Amavasya Chandrudu

Music:  Ilayaraja
Director:  K.Balachander

Thats! Ilaiyaraja
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Bollywood has no use for me’

That’s what India's foremost composer and writer, Ilaiyaraaja, thinks. But his repertoire of work, Ram Gopal Varma’s Shiva being the latest, testifies to greater sway
Deyavai Shahani


For a man who is known for his musical eloquence, getting Ilaiyaraaja to talk about his work is close to impossible. But give him a theme (like the one we posed to him – thunder) and he gives you a fitting musical composition. If his reticence tests your patience, his music will leave you speechless.

“Music cannot be described,” is what he claims.

So, an interview with him is marked with long pauses and monosyllabic answers; not to be mistaken for disinterest, but extreme modesty. The challenge however, lies in deciphering these pauses – once done, you know that it is not without reason that we have to come to revere his musical genius.

His accomplishments include scoring music for about 840 films (South Indian chiefly, and few Bollywood); composing music for Meenakshi Sthothram (written by Adi Shankara) in Sanskrit,  carnatic keertanas and varnams titled Raja Lahari, albums like How to name it?; and Nothing But Wind and the musical score for Miss World 1996 pageant. This recipient of numerous national and international awards was also the first Asian to compose Symphony No. 1 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of London.  

Currently in the city to provide music to the Sunil Manchanda-produced and R Balakrishnan (Balki)-directed film Cheeni Kum, Ilaiyaraaja's enthusiasm is palpable as the recording gets underway at Yashraj Studios.

With this film Ilaiyaraaja returns to Bollywood after ages. Why did he choose to stay away for so long?

“Bollywood has no use for me,” he says. Highly unlikely, as Balki puts it, “People in Bollywood are intimidated by his presence and assume that he will decline their offer. People in Bollywood are intimidated by his presence and assume that he will decline their offer. But I have grown up on his music, so there was no doubt in my mind that Ilaiyaraaja should score the music for my film.

Not a single other name came to my mind besides his. He was the natural choice. I just needed his consent, to get started on the score.”

In his long tenure as composer, Ilaiyaraaja has earned the reputation of steering film music into a new direction, always up to date with technology but never at the cost of its intrusion in his music. He has continuously drawn inspiration from a wide variety of styles, ranging from folk, jazz, carnatic and western classical, rock to name just a few.

“I will not say inspired by them, but my work has been impacted by them. However, there is nothing like folk or classical or any other such compartmentalised style. Composing is basically about giving form to already existing works. What may seem classical to you may be folk to me. Everyone has a different point of view. The treatment may be different, but the soul is always the same. In my mind music cannot be judged and I have little value for such classifications,” Ilaiyaraaja says.

Which bring us to his ‘Thiruvasakam in Symphony’ – a venture which has verses from the Tamil spiritual literature Thiruvasakam, in symphonic form. “Thiruvasakam is a collection of songs composed by saint poet Manickavasagar. In this project we chose six poems out of the 51. We have close to 200 artists from India and Hungary involved in the project,” he says.

What was the experience of working with Hungarian musicians like? “Every kind of music is bhakti for me. A song, whether viraah or shringaar, is devotion. I do not know about the process, it is divine intervention. How the composition takes shape is beyond me, it just does.” At which Balki adds, “He operates on the fundamental belief that he is the medium and truth is belief.”

• People in Bollywood are intimidated by his presence and assume that he will decline their offer. But I have grown up on his music, so there was no doubt in my mind that Ilaiyaraaja should score the music for my film – Balki

Resource : http://www.mumbaimirror.com/nmirror/mmpaper.asp?sectid=10&articleid=7122006234017817122006233712921

Some of the rare facts about the Maestro:

1.He is the First Asian to compose Symphony (Symphony No. 1) with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of London

2. He passed successfully the classical guitar (Higher Local) examination conducted by the Trinity College of Music, London , with honours and gold medal.

3. Awarderd with the Best Film Music Composer Award, an annual award, by the Government of India in the years 1984, 1986 and 1988. (later two films are for the telugu films)

4. Awarded with with 'Kalaimamani Award', by the Government of the State of Tamil Nadu, India.

5. Awarded from Governement of the State of Andhra Pradesh, India, for excellence in music. 6.Conferred the title 'Isaignani' (wisest in the field of music) in the year 1988, at Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu, India.

7. Conferred the Degree of Doctor of Letter (Honoris causa) in March, 1994, by the Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu, India.

8. Conferred the Cultural Doctorate in Philosophy of Music, in April, 1994, by the World University Round Table, Arizona, U.S.A.

