Life is not what you expect: it is made up of the most unexpected twists and turns.Collection: Life
Government should take necessary steps to add music into school syllabus and impart knowledge to the students.Collection: Knowledge
Taking legal action against pirates is a headache for artists like me.Collection: Legal
Everyone's music is made of their own life experiences.Collection: Music
Music is as vast as the sky, the oceans, the universe.
Music happens. It cannot be made.
There is no guru like our own mistakes.
Music is the only medium by which everyone is connected in the world.
When you see the ocean and the infinite, it empties your mind.
In whosever presence you find peace of mind, devoid of fear, only that person can be your guru.
Composing is an emotional thing.
To me, music is more like a spiritual seeking that takes one to unknown levels.
A mother cooking exclusively for her child might be preparing just rice and buttermilk, but it will be immensely tasty. Fast food, on the other hand, may be very tasty, but it has not been prepared exclusively for you, you see.
Many great composers have died in poverty. I have not faced hardships, like having to struggle for food, thanks to reasonable producers.
My music is for the world. Let them enjoy it.
Do you know it took me 27 years to understand the C major chord on the piano?
You may go to the temple for mental peace. But you may be distracted there and forget the purpose of your visit. But this does not happen when you hear good music.
Traditional musical forms like 'Parai Isai' and 'Villupattu' are unique, and they need to be protected and nurtured.
Music reigns supreme. It does not need a visual prop. While listening to a number, do you enjoy the tune, or do you enjoy it because you imagine someone singing it? In fact, quite a few hits of mine are from films that no one has heard about. The songs still rule, though.
Music is nothing but sound, and there is no place for value judgement among various sounds.
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.
One could work on a lot of albums such as 'Thiruvasagam in Symphony,' but with issues such as illegal downloading from the Internet and piracy, it is difficult.
I consider all women as mother. I compose poems for any female considering her as mother.
A director should concentrate on his storyline and his characters.
My practice is to take a sheet, write the song number in the left side, name of the production, and time of recording. Only when I have to fill the name of the singer do we look out to see who is free. When the singers we want aren't there, I end up singing it! That's how I became a singer.
Isn't composing music akin to film direction?
I always felt music to be universal and undifferentiated - Western classical, folk, Carnatic or Hindustani and so on.
For me, my music is part of me, and which is why it seems second nature, and my compositions are instinctive.
The challenge for a good musician is to bring out compositions that seem fresh to the listener, even if the listener has heard the song or the composition before.
For musical compositions to reach a high level and to derive from spontaneity, of course, one has to do the necessary steps to learn the rules and regulations of composing high quality music.
Good music is made with the help of many musicians who express their joy in the swaras.
Western, jazz, folk, or tribal music, whatever the form, they all have the same sapta swaras as the basis.
Music and religion keep me young.
My music is religion, and my religion is music. They are one.
My commercial viability, coupled with my reputation, gives me enough freedom to assert my right as a composer.
Genuine music, to me, is the one which has no purpose. It should be as natural and as purposeless as the flow of the river.
Music is not a subject to be discussed. It has to be experienced.
No saint in the world lived like the great saint Ramana Maharishi. They say Jesus Christ was resurrected and rose again from the dead. But there's no proof of it. Ramana Maharishi is the only Mahan who has resurrected in life, and that, too, at the age of 16.
Only I hold the right to all my songs.
The performance of a music director should be judged in a holistic manner, which includes songs as well as background score.
Till 2010, there was one national award for Best Music Direction. I have received it thrice - for 'Sagara Sangamam,' 'Sindhu Bhairavi,' and 'Rudraveena.'
Can someone do music for 24 hours at a stretch and never get tired? It's me. Because I don't 'work'. I enjoy what am doing. It's not like a regular job.
People forget themselves in my music. It's amazing.
I had difficulty in grasping how music was made for films. It was a huge learning curve and the toughest phase of my life.
Art is a unifying language for all of us from across the world, and it transcends boundaries.
I truly believe that music or art, in general, is the only thing that can unify a world that is plagued by war and violence, and I believe that it should be taken to more people.
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.
Music has the power to divert the violent minds.
Anyone who holds a pen these days thinks he or she is a poet.
I come from a small village and have had no formal training in music or any classes from the masters of Indian classical music.