Ilaiyaraaja | |
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.jpg) Ilaiyaraaja in 2017 | |
| Background information | |
| Also known as |
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| Born | Gnanathesigan (1943-06-03)3 June 1943 (age 82)[a] |
| Genres |
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| Occupations |
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| Instruments | |
| Years active | 1976–present |
| Website | ilaiyaraajalive |
| Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha | |
| Assumed office 7 July 2022 | |
| Nominated by | Ram Nath Kovind |
| Constituency | Nominated (Arts) |
| Personal details | |
| Spouse | Jeeva Rajayya |
| Children | Karthik Raja Bhavatharini Yuvan Shankar Raja |
| Education | Trinity Laban |
Ilaiyaraaja (bornGnanathesigan)[1] is an Indian musician, composer, arranger, conductor, orchestrator, multi-instrumentalist, lyricist and playback singer popular for his works inIndian cinema, predominantly inTamil in addition toTelugu,Malayalam,Kannada andHindi films. Regarded as one of the most prolific composers and arguably the best India has ever produced, in a career spanning over forty-nine years, he has composed over 8,600 songs, provided film scores for about 1,523 feature films in nine languages,[2] and performed in over 20,000 concerts.[3] He is nicknamed "Isaignani" (the musical sage) and is often referred to as "Maestro", the title conferred to him by theRoyal Philharmonic Orchestra,London.[4]
Ilaiyaraaja was one of the first Indian film composers to useWestern classical music harmonies and string arrangements in Indian film music,[5] and is the first Indian, as well as Asian to compose, record, and perform live a full Western classicalsymphony.[1][2] In 1986, he became the first Indian composer to record a soundtrack with computer for the filmVikram.[6] He also composed and orchestratedThiruvasagam in Symphony (2006) - the first Indianoratorio.[7]
In 2013, whenCNN-IBN conducted a poll to commemorate 100 years ofIndian cinema, he secured 49% of the vote and was adjudged the country's greatest music composer.[8] In 2014, the American world cinema portal "Taste of Cinema" placed him at 9th position in its list of 25 greatest film composers in the history of cinema. He is the only Indian on the list, appearing alongsideEnnio Morricone,John Williams, andJerry Goldsmith.[9][10]
Ilaiyaraaja receivedseveral awards for his works throughout his career. In 2012, for his creative and experimental works in the field of music, he received theSangeet Natak Akademi Award, the highest Indian recognition given to people in the field ofperforming arts. In 2010 he was awarded thePadma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian honour in India, and in 2018 thePadma Vibhushan, the second-highest civilian award by thegovernment of India. He is a nominatedMember of Parliament in the Indian upper houseRajya Sabha since July 2022.[11][2] A biographical film about his life titled "Ilaiyaraaja" was announced on 20 March 2024.[12]
Ilaiyaraaja was born as Gnanathesigan in aDalit family inPannaipuram, at present-dayTheni district in Tamil Nadu, India, on 3 June 1943.[1][13][14] He however celebrates his birthday on 2 June to honourM. Karunanidhi whose birthdate also falls on 3 June. It was Karunanidhi who gave Ilaiyaraaja the title "Isaignani".[15][a] At the time of joining school, his father, Daniel Ramasamy[16] changed his name from Gnanathesigan[17] to "Rajaiya", and the people in his village called him "Raasayya".[18] When he joinedDhanraj Master as a student to learn musical instruments, the master changed his name to "Raja". While working for his first filmAnnakili (1976), Tamil film producerPanchu Arunachalam added the prefix "Ilaiya" (meaning 'younger' inTamil) to the name "Raaja", and renamed him as "Ilaiyaraaja", as in the 1970s there was another popular music director with the same suffix, namelyA. M. Rajah.[19]
