1. Ilaiyaraaja is nicknamed "Isaignani" and is often referred to as "Maestro", the title conferred to him by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London.
40 Facts About Ilaiyaraaja
1. 2.
Ilaiyaraaja was one of the first Indian film composers to use Western classical music harmonies and string arrangements in Indian film music, and the first South Asian to compose a full symphony.
3.
Ilaiyaraaja composed Thiruvasagam in Symphony, the first Indian oratorio.
4.
Ilaiyaraaja is the only Indian on the list, appearing alongside Ennio Morricone, John Williams, and Jerry Goldsmith.
5.
Ilaiyaraaja received several awards for his works throughout his career.
6.
Ilaiyaraaja is a nominated Member of Parliament in the Indian upper house Rajya Sabha since July 2022.
7.
Ilaiyaraaja was born as Gnanathesigan in a Dalit family in Pannaipuram in present-day Theni district, Tamil Nadu, India, on 3 June 1943.
8.
Ilaiyaraaja grew up in a rural area and was exposed to a range of Tamil folk music in his formative years.
9.
Ilaiyaraaja was a gold medalist in classical guitar after completing the course through a distance-learning channel from Trinity College of Music, London.
10.
Chowdhury once remarked that "[Ilaiyaraaja] is going to become the best composer in India".
11.
Director R K Selvamani claimed that for his film Chembaruthi, Ilaiyaraaja had composed nine songs in just 45 minutes, which is a record.
12.
Cinematographer Santosh Sivan said that Ilaiyaraaja finished composing for the entire soundtrack of the film Thalapathi in less than "half a day".
13.
Burman's orchestra, when Ilaiyaraaja gave them the notes, they were so moved and taken in by the composition that all the musicians put their hands together in awe and gave a standing ovation as a mark of respect for Ilaiyaraaja.
14.
Ilaiyaraaja composed the soundtrack for the movie Nayakan, an Indian film ranked by Time magazine as one of the all-time 100 best movies.
15.
Ilaiyaraaja has composed a set of Carnatic kritis which were recorded by electric mandolinist U Srinivas for the album Ilayaraaja's Classicals on the Mandolin.
16.
Ilaiyaraaja's Guru Ramana Geetam is a cycle of prayer songs inspired by the Hindu mystic Ramana Maharshi, and his Thiruvasakam: A crossover is an oratorio of ancient Tamil poems transcribed partially in English by American lyricist Stephen Schwartz and performed by the Budapest Symphony Orchestra.
17.
Ilaiyaraaja's most recent release is a world music-oriented album called The Music Messiah.
18.
On his birthday in 2020, Ilaiyaraaja announced the upcoming launch of his 'Isai OTT' app.
19.
Ilaiyaraaja 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.
20.
Ilaiyaraaja's first major live performance since his debut was a four-hour concert held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai, India, on 16 October 2005.
21.
Ilaiyaraaja 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.
22.
Ilaiyaraaja last performed live at the audio release function of the film Dhoni and before that, he performed a programme that was conducted and telecasted by Jaya TV titled Enrendrum Raja on 28 December 2011 at Jahawarlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, Chennai.
23.
Ilaiyaraaja uses the same harmonium, both in his studio and in concerts.
24.
Ilaiyaraaja's musical style is characterised by an orchestration which is a synthesis of Indian folk music and Western classical music, with traditional Indian instruments and modes.
25.
Ilaiyaraaja uses electronic music technology that integrates synthesizers, electric guitars and keyboards, drum machines, rhythm boxes and MIDI with large orchestras that feature traditional instruments such as the veena, venu, nadaswaram, dholak, mridangam and tabla as well as Western lead instruments such as saxophones and flutes.
26.
Ilaiyaraaja has sung more than 400 of his own compositions for films, and is recognisable by his stark, deep voice.
27.
Ilaiyaraaja has penned the lyrics for some of his songs in Tamil.
28.
Ilaiyaraaja is nicknamed "Isaignani", a title conferred by Kalaignar Karunanidhi.
29.
Ilaiyaraaja is often referred to as "Maestro", the title conferred by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London.
30.
Ilaiyaraaja was one of the earliest Indian film composers to use Western classical music harmonies and string arrangements in Indian film music.
31.
Ilaiyaraaja mastered this art of blending music to the narration, which very few others managed to adapt themselves over a longer time.
32.
Actor Rajnikanth noted that Ilaiyaraaja used to complete the re-recording of three films in a single day without any sleep, while present generation composers take 30 days for a single film.
33.
Ilaiyaraaja is a gold medalist in classical guitar from Trinity College of Music, London, Distance Learning Channel.
34.
Ilaiyaraaja is reputed to be the world's most prolific composer having composed more than 7,000 songs, provided film scores for more than 1,000 movies and performed in more than 20,000 concerts.
35.
Ilaiyaraaja was one of the earliest Indian film composers to use Western classical music harmonies and string arrangements in Tamil film music.
36.
On 6 July 2022, Ilaiyaraaja was nominated to the Rajya Sabha as Member of Parliament by the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind.
37.
Ilaiyaraaja's brother, Gangai Amaran, is 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.
38.
In 2017, claiming copyright violations, Ilaiyaraaja sent legal notices to singers, S P Balasubrahmanyam, his son S P Charan and Chithra, prohibiting them from singing his compositions without his consent, and warned they would have to pay huge royalties and face legal action if they do so.
39.
In 2018, during a talk show in the US, Ilaiyaraaja expressed his doubts regarding the credibility of the Christian belief in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and claimed that resurrection happened only in the case of the Hindu saint Ramana Maharshi.
40.
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".