Thread by @IWTKQuiz

Now that North India has finally woken up to the genius of Ilaiyaraaja, we have a special thread to celebrate the achievements of Ilaiyaraaja (born Gnanathesikan).

#RajaIsGod A Thread 🧵

This thread was compiled by his superfan who wants to be known only as Reddy.

Reddy, who lives in Chennai once visited Bangalore for a day to watch Ilaiyaraaja live in concert only to get back to Chennai and watch him perform live yet again.

Raaja began his musical journey at the age of 14 by playing music for communist songs in his brother Pavalar Varadharajan’s troupe called "Pavalar brothers".

(Pic courtesy @Raamkisrgm twitter)

In 1965 Raaja came to Chennai with a harmonium and INR 300 that his mother got by selling an old radio. Raaja spoke about this period where he unsuccessfully approached many music directors.

If not for his perseverance, the world would remain oblivious to his genius.

Eventually by the early 1970s Raaja ended up working as a freelance musician and assistant to Kannada composer G.K. Venkatesh.

Ilaiyaraaja played the guitar for most of GKV's songs at the time.

This led to Raaja becoming the lead guitarist in Salil Chowdhury’s Chennai orchestra.

Chowdhury was among Ilaiyaraaja’s earliest admirers. “Our main guitarist in Chennai is the best composer in India”, he once said.

If you're allergic to working hard, this next couple tweets are not for you.

Raaja would typically work with GKV through the day, go later for classes on western music theory, prepare for his Cambridge exams and then practice music writing on his own.

He'd then coax and cajole sessions musicians, already tired from performing all day to perform some of his music when they were on a break.

Raaja is alleged to have slept for not more than four hours each night in pursuit of his passion.

When the time came for Raaja to make his big break, he had to get an entire orchestra to play his music for the 1976 movie Annakili.

His levels of preparation were unheard of in the music industry at that time.

He gave each musician the full score of music and despite being plagued by power cuts (inauspicious beginnings, said murmuring naysayers), began in earnest and the rest is cinematic history.

For those of you with a love of music from the yesteryears, you're in luck.

Here's a selection of songs from Ilaiyaraaja's rich musical canon.

Have you heard this track from Sadma?

Check out this memorable track from Thalapathi, one of the catchiest numbers he's come up with

Have you seen Mani Rathnam's Anjali?

Again, when you pay attention to the songs you'll appreciate the harmonies in the musical arrangement. Fans to attention of detail will really enjoy the various layers of the composition

Does this track from the Kannada movie Pallavi Anupallavi seem familiar?

Where else might you have heard it?

Finally, if you are fare more western music types you can check out how Black Eyed Peas sampled Ilaiyaraaja's music for their track, the Elephunk theme

While Ilaiyaraaja is primarily a musician, he also written some lyrics. Check this simple yet haunting track from a Kannada starring late Puneeth Rajkumar 😢

Now, travel back a few decades to when Raaja composed for the legendary Dr. Rajkumar

Dr. Raj was also the singer for this track. Just imagining these two legends in one room gives us goosebumps

It is said that every time this song is shared on the internet, one North Indian is shocked
Let us know if you felt the same

Among his many partnerships, Perhaps his greatest is with SPB and S Janaki.

Sharing just one track from this combination cannot do any justice to their oeuvre.

So, we strongly recommend you to head over to your music service of choice and search!

Finally, repeat after us
Raja
Is
God

#RajaIsGod