name | Ilaiyaraaja |
---|
background | non_performing_personnel |
---|
birth name | Gnanadesikan |
---|
alias | Ilaiyaraaja, Raja |
---|
born | June 03, 1943 |
---|
origin | Pannaipuram, Theni, Madras Presidency |
---|
residence | Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India |
---|
instrument | Vocals, (playback singing), guitar, keyboard, harmonium, piano |
---|
genre | Film score, World music |
---|
occupation | Film score composer, lyricist, music director, songwriter, singer, conductor, instrumentalist and Film producer |
---|
years active | 1976–present |
---|
website | |
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past members | }} |
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Ilaiyaraaja (born Gnanadesikan on 3 June 1943) is an Indian film composer, singer, and lyricist mainly in the Tamil film Industry and Telugu Film Industry. He is regarded as one of the finest music composers in India. Ilaiyaraaja is also an instrumentalist, conductor, and a songwriter. To date, he has composed over 4500 songs and provided film scores for more than 950 Indian films in various languages in a career spanning more than 30 years, particularly being acclaimed for his background scoring for Indian films. His songs and background score played a very crucial role in the success of many films. He remains as one of the most popular composers ever in the South Indian film industry.
Ilaiyaraaja has been a prominent composer of film music in South Indian cinema since the late 1970s. His works are mainly in Tamil, but has also scored music for Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi and Hindi film industries. He integrated folk lyricism (in Tamil) and introduced broader Western musical sensibilities into the South Indian musical mainstream. A gold medalist in classical guitar from Trinity College of Music, London, in 1993 he became the first Asian to compose a full symphony performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London's Walthamstow Town Hall. In 2003, according to a BBC international poll, people from 155 countries voted his composition "Rakkamma Kaiya Thattu" from the 1991 film ''Thalapathi'' fourth in the world's top 10 most popular songs of all time. He was also nominated in the Best Indian album Music Awards category at US based Just Plain Folks Music Organization, which is the largest grassroots music organization in the world, and stood third for his "Music Journey: Live in Italy".
In the 2000s, he composed a variety of non-film music, including religious and devotional songs, an oratorio, and world music, while shifting his focus to Malayalam films. He is usually referred to by the title ''Isaignani'' (; ), or as ''The Maestro''. He has won four Indian National Film Awards; three for Best Music Direction and one for Best Background Score and is a recipient of the prestigious Padma Bhushan Award from the Government of India.
Early life and family
Ilaiyaraaja was born as Gnanadesikan in
Pannaipuram,
Theni district,
Tamil Nadu, India in a
Tamil Christian family, but when he was joined in the school his father changed his name as "Daniel Rajaiya" but his village people used to call him as "Raasayya". Ilaiyaraaja joined Dhanraj Master as a student to learn musical instruments and the master renamed and called him as just "Raaja". In his first movie ''Annakili''
Tamil film producer Panchu Arunachalam added "Ilaiya" (Ilaiya means younger in
Tamil language) as prefix in his name Raaja and he named as "Ilaiyaraaja" because in 1970's there was one more music director
A. M. Rajah who was a popular one.
Ilaiyaraaja is married to Jeeva and the couple have three children—Karthik Raja, Yuvan Shankar Raja and Bhavatharini—all film composers and singers. His wife Jeeva died on 31 October 2011. Ilaiyaraaja has a brother Gangai Amaran, who is also a music director and lyricist in Tamil film industry.
Early exposure to music
Ilaiyaraaja was growing up in a rural area, he was exposed to a range of
Tamil folk music. At the age of 14, he joined a travelling musical troupe headed by his elder stepbrother, Pavalar Varadarajan, and spent the next decade performing throughout South India. While working with the troupe, he penned his first composition, a musical adaptation of an
elegy written by the Tamil poet laureate
Kannadasan for
Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister.
In 1968, Ilaiyaraaja began a music course with Professor Dhanraj in Madras (now Chennai), which included an overview of
Western classical music, compositional training in techniques such as
counterpoint, and study in instrumental performance. Ilaiyaraaja specialized in
classical guitar and had taken a course in it at the
Trinity College of Music, London.
