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Ilayaraaja (born June 2, 1943) is India's most prolific film music composer, having composed for over 750 films over a career of more than 20 years.
Ilayaraaja was born in a poor rural family in Pannaiapuram near Madurai, Tamil Nadu. Although he did not have any formal education, he completed a course in classical guitar (higher local) with a gold medal at the Trinity College of Music in London.
Ilayaraaja has composed for more than 750 films. His first movie, Annakilli, was instrumental in bringing about a fusion of Tamil folk music and Tamil film music.
He won the national Best Film Music Composer award three times for Saagara Sangamam (1984), Sindhu Bhairavi (1986) and Rudra Veena (1988). He is the first Asian to compose a full symphony for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO). His music is mainly associated with the '80s, the decade during which he was most prolific.
Besides scoring music for Tamil and other Indian films, Ilayaraaja has written two fusion albums, blending western classical with Carnatic raagas. The first, How To Name It?, was dedicated to Carnatic composer Tyagaraja and Johann Sebastian Bach. The title of the second, Nothing But Wind, suggests that music is a natural phenomenon akin to wind.
While he has developed associations with Carnatic musicians like Mangalampalli BalaMuraliKrishna and T.V. Gopalakrishnan, he has also come in for some flak from conservative Carnatic music fans for retuning some of Tyagaraja's compositions.
In 2002, his compostion "Rakkama Kaiya Thattu" from the movie Dhalapathi stayed at the top of a BBC list of the best songs for quite a while, before finishing at 4th place. Poll Home (http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/us/features/topten/)
He was the music composer for the Miss World 1996 Pageantry, held in Bangalore. His latest hits are Pithamagan (2003 Tamil movie) and Virumandi (2004 Tamil movie).
He is currently working on a Oratorio, based on the Tamil religious classic - Thiruvasakam.
Personal Life
Ilayaraaja's birth name is Gnanadesikan and in school records Rasaiya. Though by birth he is a Christian, his whole family later became devoutly Hindu. His family suffered from poverty after his father Ramasamy died prematurely. His brother Ganghei Amaran (by birth Amarsingh) is also a composer.
Ilayaraaja is married to Jeeva and the couple have 3 children. They're two sons Karthik Raja and Yuvan Shankar Raja are both composers, and their daughter Bhavatharini is a singer and composer.
His Successful Albums - 16 Vayathinilae
- Agni Natchatram
- Anjali
- Chinna Thambi
- Dalapathi
- Karakaatakaran
- Mouna Ragam
- Nineivellam Nithya
- Idhayam
- Johnny
- Kadolara Kavithaikal
- Mundram Pirai
- Mudhal Mariyathai
- Nayakan
- Nizhalgal
- Pudhu Pudhu Arthangal
- Punnagai Mannan
- Sigappu Rojakkal
- Tic..Tic..Tic..
- Udhaya Geetham
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