Music is a paradox. It is abstract, yet precise. It can unite, yet divide. It can ground you or make you fly. Music is a contradiction that, somehow, touches your conscience. Ahead of World Music Day (June 21) that celebrates this all-encompassing element, we look through the debut songs of eight music composers who have defined Tamil film music. While all of them have introduced new genres, instruments, and technology, one thing that connects these composers and listeners, across time, is the music that emerges from love that is found through nature.
The playful punch of a scholar’s love
As the story goes, when writer Panchu Arunachalam wanted a new music composer for his next film, a young singer, who rendered a happy and upbeat song about a woman yearning for her husband with only a harmonium, came to mind. That young man, Ilaiyaraaja, went on to infuse peppy beats with the use of Tamil and western instruments to establish kuthu as one of Tamil cinema’s defining styles. With ‘Machana Patheengala’ from Annakili (1975), the age of blending the folk and modern, to creating music for the everyday man and woman blossomed from a lush mala vaazhai thoppu (banana plantation).
The happy stories of the every man’s yearning
When Tamil workers went to erstwhile Bombay to work, their Marathi or Hindi-speaking compatriots would ask them about their lives and their homes. The workers would sing in a tune, which revolved around a descriptive and spoken-word style. This gave birth to gaana. If Ilaiyaraaja’s first step was from a thoppu (plantation), then the man who gave gaana to Tamil cinema, Deva’s, was from a kaadu (forest). In ‘Oor Oorakkattukkulle’ from Maattukara Mannaru (1988), rendered by the legendary TM Soundararajan, the folk beats complement the lyrics and give space for the listener to understand the emotions of the lyrics.
The interstellar journey of an orchestra’s romance
After enjoying the lush nature of the forests and fields, AR Rahman created a song that made listeners revel in the shared experience for dreaming big in ‘Chinna Chinna Aasai’ from Roja (1992). Through an orchestral score, Rahman reserves his percussion section to give more time for keys, strings and wind instruments. But Rahman doesn’t stop there. He wants the listener to immerse themselves in music even more. He begins with a synthesiser and rouses the audience with a flute. Every instrument is used to immerse the listener, who is transported to a field, or listening to a brook, and even walk among the stars.
The electrifying spark of a youth’s attraction
In Aravindan (1997), a 17-year-old Yuvan Shankar Raja opens ‘All The Best’ from the soundtrack with an electronic touch to his percussive hook. The song, which is sung by Yuvan’s sister the late Bhavatharini, and Hariharan, moves away from Indian instruments altogether. The electronic hook is retained throughout the song, with only one or two layers being added at different points throughout. In 1997, as Tamil cinema started shifting focus towards the youth, the 20-something-year-olds could head-bang to the groovy beats, while also retaining the sweetness that came with kaadhal (love) still being described as poo (like a flower).
The fiery nature of a flowing flirtation
In another universe Harris Jayaraj would have worked as a film editor. In ‘Azhagiya Theeye’ from Minnale (2001), the composer imbibes elements of tango along with all the other western styles which became the norm in Tamil music. In any part of the song, there are at least two significant layers. But as the song moves from one section to another, one layer is sacrificed for a new one, which is a completely different style. Then the old one is sacrificed for another. As the lyrics describes the man’s love for the woman as something that lights him like fire, smothers him with the sweetness of a flower, and lifts him to the clouds, Harris eases the listener to lose themself to the music, which moves from one style to another seamlessly, like the man loses himself in his love for the woman.
The fast-paced excitement of the upfront allure
From the slow and stolen moments that defined decades of romance in Tamil cinema, the fast-paced nature of a lover’s heart is described with the beats of ‘Idhazhin Oram’ from 3 (2011). Moving away from Tamil cinema’s shy nature of expressing feelings, Anirudh composed a soundtrack which brought forth the upfront and energetic nature that would go on to define the sounds after 2011. There are no flutes that will give you time to immerse yourself in the environment, there are no strings or synthesisers which would help you define the nature of love, as is described as a kurinji poo in ‘Idhazhin Oram’. Instead, the pop style of Anirudh’s songs inspired a generation of energetic sounds, which freed the trapped voices of young people who were ready to come of age.
The mellow dalliance between the old and new
In fates coming together, Santhosh Narayanan assembled the married singer duo Pradeep Kumar and Kalyani Nair for ‘Aasai Oru Pulveil’ from Attakathi (2012). But even for a melodic song, which describes the kaadhal aasai (attraction in love) as a grassland, in which the aan and pen (man and woman) are panithuli (dew), Santhosh uses only a guitar and a flute as the base, and fills the rest of the songs with non-verbal jazz style vocals from the singers. Santhosh uses jazz as his pole star while combining classic Tamil kuthu and gaana styles, with pop or blues.
The unapologetic exploration of woos and woes
In 2025, Sai Abhyankkar’s Tamil debut with ‘Oorum Blood’ from Dude, made the town roar. Here, he doesn’t shy away from adding more and more layers to elevate the hype. Starting the song with horns, backed by vocal loops, synthesisers, and a bass guitar, Abhyankkar established that he does not want to shy away from creating what convention would term, “weird”. But even if he can be termed as the next big thing, he still makes way to retain Tamil music’s roots by imbibing sounds of waves crashing to describe the feeling of love washing over. While listeners may have polarising opinions about his style, one can’t deny that it took only five notes to define an entire film, and to imprint his style in the minds of listeners.