His music exhibited a spontaneous flow between different styles, combining Western classical, disco, Indian classical, jazz, bossa nova and pop influences, grounded in a rich tapestry of popular, local music traditions. Throughout his career, he did not conform to rigid genre classifications of music. IlaiyaraajaвЂ™s work in Annakkili foreshadowed his innovations for a long time to come. Reportedly, he also attached the prefix вЂIlaiyaвЂ™ to his name to avoid any confusion with the music composer A.M. The writer Selvaraj had initially wanted all three of the Pavalar brothers to compose the music, but the producer Panchu Arunachalam ultimately settled on Ilaiyaraaja alone. His compositions, in particular the hit song Annakili unnai theduthu marked an important moment of change in Tamil film music. Considered one of Tamil cinemaвЂ™s cult classics, the music of the film effortlessly blended Tamil folk rhythms with Western orchestration. Ilaiyaraaja finally made his debut as an independent composer with the Tamil language film Annakkili in 1976. In later interviews, he credited this phase as crucial to his training as a music composer, since he found the confidence to start composing original scores around this time. As his assistant, he worked on over 200 films. Venkatesh as an assistant and orchestrator. He joined the Kannada music composer G.K.

Gopalakrishnan, the famed mridangam player and singer.ДЄs a skilled multi-instrumentalist, he soon started working for various composers, including Salil Chowdhury. He was further trained in Carnatic music by T.P. He also undertook a distance learning course from the Trinity College of Music, London. Most sources claim that Dhanraj Master christened him Raaja. Under the tutelage of the renowned musician Dhanraj Master, he started learning musical instruments and Western classical music in 1968. He travelled to Madras to train in Western musical techniques. By this time, he had gained some knowledge of rural folk music traditions and wanted to expand his horizons. Daniel Rajayya created his first composition based on an elegy written by the famed poet Kannadasan for Jawaharlal Nehru. The Pavalar Brothers worked mostly as a cultural wing of Leftist groups, performing live concerts in their support. He studied only till he was around fourteen, and then joined his stepbrother Varadarajan, a member of the Communist Party, to form a musical troupe called Pavalar Brothers. His musical inclinations were clear even at a young age. His name was later changed to Daniel Rajayya. His parents were Chinnathayee and Daniel Ramaswamy, an estate supervisor.

Ilaiyaraaja was named GnanathesikanВ at his birth on 2 June 1943 in Pannipuram, Tamil Nadu in a Dalit Christian family. He has composed music for over a thousand films in different languages in his five decade long musical career, creating an astounding repertoire of unceasing innovation. Rahman to international stars like the Black Eyed Peas, Meek Mill and M.I.A. The range of artists he has influenced extends from his protГ©gГ© A.R.

The progenitor of the most important cultural progression in Indian film music of recent years, Ilaiyaraaja has cemented his place in the pantheon of all-time great musicians with his remarkable creations. To say that he lived up to this prophecy would be an understatement. The legendary composer Salil Chowdhury had once said about a young Ilaiyaraaja that he would one day become the best composer in India.

Ilayaraja age