as Jensy (also spelt Jency), is an Indian playback singer who has worked with composers like Ilayaraaja in Tamil films.
Career
Jensy Gregory hails from a family of musicians and music came ...
,
Swarnalatha,
Minmini,
Sujatha,
Malaysia Vasudevan
Vasudevan (15 June 1944 – 20 February 2011), known as Malaysia Vasudevan, was a Malaysian-Indian playback singer and actor in Tamil cinema.
Early life
Malaysia Vasudevan's parents were from Palakkad. Chattu Nair of Ottappalam and Amma ...
,
Kavita Krishnamurthy,
Hariharan,
Suresh Wadkar,
Udit Narayan Udit is an Indian masculine given name that may refer to:
* Udit Narayan, Bollywood playback singer
* Udit Narayan (politician) (born 1960), Fijian politician of Indian descent
* Udit Narayan Singh (1770–1835), Indian monarch
* Udit Patel (born ...
,
Sadhana Sargam
Sadhana Sargam (née Ghanekar, born 7 March 1969) is an Indian singer known for her playback career in Indian cinema predominantly in Hindi, Bengali, Telugu and Tamil language films. She is a recipient of the National Film Award and Filmfare ...
and
Shreya Ghoshal
Shreya Ghoshal (born 12 March 1984) is an Indian singer and television personality. One of the highest-paid and most well-established playback singers of Indian cinema, she has received four National Film Awards, four Kerala State Film Awards ...
. Ilaiyaraaja has sung more than 400 of his own compositions for films, and is recognisable by his stark, deep voice. He has penned the lyrics for some of his songs in Tamil.
[Rangarajan, M]
"From Texas to tinsel town".
''The Hindu'', 15 October 2004. Retrieved 1 February 2007.[Ashok Kumar, S.R. ''The Hindu''. 9 January 2004. Retrieved 1 February 2007.] It is widely believed that he is the only composer in the world to have composed a song only in the ascending notes.
He considers
M. S. Viswanathan as an overwhelming influence on his music.
Ilaiyaraaja is nicknamed "Isaignani" (the musical genius), a title conferred by Kalaignar Karunanidhi. He is often referred to as "maestro", the title conferred by the
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London.
He was one of the earliest Indian film composers to use Western classical music harmonies and string arrangements in Indian film music.
This allowed him to craft a rich tapestry of sounds for films, and his themes and background score gained notice and appreciation among Indian film audiences. The range of expressive possibilities in Indian film music was broadened by Ilaiyaraaja's methodical approach to arranging, recording technique, and his drawing of ideas from a diversity of musical styles.
He is reputed to be the world's most prolific composer having composed more than 7,000 songs, provided film scores for more than 1,000 movies and performed in more than 20,000 concerts.
In 1993, he became the first Indian to compose a
full symphony, performed by the
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London
[ ]_and_is_also_known_to_have_written_the_entire_symphony_in_less_than_a_month._Composed_by_Ilaiyaraaja,_the_critically_acclaimed_''Thiruvasakam_in_Symphony.html" ;"title="name="hindustantimes.com"> and is also known to have written the entire symphony in less than a month. Composed by Ilaiyaraaja, the critically acclaimed ''Thiruvasakam in Symphony">Thiruvasagam in Symphony'' (2006) is the first Indian oratorio
An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is ...
.
According to musicologist P. Greene, Ilaiyaraaja's "deep understanding of so many different styles of music allowed him to create syncretic pieces of music combining very different musical idioms in unified, coherent musical statements". Ilaiyaraaja has composed Indian film songs that amalgamated elements of genres such as Afro-tribal, bossa nova, dance music (e.g., disco), doo-wop, flamenco, steel-string acoustic guitar, acoustic guitar-propelled Contemporary folk music, Western folk, funk, Indian classical music, Indian classical, Indian folk music, Indian folk/traditional, jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
, march
March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March ...
, pathos, pop, psychedelia
Psychedelia refers to the psychedelic subculture of the 1960s and the psychedelic experience. This includes psychedelic art, psychedelic music and style of dress during that era. This was primarily generated by people who used psychedelic ...
and rock and roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...
.
