January 19, 2011 (Sampurn Wire): The Tamil Nadu government has issued a press note on Monday informing that it is going to honour the music maestro Illayaraaja with the prestigious M.S. Subbulakshmi award. The award is conferred in memory of the noted Carnatic musician M.S. Subbulakshmi.

The award offers a memento and a cash prize of Rs. 1 lakh. The announcement came on a day when Mozart of Madras A.R Rahman missed his second Golden Globe award. So, it has come as a compensation for the music fans of the city.

The statement added that the government will also confer the Bharathiyar award to renowned writer Jayakanthan and the Balasaraswati award to danseuse Bharathanatyam guru Padma Subramaniam.

In May 2009 budget session, the Karunanidhi government announced to honour the eminent personalities from the field of music, dance and drama. These personalities will be chosen based on their contribution at the national level.

The state government has definitely taken a novel step by making this announcement as Illayaraaja is considered to be one of the greatest music composers in India. He is also a songwriter, conductor and an instrumentalist. In his career spanning more than 3 decades, Illayaraaja has composed more than 4500 songs and given music to over 950 Indian movies in different languages. The legendary musician has also received National Film Award for his music direction in the 1986 Tamil film Sindhu Bhairavi.

--Sampurn Wire