An icon whose music speaks more than
himself- that's Ilaiyaraja, one among the few musical genius's that South Indian Cinema
has ever witnessed. Known as 'Isaignani'
(all-knowing musician) or 'Ragadevan' (God of Raagas) and many more titles, Ilaiyaraja with his burning musical sensibility is an unbelievably fast composer who does
everything from composing, orchestration, arrangement of instruments, to writing
notations, conducting and even recording sound and balancing of tracks.
He
was born
as Gnanadesikan aka Rasaiya, the third son to parents Ramasamy and Chinnathayi
on 2nd June 1943 in Pannaipuram, near Madurai, Tamil Nadu.
Music was in his blood
even from childhood and it was his brother Paavalar Varatharasan who encouraged this
talent to its maturity.
Rasaiya
and his brother had a music troupe and they conducted many programmes
throughout Tamil Nadu during 1958 to 1968. In 1968, he came to Chennai to learn
music. In 1970, he appeared for the examination of the Trinity college of Music,
London in Classical Guitar and came out with a Gold Medal. Simultaneously
he had his grounding in Indian classical music. During this early years in
Chennai he also learned Western Music from Dhanraj Master. It
was Dhanraj Master who re-christened him as Raja.
After acquiring knowledge in Music, he tried his luck in the film industry and got an opening
through the Tamil film director Panju Arunachalam for
his film 'Anarkali' in 1976. Panju Arunachalam not only gave Raja the entry
ticket to the tinsel world but also an exciting name- Ilaiyaraaja. From
then on there was no looking back and
Ilaiyaraaja went on to script a
success story in South Indian Film music.
Since 1976,
in a career spanning over 3 decades, he
has completed over 840 films and composed over 5000 songs in various
Indian languages like Tamil,
Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi and English . In
the early 80's he used to produce music for at least 40 movies per year, some of them running
100 days just for the sake of the
music alone. Raja has worked mostly with singers
SP
Balasubramaniam, S.Janaki, Chitra,
Jesudas
providing much of the music that defined their reputation.
His hits include songs from movies
like 16 Vayathinilae,
Sindhu Bhairavi, Anjali, Azhagi, Bharathi, Chinna Thambi, Dalapathi, Devar Magan, Guna, Hey Ram, Mouna Ragam
(Tamil), Sadma, Lajja (Hindi), Olangal, Moonnam Pakkam, Kaalapaani, Achuvinte Amma, Kochu Kochu Santhoshangal
(Malayalam) and many more...
Besides composing movie songs, he has many background tracks for movies
and non-film albums including devotional and instrumental albums to
his credit. Notable among them is Vedic Chants (a rendition of the Vedas by
an eight year old girl), Gitanjali, Raajavin Ramana Maalai, Ilayarajavin
geethavazhippaadu etc. He is highly spiritual and has composed many devotional songs on Ramana Maharshi, Saadhu Sri Raam Surat
Kumar (Visiri Saamiyaar). He was one among the few composers who attempted unique styles in folksy
tunes.
He had credited a truly unique orchestration technique, which
involves blending of western and Indian instruments. He is the first Asian to compose a full symphony with the Royal Philharmonic
Orchestra (RPO) of London
under the baton of John Scott. He was hence called by the name
'Maestro' Ilayaraja.
Beside his career in film music he had written lyrics to fusion albums
and as a part of his experimentation, he has tried blending western classical
fusions with the traditional Indian music. The two famous fusion albums of his compositions
are 'How to name it' and 'Nothing but wind'. The second album,
'Nothing but wind', features noted flutist Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasya. In
this albums fusion has
been explored and exposed in depth. His most recent work India 24 hours
and Thiruvasakam in Symphony has added yet another feather to his
cap. Thiruvasakam in Symphony an Oratorio of Thiruvasakam with Symphony orchestration.
He created a new raga by
name 'Panchamukhi' of his own explaining the five facets of music. He
is the only music director to compose a song in just 3 notes (swaras). During his on-stage Carnatic vocal performance, he sang
his own 'Kirthanas'. Ilayaraja has also
produced some movies under the banner Pavalar productions in remembrance of his
brother.
Ilayaraja has received many awards for his contributions to the world of
music. National Film award for Best Music direction three times for the films, Saagara Sangamam
(Telugu 1984), Sindhu Bhairavi (Tamil1986) and Rudra Veena (Telugu 1989), Best
Music Director award from the governments of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh.
'Kalaimamani Award',
an annual award for excellence in the field of arts, by the Government of Tamil Nadu (1988), Lata Mangeshkar Award for Excellence in
Music from the Government of Madhya Pradesh(1998), Degree of Doctor of Letters by the
Annamalai (1994) and Madurai Kamaraja University, Tamil Nadu (1996), Cultural Doctorate in Philosophy of
Music by
the World University Round Table, Arizona, U.S.A(1994) and many more.
In 2002, his composition 'Rakkama Kaiya Thattu' from the movie
Dhalapathi was the No.1 in BBC World Service Top Ten with
more than 50% of the votes.
He was the music composer for the Miss World 1996 Pageant, held at Bangalore.
Besides
composing music, Raja loves photography and writing poetry. He
is married to Jeeva and the couple have three children ( Sons Karthik
Raja and Yuvan Shankar Raja and daughter Bhavtharini).
Following the footsteps of their father, all of them are music composers and his
daughter is also a play back singer. Raja's brother Gangai Amaran is also a
composer and song writer.
Contact Address
Ilayaraaja
38, Murugesan Street, Theagaraya Nagar
Chennai, Tamil Nadu
India 600 017
E-mail