Ilaiyaraaja grew up in arural area and was exposed to a range ofTamil folk music in his formative years.[20] At the age of 14, he joined a travelling musical troupe named "Pavalar Brothers", headed by his elder brotherPavalar Varadharajan, and spent the next decade performing acrossSouth India.[21] While working with the troupe, he penned his first composition, a musical adaptation of anelegy written by the Tamilpoet laureate,Kannadasan, for India's first prime ministerJawaharlal Nehru.[22][23] In the initial years he used to set tunes to the songs of his brother Pavalar Varadarajan, who was a communist in then undividedCommunist Party of India. He later left toMadras (now Chennai) along with brother Bhaskar to learn Music, they had only four-hundred rupees, which their mother procured by selling off the home radio. They knew no one in the city and were confident to live off the payments they would receive by singing for people on the streets.[24]
In Madras, he became a student ofMaster Dhanraj who nurtured his immense potential. Remembering his master, Ilaiyaraaja said, "My master’s tiny room was inhabited byBach,Haydn,Brahms,Mozart andBeethoven. He trained me in classical music."[24] Ilaiyaraaja emerged as the topper and a gold medalist inclassical guitar after taking exam from theTrinity College of Music, London.[2] He also learntCarnatic music fromT. V. Gopalakrishnan.[21][25][26]
During the 1970s, Ilaiyaraaja played guitar in a band-for-hire, and worked as asession guitarist, keyboardist, and organist for film music composers and directors such asSalil Chowdhury fromWest Bengal.[27][28][29][30] Chowdhury once remarked that "[Ilaiyaraaja] is going to become the best composer in India".[31] "Our main guitarist in Madras is the best composer in India", he said.[32] After being hired as musical assistant toKannada film composerG. K. Venkatesh, he worked on 200 film projects, mostly in Kannada cinema.[33] As Venkatesh's assistant, Ilaiyaraaja wouldorchestrate the melodic outlines developed by Venkatesh, and learn about composing under Venkatesh's guidance. During this period, Ilaiyaraaja also began to write his own scores. To listen to his compositions, he used to persuade Venkatesh'ssession musicians to play excerpts from his scores during their leisure times.[34]
At the start of his career, the music sensibility of Ilaiyaraaja was very different to the film music composed in those days. Even though he spent a lot of his time learning, he "wasn't able to grasp how music was being made for films." However, in 1975 when film producer Panchu Arunachalam was impressed by a song Ilaiyaraaja casually sung, he commissioned him to compose the songs and film score for the Tamil filmAnnakili (1976).[35] For the soundtrack, Ilaiyaraaja applied techniques of modern popular film music orchestration to Tamilfolk poetry andfolk song melodies. This resulted in creation of a fusion of Western and Tamil idioms. Initially he was little apprehensive about how his work would be received, he thought musicians in the industry may write him off. However, whenAnnakili released in 1976, the music became a huge hit. For his following 12 films, Ilaiyaraaja based his compositions on the contemporary film music. Later, when a new wave of films started to come, they opened the space for the kind of music he wanted to explore.[36][37][38]
Ilaiyaraaja's use ofTamil folk music in his film scores injected new life in the Indian film score milieu.[39] By the mid-1980s, he started gaining increasing stature as a composer and music director in theSouth Indian film industries.[40] He worked with Indian poets and lyricists such asKannadasan,Vaali,Vairamuthu,O. N. V. Kurup,Sreekumaran Thampi,Veturi,Acharya Aatreya,Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry,Chi. Udayashankar andGulzar. Most of his compositions were sung byS. P. Balasubrahmanyam,S. Janaki andK. S. Chithra.[41]
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 masterTyāgarāja and toJ. S. Bach. It features a fusion of the Carnatic form andragas with Bachpartitas,fugues andBaroque musical textures.[42] The second,Nothing But Wind (1988), was performed by flautistHariprasad Chaurasia 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".[43]
