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702 Agusta AW139 (31332) Cyprus Air Force - Andreas Papandreou Airbase , Pathos International Airport Cyprus 08-11-2019
Coraggio nuovo.
"...Ma io resisterò; con mani nude affronterò i soldati"
(Andromaca)
(another inside)
©All rights reserved.
Andreas Templin "HELL IS COMING / WORLD ENDS TODAY", a situationist play for the inner city of Madrid bit.ly/179nEdV Madrid Abierto 2008
Taken through thick glass and in the dark, so far from ideal conditions, but I just had to record that resigned expression and those emotive eyes!
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It was my first day in Lhasa, Tibet and I was getting used to the altitude. My mind was a bit hazy as I walked through the Muslim quarter and made my way to the main square. I spent the day floating around and after the sun had set, I started to make my way back to my hotel when I looked up and saw this scene. It was a perfect Bohemian moment and I wondered what they must have been discussing in that interesting cafe. Was it politics, art or were they sharing philosophies on life? Either way, it was a perfect moment from my perspective.
Johann Elias Grimmel (1703-1759). "Jonah ejected by the whale" (1739).
The restoration of this painting was taken by the Lions Club Memmingen. Stemming from a Memming merchant family, had the born on October 28, 1703 Johann Elias Grimmel himself trained as a painter with Johann Friedrich Sichelbein and after his death with Jerome Hau in Kempten. During his twelve-year period of study at the Imperial Academy of Arts in Vienna (1726-38), in 1734 the Second Price falls to him in the held annually painting competition. After a brief interlude in Memmingen, he was appointed in 1741 as a teacher of drawing and painting at the Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg, where he died on January 12, 1759 on "apoplexy". The workshop tradition of Sichelbein connecting with the pathos of Viennese Baroque, Grimmel in his panel paintings for St. Martin achieves considerable painterly quality.
Johann Elias Grimmel (1703 - 1759). "Jonas vom Walfisch ausgeworfen" (1739).
Die Restauration dieses Gemäldes wurde vom Lions Club Memmingen übernommen. Aus einer Memminger Handelsfamilie stammend, lässt sich der am 28. Oktober 1703 geborene Johann Elias Grimmel bei Johann Friedrich Sichelbein und nach dessen Tod bei Hieronymus Hau in Kempten zum Maler ausbilden. Während seiner zwölfjährigen Studienzeit an der Kaiserlichen Kunstakademie in Wien (1726-38) fällt ihm 1734 der II. Preis im alljährlich stattfindenden Malwettbewerb zu. Nach einem kurzen Intermezzo in Memmingen wird er 1741 als Lehrer für Zeichnen und Malen an die Akademie der Wissenschaften in St. Petersburg berufen, wo er am 12. Januar 1759 am "Schlagfluss" stirbt. Die Werkstatttradition Sichelbeins mit dem Pathos des Wiener Barock verbindend, gelangt Grimmel in seinen Tafelbildern für St. Martin zu beachtlicher malerischer Qualität.
Chevaliers de la Croix avec l'Étoile Rouge, Caballeros de la Cruz con la Estrella Roja
Kreuzherrenkloster Memmingen
Church building with its distinctive tower from the Hallhof (depository)
Detail of richly with Wessobrunner stucco decorated church ceiling
Church ceiling frescoes
The Kreuzherrenkloster (monastery of the Knights of the Cross with the red stars) Memmingen is a former monastery of the Order of the Holy Ghost in Memmingen in Bavaria in the diocese of Augsburg.
History
The beginnings of the Holy Spirit consecrated monastery date back to the 13th century. Counterfeit refer to the year 1010, which was before the founding of the city of Memmingen in 1160. It was probably in 1210 by the Staufian Empire bailiff in Upper Swabia, count Heinrich von Neuffen-Weißenhorn and his wife Hedwig, donated. This ones established at the eastern edge of the central city in front of the gate Kalchtor a hospital, equipped it with landed property and handed it over to the Hospitaller Order of Canons Regular of the Holy Spirit in Rome, whose main activity focus was the care of the sick and the homeless and the admission of pregnant women and foundlings. After a devastating fire in 1223, the monastery and the hospital had to be rebuilt, in this context, it is also for the first time mentioned in the municipal document.
