The career of Ilaiyaraaja, who celebrated his 74th birthday on Saturday, has no parallels in the music world. All know that his songs, soaked in folk music he scored for the film Annakili , made him a household name overnight, but few will be aware of the maestro’s actual beginning, a beginning which was humble. Yes, he scored the background music for Muslim devotional songs rendered by late singer Nagoor E.M. Haniffa. The three songs — Thentral Kaatre Konjam Nillu , Nabi Vazhi Nadanthal Naragamillai and Aalum Iraivan — explain to the world the potential of Ilaiyaraaja.
The maestro also confirmed that he scored the background music for the album of the three songs. The cover of album released by HMV company says the music was scored by Pavalar Brothers, the name by which Ilaiyaraaja and his brothers were known during their earlier days.
Nagoor Haniffa’s son Naushad said the album was released when his father was a member of the Legislative Council.
“One day a youth knocked at my father’s room at the MLA Hostel and introduced himself as Rasaiah. When he told my father that he wanted to score music for his songs, my father said that he had already set them to particular tunes. Rasaiah insisted that he would do the background score. But when my father said it should be decided by the recording company, he said that he had come here on the instructions of the company,” recalled Mr. Naushad.
After sometime, Haniffa brought his harmonium and asked Ilaiyaraaja to play the songs. “My father was extremely pleased with his playing style,” reminisced Mr. Naushad. “Not only that, my father exclaimed ‘See, how the fingers move. He has magic fingers.”
‘Unique touch’
The use of guitar, flute and violin for the song Thentral Kaatre has the unique touches. The second song Nabi Vazhi Nadanthal Naragamillai is set to the Carnatic raga Bagashree and starts with a virutham. An amalgamation of veena, guitar, flute and mridhangam embellish the songs. Aalum Iraivan song is set to Darbari Kanada.
“Since my father used to travel to foreign countries, Ilaiyaraaja was keen to accompany him on his next trip. Since he already had a troupe, he promised to take him the next time. But when we returned from the trip, the songs of Annakili songs could be heard in every nook and corner of Tamil Nadu,” said Mr. Naushad.
Haniffa, an equally busy artiste, never approached Ilaiyaraaja for a chance. “He asked him to sing for the film Chembaruthi . My father agreed to sing with a lot of reluctance,” said Mr. Naushad.
