Everlasting Music

* He is the first Indian to have written a western classical symphony. The year is 1976.In a highway tea kadai(shop) somewhere in South India, the radio is playing a Hindi song. Somebody decides to change the frequency to the Tamil radio station to hear the day’s tidings. After the news a song going “machana parthingala?”is played. The people in the teashop sit spell bound by it. This could be a description of anywhere in southern India where music was being played at that time. *He is the first Asian to have performed at the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, of England. My father used to love this song Pongathave from Nilalgal.His singing this song to me is probably my first conscious memory of being mesmerized by Illayaraja’s music. From the pathos of ‘tenpandi chemayile’ to the mild jazz swing song ‘rambambam arambam’one did not have to be a conosier of music to appreciate the sheer genius and variety of this man’s oceanic music. *He has invented new ragas, Panchamukhi, being just one among them. As a boy growing up in Madras, other than the little of Bee Gees or Abba I had been exposed to, music literally meant Illayaraja.Can any of us who were kids at that time forget humming, with traces of malalai(baby talk)”Anjali…anjali…anjali’?After a few years when a new wave in the form of Allah Rakha Rehman had us all spellbound, I started rediscovering Raja’s music again. The sabbatical from listening to his music only made me value it further once I got back to it like a prodigal fan. *He introduced Digital music, synthesized music and track recording into the music industry in South India. After several years of exposure to his music I am still spellbound by its infinity.Now as an adult I am able to appreciate his works such as, “How to name It?” which I had not heard as a child. The only word to describe the fusion between western and eastern classical music in this album is magical. There are still innumerable works of Raja, Ost’s, albums such as Nothing But Wind and his devotional albums I have not listened to. This leaves me feeling excited.As I grow in life I can grow in my appreciation and love of Raja’s music. *He is the winner of multiple honorary doctorates at home and from abroad, and the recipient of several national and state awards. On the eve of,the release of his magnum opus,Tiruvasagam in Symphony, I have an earnest request to all lovers of music in India. We as a people have an uncanny knack of ignoring true genius when it is amongst us. We did not know to value Satyajit Ray in his lifetime or after. Stephen Spielberg or Yanni are more easily recognizable icons to the common Indian youngsters than Raja or Ray. Let us rectify this and make a beginning with Illayaraja and celebrate him when he is still very much present in flesh and blood.We owe this to the spirit of genius.