Since 1353, the City Council took part in the management of the hospital, in 1365 the hospital complex was divided into a lower and an upper Hospital. To the now directly managed by the Imperial City Lower Hospital belonged the Poor room on the ground floor and several adjoining rooms, to the remaining with the monastery Upper Hospital belonged furthermore the Church of St. Peter and Paul and the upper floors of the monastery and convent building. In the room for needy persons concentrated the imperial city charitable organisations. Together with the Antonite monastery the Crusaders shaped the intellectual and cultural life of the imperial city.
In a fire in 1477, again large parts of the complex were destroyed. The hospital church was rebuilt in 1480-1484 as a Gothic hall church and the whole complex obtained the form of a towards to the south lain Hallhof open three-winged complex. 1484 was southwards adjacent to the church building a tower built. In the years 1709-1711 the church was remodelled in Baroque style and fitted out with Wessobrunner stuck by Matthias Stiller and his son Michael Stiller (plasterer). The ceiling paintings stem from Johann Friedrich Sichelbein.
Shortly after the mediatization of the Free Imperial City and the transfer to the Electorate of Bavaria in 1802, the monastery was secularized. All expendable and movable properties of the monastery in 1803 were auctioned, the last Canons 1804 left the house. Still until the year 1806, the church was used as a parish church, after which it served as a timber warehouse. The room for the needy until 1816 served for the accommodation of prebendaries, in the monastery premises Bavarian officials were housed. Although the church and the steeple first in favor of a new toll and customs building should be demolished, but they would do without it from 1819 on since other areas were vacated and the demand for a new building was not given. Therefore, from 1820 the room for the needy served as storage space. The church was rebuilt into a goods hall, in the northern and southern side wall each a large gate entrance was broken, orchestra and pulpit were demolished. The stucco in the lower area was knocked off and vault and basements were demolished in order to obtain a ground-level access. In the nave itself a false floor was inserted and a wooden crane mounted. To the north, the entire complex was provided with a classicist facade.
Due to the foundation of the German Reich, the building as depository and Customs Office was increasingly without function, which is why the City Council in 1920 requested to expose in the former vestry works of Memminger painters. After a water pipe breakage was discussed in 1932 to relocate the municipal art collection to the unused nave, for cost reasons but this solution was discarded, and only from 1947 on the upper part of the nave was used as an exhibition and concert hall. The ground floor was combined with the room for the needy persons and from 1960 as a hospital arch as an open walkway used. In the convent building various municipal facilities were housed: the sing and music school, the Stadtjugendring (city youth council) and psycho-social support center.
The as a whole neglected complex from 1998 to 2003 was according to original plans elaborately rehabilitated and restored. In the process, inter alia, the intermediate floor in the nave was removed and restored the room for needy people of the hospital. Today the church hall serves again as an exhibition and event space, the Poor facility as a café.
Buildings
Steeple
The compex consisted of a hospital with attachments for economical use, as well as an east adjacent church and a convent building. The complex burned down several times, as part of the reconstruction work it was repeatedly extended and modified.
Poor facility
The oldest still surviving part is the Poor facility. Its two-aisled, four-yoked and vaulted by a ribbed vault hall dates from the early 15th century. By hospital master Elias Bruggberger extensive construction were induced from 1675 to 1680, at the same time, he Poor facility was expanded to additional floors in which two large halls were housed. The room on the second floor was provided in 1691 with a wooden coffered ceiling, which is largely still intact.
Monastery church
→ Main article: St. Peter and Paul (Memmingen)
1477 the abbey church of St. Peter and Paul in a fire was destroyed and rebuilt in the following years as equally two-aisled and four-yoked late Gothic hall church. As is common in many hospitals, it forms an extension of the Poor facility. After hospital master Sigismund Teufel it was from 1709 remodelled in Baroque style and the ceiling vaults probably by Matthias Stiller with Wessobrunner stucco coated. In each field of bays there are ceiling paintings, probably stemming from Memminger painter Johann Friedrich Sichelbein. Supported is the around 14 meter high vault of three stucco marble columns.
