Ilayaraja : A treasure for a lifetime and beyond

There are a few things in life that you cannot change whoever you become, wherever you go, whatever you do and what time you may be in. Like the way you love your mother’s food or the way you do the ‘thappangoothu’ in parties or the way you flirt with girls (especially me!). For me a similar thing that can never change for my entire lifetime is my love for Ilayaraja’s music.

For a guy who grew up listening to the likes of Abba, BoneyM, Michael Jackson, Jean Michael Jarre, Beetles – thanks to my western-music-crazy-father-who-writes-tamil-books, it is strange how I fell in love with Ilayaraja’s music. Just like all other boys in their early teens in the 90s, I was a great fan of Rahman’s music (I’m still a great fan though!). At that time, Ilayaraja, for me, was just there composing some decent music for second stringed movies.

But I don’t know when my tastes changed. During my college days, SCV (Sumangali Cable Vision), a local cable channel in Chennai kept on airing Ilayaraja’s songs from 80s frequently throughout the day. I guess, it is at this time that I got hooked on to the Maestro’s songs. I still remember asking my college friends to download his songs for me since dial-up downloads were costing me a fortune.

I will never know why I love his music so much. I’m not a music pundit to appreciate his use of raagas, swaras, thalams or his interludes. I don’t analyze what kind of instruments he uses. But I’m crazy about his music. That I know for sure. It has the power to make you feel happy, sad or both at the same time. It ties a string over your heart and tugs at it. Painful pleasure, I should say. Every time I feel happy, It would be his songs that lengthen the period of bliss. Every time I feel sad/dejected, it would be his songs that would shorten the period of sadness. Every time I feel less motivated, it would be his songs that would life my spirits and inspire me. I never knew why. It is better that way.

Inarguably, his compositions in 80s are his best. In my honest opinion, if there is at least one sane person in the National Academy awards committee, Ilayaraja would have won the Best music director award for each and every year from 1980 to 1991 and much more in later years. I’ll accept that he hasn’t been able to create the magic in the last two decades as frequently as he did in the 80s. But everyone grows old. Still there were some real gems in the form of Thiruvaasagam, Bharati, Virumaandi, Hey Ram, Sethu, Friends and several more.

I’m open-minded. I’ve listened to all genres of music from all over the world. I still keep trying them. But none of them comes close what Ilayaraja has created. He is incomparable with anyone. He is God. It is worth spending thousands of hours listening to his songs.

I still keep unearthing his less familiar and rare songs from the 80s. And each time I come across such a song, I become amazingly happy. I’m collecting his Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada compositions as well and they are mind blowing too (obviously)! I’m still collecting. If someone has the entire collection of his songs which includes each and every song he composed, please auction your collection. I’ll be one of his greatest fans to turn up for sure.

If you ask me to pick top 10 songs of Ilayaraja, I would probably show you my middle finger. If you ask for the top 100, I’ll still do the same. If you ask for 1000, may be.. I said ‘may be’ I’ll consider the request. Ilayaraja has created innumerable number of 5 minute treasures that will permanently be on my playlist.

It will be interesting to see if Ilayaraja’s music will stand the test of time. Will people still listen to his music after 100 years? Works of Beethoven, Mozart and Vivaldi have stood the time. Hopefully, Ilayaraja’s collection will be one of that music that won’t just fade away.

If I have kids in future, they are assured of one extraordinary treasure that will pass on from my personal belongings. It will be a set of DVDs.