He has composed a set of Carnatickritis which were recorded by electric mandolinistU. Srinivas for the albumIlayaraaja's Classicals on the Mandolin (1994). Ilaiyaraaja has also composed albums of religious/devotional songs. HisGuru Ramana Geetam (2004) is a cycle of prayer songs inspired by the Hindu mysticRamana Maharshi, and hisThiruvasakam: A crossover (2005) is anoratorio of ancient Tamil poems transcribed partially in English by American lyricistStephen Schwartz and performed by theBudapest Symphony Orchestra.[44][45] His most recent release is a world music-oriented album calledThe Music Messiah (2006).[46] In 2025, he became the first asian to debut a western classical symphony in London"Ilaiyaraaja becomes first Asian to present Western classical symphony in London".Cinema Express. 9 March 2025. Retrieved28 September 2025.composed his first English classical symphony “Valiant”, performed byRoyal Scottish National Orchestra.[47]
In May 2020, he composed a song titledBharath Bhoomi, as tribute to the people working amidCOVID-19 pandemic.[48] The song was crooned byS. P Balasubrahmanyam and the video of the song was unveiled by Ilaiyaraaja on his YouTube channel on 30 May 2020, in Tamil and Hindi.[49][50]
On his birthday in 2020, Ilaiyaraaja announced the upcoming launch of his 'Isai OTT'app. He stated that the app would contain much more than just his songs, like behind-the-scenes trivia about how each song was conceived, produced, and delivered, as well as collaborations with other musicians.[51]
Ilaiyaraaja's song 'Naanthaan Ungappanda' from the 1981 filmRam Lakshman was part of the playlist for the opening ceremony of the2012 Summer Olympics.[52][53]
His compositionsPaayum Puli Title Music andIlamai Itho were part of the soundtrack ofAshim Ahluwalia's 2012Cannes Film Festival entry,Miss Lovely.[54]The Lovebirds (2020) incorporated a section of Ilaiyaraaja's "Oru kili" soundtrack composed for the movieAanandha Kummi (1983) as background music in its official trailer.[55]
The Black Eyed Peas sampled the Ilaiyaraaja's composition "Unakkum Ennakum" fromSri Raghavendra (1985) for the song "The Elephunk Theme" inElephunk (2003).[56]
Ilaiyaraaja's song "Mella Mella Ennaithottu" fromVaazhkai was sampled by Rabbit Mac in the songSempoi.[57] Popular American rapperMeek Mill sampled one of Ilaiyaraaja's hit songs forIndian Bounce.
The alternative artistM.I.A. sampled "Kaatukuyilu" from the filmThalapathi (1991) for her song "Bamboo Banga" on the albumKala (2007).[58]
Alphant sampled Ilaiyaraaja's music for his songAn Indian Dream.[59]Gonjasufi sampled Ilaiyaraaja's "Yeh Hawa Yeh Fiza" from the movieSadma.[60]
Ilaiyaraaja rarely performs his music live. His first major live performance since his debut was a four-hour concert held at theJawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai, India, on 16 October 2005.[61] He performed in 2004 in Italy at the Teatro Comunale di Modena, an event-concert presented for the 14th edition of Angelica, Festival Internazionale Di Musica, co-produced with the L'Altro Suono Festival.[62]
A television retrospective titledIthu Ilaiyaraja ("This is Ilaiyaraja") was produced, chronicling his career.[63] He last performed live at the audio release function of the filmDhoni and before that, he performed a programme that was conducted and telecasted by Jaya TV titledEnrendrum Raja ("Everlasting Raja") on 28 December 2011 at Jahawarlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, Chennai.
On 5 September 2012, Ilayaraja performed in a live concert in Chennai with theHungarian National Philharmonic orchestra; during this event the music launch of his filmsNeethaane En Ponvasantham andYeto Vellipoyindhi Manasu took place.[64] On 23 September 2012, he performed live inBangalore at National High School Grounds.
On 16 February 2013, Ilayaraja made his first appearance in North America performing at theRogers Centre in Toronto, Canada.[65] The Toronto concert was promoted by Trinity Events for Vijay TV in India and produced by Sandy Audio Visual SAV Productions with PA+. Following his show at Toronto, Ilaiyaraaja also performed at thePrudential Center Newark, New Jersey, on 23 February 2013 and at theHP Pavilion at San Jose on 1 March 2013. After his North America tour, he made a live performance atThe O2 Arena in London on 24 August 2013, along withKamal Haasan and his sonsYuvan Shankar Raja andKarthik Raja.[66]
"Only the film director will be with me when the situation and the story are narrated. Then, it's just me and my harmonium. I just think about the situation and touch my harmonium and music flows. If people consider it as an alternate world, so be it. To me, it is something that I can't explain."