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Heeey, Stanford. I was visiting and I noticed that your tower is not as tall as Berkeley’s. That’s cool …
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About This Collection
This collection of photographs was the result of a happy mistake while walking through the Hakone Garden’s bamboo forest in Saratoga. I was messing around with my camera on manual mode, trying different angles and motions when I noticed the resulting images resembled impressionist paintings. I liked how the bamboo forest was implied though color, light and movement, so I sat there for a while and tried different things until I got the look I wanted. All of these photographs are single shots with very minor adjustments in Photoshop.
I will put up one piece every Monday, Thursday and Saturday for the next three weeks.
Airship 27 Productions is thrilled to present Sgt.Janus – Spirit Breaker by Jim Beard. Part detective, part occultist, Janus is himself a man of mystery whose own past is shrouded and the motivations behind his calling kept hidden.
---
Sgt. Janus•Spirit-Breaker Vol. 1
Within this volume you will find eight tales as narrated by Sgt. Janus' clients, each with his or her own perspective on this uncanny hero and his amazing career. Filled with suspense, terror and agonizing pathos, each a solid mesmerizing journey into the unknown world beyond.
Featuring a cover by artist Jeff Herndon and eight stunning illustrations by Eric Johns, Sgt.Janus – Spirit Breaker is the first in a new series by one of today’s leading stars in New Pulp Fiction.
“…Beard’s fiction is anything but pat and routine. While he may deliberately conjure the spirits of authors of Victorian and Edwardian occult fiction before him, Beard’s prose is fresh and entirely modern in his, at times, frank and unsettling tales of the wages of his characters’ past sins. Each story breezes by and like the best tales told round the campfire, it leaves the reader hungry for more.” William Patrick Maynard (The Terror of Fu Manchu & The Destiny of Fu Manchu.)
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I am pretty sure this is where I would hide me lucky charms if I ever managed to get them back from that ill mannered leprechaun. It was supposed to be a friendly game of "who can throw the boulder farther", but he cheated and ran off with me lucky charms. Who knew he had magical powers?! I hear he even got his own cereal ... pssh! Whatever, I like Coco Pebbles better anyway.
He was a French Baroque painter, sculptor, architect and engineer. His sculpture expressed emotion, pathos and drama.
©2013 / VG BildKunst
WAGNR RMX - Philipp Geist
WGNR rmx 2013 - PHILIPP GEIST
Light Installation / Video Mapping Installation
New City Hall Bayreuth from July 7th to August 28th On the occasion of Richard Wagner’s 200th birthday the Berlin artist Philipp Geist (1976) develops a comprehensive light and video mapping installation on the external walls of the New City Hall in Bayreuth over a period of 40 nights. The artist dismisses the use of screens and projects his artistic image and light projections directly onto the facade. The projection merges with the location and invites visitors to linger around the New City Hall. The art installation is going to be further developed and enhanced during the mentioned period.
The subject of the artistic installation is Richard Wagner and his works; images, words, quotes, and associations from his operas are artistically interpreted and incorporated into the installation. These terms and quotations from Wagner's operas are projected in a "carpet of words" and abstract verbal images on the facade. With his pictorial language the artist Philipp Geist develops his own artistic interpretation of Wagner's themes. Geist creates a dialog between the location, i.e. the New City Hall, the visitors, and the artistic works of Richard Wagner. In the process, the access to the "Wagner" topic is complex: On a first direct level, concepts and images of his major works will be displayed on the facade by means of the visual language of Philipp Geist. Visitors will be inspired by individual characters and scenes from the rich repertoire of fine arts, from paintings and illustrations, especially from the 19th century. However, the characters and scenes will be alienated and integrated into the abstract structures of Philipp Geist’s worlds of images. Known Wagner themes, such as fire, natural phenomenons, and symbols like the ring, the sword, and the storm as a mirror for the inner turmoil, can be re-experienced and emerge as quotes in the form of images. In this way the installation demonstrates connections in a non-narrative manner and thus admits a different modern and contemporary access to Wagner’s works.
In this manner the radiant face of the hero appears in order to darken and vanish in the next moment. The great void comes into sight through the building bathed in darkness symbolizing the fraud, the vile and the dark side existing in men.
