

He also met contemporary composers and arrangers including Paul Mauriat. They were his Manasika Gurus or non-physical teachers, he wrote once. Raja went for a trip abroad to Europe, partly to visit places where Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Ludwig van Beethoven lived. After a few years as a film composer, he could write all the parts to a score as they came to him, and his assistants would make fair copies, which would be recorded immediately.

Raja composed film music prolifically for the next fifteen years, at a rate of as many as three new songs a day. These songs could literally be heard coming from every doorstep in Tamil Nadu state every day for at least a year after being released. Some of the numbers that show his orchestral genius are "Pon malai Pozhudu" and "Poongadhave" from Nizhalgal (1980), Kanmaniye Kadhal from Aarilirindhu Aruvathu Varai (1979), "Ramanin Mohanam" from Netri Kann (1981), "En Iniya Pon nilave from Moodupani (1980), "Paruvame Pudhiya" from Nenjathai Killathe (1981), and "Edho Moham" from Kozhi Koovuthu (1982). Raja's grasp of Western classical structure became evident with his masterful use of the piano, guitar, and string ensembles. classical Karnatic melodies were used in Kannan Oru Kai Kuzhandhai (1978) (Rag Mohanam), Mayile Mayile (Ragam Hamsadhwani), and Chinna Kannan Azhaikiran (Reethi Gowlai). Raja soon proved his abilities in other styles as well. Most popular were the songs "Senthoorappove" and "Aatukkutti Mutaiyittu" from Pathinaru Vayathinile (1977), and "Samakkozhi" and "Oram Po" from Ponnu Oorukku Pudhusu (1979). For all of these films Raja created memorable songs.
#ILAYARAJA FAMILY SERIES#
This was followed by a series of films that portrayed contemporary Tamil villages in an authentic way, against stylistic shallow portrayals before. The songs became an instant hit, the most popular being "Machchana Partheengala" sung by a female voice, S. The songs offered simplicity and musicality typical of Tamil folk in an authentic way, and they offered new sounds-rich orchestration typical of Western music. The film dealt with a village story, to which Ilayaraja composed great melodies. Ilayaraja's break into music for films came with Annakili (1976). He later earned a diploma in music from Trinity College in London. He studied under Dhanraj Master, playing the guitar and piano in the Western style.
#ILAYARAJA FAMILY MOVIE#
In 1969, Raja migrated to the city of Madras, the Southern Movie capital, when he was 29 years old, looking for a break into music making for the public. Raja picked up most of his acumen for audience tastes during this period. The team of the brothers, the eldest being Pavalar Varadharajan, a poet, worked as a group of musicians traveling across the state, accompanying theater artists. He learned to play the harmonium, the typical musical instrument used in street performances. His mother, a huge repository of Tamil folk songs, seems to be a very strong influence in his music. Raja, as he is popularly known and affectionately called, comes from a family of musicians.

2 June 1943, Pannaipuram, Madurai District, Tamil Nadu, Indiaīorn and brought up in an obscure village near Kambam in Southern Tamil Nadu, Ilayaraja became the first Asian to score a symphony for the London Philharmonic Orchestra, besides scoring over 500 feature films in a period of 20 years.
