The reigning king of Tamil film music

Chennai

Chennai NOV 1

Isaignani Ilaiyaraaja is one of the finest Indian music composers. He is also an instrumentalist, conductor, singer and songwriter. Ilaiyaraaja has created melodious and soulful tunes that are connected to the roots of folk music, blossom into modern Western numbers and often turn into soul-stirring classical songs. There is not a genre worldwide that he has not explored or set to tune. For over four decades, he has scored music for more than 1,000 films. Ilaiyaraaja’s first film, Annakili (1976), showcased his style of deploying simple Tamil folk melodies with excellence. Raja can compose and write the complete score of three new songs a day. “Give me half an hour and I can finish the music for a film,” he says. In the 1980s, stories, themes and star casts were being tweaked to fit his music and his songs created a tremendous cult following.

Classical songs flowed from his baton through Pon malai Pozhudu or Poongadhave. Rakkama kaya thattu is a song that demonstrates Raja’s masterful use of the piano and string instruments. His 400th film, Nayakan (1987) and 500th film Anjali (1990) are all-time greats. He has also created a new Carnatic raga called Panchamukhi. Maestro Ilaiyaraaja has recorded nonfilm albums, too, such as How to Name It and Nothing But Wind. In 1993, he became the first Asian to score a symphony, which he wrote in a month, for the London Philharmonic Orchestra. He recorded the Thiruvasagam with the Budapest Symphony Orchestra.

Compiled by Padmini Natarajan