A scenery appears for an instant to dissolve in a flash into a graphic pattern again. Pristine landscapes turn into pixels and remind the viewer of the actual romantic ideal.
The Rheingold shines and sparkles through a hinted blue surface of water to crumble to dust a moment later. Gray and white particles float over the facade; the material transience is almost palpable.
The symbolism of the colors is adopted from the works: white sails become black, and vice versa; for the contemporary video projection technology it is easy to decide instantly on fateful questions. The sails may also turn into colorful triangles and fly away over the facade as a graphic pattern. At the same time, it is the random and ludic character of the installation that lures out the tragic and borne nature of the Wagner pathos and allows viewers of any age to envision uncountable points of contact. The installation celebrates Wagner, but it also uncovers critical voices: polarizations like genius and kitsch clash together and cover the building as one, quotes as Wagner’s "Aber, aber, was sollen die Sentimentalitäten" [But for all that, what’s the point of all these sentimentalities] wander along the facade.
On another level the approaches followed by Wagner matter for Geist’s installation: Wagner crossed the boundaries between the different arts and contents. He allied image and sound, music and stories, symphony and legends. Also Geist’s installation is influenced by Crossover: the multimedia artist creates a synergetic work on the City Hall giving rise to images from texts and mixing the analog with the digital by painting with light and his computer
© 2013 Philipp Geist
Philipp Geist STUDIO | VIDEOGEIST
WAGNR RMX - Philipp Geist
Lichtinstallation / Video-Mapping-Installation
Bayreuth Neues Rathaus 20.07.2013 bis 28.08.2013
KONZEPT PHILIPP GEIST
Anlässlich des 200. Geburtstags von Richard Wagner entwickelt der Berliner Künstler Philipp Geist (1976) über den Zeitraum von 40 Abenden eine flächendeckende Licht- und Video-Mapping-Installation auf das Neue Rathaus in Bayreuth. Dabei verzichtet der Künstler auf den Einsatz von Leinwänden und projiziert seine künstlerischen Bild- und Lichtprojektionen direkt auf die Fassade. Die Projektion verschmilzt mit dem Ort und lädt Besucher zum Verweilen am Neuen Rathaus ein. Über den Zeitraum der Installation wird die künstlerische Installation weiterentwickelt und ergänzt. Inhalt der künstlerischen Installation ist Richard Wagner und sein Werk; Bilder, Begriffe, Zitate und Assoziationen aus seinen Opern werden künstlerisch interpretiert und in die Installation eingebaut. Dabei werden Begriffe und Zitate aus Wagners Opern als Wörterteppich und abstrakten Wort-Bilder auf die Fassade projiziert. Der Künstler Philipp Geist entwickelt mit seiner Bildsprache seine eigene künstlerische Interpretation der Wagner-Themen. Geist entwickelt einen Dialog zwischen dem Ort, also dem Neuen Rathaus, den Besuchern und dem künstlerischen Werk von Richard Wagner. Der Zugang zum Thema „Wagner“ ist dabei vielschichtig. Zum Einen auf einer ersten, direkten Ebene, werden Begriffe und Bilder seiner Hauptwerke in der Bildsprache von Philipp Geist auf der Fassade zu sehen sein. Einzelne Figuren und Szenen aus dem reichen Repertoire der Bildenden Kunst, aus Gemälden und Illustrationen v.a. aus dem 19. Jahrhundert werden dem Besucher begegnen. Sie werden jedoch verfremdet und in die abstrakten Strukturen von Philipp Geists Bilderwelten integriert. Bekannte Wagner-Themen wie das Feuer, Naturereignisse und Symbole wie der Ring, das Schwert, und den Sturm als Spiegel für die innere