Session musician and film orchestrator
In the 1970s in Chennai, Ilaiyaraaja played guitar in a band-for-hire, and worked as a
session guitarist,
keyboardist, and
organist for film music composers and directors such as
Salil Chowdhury from
West Bengal. After being hired as the musical assistant to
Kannada film composer
G. K. Venkatesh, he worked on 200 film projects, mostly in the
Kannada language. As G. K. Venkatesh's assistant, Ilaiyaraaja would
orchestrate the melodic outlines developed by Venkatesh. During this period, Ilaiyaraaja also began writing his own scores. To hear his compositions, he would persuade Venkatesh's
session musicians to play excerpts from his scores during their break times. Ilaiyaraaja would hire instruments from composer
R. K. Shekhar, father of composer
A. R. Rahman, who later joined Ilaiyaraaja's orchestra as a keyboardist.
Film composer
In 1976, film producer Panchu Arunachalam commissioned him to compose the songs and
film score for a
Tamil-language film called ''Annakkili'' ('The Parrot'). For the soundtrack, Ilaiyaraaja applied the techniques of modern popular film music orchestration to Tamil folk poetry and folk song melodies, which created a fusion of Western and Tamil idioms. Ilaiyaraaja's use of Tamil music in his film scores injected new influence into the Indian film score milieu. By the mid-1980s Ilaiyaraaja was gaining increasing stature as a film composer and music director in the South Indian film industry. He has worked with Indian poets and lyricists such as
Kannadasan,
Vaali,
Vairamuthu,
Veturi Sundararama Murthy,
Sirivennela Sitaramasastri,
O. N. V. Kurup and
Gulzar and is well known for hi asccociation with film makers such as
Bharathiraja,
K. Balachander,
K. Viswanath,
Vamsi,
Balu Mahendra,
Priyadarshan,
Mani Ratnam and
R. Balki.
Impact and musical style
Ilaiyaraaja was one of the earliest Indian film composers to use Western classical music harmonies and string arrangements in Indian film music. This allowed him to craft a rich tapestry of sounds for films, and his themes and background score gained notice and appreciation among Indian film audiences. The range of expressive possibilities in Indian film music was broadened by Ilaiyaraaja's methodical approach to arranging, recording technique, and his drawing of ideas from a diversity of musical styles.
According to musicologist P. Greene, Ilaiyaraaja's "deep understanding of so many different styles of music allowed him to create syncretic pieces of music combining very different musical idioms in unified, coherent musical statements". Ilaiyaraaja has composed Indian film songs that amalgamated elements of genres such as
Afro-tribal, bossa nova, dance music (e.g., disco), doo-wop, flamenco, acoustic guitar-propelled Western folk, funk, Indian classical, Indian folk/traditional, jazz, march, pathos, pop, psychedelia and rock and roll.
By virtue of this variety and his interfusion of Western, Indian folk and Carnatic elements, Ilaiyaraaja's compositions appeal to the Indian rural dweller for its rhythmic folk qualities, the Indian classical music enthusiast for the employment of Carnatic ''ragams'', and the urbanite for its modern, Western-music sound. Ilaiyaraaja's sense of visualization for composing music is always to match up with the storyline of the running movie and possibly by doing so, he creates the best experience for the audience to feel the emotions flavored through his musical score. He mastered this art of blending music to the narration, which very few others managed to adapt themselves over a longer time.
Although Ilaiyaraaja uses a range of complex compositional techniques, he often sketches out the basic melodic ideas for films in a very spontaneous fashion. The Indian filmmaker Mani Ratnam illustrates:
Musical characteristics
Ilaiyaraaja's music is characterised by the use of an orchestration technique that is a synthesis of Western and Indian instruments and musical modes. He uses electronic music technology that integrates
synthesisers, 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.
