ILAYARAJA ON HIS OWN BGM...

FRONTLINE : The term 'rerecording ' has become popular even among the village folks, thanks to you. (
Film background music is referred to as rerecording in industry circles). What special care do you take to
make your background score so different?
Ilaiyaraaja : All the musicians who visit my recording theatre appreciate the speed in which I am able to work
and the quality I am able to produce. But I don't find any reason to it. The ideas come au tomatically to me
according to the mood of the film. If i don't get any idea, then the film is like that. I have a screening of the
film the day previous to the recording. The next day, when I am sitting with 60 musicians in the theatre, the
reel is screened again. As I view the film, I start eliminating the ideas which others in the profession would
adopt for the particular situation. I don't even use the instruments which others will use for a particular
sequence. Therefore, I have to think fresh. A man settled in life with a secure job approaches life in a casual
manner. But a man for whom most of the chances are closed ap proaches life with all-out courage and from
a new view point, which enables him to achieve a lot more than the former. I am like the latter. That is the
reason for the freshness and novelty in my background score.

(This article is extracted from an interview taken by frontline magazine). The link can be found below:
http://www.raaja.com/Rv-MMII.pdf