Aufruhr werden neu erfahrbar gemacht und tauchen als Bildzitate in der Installation auf. Die Installation zeigt so in nicht narrativer Art Zusammenhänge auf und lässt somit einen anderen modernen und zeitgenössichen Zugang zu dem Werk Wagners zu. So erscheint das strahlende Gesicht des Helden, um sich im nächsten Moment zu verdüstern und zu verschwinden. Die große Leere erscheint durch das in Dunkel getauchte Gebäude und symbol- isiert den Betrug, das Niederträchtige und Düstere im Menschen. Eine Szenerie taucht auf, um gleich wieder in ein grafisches Muster zu zerfließen. Unberührte Landschaften werden zu Pixeln und führen dem Betrachter vor Augen, dass es sich um ein romantisches Ideal handelt. Das Rheingold strahlt und funkelt durch die blaue angedeutete Wasseroberfläche hindurch, um im nächsten Moment zu Staub zu zerfallen. Graue und weiße Partikel schweben über die Fassade, die materielle Vergänglichkeit wird geradezu greifbar. Die Symbolik der Farben wird aus dem Werk übernommen, weiße Segel werden zu schwarzen und umgekehrt, es ist der zeitgenössichen Videoprojektionstechnik ein Leichtes, ganze Schicksalsfragen zu entscheiden. Vielleicht werden die Segel auch zu bunten Dreiecken und fliegen als grafisches Muster über die Fassade davon. So ist auch das Zufällige und Spielerische Merkmal der Installation, die das Tragische und Getragene des Wagner-Pathos herausfordert und eine Vielzahl von Anknüpfungspunkten für das Publikum jeden Alters ermöglicht. Die Installation feiert Wagner, macht aber auch kritische Stimmen sichtbar: Polarisierungen wie „Genie“ und „Kitsch“ treffenen aufeinander und ziehen sich gemeinsam über das Gebäude, Zitate wie Wagners: „Aber, aber, was sollen die Sentimentalitäten“wandern die Fassade entlang. Auf einer weiteren Ebene werden die Ansätze, welche Wagner verfolgte, auch für Geists Installation von Bedeutung sein: Wagner überschritt die Grenzen der verschiedenen Künste und Inhalte. Er brachte Bild und Ton, Musik und Geschichten, Symphonie und Sagen zusammen. Auch die Installation von Geist ist geprägt vom Crossover: Der Multimedia-Künstler erschafft ein synergetisches Werk auf dem Rathaus, lässt aus Texten Bilder entstehen und mischt Analoges mit Digitalem, indem er mit Licht und dem Computer malt.
© 2013 Philipp Geist
Philipp Geist STUDIO | VIDEOGEIST
Studio Philipp Geist
Post Box (Postfach) 080311
10003 Berlin/ Germany
Leipziger Str. 6610117 Berlin Studio PHILIPP GEIST - Leipziger Str. 66 - 10117 Berlin
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Every so often you come across a place that sends you back in time. I was walking around San Francisco a few years ago, looking for a place to live and came across Grace Cathedral at the top of a hill overlooking the city. It was such a juxtaposition of thriving urban culture and medieval stone architecture that my mind did one of those upside down triple axle somersaults and landed in a different era. I was transported to the times when Knights Templar scorched the Earth and damsels were still in distress. I am sure someone is going to say that Grace Cathedral is actually a fine example of blagh, blagh architecture, but I don't care. To me it is the place where some religious belief or another was securely fortified and defended against a quickly diminishing pagan world. Too bad the endless pursuit of religious propagation had such a heavy hand.
I took this picture recently and wanted to process it in a way that would accentuate the dark times it must have lived in. The darkened angry sky surrounding the cold stone fortification almost looks like an admonishment of the ideals safeguarded inside. But rather than shrinking back, the structure stands tall and menacingly imposing in defiance. I like how the labyrinth in the foreground seems to represent the search for spiritual truth. Coming back to the present time, it is awesome how Grace Cathedral in actuality represents an open-minded search for God and the inclusion of all faiths. Visiting this gorgeous cathedral leaves you with the comforting feeling that we might be on the right track after all.
There is a pathos about any object that once had employment and utility, but has fallen into disuse. Of what industrial process was this contrivance once a part? I have no idea, but it seems to bear a sort of family resemblance to the mangles one used to see in old-fashioned flagstoned kitchens when I was a boy ...next to the sink, with its spluttering brass cold water tap. Coal mining and pottery had been the two mainstays of Swadlincote, Derbyshire, where the photograph was taken on Saturday 3rd January 1970.
