ILAIYARAGAM
CELEBRITY SPEAK
(In Alphabetical Order)...
ANURADHA
KRISHNAMURTHY (Carnatic Vocalist / TV star, South India) - Ilaiyaraaja
is my favourite musician. He has that unmatched talent to maintain a particular
raga till the very end of the song. The essence & soul of the raga is well
maintained throughout
Dr.BALAMURALIKRISHNA
(Eminent Carnatic Vocalist, India)- As far as i am
concerned, i would say Ilaiyaraja is the composer of the century. If there is
one single authority on 'orchestration', it can only be ilaiyaraja.
L.BALAJI
(Budding Cricket Star/Bowler, India) - I love all the
melodious compositions of ilaiyaraja sung by S.P.Balasubramaniam and Yesudoss.
My all time favourite is 'raja raja chozhan' from 'Rettai Vaal Kuruvi' that i
hum frequently.
S.P.BALASUBRAHMANYAM (Eminent Singer, Music Director, India) - There wont be another ilaiyaraja. He is par excellence, self taught and a complete composer. Improvising on original compositions of someone like ilaiyaraja has always been a dicey proposition for me. Some of my improvisations / touches get his nod, while in other instances when i go overboard, he would step in with a figurative spank in the ear. Me, Jesu anna and Chitra are all so lucky to have got the opportunity to sing hundreds of numbers in his music.
BALUMAHENDRA
(Eminent Film Director, India) - If a situation arised
wherein ilaiyaraaja decides to quit film music, i would as well quit making
films. We both have worked so long with each other now that i dont need to
explain him in great details abt my expectations. He knows what music i would
want, and i create situations which he will love to make music for.
BHARADHWAJ
(Music Composer, India) - He is the master of
background music. I watch films that has ilaiyaraja as the music director, just
for his background scores. "Thalapathi" is one such movie, which i
have watched umpteen times just for his BGMs.
BHARANI (Music Composer, South India) - When
you listen to his songs, you feel as if you were in a trance. Especially, the
song," Kaatril Endhan Geedham" from film Johny. Listening to his
music is by itself a meditation to me.
BHARATHIRAAJA
(Noted Film Maker, India) - 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.
CHANDRAHASAN
( Film Producer, India) - His music is precious. Mere
dishing out of money wont get you such quality music.
CHITRA (Eminent Singer, India) - I owe a lot to maestro ilaiyaraja and I will ever remain grateful to him. He is the main reason for whatever i have achieved as a singer thus far in my career. The padmashree award that i received was not for me...it is dedicated to raja sir...I still remember very clearly the day when i sang "poojaiketha poovidhu" in his recording studio..From that day, till today, he has been blessing me with his love, standing by me as my own father ...
DAVID KERMAN (ReR-USA, Music Distributor, North America) - We are big fans of the Maestro, and are proud to be the exclusive North American importer of the WINGS CD. ReR USA holds no allegiance to any particular style or genre of music, rather we only care about excellence. That's why we're so thrilled to have ilaiyaraaja !!.
[More from ReRmegacorp website, about the WINGS CD collection - What makes Ilaiyaraaja so universal is his cheerful adoption of much of the world's music and its instruments while remaining focused on the needs of song and the language of popular film; what makes him so addictive is his extraordinary sense of arrangement and instrumentation. Everything is detail with a small surprise lurking around every corner. This is work of painstaking subtlety, wrapped in simple forms - and luminous undemonstrative musicianship - the kind of work that grows with every listening and depends on its inner qualities and not on shock, dissidence or effect. These are perfectly crafted songs with mysterious arrangements and a catalogue of rhythms that are never as simple as they seem. A gem.!]
DEVI
SRI PRASAD (Film Music Director, South India) - He is my God. I
have grown up listening to his music. Whatever i am able to compose today, i owe
it to this maestro.
GUITAR
PRASANNA (Eminent Guitarist, India) - While many music
creators today are busy looking for new music softwares, ilaiyaraja is the only
one who dealt with the length & breadth of classical music (carnatic
& western). I have virtually grown up with his music
HARISH
RAGHAVENDRA (Budding Playback Singer, South India) -
I am the luckiest of them all (singers). My very first song was written by a
genius lyricist (Bharathiyar) and a genius composer (ilaiyaraaja). When
ilaiyaraaja sir finally OK'd my song, it made me feel as if i had received a
great award. Later when the song became a hit, Raja was caring enough to caution
me not to be lethargic, and stressed on the need to work hard.
JASSIE
GIFT (Composer, South India) - For melodious numbers that i
compose, maestro ilaiyaraja is the prime inspiration.
