User:Jenifer.openminds/sandbox


 * Simon, Tamil Music Director **

Introduction: Simon is an Indian film music composer from Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He was born on February 2, 1984. He predominantly composes for Tamil films. His most noted composition is the song "Elavu" from the movie "Ainthu Ainthu Ainthu".

Early Life: Simon was born in Chennai. He did his schooling at Don Bosco, Peravallur and St. Johns, Villivakkam. At age of 16, Simon started learning music from Mr.Jayakar. He considers him as his master and counselor. Simon is also a graduate in electrical and electronics engineering.

Music Career: when Simon started his engineering course, he simultaneously started his career as a keyboard programmer. He then continued to work on developing his interests in composing and arranging music. It was during this time that he took up his first recording for singer and composer Jollee Abraham in his studio. He didn't realise the seriousness that is involved in making music till this time. It all started as a fun thing to do but eventually he got addicted to what he was doing and began to work seriously.

Soon he started working on a lot of projects with his friend Ravi Shankar who is a studio engineer and also with bass guitarist Keith Peters. From there he expanded his horizon to the world of jingles where he worked on the entire sound design for Hello FM. He also worked on more than 300 jingles for various brands. Simultaneously he worked as a freelance keyboard programmer for many music directors in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Malayalam film industries.

Music has become a part of his life now and he says "music has become a part of my life and now i can't even think of doing anything else other than music".

Film Career: Simon made his debut in the Bharat starrer, “Ainthu Ainthu Ainthu” directed by Sasi of “Rojakootam” and “Poo” fame. The song “Elavu”, that Simon had composed for the same film was critically acclaimed and went viral on social media the film and the songs did well at the box office.

The track was a highly publicised first single and runs on a hip-hop groove with music director Simon himself chipping in with the vocals. The track is interestingly pieced together with a familiar but effective chorus hook and plenty of spoken word features.

Considering that he has not taken any formal training in music and comes from a non-filmy background, he confesses that he learned a lot regarding music direction from director Sasi, in whom he sees a philosopher and guide. “He taught me to think universally, and create music keeping in mind the audience, and the expectations of the director. Muthukumar and Sasi never made me feel like a newcomer, and gave me all the freedom to create my music.”

Simon is a huge fan of Stevie Wonder and his major influences are Steely Dan, Yellow Jackets , Blood Sweat and Tears, David Foster, Dave Brubeck and McCoy Tyner. He is also a great admirer of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Pandit Ravishankar  ,A.R.Rahman and Yuvan Shankar Raja.