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Not too long ago, I was in Carmel with my family and I took the opportunity to visit Point Lobos State Reserve. I wanted to catch a sunset, but the park closes well before the sun goes down and the thought of being taken unawares by a mountain lion got me nervous, so I just spent a few hours climbing over this and that to look for interesting things to photograph. I found this little rock formation right before I left for the day. It seemed to me like some sort of stoic monolith looking out into the sea, as if waiting for something that may never arrive.
You can almost feel the pathos dripping off this lonely chair, can't you?
Michael Reese Hospital, Chicago.
Ilaiyaraaja (born Gnanadesikan) is an Indian film composer who works in the Indian film Industry. His body of work has spanned across Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi, Hindi and English language films. Regarded as one of the finest music composers in India,[1] Ilaiyaraaja is also an instrumentalist, conductor, singer, and a songwriter. To date, he has composed over 4500 songs and provided film scores for 1000 Indian films in various languages,[2][3] particularly being acclaimed for his background scoring.[4] His songs and background score played a very crucial role in the success of many films.[5][6]
Ilaiyaraaja has been a prominent composer of film music in the South Indian cinema since the late 1970s.[7] His works are mainly in Tamil, but has also scored music for numerous films in Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, and Hindi. Of late, he also composed for two Marathi films.[8] He integrated folk—in Tamil—and introduced western musical sensibilities into the South Indian musical mainstream.
A gold medalist in classical guitar from Trinity College of Music, London, in 1993, he organised a full symphony and thus became the first Asian to compose a full symphony performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London's Walthamstow Town Hall, which is yet to be released. In 2003, according to an international poll conducted by BBC, people from 155 countries voted his composition Rakkamma Kaiya Thattu from the 1991 film Thalapathi as fourth in the world's top 10 most popular songs of all time.[9] He was also nominated in the Best Indian album Music Awards category[10] at US based Just Plain Folks Music Organization, which is the largest grassroots music organization in the world, and stood third for his "Music Journey: Live in Italy".[10]
In the 2000s, he composed a variety of non-film music, including religious and devotional songs, an oratorio, and world music, while shifting his focus to Malayalam and Kannada films. He is usually referred to by the title Isaignani (English: Musical Genius), or as The Maestro.[11] As of 2013, he has won four Indian National Film Awards; three for Best Music Direction and one for Best Background Score[12] and is a recipient of Padma Bhushan, awarded by the Government of India. Ilaiyaraaja also received the NTR National Award in 2004.[13] In 2012 he received the Sangeet Natak Academi Award for his creative and experimental works in music field.[14]Popular world cinema portal Taste of Cinema placed Ilaiyaraja at the 9th position in its list of 25 greatest film composers in the cinema history.[15] In a poll conducted by CNN-IBN celebrating 100 years of Indian cinema in 2013, Ilaiyaraaja was voted the greatest music composer of India with a maximum of 49%.[16]
Contents
1 Early life and family
2 Early exposure to music
3 Session musician and film orchestrator
4 Film composer
4.1 Impact and musical style
5 Musical characteristics
6 Non-cinematic output
7 Notable works
8 Live performances
9 Discography
10 Awards
11 References
12 Further reading
13 External links
Early life and family
Ilaiyaraaja was born as Gnanadesikan on 3 June 1943 in a Tamil family in Pannaipuram, Theni district, Tamil Nadu, India. When he joined the school his father changed his name as "Rajaiya" but his village people used to call him as "Raasayya".[17] Ilaiyaraaja joined Dhanraj Master as a student to learn musical instruments and the master renamed and called him as just "Raaja".[18] In his first movie Annakili, Tamil film producer Panchu Arunachalam added "Ilaiya" (Ilaiya means younger in Tamil language) as prefix in his name Raaja and he named as "Ilaiyaraaja" because in 1970's there was one more music director A. M. Rajah who was a popular one.
