On Ilaiyaraaja's birthday, here are some lesser-known facts about the maestro

Ilaiyaraaja is an Indian music composer and is also known as Isaignani (music genius). Ilaiyaraaja is one of the greatest music composers of his generation and has given various masterpieces throughout his career. Highly regarded as 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 in his long and rich career. Ilaiyaaraja is also often referred to as 'Maestro', but did you know the reason behind it?

Why is Ilaiyaraaja called the 'Maestro'?

The honorific title of "Maestro" was conferred to Ilaiyaraaja by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for his contribution to music. The composer pioneered and was one of the earliest Indian composers to use Western classical music harmonies and string arrangements in Indian film music. On the occasion of Ilaiyaraaja's birthday take a look at some lesser-known facts about the musical genius.

1. Ilaiyaraaja is a recipient of various prestigious accolades like  National Film Awards, Padma Bhushan,  Padma Vibhushan and Sangeet Natak Akademi Award.

2.  In 2014, the American world cinema portal "Taste of Cinema" placed the composer at the 9th position in its list of 25 greatest film composers in the history of cinema amongst other famous icons like  Ennio Morricone, John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith and Hans Zimmer. Ilaiyaraaja was the only Indian on the list.

3. The soundtrack of the 1991 movie Thalapathi was included in The Guardian's 100 Albums to Hear Before You Die.

4. Academy award-winning musician AR Rahman worked as a pianist in Ilaiyaraaja's troupe.

5.  CNN-IBN conducted a poll on the occasion of 100 years of Indian cinema in 2013 and Ilaiyaraaja was voted as the all-time greatest film-music director of India.

6. According to an international poll conducted by BBC in the year 2003, more than half a million people from 165 different countries voted for his composition Rakkamma Kaiya Thattu from the 1991 film Thalapathi. Ir came in fourth in the world's top 10 most popular songs of all time.

7. The Black Eyed Peas sampled the Ilaiyaraaja composition Unakkum Ennakum from the 1985 movie Sri Raghavendra, for the song The Elephunk Theme on their 2003 album Elephunk.

IMAGE: Ilaiyaraaja's TWITTER