Legendary Indian composer Ilaiyaraaja is attracting a growing audience among Generation Z, as streaming platforms and social media introduce his extensive musical catalogue to listeners born decades after many of his most celebrated compositions were released.

His melodies, film soundtracks and instrumental works are finding renewed appreciation in a digital landscape where music from different eras is available at the touch of a screen. For younger listeners, discovering a classic composition no longer requires access to an old cassette, a radio broadcast or a particular film. A short video, an online playlist or a streaming recommendation can be enough to spark an interest.

The trend is significant because it is not driven solely by nostalgia. Many young listeners have no personal memories of the original releases of Ilaiyaraaja’s songs. They are discovering his work for the first time, forming their own connections with music created long before they entered the world.

Streaming platforms open up a musical archive

The ways in which audiences discover music have changed considerably over the decades. Radio presenters, cassette shops and television programmes once played a central role in introducing listeners to new songs. Today, digital platforms and social media increasingly perform that function.

A few seconds of an older composition featured in a reel can encourage a listener to search for the complete recording. That initial discovery may lead to other songs, film soundtracks and instrumental albums, gradually introducing the listener to the breadth of Ilaiyaraaja’s work.

Compositions such as Ilaya Nila, Valaiyosai, Mandram Vandha Thendralukku, Poove Sempoove, Nilaave Vaa and Raja Raja Chozhan remain notable examples of the Tamil film music that younger audiences can explore through online libraries.

Streaming services also make it easier to discover music beyond linguistic and geographical boundaries. Listeners unfamiliar with Tamil cinema can still appreciate an expressive melody, an intricate instrumental arrangement or a background score accompanying a powerful visual scene.

Personalised recommendations can then introduce them to related recordings. What begins as a brief encounter with a familiar-sounding tune may develop into an interest in an entire musical catalogue.

Contemporary cinema revives older compositions

Film soundtracks have helped bring Ilaiyaraaja’s music to fresh audiences. The 2024 Malayalam survival drama Manjummel Boys featured his song Kanmani Anbodu, originally composed for the 1991 Tamil film Guna.

Its use during an emotionally significant moment in the newer film helped introduce the song to viewers who might not have encountered the original recording. The renewed attention illustrates how music can acquire a different resonance when it appears in a new cinematic setting.

Younger audiences may initially connect with a song through a contemporary film before exploring its original context. They can then discover the earlier film, listen to the complete soundtrack or investigate other compositions from the same period.

Filmmaker Karthik Subbaraj’s Dorothy, featuring three compositions by Ilaiyaraaja, has also been cited as contributing to wider interest in his music in 2026.

Such examples demonstrate the continuing relationship between cinema and musical rediscovery. A song created decades ago can find a new audience when filmmakers introduce it to viewers who have little familiarity with the period in which it was composed.

The increased circulation of older recordings has also brought questions of copyright and ownership into focus. Ilaiyaraaja has asserted his rights over his compositions and issued legal notices concerning alleged unauthorised use. These disputes highlight the importance of permissions and ownership arrangements as music moves across films, streaming services and social media platforms.

The musical qualities that keep listeners engaged

Ilaiyaraaja’s appeal extends beyond melodies that are easy to remember. His arrangements often combine bass lines, guitars, strings and flute passages, creating layers of sound that reward repeated listening.

For younger audiences accustomed to headphones and digital recordings, these details can become an important part of the experience. A listener might initially be drawn to a song’s central melody, then begin to notice the interplay between instruments, the movement of the arrangement and the way individual passages shape its mood.

His background scores are particularly important to his musical identity. Rather than simply accompanying dialogue, they can convey loneliness, anticipation, grief, affection and hope. A carefully placed musical phrase can intensify a scene, while a pause or the absence of music can allow an emotion to develop without distraction.

Film director John Mahendran has highlighted Ilaiyaraaja’s ability to understand a cinematic situation quickly and recognise how music can deepen its emotional meaning. His background scores, Mahendran has observed, can reveal an additional dimension within a filmmaker’s images rather than merely accompanying them.

Music curator and television personality Subhasree Thanikachalam has also pointed to the strength of his memorable musical hooks. Such passages work naturally in short-form videos, where a few seconds of music must capture attention. Their appeal can encourage listeners to move beyond the clip and experience the complete composition.

This combination of immediate accessibility and musical depth helps explain why his work can appeal to casual listeners as well as those interested in the details of composition.

Instrumental works cross linguistic boundaries

Ilaiyaraaja’s instrumental albums, including How to Name It? and Nothing But Wind, offer another route into his musical world.

Unlike songs whose lyrics are closely tied to a particular language or film narrative, instrumental compositions can be appreciated through their melodies, rhythms and arrangements alone. Listeners do not necessarily need to understand Tamil, recognise the original film or know the circumstances behind a recording to enjoy the music.

This is particularly relevant in the streaming era, when people increasingly listen to individual compositions independently of the films for which they were written. A listener may discover a short instrumental passage through an online recommendation and subsequently explore the entire album or the composer’s wider catalogue.

His career has also involved exploring musical traditions beyond his established work in Indian cinema. In 2025, his Western classical symphony Valiant premiered in London with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The performance demonstrated his continuing engagement with different musical forms after decades of achievement as a composer.

A legacy shaped by changing listening habits

Ilaiyaraaja’s relationship with successive generations has evolved alongside the technology used to distribute music.

During the 1980s, audiences encountered his compositions through cinema and radio. The cassette era carried his melodies into homes, buses and neighbourhood gathering places. Later, CDs, television broadcasts and digital archives introduced his work to new generations.

For Gen Z, playlists, headphones, short videos and streaming recommendations have become important gateways to his music.

This shift has changed not only how people discover older songs but also how they experience them. A composition once associated with a particular film or a shared cultural memory can now be heard independently, allowing younger listeners to develop their own interpretations without knowing its original context.

Digital platforms have made these encounters easier, but the continued appeal of Ilaiyaraaja’s music rests on more than accessibility. The emotional depth of his compositions, the distinctive arrangements and the strength of his melodies give listeners reasons to return.

For the veteran composer, the emergence of a younger audience represents another chapter in a career that has influenced generations of music lovers. His work is no longer being discovered solely through memories of earlier decades; it is reaching people who can experience it on their own terms.

As streaming services and social media continue to reshape music consumption, Ilaiyaraaja’s enduring appeal demonstrates how compositions can cross generational boundaries. The technology used to discover a song may change, but music with lasting emotional resonance can continue to find new listeners long after its original release.