Ilaiyaraaja was married to Jeeva and the couple have three children—Karthik Raja, Yuvan Shankar Raja and Bhavatharini—all film composers and singers.[19][20] His wife Jeeva died on 31 October 2011.[21] Ilaiyaraaja has a brother Gangai Amaran, who is also a music director and lyricist in Tamil film industry.[22]
Early exposure to music
Ilaiyaraaja grew up in a rural area, exposed to a range of Tamil folk music.[23] At the age of 14, he joined a travelling musical troupe headed by his elder brother, Pavalar Varadarajan, and spent the next decade performing throughout South India. While working with the troupe, he penned his first composition, a musical adaptation of an elegy written by the Tamil poet laureate Kannadasan for Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister.[24] In 1968, Ilaiyaraaja began a music course with Professor Dhanraj in Madras (now Chennai),[18] which included an overview of Western classical music, compositional training in techniques such as counterpoint, and study in instrumental performance. Ilaiyaraaja specialized in classical guitar and had taken a course in it at the Trinity College of Music, London.[25]
Session musician and film orchestrator
In the 1970s in Chennai, Ilaiyaraaja played guitar in a band-for-hire, and worked as a session guitarist, keyboardist, and organist for film music composers and directors such as Salil Chowdhury from West Bengal.[26][27][28] After being hired as the musical assistant to Kannada film composer G. K. Venkatesh, he worked on 200 film projects, mostly in the Kannada language.[29] As G. K. Venkatesh's assistant, Ilaiyaraaja would orchestrate the melodic outlines developed by Venkatesh. During this period, Ilaiyaraaja also began writing his own scores. To hear his compositions, he would persuade Venkatesh's session musicians to play excerpts from his scores during their break times. Ilaiyaraaja would hire instruments from composer R. K. Shekhar, father of composer A. R. Rahman
Film composer
In 1975, film producer Panchu Arunachalam commissioned him to compose the songs and film score for a Tamil-language film called Annakkili ('The Parrot').[30] For the soundtrack, Ilaiyaraaja applied the techniques of modern popular film music orchestration to Tamil folk poetry and folk song melodies, which created a fusion of Western and Tamil idioms.[31][32] Ilaiyaraaja's use of Tamil music in his film scores injected new influence into the Indian film score milieu.[33] By the mid-1980s Ilaiyaraaja was gaining increasing stature as a film composer and music director in the South Indian film industry.[7] He has worked with Indian poets and lyricists such as Kannadasan, Vaali, Vairamuthu, O. N. V. Kurup, Sreekumaran Thampi, Veturi Sundararama Murthy, Aacharya Aatreya, Sirivennela Sitaramasastri, Chi. Udaya Shankar and Gulzar and is well known for his association with film makers such as Bharathiraja, K. Balachander, Mani Ratnam, Sathyan Anthikkad, Priyadarshan, Fazil, Balu Mahendra, Vamsy, K. Vishwanath, Singeetham Srinivasa Rao and R. Balki.
Impact and musical style
Ilaiyaraaja was one of the earliest Indian film composers to use Western classical music harmonies and string arrangements in Indian film music.[34] This allowed him to craft a rich tapestry of sounds for films, and his themes and background score gained notice and appreciation among Indian film audiences.[35] The range of expressive possibilities in Indian film music was broadened by Ilaiyaraaja's methodical approach to arranging, recording technique, and his drawing of ideas from a diversity of musical styles.[34]
According to musicologist P. Greene, Ilaiyaraaja's "deep understanding of so many different styles of music allowed him to create syncretic pieces of music combining very different musical idioms in unified, coherent musical statements".[7] Ilaiyaraaja has composed Indian film songs that amalgamated elements of genres such as Afro-tribal, bossa nova, dance music (e.g., disco), doo-wop, flamenco, acoustic guitar-propelled Western folk, funk, Indian classical, Indian folk/traditional, jazz, march, pathos, pop, psychedelia and rock and roll.
