I am someone from the 80's generation and to be frank till 2007 I hardly knew anything about Raja's music..I was only exposed to Hindi Film songs and the New Tamil ones..After that slowly through Orkut,Mayyam,Blogs etc i started to know more and more about his music and i completely surrendered to him ..
He gave a total new redefinition to my musical taste and i came to realise how much i had missed in life..
He had such an impact over me that for a brief period that I couldnt listen to anything else but his music..(Most Hubbers wudnt have had that feeling since you guys were exposed to him from early on)
He gave me the realisation that whatever i was hearing for over a decade from 90's to mid 2000's were simply put ordinary compared to his works..
Now not a day passes by without hearing atleast one song of his..
This man simply astonishes me..Coming from such a poor background in Pannaipuram Village he has revolutionised CCM and WCM..
And the best part is he didnt know anything much about music till the age of 25 when he came to Chennai to learn Guitar under Mr Dhanraj..
His growth is simply phenomenal and definitely one of the greatest success stories of all time ..
The thing going against him was probably media wasnt so prevelant in the 80's and 90's as how it is today..
This guy used to give on an average 20-25 Films a year..almost 2 releases every week and most of the songs were outstanding..
Both quality and quantity he was simply unmatchable..
Compare it to nowadays MD'S like Harris,Yuvan etc who score just about 5-6 movies a year and still we do not get high quality songs like what we got from Maestro (not even a countrymile close)
His 1980&1981 work alone comprising of Johnny,Moodupani,Nenjathai Killathe,Nizhalgal,Ullasa Paravaigal,Alaigal Oyvathillai,Paneer Pushpangal,Raja Paarvai,Tik Tik Tik,Meendum Kokila,Balanagamma,Nandu,Guru etc(There is much more,am limiting myself) is better than the entire Tamil Film Music which came during the decade of 2001-2010..
[We are not even talking about the 70's,mid and late 80's,his BGM'S,his other language songs ,his albums etc etc:) ]..
Even nowadays though the quantity has dipped substantially, i find songs from Ponnar Shankar,ASK,Uliyin Osai,Nandhalala etc much bettter than what is being dished out by other MDs..
Its like a cardinal sin to compare him with mere mortals of today..
He may never get an Oscar or a Grammy or a Bharat Ratna but i think he should be placed among the pantheons of all time great musicians like St.Thyagaraja,Mozart etc ..
If Music is God , then God is Ilaiyaraja ..