9. Award of Appreciation presented in the year 1994, by the Foundation and Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America.

10. Bestowed with the honorary citizenship and presented with the key to the Teanech Township, by Mr. John Abraham, Mayor of Township of Teanech, New Jersey, U.S.A., in June, 1994.

11. Presented with the Award of Governement of the State of Kerala, India, in the year 1995, for excellence in music.

12. Conferred the Degree of Doctor of Letter, in the year 1996, by the Madurai Kamarajar University, Tamil Nadu, India.

13. Presented with the Lata Mangeshkar Award For Excellence in Music, constituted by the Government of Madhya Pradesh, India, for the year 1998.

Some of Maestro's rare composition:

1. Composed musical score for the television docu-feature film 'India 24 hours', which was a tremendous success, and was appreciated by Director Mr. Micheal Tobiaz and the viewers around the world.

2. Composed musical score for the 'Miss World 1996 Pageantry', which was a great success, and acclaimed by the music experts and critics as a class of its own.

3. Composed the music for 'Ilayaraajavin Geethanjali', a devotional album in Tamil, an Indian language.

4.Composed music for 'Meenakshi sthothram' in the famous Indian language, sanskrit, written by Shri Adi Shankara, the great monk philosopher of South India (788 AD to 820 AD)

5. Composed music for 'Moogaambigai', a devotional album in Kannada, an Indian language.

6. Composed carnatic 'keerthanas', and 'varnams' (South Indian classical form of music) titled 'Raja Lahari'.

7. Composed the music and wrote the lyrics for the devotional album 'Raajavin Ramana Malai' conceived to commend the theology of South Indian sage and philosopher Shri Ramana Maharishi of Tiruvannamalai, a sanctified hillock in Tamil Nadu, India. The philosophical lyrics of the above album has been well received and appreciated.

Some of the popular comments made by celebrities

Venkatesh: Ilaiyaraja is forever !!! According to me he is the personification of evergreen music.

Suhasini : Show me a composition matching legendary compositions like 'shenbagame shenbagame' 'panivizhum malar vanam' by ilaiyaraja. Only then can you talk of someone overtaking him."

A.R.Rehman: He is a genius by himself and is completely self-contained

Sadhana Sargam: Its purely a learning experience to work with this legendary composer. Talking with him, you can learn so much. While i work with him, i just have to merely follow his instructions, and everything else is taken care of..

Mani Sharma: He is my idol & my personal guru. It ishis music that created the urge in me to take up music as my career. I especially was enchanted by songs like "Ennadi Meenakshi" when i was young

K.J.Yesudas: "There are infinite music forms hidden in his heart. All that should flow-out for the good of mankind."

Vamsy: While picturizing a song, iIaiyaraja's tunes inspire me more than the characters of the film themselves.

Bharathiraaja: I shoot scenes with a particular impact in mind. And even before i discuss about what i have in mind, he is already ready with mind boggling BGM bits.

Maniratnam: Ilaiyaraja is absolutely prolific. He is an amazing talent who believes that the music written down by him should be stuck to totally. And then it is recorded which is just a matter of execution. I wish I could be like Ilaiyaraja and work out everything on paper.

Music maestro illayaraja is perhaps the first south indian composer whose music traversed beyond the boundaries of India. Illaiyaraja's advent and oeuvre has changed the face of Indian cinema in it's content and form.

atapulted himself into a music icon with his hard work and gifted musical insight. He was born in Pannaipuram in Madurai district on June 2, 1943 to the couple Sri D.Ramaswamy and Smt. Chinnathayammal small. He spent most of his childhood in poverty. His mother is his first music guru. His elder brother Sri Pavalar Varadarajan is a communist and a great musician. He used to actively participate in communist activities. He used to modify folklore songs according to the communist views and sing them in every village. Illayaraja used to accompany him to all the villages with his harmonium. His other brother Bhaskar used to play tabala and younger brother Gangai Amaran used to play mrudangham (later he also became a music director,lyricist and a film director). Along with his brother, Illayaraja gave almost 20,000 music concerts all over Tamilnadu, Kerala and Bombay between 1961 and 1968. Later he learned guitar under the guidance of Sri Dinaraj. Illayaraja came to Madras with his brothers. He stayed with Bhatairaja, his childhood friend. He used to practice music on Marina beach in the evenings along with his brothers. He used to mix eastern and western music and come out with different kind of music. He wanted to learn his craft from some one who is already doing it and joined as an assistant to Sri G.K.Venkatesh, a renown Telugu Music Director (he was more popular in Kannada though). At the same time, he learnt carnatic music from Sri T.V.Gopala krishna. He got a break when he was signed as a music director for a film called 'DIpaM'. But unfortunately this film was shelved.