By virtue of this variety and his interfusion of Western, Indian folk and Carnatic elements, Ilaiyaraaja's compositions appeal to the Indian rural dweller for its rhythmic folk qualities, the Indian classical music enthusiast for the employment of Carnatic Ragas, and the urbanite for its modern, Western-music sound.[36] Ilaiyaraaja's sense of visualization for composing music is always to match up with the storyline of the running movie and possibly by doing so, he creates the best experience for the audience to feel the emotions flavored through his musical score. He mastered this art of blending music to the narration, which very few others managed to adapt themselves over a longer time.[6]
Although Ilaiyaraaja uses a range of complex compositional techniques, he often sketches out the basic melodic ideas for films in a very spontaneous fashion.[7][23] The Indian filmmaker Mani Ratnam illustrates:
Ilayaraja would look at the scene once, and immediately start giving notes to his assistants, as a bunch of musicians, hovering around him, would collect the notes for their instrument and go to their places. When the orchestra played out the notes, they would be perfect, not just in harmony but also in timing — the background score would commence exactly where it should and end at the exact place required. Ilayaraja is a genius, who could compose music with just one look at the scene.
Musical characteristics
Ilaiyaraaja's music is characterised by the use of an orchestration technique that is a synthesis of Western and Indian instruments and musical modes. He uses electronic music technology that integrates synthesizers, electric guitars and keyboards, drum machines, rhythm boxes and MIDI with large orchestras that feature traditional instruments such as the veena, venu, nadaswaram, dholak, mridangam and tabla as well as Western lead instruments such as saxophones and flutes.[7]
He uses catchy melodies fleshed out with a variety of chord progressions, beats and timbres. Ilaiyaraaja's songs typically have a musical form where vocal stanzas and choruses are interspersed with orchestral preludes and interludes. They often contain polyphonic melodies, where the lead vocals are interwoven with supporting melody lines sung by another voice or played by instruments./
The basslines in his songs tend to be melodically dynamic, rising and falling in a dramatic fashion. Polyrhythms are also apparent, particularly in songs with Indian folk or Carnatic influences. The melodic structure of his songs demand considerable vocal virtuosity, and have found expressive platform amongst some of India's respected vocalists and playback singers, such as S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, K. J. Yesudas, S. Janaki, Jayachandran, K. S. Chithra, Minmini, Jency, Swarnalatha, S. P. Sailaja, T. M. Soundararajan, P. Susheela, Sujatha, Malaysia Vasudevan, Asha Bhosle, Lata Mangeshkar, Hariharan, Udit Narayan, Sadhana Sargam and Shreya Ghoshal. Ilaiyaraaja has sung over 400 of his own compositions for films, and is recognisable by his stark, deep voice. He has penned the lyrics for some of his songs in Tamil and other languages.[37][38] Ilaiyaraaja's film scores are known both for the dramatic and evocative melodies, and for the more subtle background music that he uses to provide texture or mood for scenes in films such as Johnny (1980), Mouna Ragam (1986), Nayakan (1987), Geethanjali (1989), Guna (1991) Marupadiyum (1993).Notable works
Ilaiyaraaja's composition "Rakkama Kaiya Thattu", sung by SPB, Swarnalatha, Minmini in the movie Thalapathi (1991), was among the songs listed in a BBC World Top Ten music poll.[44] The soundtrack of My Dear Kuttichathan, the first stereoscopic 3D film made in India is composed by him. He composed the music for Nayagan (1987), an Indian film ranked by TIME Magazine as one of the all-time 100 best movies,[45] a number of India's official entries to the Oscars, such as Swathi Muthyam(1986),Nayagan(1987),Thevar Magan(1992), Anjali(1991), and Hey Ram (2000),[46] and for Indian art films such as Adoor Gopalakrishnan's FIPRESCI Prize-winning Nizhalkuthu ('The Shadow Kill') (2002).[47] Ilaiyaraaja has composed music for events such as the 1996 Miss World beauty pageant that was held in Bangalore, India, and for a documentary called India 24 Hours (1996).[48]
The Black Eyed Peas sampled the Ilaiyaraaja composition "Unakkum Ennakum" from Sri Raghavendra (1985), for the song "The Elephunk Theme" on Elephunk (2003).[49] The alternative artist M.I.A. sampled "Kaatukuyilu" from the film Thalapathi (1991) for her song "Bamboo Banga" on the album Kala (2007). As well, Gonjasufi sampled "Yeh Hawa Yeh Fiza" from the movie Sadma. His music compositions for the Hindi movie "Cheeni Kum" and Paa (3 December 2009) has won critical acclaim in several media reviews.