In the Company of Ilaiyaraaja’s Music for Decades
His lilting melodies shaped the listening habits and memories of a generation and their enduring appeal continues to be passed on to younger listeners.
Chennai: With Annakili released on May 14, 1976, revolutionizing Tamil film music, its composer, maestro Ilaiyaraaja, celebrated a monumental 50 years in the film music industry on Thursday. Ilaiyaraaja had composed for over thousands of films and songs in multiple languages during his reign over the film industry for half a century. His hold on an entire generation of people comes from how deeply his music embedded itself into everyday lives.
For those who lived in Tamil Nadu during the 1980s and 1990s, his songs were not just film tracks, but were woven into memory itself. The songs were played on radio sets, in tea shops, buses, weddings, temple festivals and family gatherings. Ilaiyaraja’s film music was very much a background score to people’s lives. Even his complex music could make listeners feel intimate. Even now, listening to an Ilaiyaraaja track transports one instantly to a place, a season or a phase of life.
His music continues to command loyalty even several decades later, despite changing trends and the rise of composers like A. R. Rahman.
His lilting melodies shaped the listening habits and memories of a generation and their enduring appeal continues to be passed on to younger listeners.
While Ilaya Nila (Payanangal Mudivathillai) was the defining melody of the 1980s, Mandram Vandha Thendralukku (Mouna Ragam) became synonymous with unspoken love and silent emotional ache. Thenpandi Cheemayile (Nayakan) remained emotionally powerful across generations. Janani Janani (Thai Moogambigai) became part of devotional life in many Tamil homes. Ooru Vittu Ooru Vandhu (Karagattakaran) was very popular among the masses and it reflected the pulse of rural Tamil Nadu. Similarly Valaiyosai (Sathya) appealed to younger listeners. En Iniya Pon Nilave (Moodu Pani) was yet another dreamy composition loved by his fans even now. One could go on listing them forever.
Several such Ilaiyaraja songs made a big impact on listeners and became part of people’s emotional vocabulary. And his tracks remind this columnist of bus rides, carefree college days and evenings spent with cassette players.
