Ilaiyaraaja

My music is for the world. Let them enjoy it.

Sometimes, entire songs are ready in just about five minutes.

Questioning the origin of music is like asking why the breeze is soothing, why you shiver in exhilaration when the spray from the waterfall hits you.

Do you know it took me 27 years to understand the C major chord on the piano?

In my early years, I would be in the studio till 11 P.M. Come home, have bath and dinner, and write music till 2 A.M. I would wake up by 4, sit down to do my music, and be at the studio at sharp 7 A.M.

Taking legal action against pirates is a headache for artists like me.

Many ask me why I work with debutants, but I always tell them that there's space for every one in the industry, and if my music helps him, then I'm glad to be of some help. I will never say no to deserving newcomers.

Ideally, the music composed these days should sound much better because of the technology, right? But that's not the fact. The sounds that you hear out of technological recording are programmed sounds coming out of a computer.

There is no guru like our own mistakes.

Music has done much more for me than I have for music.

I come from a small village and have had no formal training in music or any classes from the masters of Indian classical music.

Anyone who holds a pen these days thinks he or she is a poet.

Music is the only medium by which everyone is connected in the world.

The dictionary contains thousands of words on Tamil music. I am not familiar with most of the words, but it shows the rich past of Tamil music.

Government should take necessary steps to add music into school syllabus and impart knowledge to the students.

Art is a unifying language for all of us from across the world, and it transcends boundaries.

To me, music is more like a spiritual seeking that takes one to unknown levels.

My commercial viability, coupled with my reputation, gives me enough freedom to assert my right as a composer.

Music is nothing but sound, and there is no place for value judgement among various sounds.

Music and religion keep me young.