Ilaiyaraaja, once reflecting over his works after 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 mystical as in the case of mathematical geniusSrinivasa Ramanujan, who insisted he received math formula indreams 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.[68] Nevertheless, he regards music as a form of spiritual seeking, where one needs to keep their "inner eye constantly open", but also assist it with vigorous work, "In my early years, I would be in the studio till 11 pm. Come home, have bath and dinner, and write music till 2 am. I would wake up by 4, sit down to do my music and be at the studio at sharp 7 am. Music is everything to me. Do you know it took me 27 years to understand the Cmajor chord on the piano", he said.[24]
Ilaiyaraaja uses the sameharmonium, both in his studio and in concerts. He has scored with it throughout his career. When he was younger, he was never allowed to touch it by his brother who thought he would spoil it. However, Ilaiyaraaja would play with it whenever his brother was not there, "that's how I learnt how to play," he said, "the harmonium knows that it was made for me. It tells me that there is more music to be made."[67] The harmonium was reportedly bought for eighty-five rupees.[64]
Ilaiyaraaja's musical style is characterised by an orchestration which is a synthesis ofIndian folk music and Western classical music, with traditionalIndian instruments andmodes. He uses electronic music technology that integrates synthesizers, electric guitars andkeyboards, drum machines, rhythm boxes andMIDI with large orchestras that feature traditional instruments such as theveena,venu,nadaswaram,dholak,mridangam andtabla as well as Western lead instruments such as saxophones and flutes.[40] When asked to explain what his music is, Ilaiyaraaja said, "How can I explain anything? Everyone’s music is made of their own life experiences. To me music is that which connects human hearts. It is something that takes you to unknown levels."[24]
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On numerous occasions, Ilaiyaraaja has creditedM. S. Viswanathan as an overwhelming influence on his music.[32] "I could be a music director only by closely watching and listening to the great techniques introduced by M.S. Viswanthan in film music", he said. Ilaiyaraaja first played the organ for the songMalar Ethu Kankal Than in the filmAvalukendru Or Manam for MSV. He later worked on composing background music for few of his films.[69] Along with M.S. Viswanthan, he calledNaushad,Roshan,Madan Mohan, andG.K. Venkatesh among several others, as the "great masters".[24]S. Janaki andK. S. Chitra had been the singers with whom he experimented his songs relentlessly.[32]
Ilaiyaraaja is nicknamed "Isaignani" (the musical sage), a title conferred by Kalaignar Karunanidhi. He is often referred to as "Maestro", the title conferred by theRoyal Philharmonic Orchestra, London.[4] He was one of the earliest Indian film composers to use Western classical music harmonies and string arrangements in Indian film music.[5] 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.[70] The range of expressive possibilities in Indian film music was broadened by his methodical approach to arranging, recording technique, and his drawing of ideas from a diversity of musical styles.[5]
According to musicologist Paul 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".[40] By virtue of this variety and his intermingling of Western, Indian folk andCarnatic elements, Ilaiyaraaja's compositions appeal to the Indian rural dweller for itsrhythmic folk qualities, the Indian classical music enthusiast for the employment of Carnaticragas, and the urbanite for its modern, Western-music sound.[71] His sense of visualisation for composing music is always to match up with the movie storyline and help the audience 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.[72] Although he uses a range of complex compositional techniques, he often sketches out the basic melodic ideas for films in a very spontaneous fashion.[20][40]
In 2010, Ilaiyaraaja was awarded thePadma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian honour in India and thePadma Vibhushan in 2018, the second-highestcivilian award by the government ofIndia.[73][74] On 6 July 2022, Ilaiyaraaja was nominated to theRajya Sabha as Member of Parliament by the President of India,Ram Nath Kovind.[75] In November 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi conferred an honorary doctorate to Ilaiyaraaja during the 36th Convocation Ceremony ofGandhigram Rural Institute in Tamil Nadu'sDindigul.[76]
Ilaiyaraaja has been awarded fiveNational Film Awards—three forBest Music Direction and two for Best Background Score.[2][77] In 2012, he received theSangeet Natak Akademi Award, the highest Indian recognition given to practising artists, for his creative and experimental works in the music field.[78] He is a gold medalist in classical guitar fromTrinity College of Music, London.[2] In 2013, when the Indian news channelCNN-IBN conducted a poll commemorating 100 years of Indian cinema, he secured 49% of the people's vote and was adjudged as the country's greatest music composer;A. R. Rahman stood second with 29% of the vote.[8]