JEEVA (Budding Actor, South India)- Raja's music is close to my heart and dear to my life. When i start listening to his golden melodies, i would forget even the hunger for food or the thirst for water.
JOSEPH
EAGER (Conductor, World Symphony Orchestra, USA) - His
music will be heard through the twenty-first century" [predicted during the
release function of "Nothing But Wind" CD in New York in 1988].
HARIHARAN
( Playback Singer, India) - "Poongaatre konjam"
from the film "Friends", is my favourite, of all the tamil film songs.
Ilaiyaraja's style is very different, though he has been heavily influenced by the classical compositions of
Mozart and Bach.
HARIPRASAD
CHAURASIA, (exponent of Hindustani Classical Music, India) - It
is a treat watching him (Mr.Ilaiyaraja) work - he does everything, composing,
arrangement of instruments, orchestration and conducting - that too without the
help of any assistants and a stopwatch.
KAMALHAASAN
(Noted Actor, Film Maker, India) - Ilaiyaraja should be
honored as Isai Vigyani (musical scientist) rather than Isai gyani.He has
explored and analyzed virtually every type of music.I have worked with several
composers. But this man is on his own trip - he is a colossal talent. We have
worked together in around 70 films and we know each other's requirements and
expectations very well. He saw the rushes of the film (Hey Ram!) just once and
immediately decided the music to be scored for the song sequences that have
already been picturised. I told my film crew to give me a week's time and that I
will come back with one song in that time - instead I came back with seven
songs.
KARTHIK
RAJA ( Music Composer, India) - He has composed in so
many idioms, his work spans such a wide spectrum that there will
always some resemblance to something he has already done.
LALGUDI
JAYARAMAN (Eminent Musician, India) - His talent is not the
fruit of one single birth's efforts. This level of achievement is only possible
to one who has lived with music for countless births. The speed with which he
writes notations have always baffled me.
LARY
BAIN( Composer, England) - He is unbelievable, genius
and fantastic.
LASLOV KOVACH (Conductor, Budapest Symphony Orchestra, Hungary) - He is Hollywood Kind. A very special composer. It seems he does not have to think at all to create music. Music just flows out. The feeling that you experience, while you listen to his compositions, is often quite inexplicable. It is unfortunate that the world is yet to recognize this composer. It is not a loss for Him, but it is, to the music world.
KARTHIK
( Budding Singer, India) - Working with him, you are
introduced to a totally different plane of music making. His style is a very
unique. I consider myself very lucky to have worked with him.
MADHAN
(Noted Cartoonist, Writer, film critic, India ) - As
far as i am concerened, Ilaiyaraja is the best bet when it comes to background
music. He seems to fully understand as to what the film's situation demands and
what impact should his music create in viewer's mind. More often, the usage of
silent passages in his background music is more stunning than the music itself,
and he creates the right mood every time.
MAHALAKSHMI
IYER (Playback Singer, India) - Given the genius that this
man is, there is so much worth in what he says & what he does.
MAHATHI
(Budding Singer, India) - I have been a crazy fan of
ilaiyaraaja right from my childhood days. I was delighted beyond words, when i
got the opportunity to sing my very first song in his music. It was a dream come
true for me.
MALAYSIA
VASUDEVAN (Veteran Playback Singer, South India) - I
would say I consider it a real privilege to have lived in this era of ilaiyaraja.
I am grateful to almighty to have received the opportunity to sing for him.
MANDOLIN U.SRINIVAS (Mandolin Maestro, South India)- Knowing well the genius that he is, what can i say about his music? Like Muthuswami Dikshithar and Thyagaraja Swamigal, ilaiyaraaja too has created pure classical krithis and i had the privilege of playing these compositions in ragas like rajalahari, ragavardhini, rukmambari and kalyani.
MANIRATNAM
(Noted Film Maker, India) - 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.
MANI
SHARMA (Music Composer, South India) - He is my idol & my
personal guru. It is his 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.
MARK
LAYCOCK (Director of Orchestral Activities, Iowa State University, Iowa, United
States of America) - A fascinating blend of
Eastern and Western styles. The music is instantly appealing -- rhythmically,
harmonically, formally. The use of traditional Indian instruments in a modern
musical context makes for a rich palette of tone colors and creates a wide range
of expressive possibilities.