He uses catchy melodies fleshed out with a variety of chord progressions, beats and timbres. Ilaiyaraaja's songs typically have a musical form where vocal stanzas and choruses are interspersed with orchestral preludes and interludes. They often contain polyphonic melodies, where the lead vocals are interwoven with supporting melody lines sung by another voice or played by instruments./
The basslines in his songs tend to be melodically dynamic, rising and falling in a dramatic fashion. Polyrhythms are also apparent, particularly in songs with Indian folk or Carnatic influences. The melodic structure of his songs demand considerable vocal virtuosity, and have found expressive platform amongst some of India's respected vocalists and playback singers, such as S. P. Balasubramaniam, K. J. Yesudas, S. Janaki, K. S. Chitra, Swarnalatha, S. P. Sailaja, T. M. Soundararajan, P. Susheela, Sujatha, Malaysia Vasudevan, Asha Bhonsle, Lata Mangeshkar, Sadhana Sargam and the latest sensation Shreya Ghoshal. Ilaiyaraaja has sung over 400 of his own compositions for films, and is recognisable by his stark, nasal voice. He has penned the lyrics for some of his songs in Tamil and other languages. Ilaiyaraaja's film scores are known both for the dramatic and evocative melodies, and for the more subtle background music that he uses to provide texture or mood for scenes in films such as ''Johnny'' (1980), ''Mouna Raagam'' (1986), ''Geethanjali'' (1989) and ''Guna'' (1991).
Non-cinematic output
Ilaiyaraaja's first two non-film albums were explorations in the fusion of Indian and Western classical music. The first, ''
How To Name It?'' (1986), is dedicated to the Carnatic master
Tyāgarāja and to J. S. Bach. It features a fusion of the Carnatic form and ''ragas'' with Bach
partitas,
fugues and
Baroque musical textures. The second, ''Nothing But Wind'' (1988), was performed by flutist
Hariprasad Chaurasia and a 50-piece orchestra and takes the conceptual approach suggested in the title — that music is a natural phenomenon akin to various forms of air currents (e.g., the wind, breeze, tempest etc.).
He has composed a set of Carnatic ''kritis'' that was recorded by electric mandolinist U. Srinivas for the album ''Ilayaraaja's Classicals on the Mandolin'' (1994). Ilaiyaraaja has also composed albums of religious/devotional songs. His ''Guru Ramana Geetam'' (2004) is a cycle of prayer songs inspired by the Hindu mystic Ramana Maharishi, and his ''Thiruvasakam: A crossover'' (2005) is an oratorio of ancient Tamil poems transcribed partially in English by American lyricist Stephen Schwartz and performed by the Budapest Symphony Orchestra. Ilaiyaraaja's most recent release is a world music-oriented album called ''The Music Messiah'' (2006). Its musical concept is based against a mythological narrative. His recent release in November 2008, is Manikantan Geet Mala released by India Tales with 9 songs praising Lord Ayyappa in almost all south Indian languages.
Albums (instrumental, non-film)
style="width:25px;" | Year |
Album
|
Year
|
Album
|
Year
|
Album
|
1986 |
''How to Name It'' |
1988 |
| 1993 |
''Symphonic Work in 5 movements with RPO,London, conducted by John Scott ''
|
| 2000 |
''Raajavin Ramanamalai, Guru Ramana Geetam ''
|
| 2001 |
''Geethanjali'' | | 2002 |
''Amma Appa Paamalai''
|
| 2003 |
''India 24 Hours''
|
| 2005 |
''Thiruvasagam'' | | 2007 |
''The Music Messiah''
|
| 2008 |
''Manikantan Geet Mala''
|
| 2009 |
''Namratha Ke Sagar''| | 2010 |
''Ramana Saranam Saranam, Baba Pugazh Maalai''
|
| 2011 |
''Amma'' - Short film
|
Notable works
Ilaiyaraaja's composition "Rakkama Kaiya Thattu", sung by
SPB and
Swarnalatha in the movie ''
Thalapathi'' (1991), was among the songs listed in a
BBC World Top Ten music poll. He composed the music for ''
Nayagan'' (1987), an Indian film ranked by
TIME Magazine as one of the all-time 100 best movies, a number of
India's official entries to the
Oscars, such as ''
Swathi Muthyam''(1986), ''
Anjali'' (1990) and ''
Hey Ram'' (2000), and for Indian
art films such as
Adoor Gopalakrishnan's
FIPRESCI Prize-winning ''
Nizhalkkuthu'' ('The Dance of Shadows') (2002). Ilaiyaraaja has composed music for events such as the 1996
Miss World beauty pageant that was held in
Bangalore, India, and for a documentary called ''India 24 Hours'' (1996). The pop/hip-hop band
The Black Eyed Peas sampled an Ilaiyaraaja composition called "Unakkum Ennakum", from the film ''Sri Raghavendra'' (1985), for their tune "
The Elephunk Theme" from their breakout album, ''
Elephunk'' (2003). The alternative artist
M.I.A. sampled his composition "Kaatukuyilu" from the film ''Thalapathi'' (1991) for her song "Bamboo Banga" on the album ''
Kala'' (2007). His music compositions for the Hindi movie ''
Paa'' (3 December 2009) has won critical acclaim in several media reviews.