Ilaiyaraaja is reputed to be one of the world's most prolific composers.[79] He composed more than 8,600 songs, provided film scores for about 1,523 movies in nine languages,[2] and performed in over 20,000 concerts. He is the only musician to have composed a song only in ascending notes.[80][81][82] He was one of the earliest Indian film composers to use Western classical music harmonies and string arrangements in Tamil film music.[5] He composed the score and soundtrack for the 1984Malayalam-language filmMy Dear Kuttichathan, the first stereoscopic 3D film made in India.[83] In 1986, he became the first Indian composer to record a soundtrack with computer for the filmVikram.[6] He composed the soundtrack for the movieNayakan (1987), an Indian film which was ranked byTime magazine as one of the all-time 100 best movies.[84] DirectorR. K. Selvamani said that for his filmChembaruthi (1992), Ilaiyaraaja composed nine songs in just 45 minutes which is a record.[85] ActorRajnikanth said Ilaiyaraaja used to complete there-recording of three films in a single day without any sleep, whereas the present-day generation composers take 30 days for a single film.[86]
On March 9, 2025, Ilaiyaraaja became the first-ever Indian, as well as Asian film composer to compose, record, and perform live a full Western classicalsymphony in London.[2][1] He had reportedly written the entire symphony in 34 days.[2][87][88] He also composed and orchestrated the critically acclaimedThiruvasakam in Symphony (2006), the first Indianoratorio.[7] With his illustrious work over decades, Ilaiyaraaja made a deep influence on the cultural landscape of Southern India.[1]
Achille Forler, board member of the Indian Performing Right Society, said in 2017, "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 betweenAndrew Lloyd Webber ($1.2 billion) andMick Jagger (over $300 million)."[89]
British musicianAndy Votel, 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."[32] Carnatic vocalistT. M. Krishna stated that no other film composer has displayed the broad range of understanding music like the way Ilaiyaraaja did, and the way he adapts himself and creates music is "unfathomable" making him the "absolute master".[90]G. K. Venkatesh, one of the earliest mentors of Ilaiyaraaja, remarked on his success thus: "He is not in awe of his creations. That is the secret of his success. An Ilaiyaraja song is overshadowed only by another Ilaiyaraja song."[24]
Ilaiyaraaja's soundtrack for the 1991 filmThalapathi was included inThe Guardian's100 Albums to Hear Before You Die.[91] In 2003, according to an international poll conducted byBBC of more than half-a million people from 165 countries, his composition "Rakkamma Kaiya Thattu" fromThalapathi was voted fourth in the top 10 most popular songs of all time.[92] CinematographerSantosh Sivan said that Ilaiyaraaja finished composing for the entire soundtrack of the filmThalapathi in less than "half a day".[93]During the recording for the song "Sundari" from the movieThalapathi in Mumbai withR.D. Burman's orchestra, when Ilaiyaraaja gave the notes, they were so moved and taken in by the composition that all the musicians put their hands together in awe and gave him a standing ovation as a mark of respect.[94]
Ilaiyaraaja was married to Jeeva, and the couple has three children—Karthik Raja,Bhavatharini andYuvan Shankar Raja—all of them are film composers and singers.[95][96] Jeeva died on 31 October 2011.[97] His brother,Gangai Amaran, is also a music director and lyricist in the Tamil film industry, and both were not on talking terms for 13 years until they met in February 2022.[98] His only daughter Bhavatharini died of liver cancer on 25 January 2024.[99]
Ilaiyaraaja regards the Tamil Hindu sageRamana Maharshi as his spiritual guru.[24]
In 2017, claiming copyright violations, Ilaiyaraaja sent legal notices to singers,S. P Balasubrahmanyam, his sonS. P. Charan andChithra, prohibiting them from singing his compositions without his consent, and warned they would have to pay hugeroyalties and face legal action if they do so.[100] Ilaiyaraaja's brother Gangai Amaran criticized him, saying legal notice to SPB is 'foolishness'.[101]
In 2018, during a talk show in the US, Ilaiyaraaja expressed his doubts regarding the credibility of the Christian belief in theResurrection of Jesus Christ and claimed that resurrection happened only in the case of the Hindu saintRamana Maharshi. In protest, a Christian group lodged a complaint with the Police Commissioner of Trichy, demanding an apology or police action against Ilaiyaraaja for raising doubt about the "ultimate belief of Christians".[102]
In early 2022, talking about the state of music composers in industry, Ilaiyaraaja said, "There are no composers in the film industry today; there are only programmers."[103]
In April 2022, Ilaiyaraaja triggered a controversy by writing a foreword in the book titled, "Ambedkar & Modi—Reformer's Ideas", in which he praised the Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and compared him toB.R. Ambedkar. When he received some criticism, leaders fromBJP came to his support.[104]
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