MASSIMO SIMONINI (Composer & Founder of ANGELICA forum, Italy) - The music of ilaiyaraaja, besides containing many forms, is a good object of reflections and meditations on the form, on its consume, for an eventual, possible expansion. It shows models & rare formulae, unthinkable for the western music song world or western cinema. His film songs feature a metrics that is strictly linked to the images, to the atmospheres of the movie, while the movie itself appears to be composed by a myriad of narrative video clips, which in turn give the song an opening towards other musical forms - A moving open form, that is strictly linked to the inspiration of the moment, ready to welcome anything in a surprising structure, enriched by a, still so strong, indian tradition, where rhythm, melody, devotion and surprise travel together. These entities are seen moving in places where style and form can be continually re-discussed, while still following a logic, a narration. It¹s almost like a kaleidoscopic song, full of rules, but also rich in expressive possibilities...keeps moving...truly vedic .
MEERA
JASMIN (Actress, South India)- He is my favourite music
director. His music is soulful & touches you instantly. I remember most of
his songs by heart. Give me ilaiyaraja's compositions anytime
NAUSHAD
ALI (doyen of hindi film music, India)- That this man has
achieved is 100 times more than what any of us have achieved; only time can tell
the quantum of his achievements.
PARTHIBAN
(Noted Film Maker, Actor, India) - Music alias
ilaiyaraja, ilaiyaraja alias Music.
PAZHANI
BHARATHI (Lyricist, South India) - I have special regards
for him, amongst all film music composers that i have worked with. His outlook
and perspective is entirely different. He always stresses to lyricists that
words that we use for songs need to be kept simple and that the song should
reach out down to the common man. He emphasizes that even the uneducated man
should instantly understand what is being conveyed (in the lyrics & music)
and he should be made to think too much. He stresses upon keeping it simple.
A.V.RAMANAN
(SInger, South India) - He has the potential to
compose songs that convey even the subtlest of subtle feelings ...Chinna
thaayaval from Thalabadhi is one such song
K.S.
RAVIKUMAR (Director, South India) - ilaiyaraja, the person
is 60 years old, but his music is not bound by time.
A.R.REHMAN
( Music Composer, India) - He is a genius by himself and
is completely self-contained. He disproved me of the commonly held wrong
notion that a music maker has to drink, smoke & have other bad habits in
order to create inspirational music. If i am religious today, the credit goes to
ilaiyaraja. I learnt it from him.
RAJKUMAR
SANTOSHI (Noted Film Maker, India ) - (on Background music
by Maestro Ilaiyaraja for his film Lajja) - The discipline of the 90 musicians,
the conductor and the recording engineers of the Budapest Symphony Orchestra in
Hungary was overwhelming. The musicians gave a standing ovation after recording
the scores written by Ilaiyaraja.
RICHARD KING (Sound Engineer of Thiruvasagam in Symphony, Winner of 5 Grammy awards) - Even his thoughts are musical. Ilaiyaraaja is the musical face of India, which the western world is really stunned at !!!
SADHANA SARGAM (Eminent Singer, India) - 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.
SARAN
(Film Director, South India) - I would quarrel and fight and
turn violent in my college days with my friends who pull my leg by comparing
ilaiyaraja with other composers. I love and adore him as my favourite
composer.
SARATH
KUMAR (Actor, South India) - If there is a music director
who can make even an ordinary movie into a blockbuster, it has to be ilaiyaraja.
His score can lift the plane of even mediocre films several notches up.
SEMANGUDI
SRINIVASA AYYAR (Eminent Carnatic Vocalist, India) -
Raja
has that unique gift to please common man and carnatic experts alike.Until
recently, I knew that Shri Ilaiyaraja is a great film music director - his
expertise in diluting Carnatic Ragas without diluting their native merits, is
well known to me - but recently I had the oppurtunity to listen to him sing a
few kirthanas.
SHERYAR
OOKERJEE ( a Mumbai based musicologist, India) - Bach's
influence is deep and all pervasive in his music. He is adept at using
conventional western harmony and standard western techniques. Uses dialogue and
imitation extensively. He has a competent grasp of the orchestra. His
conspicuous quality is his ability to so integrate the Indian and western idioms
that the seams can hardly be noticed and the result is usually pleasant,
charming and satisfying. Ilaiyaraja's music is enjoyable and worth taking very
seriously. It grows on one with repeated hearings.
Mirchi
SHIVA (RJ, Radio Mirchi, India) - It is pure bliss to just
listen to his songs. But even better than that, as a lucky RJ, i also get to
play his songs for everyone to listen. That gives immense satisfaction to me. So
stay tuned !!
STEPHEN
DAVIS (of New Age, USA) - He is leading us to a very
special world of music appreciation and has opened doors of new horizons of new
age music.
L.SUBRAMANIAM
(Violin Maestro, India)- Ilaiyaraja is as good as any
composer in the world.