Sri Panju Arunachalam arranged a music concert of Illayaraja in a marriage hall when the latter approached the former for a chance. Pleased with Illayaraja's performance, Sri Panju Arunachalam gave him a good break with the film 'AnnaikiLLi' directed by Devraj-mohan. (The film was remade in telugu as 'Ramachiluka' with Vanishree, Ranganath. Though the telugu film had the same tunes used in Tamil, credit was given to Late Sri chakravarthy who stepped in when Illayaraja refused to work for the film. Illayaraja was bent on giving new tunes to the film, but the producers insisted on repeating the tunes). The film was a huge success and it catapulted him to the league of established music directors. He started giving music to telugu films with the film Badhrakali (*ing jayaprada). However, the film Yugandhar (1979)(Starring NTR, jayasudha) released first. After a lot of pressure Illayaraja agreed to use only two tunes from the original film Don (however he gave different interludes for those songs too)).

Illayaraja composed for musical scores for more the 750 indian films. He gave break to most of the film directors with his music. No one can deny that. Some films were hits just because of his music (Ex: Abhianandana(1988)). With director Bharati Raja he gave many hit films like Sitakokachiluka(1981), Aradhana(1987), Eetaram Illalu (Revathy, Rajasekhar), Man Vaasanai (tamil), Alaigal ovathillai (Tamil), Kadalora Kavithaigal (tamil), Padunaru Vayanudile(tamil) (Padaharella vayasu(1978) in telugu. The song sirimalle povve fetched a national award to S Janaki in tamil. Music of the telugu version is credited to Sri Chankravarthy) and many more. Ilayaraja-Vamsy association is the best thing to have happened to telugu films after the black-n-white era. With Vamsy, he gave hits like sitara(1984), alapana(1984), anveshana(1985),preminchu pelladu(1985), ladies tailor(1986), april 1 vidudala(1991), etc., Vamsy openly agrees that Raja is his mentor. With K.Vishwanath he gave hits like Sagarasamgamam(1983) (this movie fetched him his first National award), swathi mutyam(1986), swarnakamalam(1988),chinnabbai(1997)etc. Not only the classes but masses also liked his songs in the combination of K.Raghavendra Rao (Akhari poratam(1988), JagadekavIrudu Atiloka sundari(1990), Coolie No.1(1991)). Kodanda ramireddy, Chiranjeevi and Ilayaraja created box office hits like abhilasha(1983), challenge(1984), kiratakudu(1986),raskhasudu(1986), maranamurdamgam(1988), kodaveeti donga(1990), etc. With K Balachander, he gave many evergreen hits like Sindhubhairavi (this film fetched his second National award), Rudra Veena (third national award), Punnagai Mannan (tamil), Manathil Urithi Vendum (Tamil) etc. Kamal Hassan shares a close association with Ilayaraja. Their combination had atleast a couple of dozen hit films. Manirantnam's association with Ilayaraja created many stupendous successes and catapulted Maniratnam to the top league. For many directors like Fazil, Priyadarsan, Balu Mahendra, Mahendran etc he is the first choice.

Illayaraja introduced many new talents to the music field like Chitra, Mano, Malasia vasudevan, Dipan chakravarthy, Jency, SP Sailaja(though she was introduced by Sri chakravarthy it is Illayaraja's songs which brought her more recognisation), Sujatha etc. Illayaraja brought the best out of S Janaki and showcased her talent in a multi-dimentional way. Same holds good with Sadhana Sargam. She won National award last year for the song 'Pattu cholli' in Azagi (tamil) (Nandita das, Devayani, Parthipan).

Illayaraja composed and conceived the experimental albums like How to Name It?, Nothing but Wind, India 24 hours. He also wrote lyrics for some songs. He wrote the books like 'Sangeeha kanuval' (My feelings and impressions during the concert tour to the Europe.), 'Vetta veLythanil koyi kidakkuthu' (my spiritual experiances) and 'vazhihthunai'. His interest in photography won him critical applause from many professional photographers around the world, who noticed that they carry philosophical and spiritual touch. His sons Yuvan shankar raja, Kartik raja and daughter Bhavatarini are also music directors and showing thier multi talentes in that field.

Meastro Ilayaraja is currently working on a prestigious 'Thiruvasakam in Symphony ' . The symphony involves more than 200 artists from India and Hungary with a budget of 50 million rupees. It is simultaneously produced in Hindi, English, German and Tamil.

