Harris Jayaraj was born on January 8, 1975 in a place called Kodambakkam near Chennai. A music director by profession he has tremendous command over instruments like percussion, guitar, keyboard and piano. One of the popular music directors of Tamil cinema, Harris has made a mark for himself on the sheer basis of his talent. He was born a Christian Nadar family. Music was in his genes as his father was a film guitarist and later on a famous musician and film composer. Harris’s father wanted to see his son as a famous singer but the prodigy was more interested in composing. He also realized he is more suited for the fascinating challenge of music direction.

His initial studies tool place in Chennai only. His entry into the Tamil music world took place in a slightly different way. He started his work as a keyboardist and he worked with famous A R Rahman. During the initial phase Harris also worked as a musician, drum percussionist and programmed scores for movies. Harris did not hesitate in working for TV advertisements. Soon, his struggle paid off and he was offered to compose music for Minnale. Songs of the movie were liked by the listeners and he started to make his mark in hugely competitive Tamil film industry.

Minnale’s success was followed by many more movies. His other famous movies were, 12B, Kovil, Anniyan, Ghajini, Thotti Jaya, Kaaka Kaaka, Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu and Pachaikili Muthucharam etc. he was won several awards and that furthers reaffirms his rising position in Tamil film industry. With the kind of offers he is getting, Harris Jayaraj is sure to achieve many more milestones.

Yuvan Shankar Raja is one of the most famous in Tamil film industry. He has composed songs for many movies. Credited with giving some of the major Tamil hit songs, Raja was born on August 31, 1979 in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. He is not only a composer but also a talented singer. Music runs in his blood. He is the youngest son of one of the greatest music composers, Illayaraja. The names of his siblings are also impressive. Karthik Raja and Bhavatharini, Yuvan’s siblings are also famous personalities in Tamil music world. His charismatic musical journey began in early 1990s. He started at an early age of 16 and his first movie was Aravinthan. With the passage of time, he earned more critical acclaim and also fame and success.

Yuvan is definitely one of the leading film composers in southern film industry. He has been privileged to work several young talented artists and that gives him a formidable team. Yuvan has also tried to give opportunities to talented singers and that bodes really well for Tamil film industry. Before starting with film music composing, Yuvan had also composed songs for albums. His musical journey also took him to several legends who were willing to work with this young exploding talent.

During his initial days, he composed music for Selvaraghavan’s Thulluvadho Ilamai, Bala’s Nandha, Vasanth’s Poovellam Kettuppar, Kasthuri Raja and A. R. Murugadoss’ Dheena. These movies proved to be big hits and his career graph started to soar. He has also composed background music and recording for several hit movies. Yuvan also dabbled into other regional languages and proved to be a massive hit. Yuvan’s musical journey is truly fascinating.

Ilayaraja is the living legend of south Indian film industry. Born on June 2, 1943 in Theni district of Tamil Nadu, he has composed over 4000 songs and has worked in an astonishing number of 800 movies. Ilayaraja was originally named as Gnanadesikan. His first brush of music occurred when found interest in Tamil folk songs. At an early age of 14, he joined a musical troupe. His first composition was an elegy written by Tamil poet Kannadasan. The maestro further honed his talent in a music course in Madras and later on Trinity college of Music, London. His specialization was classical guitar.

Ilayaraja first started his job as a guitarist in the 1970s. Later on he covered almost all the spectrum as keyboardist, session guitarist, and orchestra member. He is in the industry for more than three decades. Ilayaraja has worked in several languages apart from Tamil. He has composed music for Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films. Ilayaraja introduced western musical nuances in Tamil songs. His entry into music direction took place in 1976 for the movie Annakkili. His modus operandi was to use two entirely dfferent but great things together. He used Tamil poetry with techniques of modern film music orchestra. Right from the first movie, Ilayaraja became a huge hit.   

Pathinaru Vayathinile, Payanangal Mudivathillai, Bhuvana Oru Kelvikkuri, Apoorva Sahodarargal, Annai Oru Aalayam, Moondram Pirai, Rudra Veenai, Muthal Mariyathai, Munthanai Mudichu, Punnagai Mannan, Sagara Sangamam and Nallavanukku Nallavan. Ilayaraja has worked in top movies like Anjali, Thalapathi, Michael Madana Kamarajan, Magalir Mattum, Sirai Chaalai and Sethu to name a few. Since the dawn of new millennium he has cut down on his works. Ilayaraja has won several awards like National Film Award for Best Music Direction, Gold Remi Award for Best Music Score, Kalaimamani Award from the Government of the State of Tamil Nadu, Government of Kerala, and Madhya Pradesh State Award among others.

New forms of music have arrived in music world in a big way. Musical forms like pop, rock, hip-hop, contemporary etc have become the preferred choice for many people especially youths. Even on a regional scale, music tastes have changed dramatically. Classical music is still there but the popularity has definitely diminished. Talking about tamil pop songs, it has yet to acquire the status of indipop. Even Hindi pop industry is much more popular than any regional pop industry. But slowly the winds of change can be seen across the landscape of Tamil Nadu. Youths in particular are going all guns for popular tamil pop songs.

Talking about Tamil pop songs, it is very much influenced from western genres like pop, rock, hip hop, reggae, beats, techno and metal etc. Very few Tamil composers or singers are retaining the traditional classical or folk songs. The main theme of these pop songs is dance beats that needs to be played in discos and clubs where younger ones love to dance. However one distinct change seen because of advent of pop songs is in quality of lyrics. It has definitely no more that melodious. There has been distinct improvement in quality of music because of technological advancements but lyrics have suffered a bit in return. Songs are forgotten easily and their longetivity is very much questionable. When one hears lyrics of older songs, they still remind us of golden era but new songs are lacking that touch.

Quite a good number of singers have made their mark in Tamil pop songs industry. Famous pop singers include, Ranjhani Iyer, L Shantha, Nallini Narayanan, Malgudi Subha, Swarnlatha, Ramesh Vinayagam, KArthik, Unni Menon etc. one can surf music websites for latest Tamil pop songs.