Mirchi
SUCHITRA (RJ, Radio Mirchi & Budding Singer, India) - I
think it would be shallow to call Ilayaraja a 'music director'. if there is a
word to describe someone who can mould your mind with his music - that word
would describe him. With most kinds of music, you listen to it, enjoy it and
then forget about it. Ilayaraja's music makes you laugh, makes you cry, makes
you think, calms you down, picks you up...personally, there are so many songs of
Raja's that have changed me, calmed me down when i've been in the worst of moods
and given me the energy to face the day when i've not wanted to. I cannot
imagine life without his music.
SUDHA
RAGUNATHAN (Eminent Carnatic Vocalist, India )-Yesterday, today
or tommorrow, ilaiyaraja will remain the unquestionable emperor of music.
SUDESH BHOSLE (SInger, North India) - I must say I have been extraordinarily lucky that I could sing for composer Ilayaraja. He is one of our most esteemed composers.
SUHASINI
MANIRATNAM (Eminent Actress, India) - Show me a composition
matching legendary compositions like 'shenbagame shenbagame' & 'panivizhum
malar vanam' by ilaiyaraja. Only then can you talk of someone
overtaking him.
SUJATHA
(Eminent Writer, India) - There are over 50 kalyani
raga songs in tamil film music. But still, when you hear "Nirpadhuve
Nadapadhuve" from film Bharathi, you cant help feeling that raga Kalyani
has taken a new birth once again. With the songs of film Bharathi, he once again
proves that a song can be tuned without electronic noise, can be kept very
simple and still be a mesmerizing experience to the listener.
SURYA
(Actor, South India) - I listen to lot of
music...And be it yesterday, today or tommorrow - my choice has been and will be the music of ilaiyaraja that has merged with my heart and dissolved
into my being....
THANGAR
BACHAAN (Cinematographer, Film Maker, India) - Once
I finish shooting my film, i just place it before ilaiyaraja, and from there on
whatever he delivers is music. I dont need to worry about it anymore. I shudder
to even think about Indian film music without ilaiyaraaja.
R.V.UDAIYAKUMAR
(Noted Film Maker, India) - He can even correct your
directorial flaws, with his background score music.
USHA
(Budding Singer, South India) - For any aspiring singer,
singing in his music would be a cherished dream and not many get that chance. He
is very jovial, a simpleton and unassuming as a person. If you enter his special
room in Prasad Labs, and you will be able to feel the current of tranquility
pass through your body. He composes without even having to touch the harmonium
and is adept in tuning a good carnatic based tune in folk and western
formats. He can re-record for a movie in one single day, in one go. He is
lightening fast in judging if the singer has indeed sung the song up to his
optimal capacity or if there could be any improvements.
USHA
UTHUP (Singer, India) - ilaiyaraja is a complete
music director who has mastered classical and Western music, and also has a
strong base in folk. He provides an unique fusion of all three systems, and is
therefore amazing to me.
UTTAM
SINGH (Music Composer, India) - Ilaiyaraaja is perhaps
the only complete music composer in India.
VAALI
(South Indian Lyricist/Poet, India) - Reethigowlai,
Hamsanatham, Bilahari etc are some of the tough carnatic ragas that he has
deftly handled for film music. He is not isaignani, he is swaragnani.
VAIRAMUTHU
(Eminent Lyricist, South India) - His music has made me
laugh, his music has made me cry. It has made me very sad one moment &
made me as happy a child other moment. In summary, his music is special to me,
like it is to million others.
VAMSY
(Noted Film Maker, India) - While picturizing a song,
iIaiyaraja's tunes inspire me more than the characters of the film themselves.
VENKATESH
(Noted Actor, South India) - Ilaiyaraja is forever
!!!...According to me he is the personification of evergreen music
VICTOR
RANGEL RIBEIRO ( musicologist and author of Baroque Music, USA) - Your
ears will hear music like they never heard before.
VIJAY
ADHIRAJ (TV Anchor & star, South India) - Till date, there has been no
one who has matched raja's good old melodies & compositions.
K.J.YESUDASS
(Eminent Singer, Carnatic Vocalist, India) - There
are infinite music forms hidden in his heart. All that should flow-out for the
good of mankind.
YUVAN
SHANKAR RAJA ( Music Composer, India) - I consider it a honour
to be living in the shadow of a living legend like him. I am proud to say he is
my father. No wonder people expect a lot from me too.
ZUBIN
MEHTA (Music Conductor, Israel Philharmonic) -
I was bewildered after listening to his 'nothing but
wind' and 'how to name it'. He belongs to the 21st century and perhaps beyond.