Master Dhanraj

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Master Dhanraj
Origin Mylapore, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Occupation(s)Music teacher, musician, instrumentalist

Master Dhanraj (also credited as Dhanraj Master) is an Indian musician, multi-instrumentalist from Tamil Nadu.

Contents

Biography and career

Master Dhanraj is a famous and renowned music teacher in Madras (now Chennai). He has made musical research on the epic Silappatikaram. Orchestration for the grand Tamil movie Chandralekha was done by Dhanraj. [1]

He is well known as the guru of greats such as Maestro Ilaiyaraaja, [2] Mozart of Madras A. R. Rahman, [2] [3] and Thenisai Thendral Deva, [4] The Melody King Vidyasagar, [5] and Malayalam music director Shyam were also students of Master. Veteran Chennai-based music teacher Mr. A. Abdul Sattar, who was the guru of music directors Harris Jayaraj, D. Imman, S. Thaman, and S. J. Suriya, and who won the Best Teacher Award from Trinity College, London for 25 consecutive years, was also a student of Dhanraj.

Ilaiyaraaja (previously known as Raasayya) joined Dhanraj Master as a student to learn musical instruments. [6] At some point, Dhanraj Master restyled his name to Raaja. [1]

He is famous for teaching Western classical music. [7]

Books

Bramma Mela Pramanam

Isai Vithi

180 Degree

Acclaim

Dhanraj master was considered to be the bedrock of western music in Chennai. He was one of the trios who laid the foundation for Chennai becoming a hub of Western classical music. [2]

Renowned students of Dhanraj includes,

Name
Ilaiyaraaja
Sankar Ganesh
A. R. Rahman
Vidyasagar
Shyam
Deva
Abdul Sattar

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References

  1. 1 2 Kolappan, B. (2 February 2019). "Maestro remembers Dhanraj Master". The Hindu. ISSN   0971-751X . Retrieved 31 March 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 Kolappan, B. (30 August 2015). "Trinity of western classical music". The Hindu. ISSN   0971-751X . Retrieved 17 November 2016.
  3. Mathai, Kamini (1 January 2009). A. R. Rahman: The Musical Storm. Penguin Books India. ISBN   9780670083718.
  4. Yamunan, Sruthisagar (24 June 2018). "How Tamil composer Deva rolled out the hits: 'A film song should immediately register with people'". Scroll.in. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  5. "Tamil Cinema News | Tamil Movie Reviews | Tamil Movie Trailers - IndiaGlitz Tamil". Archived from the original on 20 June 2010.
  6. Slobin, Mark (29 September 2008). Global Soundtracks: Worlds of Film Music. Wesleyan University Press. ISBN   9780819568823.
  7. "The Hindu : Friday Review Chennai / Interview : Humorist springs a surprise". www.hindu.com. Archived from the original on 15 August 2008. Retrieved 17 January 2022.