Ilayaraaja...God in the Making!

here i am writing another post...and again about my favorite topic,music...and again about my favourite musician Ilayaraaja..i guess i cant stop speaking about him..coz there's so much to speak about him...there wont be another Ilayaraaja..i was just watchin a program on ETV, Paaduta Teeyaga conducted by another god SPB..and todays edition was about Ilayaraaja..and the special guest was the maestro's brother Gangai Amaran.for the first time on tv shows some one related to the maestro was called to speak about him..i was really happy after watchin the show..for hella lotta reasons..firstly it was about the maestro and secondly all the info wa coming from some one who struggled with him..Gangai Amaran..and another moment when SPB said there wont be another Raaja..:):)not that people dont know that but its alwasy nice to hear somethin like that about Raaja sir even if its for the billionth time...:):)
so i thought id lie to write somethin about the maestro so that people here would know about him and his godhood...not that he needs publicity but my heart wont be empty until i write wat i intended to:)so here goes the list
1)he is the only indian to rake up a gold medal in classical guitar from the prestigious London Trinity College of Music..Rahman graduated from this school but did not get a gold medal.
2)his favorite instrument as u al might be thinking is not guitar.. its harmonium..and he composes almost all his songs on the harmonium.so imagine how good he might be on this instrument?!:)
3)the first asian to compose a symphony for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra..whose patron is her heiness The Queen.
4)till date the only indian to compose a symphony in Western Classical Music.its named as Symphony no 1.
5)has composed music for approx 900 movies in all languages and has 5 private albums to his credit.
6)released his private album How To Name It in 1986.genre was fusion music.
7)composed another album called Nothing But Wind with Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia on the flute.
8)the only composer who composes the music for all the instruments without the help of any music director.he doesnt have any assistant music director.
9)the only composer to compose music with pencil and book..he doesnt even see the harmonium when hes composing!he has every note in mind!once he composes he never changes it!!
10)known to be the king of Re-Recording!unparalleled in the history of music!does re-recording work in a day..for any composer it takes around 1 month on an avg...so its for u to judge:)
11)known to be one of the fastest composers..took around 1 month to compose the symphony(it took Brahms 13years to compose a symphony)
12)takes around half hour to compose the music for a film
13)the only composer whose background music is a rage and made movies run for 100 days!!want proof?got to youtube and type ilayaaja bgm and ul know how big a rage it is...:)
14)his sons are Karthik Raja and Yuvan Shankar Raja.both of them are composers and as you all know Yuvan is a rage in Tamil.his lst telugu project was OY! which was a big hit!
15)Raaja is most famous for his orchestrational abilities and for his bass lines..his bass lines are the most meticulously written notes ever!its very hard to play his bass lines on the bass guitar..often called as the god of bass:)
16)also called as naadha brahma,swara brahma,isaignani(knower of all in the world of music)
17)often called a one man show due to his all round abilities:)
18)never attends public functions or concerts.
19)composes in the prestigious Prasad Theatre in chennai
20)also composes in Budhapest,Hungary where he says his inspirations used to compose
21)was awarded the national award thrice and numerous awards were bestowed upon him by various governments
you know ive written all this but i still ive written nothin about him..but then this is all i know:( i wish i could see him live once in my life and fall on his feet..i wont feel bad if my life ended then...i would have been at god's feet:):)
Long Live Ilayaraaja!!
Santosh Ram