page_title: Ilaiyaraaja
section_title: Non-cinematic output
hierarchical_section_title: Ilaiyaraaja / Non-cinematic output
caption_attribution_description: Maestro Ilayaraaja attending the inauguration of 91st Music Academy Concerts &amp; Conferences, 2017 on December 15th. Here he's seen with Sudha Ragunadhan, Chitraveena N Ravikiran, T V Gopalakrishnan, N. Murali etc.
context_page_description: Gnanathesikan, known as Ilaiyaraaja, is an Indian film composer, singer, songwriter, instrumentalist, orchestrator, conductor-arranger and lyricist who works in the Indian film industry, predominantly in Tamil. He has also worked in Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi and Hindi films. Widely regarded as one of the greatest Indian music composers of all time, he is credited with introducing Western musical sensibilities in the Indian film musical mainstream. Reputed to be the world's most prolific composer, he has composed more than 7,000 songs, provided film scores for more than 1,000 movies and performed in more than 20,000 concerts. Being the first Asian to compose a full symphony, Ilaiyaraaja is known to have written the entire symphony in less than a month. Ilaiyaraaja is nicknamed "Isaignani", a title bestowed upon him by late Karunanidhi, the former chief minister of Tamil Nadu and is often referred to as "maestro", amongst others by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London.
  He is known for integrating Indian folk music and traditional Indian instrumentation with western classical music techniques.
context_section_description: Ilaiyaraaja's first two non-film albums were explorations in the fusion of Indian and Western classical music. The first, How to Name It? (1986), is dedicated to the Carnatic master Tyāgarāja and to J. S. Bach. It features a fusion of the Carnatic form and ragas with Bach partitas, fugues and Baroque musical textures. The second, Nothing But Wind (1988), was performed by flautist Hariprasad Chaurasia and a 50-piece orchestra and takes the conceptual approach suggested in the title—that music is a "natural phenomenon akin to various forms of air currents".
  He has composed a set of Carnatic kritis which were recorded by electric mandolinist U. Srinivas for the album Ilayaraaja's Classicals on the Mandolin (1994). Ilaiyaraaja has also composed albums of religious/devotional songs. His Guru Ramana Geetam (2004) is a cycle of prayer songs inspired by the Hindu mystic Ramana Maharshi, and his Thiruvasakam: A crossover (2005) is an oratorio of ancient Tamil poems transcribed partially in English by American lyricist Stephen Schwartz and performed by the Budapest Symphony Orchestra. Ilaiyaraaja's most recent release is a world music-oriented album called The Music Messiah (2006).
  He has announced on his birthday that his ‘Isai OTT’ application will be launched soon and promised the app will contain much more than just his songs, like behind-the-scenes trivia about how each of his songs were conceived, produced, delivered and collaborations with other musicians.
caption: Ilaiyaraaja at the inauguration of 91st Music Academy Concerts & Conferences
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