I thought of sharing some of my views on what makes Ilayaraja the true musical genius that he is. Some of us simply want to listen to his music and not worry about how he makes it happen - it's like enjoying the ride of a car without worrying about learning thermodynamics. I do not intend to discuss anything boigraphical as that is all over the place. My knowledge of music is limited but I have learned quite a bit listening to his music. For the first time, I am part of an internet fan club of Raja! I have never been a fan of anyone in that sense. It is very common in the movie business to call every little guy as a genius - in my view, this is the only living Indian musical person who deserves the term 'genius'. The content will be dumbed down to only showcase his genius and not get too deeply into becoming a musicology text.
Most of the information that I have learned in the last several months is as a result of some selfless work of some of his die hard fans. He is one of two villagers who have left a deep impact on India - the other one was Dhirubhai Ambani.
I would like to specially thank the efforts of the following ilayaraja fans who have helped me appreciate his music better:
1) Dasarathy, through his broadcasts in the Bay Area Stanford Radio - archives are available at http://itsdiff.com/Tamil.html.
2) CS Ramasami through his great set of educational pages at his website on WCM - the Raja style - http://csr-wcmlessons-2.blogspot.com/
3) Vicky's blog - http://raagadevan.blogspot.com/
4) Suresh's blog - http://sureshs65music.blogspot.com/ and last but not the least
5) the Raja fan club - http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/ilaiyaraaja/ , which has been a great site of learning about Raja's music.
Finally, this is more of a Raja for dummies and not an expert commentary. If you want to enjoy and learn about how Raja does his magic (with the view of enjoying the music), you are in the right place. If you want to build expertise on musical techniques, there are other sites that provide you with more precise information.
Ravi
5 comments:
Ravi
I really appreciate your analysis. I love Ilayaraja's songs. I hear them a lot. But my music knowledge is very much limited. For me, It is just a pleasure to listen. I never paid any attention to the details of each song.
I was surprised to see the details provided by you. Wonderful work.
This kind of analysis is the real honor to the great creator.
Good work.
Thank you
Renga
Hello Ravi,
Thanks for this wonderful writings. I am from Karnataka and naturally a fan of our MDs such as GK Venkatesh, Rajan Nagendra, Vijay Baskar who are really talented/gifted indeed and produced great music. Though Ilayaraja has composed only for few films in Kannada, all of them were a big hit. Some of them 25 years old but still sound so modern! Ilayaraja's achievement in music is unique!
-vasu
Thanks Ravi for those links. I wish this post was written by me, for Raja has given me so much happiness in my life!
Hello Ravi,
Thanks for this wonderful writeup on the Maestro. I hope to catch him live at this year's 50th Bengaluru Ganesh Utsava. Ilayaraja's achievement in music is unique!
For more : https://www.facebook.com/BengaluruGaneshUtsava/app_409398729095444?ref=ts
Aalapana(Telugu 1985) BGM https://youtu.be/sKyY4YcGDyU speechless
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