Live performances
Ilaiyaraaja rarely performs his music live, which may be due to the time he devotes to his composing activities. His last major live performance, the first in 25 years, was a four-hour concert held at the
Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai, India on 16 October 2005. The show was widely televised both in India and abroad, in which he played a song with just three notes (sa re ga). Less well-known was his live 2004 performance 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. He had done a few small-scale shows early in his career in Sri Lanka and Malaysia and was involved in a charity concert to raise funds for the construction of a Hindu temple in India. A television retrospective titled ''Ithu Ilaiyaraja'' ('This is Ilaiyaraja') was produced, chronicling his career. He last performed live at the audio release function of
Dhoni film and before that he performed a programme that was conducted and telecasted by Jaya TV titled ''Enendrum Raja'' ('Everlasting Raja') on 28 December 2011 at Jahawarlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, Chennai.
Partial discography
Tamil
style="width:25px;" | Year |
Album
|
Year
|
Album
|
Year
|
Album
|
1976 |
Annakili'', ''Bhadrakali (film)>Bhadrakali'', ''Uravadum Nenjam''
|
1977 |
''16 Vayathinile'', ''Kavikkuyil'', ''Bhuvana Oru Kelvi Kuri''
|
1978 |
Sigappu Rojakkal'', ''Bairavi'',''Mullum Malarum'', ''Priya (film)>Priya''
|
| 1979 |
Annai Oru Aalayam'', ''Kalyanaraman (1979 film)>Kalyanaraman'', ''Dharma Yuddham''
|
1980 |
''Ullasa Paravaigal'', ''Thai Pongal'', ''Johnny (1980 film) |
1981 |
'', ''Ellam Inba Mayyam'', ''Panneer Pushpangal'', ''Meendum Kokila'', ''Kazhugu (1981 film)>Kazhugu'', ''Raja Parvai''
|
| 1982 |
''Moondram Pirai'', ''Sagalakala Vallavan'', ''Kathal Oviyam''
|
1983 |
''Aanandha Kummi'', ''Thanga Magan'', ''Thoongadhey Thambi Thoongadhey'', ''Aayiram Nilave Vaa'', ''Paayum Puli'', ''Andha Sila Naatkal'', ''Annae Annae'', ''Kokkarakko''
|
1984 |
''Enakkul Oruvan'', ''Nallavanuku Nallavan'', ''Kai Kodukkum Kai'', ''Anbulla Rajinikanth'', ''Oru Kaidhiyin Diary''
|
| 1985 |
Muthal Mariyathai'', ''Sindhu Bhairavi'', ''Kaakki Sattai'', ''Sri Raghavendra'', ''Idaya Kovil'', ''Padikkadavan (1985 film)>Padikkadavan'', ''Naan Sigappu Manithan'', ''Uyarndha Ullam'', ''Poove Poochudava''
|
1986 |
Mouna Raagam'', ''Punnagai Mannan'', ''Vikram (film)>Vikram'', ''Mr. Bharath''
|
1987 |
''Nayagan'', ''Kadhal Parisu'', ''Per Sollum Pillai''
|
| 1988 |
''Sathya'', ''Dharmathin Thalaivan'', ''Agni Natchathiram'', ''Unnal Mudiyum Thambi'', ''Naan Sonnathe Sattam''
|
1989 |
''Rajadhi Raja'', ''Siva (1989 film) |
1990 |
'', ''Anjali (film)>Anjali''
|
| 1991 |
Thalapathi'', ''Guna (film)>Guna'', ''Chinna Thambi'', ''Captain Prabhakaran''
|
1992 |
Mannan (film)>Mannan'', ''Chembaruthi'', ''Singaravelan'',''Nadodi Thendral'',''Chinna Gounder'', ''Bharathan (1992 film) |
1993 |
''[[Ejamaan'', ''Marupadiyum'', ''Poovilangu'', ''Valli'', ''Ponnumani'', ''Kalaignan''