By virtue of this variety and his intermingling of Western, Indian folk and Carnatic elements, Ilaiyaraaja's compositions appeal to the Indian rural dweller for its rhythm
Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular re ...
ic folk qualities, the Indian classical music enthusiast for the employment of Carnatic '' Ragas'', and the urbanite for its modern, Western-music sound. Ilaiyaraaja's sense of visualisation for composing music is always to match up with the story line of the running movie and possibly by doing so, he creates the best experience for the audience to feel the emotions flavoured through his musical score. He mastered this art of blending music to the narration, which very few others managed to adapt themselves over a longer time.[S. Theodore Baskara]
"Jnana To Gana: Consistent eclecticism has kept Tamil film music virile"
. Outlookindia.com, 26 June 2006. Although Ilaiyaraaja uses a range of complex compositional techniques, he often sketches out the basic melodic ideas for films in a very spontaneous fashion.
Honours and legacy
Ilaiyaraaja has been awarded five National Film Awards—three for Best Music Direction and two for Best Background Score.[Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India. 2006. . Archived fro]
the original
on 18 April 2007. Retrieved 22 November 2006. In 2010, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan
The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service ...
, the third-highest civilian honour in India and the Padma Vibhushan
The Padma Vibhushan ("Lotus Decoration") is the second-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "exceptional and distinguished service". All persons without ...
in 2018, the second-highest civilian award
This list of civil awards and decorations is a partial index to articles about notable civil awards and decorations. It excludes Law enforcement awards and honors and ecclesiastical decorations, which are covered by separate lists. See :Civil aw ...
by the government of India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. In 2012, he received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, the highest Indian recognition given to practising artists, for his creative and experimental works in the music field. He is a gold medalist in classical guitar from Trinity College of Music, London, Distance Learning Channel.
In 2003, according to an international poll conducted by BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
'' was voted fourth in the top 10 most popular songs of all time.
conducted a poll commemorating 100 years of Indian cinema, Ilaiyaraaja, secured 49% of the people's vote and was adjudged as the country's greatest music composer,
, stood second with 29% vote.
In 1986, he became the first Indian composer to record a soundtrack with computer for the film ''
''.
He was also one of the earliest Indian film composers to use Western classical music harmonies and string arrangements in Tamil film music,
.
.
According to Achille Forler, board member of the Indian Performing Right Society, the kind of stellar body of work that Ilaiyaraaja has created in the last 40 years should have placed him among the world's top 10 richest composers, somewhere between
(over $300 million).
.
—all film composers and singers.
His wife Jeeva died on 31 October 2011.
and both were not in talking terms for 13 years.
, whether in a studio, or in a concert. He has scored with it throughout his career, curiously in his younger days, he was never allowed to touch it by his brother who thought he would spoil it. However Ilaiyaraaja would play with it whenever he wasn't there, "that’s how I learnt how to play," he says "the harmonium knows that it was made for me. It tells me that there is more music to be made."
, under whose tutelage Ilaiyaraaja initially worked as a lead guitarist, once remarked, "Our main guitarist in Madras is the best composer in India".
*British Musician
, described Ilaiyaraaja in an essay thus, "Whatever "genre" of music you choose to like/ love/ promote/ protect/ politicise/ over-intellectualize/ despise/ defend or pretend to enjoy, Ilaiyaraaja has done it."
*Director
(1992), Ilaiyaraaja had composed nine songs in just 45 minutes, which is a record.
said that Ilaiyaraaja finished composing for the entire soundtrack of the movie
in less than "half a day".
*During the recording for the song "Sundari" from the movie ''Thalapathi'' in Mumbai with
's orchestra, when Ilaiyaraaja gave them the notes, they were so moved and taken in by the composition that all the musicians put their hands together in awe and gave a standing ovation as a mark of respect for Ilaiyaraaja.
of three films in a single day, without any sleep; while present generation composers take 30 days for a single film.
*Carnatic vocalist
considers no other film composer has displayed the broad range of understanding music like Ilaiyaraaja, and the way he adapts and creates music is unfathomable making him the absolute master.
*The score and soundtrack of the 1984
, the first stereoscopic 3D film made in India, was composed by him.
*He composed the soundtrack for the movie ''
''s ''100 Albums to Hear Before You Die''.
*In 2003, according to an international poll conducted by
...