He is also composing music for the forthcoming films like 'Sambhu' (Telugu), Sandiyar (tamil)/Dommi(telugu) etc.

source: http://www.telugucinema.com/c/stars/Illayaraja.shtml

The Raaja Reigns Supreme [© The Hindu, 21.10.2005]

 

"Do you want me to continue," queried a cheerful Ilaiyaraaja. And undaunted by the lateness of the hour, the crowd screamed "Yes." It was almost 11.30 p.m. but not many were willing to leave the Nehru Indoor Stadium, Chennai, before it was curtains down. "So is this going to be a Sivarathri for you," laughing aloud the maestro asked. "No ... Raja Rathri," the audience responded.

The lively live-in concert organised by Jaya TV, the maestro's first in 25 years, was filled with such light-hearted exchanges between the man on the dais and the 10, 000 strong gathering - his ardent admirers all. Rarely have you come across such an exuberant Ilaiyaraaja, so much at home with his fans and holding sway for more than four hours without a moment of lull.

Purushottaman left the drumming to Sivamani and took on the role of conductor, with Sundarrajan ably assisting him. "Geniuses generally go unsung during their life time. Bharatiar was one. I'm glad that we didn't miss this wizard of a composer who can very well be compared to Bharati," said Kamal. The unique aspect about Ilaiyaraaja is that his melody has reached every stratum of society and is ringing in its ears still. And that aptly justifies the show's title, `Andrum ... Indrum ... Endrum Maestro - Live in Concert.'

Rapturous

"They love you man, you should meet them more often," a moved S. P. Balasubrahmanyam told Ilaiyaraaja, pointing to the crowd that went rapturous on Raja's grand entry on stage. Later, after the scintillating `Sundari Kannaal ... ' (`Thalapathi') number SPB recalled an interesting anecdote. The recording for the song had taken place in Mumbai with R. D. Burman's orchestra. When Raja gave them the notes they were so taken in by composition that all the musicians put their hands together in awe. One of them remarked to SPB: "We don't want Ilaiyaraaja or you to come to Mumbai. His notes are too challenging and as for you, you finish the recording so quickly that we lose out on our overtime payments." Vaali's short address described Ilaiyaraaja as an "international celebrity." When he added that the great classical musician Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, had patted Raja on his head and hailed him as a `Maha Vidwan' you could well understand the veracity of the words.

 

 

Different

As always, actor Parthiban who emceed the show along with Mahathi, displayed his skill at presenting matters differently. His casual comments and off the cuff observations went down well with the buoyant crowd. Every song new and old was a sensation. Special mention has to be made of Chitra, the unassuming six-time National Award winner, who charmed listeners with the popular `Padariyaen' refrain, and the quiet and placid Uma Ramanan's enticing rendition of `Agaaya Vennilavae' with Madhu Balakrishnan.

It was intriguing why Raja suddenly called upon son Yuvan Shankar to sing the melodious `Chinna Kannan Azhaikkiraan.' The young composer, who was not too sure about it was thankfully helped out by Karthik. Karthik's easy, spontaneous felicity of rendition is always a treat to watch and listen. Jayachandran and Swarnalatha were flawless and so were the others from the singing glitterati, Hariharan, Tippu, Vijay Yesudas, Bhavatharini, Sadhana Sargam and Shreya Ghosh. Conspicuous by their absence were two singers who ruled the roost when Raja reigned supreme - Malaysia Vasudevan and S. Janaki. With Ilaiyaraaja around can `Thiruvachagam' be far behind? The audience wanted it and he obliged with the piece, `Maasatra Jothi.'

 

Balu Mahendra had been so much in awe of the mesmerising score from the hardly-heard-of film `Auto Raja' - `Thamizh Sangathil ... ' - that he requested Raja to use it in his Malayalam movie, `Olangal.' With excellent coordination from the orchestra and chorus, Ilaiyaraaja `Dhum Dhum'ed the `Olangal' notes to a grand crescendo. The array of violins, Jerry's and Ramendran's violin solo bits, Napoleon's flute, MSV Raja's sax, Prasad's tabla ... you could go on and on. It's been ages since you saw a live orchestra on such a mammoth scale. (Stage décor further enhanced the grandeur of the line-up.)

The crowning glory was of course the maestro's new composition with just three swaras, `sa re ga.' The song, `Paada Pirandhadhu,' had been penned by the inimitable Vaali. Shreya Ghosh sang the song along with Ilaiyaraaja and none other than SPB gave the intro to it. "This will be an unforgettable evening," Ilaiyaraaja promised at the outset. It was. Don't miss the spectacular show on Jaya TV because encapsulating the four-hour bonanza in a few words is well nigh impossible.