|
| 1994 |
''Mahanadi (film) |
1995 |
'', ''Raasaiyya'', ''Chinna Vaathiyaar'', ''Nandhavana Theru'', ''Sathi Leelavathi (1995 film)>Sathi Leelavathi''
|
1996 |
''Poo Mani'', ''Poovarasan''
|
| 1997 |
''Kadhalukku Mariyadhai'', ''Raman Abdullah''
|
1998 |
Anthapuram (1998 film)>Anthapuram''
|
1999 |
''Sethu (film) |
| 2000 |
'', ''Bharathi (film)>Bharathi'', ''Kaadhal Rojave'', ''Kaakai Chiraginile'', ''Kannukkul Nilavu''
|
2001 |
''Friends (2001 film) |
2002 |
'', ''Ivan (2002 film)>Ivan'', ''Enn Mana Vaanil'', ''Ramanna'', ''Solla Marantha Kadhai''
|
| 2003 |
''Pithamagan'', ''Julie Ganapathy'', ''Manasellam''
|
2004 |
''Virumaandi'', ''Kamaraj''
|
2005 |
''Adhu Oru Kana Kaalam'', ''Mumbai Express'', ''Oru Naal Oru Kanavu'', ''Karakattakari''
|
| 2006 |
''Pachakudhira''
|
2007 |
''Ajantha'','' Maya Kannadi''
|
2008 |
''Dhanam'', ''Inimey Nangathan'', ''Uliyin Osai''
|
| 2009 |
''Naan Kadavul'', ''Azhagar Malai'',''Jagan Mohini'',''Vaalmiki''
|
2010 |
''Nandalala''
|
2011 |
Ayyan'',''Thandavakonae'',''Azhagarsamiyin Kuthirai'', ''Ponnar Shankar (film)>Ponnar Shankar'', ''Mayilu''
|
2012 |
''
style="width:30px;" | Year |
Album
|
Year
|
Album
|
1976 |
|
1978 |
1979 |
''[[Yugandhar">Dhoni (film)
|
Telugu
style="width:30px;" | Year |
Album
|
Year
|
Album
|
1976 |
|
1978 |
1979 |
''[[Yugandhar''| | 1980 |
''Guru''
|
1981 |
''BharatirajaaSeethakoka Chiluka'', ''Tik Tik Tik''|| | 1982 |
''Nireekshana'', ''Vasantha Kokila''
|
1983 |
''Abhilasha (1983 film)Abhilasha, Manthrigari Viyyankudu, Saagara Sangamam, Seethakoka Chiluka, Sitaara, Rajakumar''|| | 1984 |
Challenge (1984 film)>Challenge, Merupu Daadi, Sitaara, Sahasame Jeevitham, Samaram''
|
1985 |
''Anveshana, Swathi Muthyam, Preminchu Pelladu, Aalapana, Jwala, Oka Radha Iddaru Krishnulu, Pagale Vennela''| | 1986 |
Ladies Tailor (1985 film)>Ladies Tailor, Manchi Manasulu, Rakshasudu, Sri Shirdi Saibaba Mahathyam, Kirathakudu''
|
1987 |
''Aakhari Poratam, Rudraveena, Swarna Kamalam, Aradhana (1987 film)Aradhana, Indrudu Chandrudu, Nayakudu (dubbed from Nayakan), Pelli Natakam, Sankeerthana'' || | 1988 |
Abhinandana, Chinababu, Maharshi, Sri Kanakamahalakshmi Recording Dance Troupe, Marana Mrudangam, Prema (1989 film)>Prema, Rakthabhishekam, Varasudochhadu''
|
1989 |
''Geethanjali, Kokila (film)Kokila, Shiva, Chettukinda Pleader, Rudranetra, Premanjali''|| | 1990 |
Bobbili Raja, Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari, Kondaveeti Donga, Anjali (actress)>Anjali, April 1st Vidudhala, O Papa Lali''
|
1991 |
''Surya IPS, Chaithanya, Nirnayam (1991 film)Nirnayam, Killer, Aditya 369, Chanti, Coolie No. 1, Sri Yedukondala Swamy, Stuartpuram Police Station'' || | 1992 |
Chinarayudu, Meera (1992 film)>Meera, Chamanthi, Dalapathi (dubbed from Tamil), Killer, Moratodu Naa Mogudu, Prema Vijetha, Pattudala''
|
1993 |
''Aa Okkati Adakku, Amma Koduku''| | 1997 |
''Chinnabbayi, Kunthi Putrudu''
|
1998 |
''Anthapuram (1998 film)Antahpuram''|| | 2002 |
