Music – Illayaraja the genius maestro

How can South Indian music be complete without the mention of Musical Maestro Ilayaraja. The man is the most known musician across South India.

He made the people across the nation to look towards South Indian music when most of the people were only listening to RD Burman and Kishore Kumar.

Ilayaraja started as a street musician. He used to play harmonium along his elder brother who used to write, compose and sing revolutionary songs. Once when he was accidentally asked to play in a stage he got great applause. This was the day he claims diverted him from studies to music. He then started pursuing music chance in Tamil Film Industry.

When his first film released his music was an instant hit. He never looked backed after that. He became such a phenomenon that almost every other film in one stage had his music. People used to come to theatres only to listen to his music.

One more important aspect of Ilayaraja’s music is his back ground score. It is so mesmerizing that it is still caller tunes for many people. His back ground music for Mouna Ragam, Nayagan are extremely famous. I am also not spared by his music. I used to sing his composition “Then paandi cheemayile” from his film “Naayagan” to put my son to sleep. In fact a survey revealed that it is one of the most used songs used by parents to put their kids to sleep.

One of his other compositions named “Amma yendru Azhaikadha” is encrypted in one of the temples in Tamil Nadu. It is a tribute to a mother singing about her greatness. Though the lyrics were penned by someone else, it was his music which made it reach every home in South India.

Great directors like Balachander, Barathi raja, Mani Ratnam used to only work him for years. He has won many national awards as well. Actor Kamal Haasan credits his music knowledge to Ilayaraja and always prefers him as his first choice.

He recently composed for his 1000^th film which tells volume about his greatness. In the early 1990’s he suddenly turned into a very spiritual person. Since then he has composed for many spiritual projects in films and albums. Off late he has concentrated more on spiritual albums.

He is also the first Asian to compose a full symphony performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He was felicitated with Padma Bushan in the year 2010. His composition “Rakkamma Kaiya Thattu” was voted as fourth in the top ten songs worldwide in a poll conducted by BBC across 155 countries. Such is the greatness of this composer.

Ilayaraja is fondly called Isaignani which means “The Saint of Music”. He still rules the Music Industry as one of the greatest music directors which the country has produced. Listen to his music and I guarantee you will be thirsty for more.

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.