''Preminchedi Endukamma''
|
2002 |
''Ninuchoodaka Nenundalenu, Pelli Koduku Ammabadunu, Seshu''| | 2003 |
''Shambu''
|
2004 |
''Siva Shankar''| | 2007 |
''Anumanaspadam'', ''Sunny''
|
2008 |
''Mallepuvvu''| | 2010 |
''Om Shanti'', ''Gaayam 2''
|
2011 |
''Sri Rama Rajyam'' | | 2012 |
''Yeto Vellipoyindhi Manasu, Kashinath
|
''
|
Malayalam
style="width:25px;" | Year |
Album
|
Year
|
Album
|
Year
|
Album
|
1978 |
''Vyamoham'' |
1980| | ''Dooram Arike'' |
1981 |
''Garjanam''
|
| 1982 |
''Olangal, Aa Rathri, Aalolam''| | 1983 |
''Sandhyakku Virinja Poovu, Oomakkuyil, Pinnilavu'' |
1984 |
My Dear Kuttichathan>My Dear Kuttichathan-3D, Mangalam Nerunnu, Onnanu Nammal, Unaru''
|
1985 |
''Yathra''| | 1986 |
''Poomukhapadiyil Ninneyum Kathu, Kaveri'' |
1988 |
''Moonnam Pakkam''
|
| 1989 |
''Adharvam, Chaithram, Season (film)Season''|| | 1991 |
''Anaswaram'', ''Ente Sooryaputhrikku'' |
1992 |
''Pappayude Swantham Appoos, Aparatha''
|
1993 |
''Jackpot (1993 film)Jackpot''|| | 1996 |
Kala Pani (1996 film)>Kaalapani, Man of the Match'' |
1997 |
Guru (1997 film)>Guru, Kaliyoonjal, Oru Yathramozhi''
|
| 1998 |
''Anuragakottaram, Manjeera Dhwani''| | 1999 |
Friends (1999 film)>Friends'' |
2000 |
''Kochu Kochu Santhoshangal, Kallu Kondoru Pennu''
|
| 2003 |
''Manassinakkare, Nizhalkuthu''| | 2005 |
''Ponmudipuzhayorathu'', ''Achuvinte Amma |
2006 |
''Rasathanthram'', ''Pachakuthira''
|
| 2007 |
''Vinodayathra'', ''Sooryan''| | 2008 |
Innathe Chintha Vishayam'', ''S M S (2008 film)>S M S'' |
2009 |
Bhagyadevatha'', ''Pazhassi Raja (2009 film)>Pazhassi Raja''
|
2010 |
''Kadha Thudarunnu'' | | 2011 |
Snehaveedu'', ''Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (2011 Malayalam Film)>Twinkle Twinkle Little Star'' |
2012 |
Hindi
Marathi
style="width:25px;" | Year |
Album
|
|
2011 |
Kannada
See also
List of awards and nominations received by Ilaiyaraaja
References and notes
Further reading
External links
Category:1943 births
Category:Living people
Category:Indian film score composers
Category:Indian film singers
Category:Indian Hindus
Category:Kerala State Film Award winners
Category:Kollywood playback singers
Category:Malayalam Music directors
Category:Kannada film composers
Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan
Category:Tamil film score composers
Category:Tamil musicians
Category:Telugu film score composers
Category:Trinity College of Music alumni
Category:Indian musicians
Category:20th-century classical composers
Category:21st-century classical composers
Category:Indian male singers
Category:National Film Award winners
Category:People from Tamil Nadu
Category:People from Chennai
Category:Tamil people
Category:Telugu playback singers
Category:Indian composers
Category:Kannada playback singers
Category:Tamil Nadu State Film Awards winners
Category:Filmfare Awards South winners
Category:Converts to Hinduism
fr:Ilayaraja
gl:Ilaiaraxa
gu:ઇલીયારાજા
hi:इलैयाराजा
kn:ಇಳಯರಾಜಾ
ml:ഇളയരാജ
mr:इळैयराजा
ta:இளையராஜா
te:ఇళయరాజా