Chennai, Mar 10 : One of India's greatest music composers Ilaiyaraaja, who has just done the country proud by becoming the first Indian to present a western classical symphony, has said that he considers himself an ordinary human being and that every time he hears a fan calling him the God of music, he thinks, 'You have reduced God to Ilaiyaraaja's level'.

Addressing the media on his return from London, where he made history by presenting his first western classical symphony titled 'Valiant', Ilaiyaraaja expressed happiness at the warm welcome accorded by the state government and the people.

He spoke about the concert and the response to it. In the course of explaining about the love fans have for him, he said, ''People call me the God of music, but I work like an ordinary human being. I don't have any thoughts of myself. When people call me God of music, I think, "You have reduced the status of God to Ilaiyaraaja's level." Thank you all for your warm welcome. Happy to see all your smiling faces.'

Talking about the symphony and its presentation, Ilaiyaraaja was all praise for the conductor, Mikel Toms, who, he said, ensured accuracy.

Ilaiyaraaja said, 'This is not an ordinary thing. You can write down music and they too can play it. But what if everybody played it in a different fashion? Conductor Mikel Toms ensured every note was played correctly. I only had time to join their rehearsals.'

Ilaiyaraaja also spoke about how audiences and fans applauded after each movement.

'The symphony has four movements. In western music, people will not clap until all four movements are finished. But our fans clapped after every movement. The musicians and the conductor were surprised. The conductor looked at me and smiled. I smiled and replied, 'This is how it will be'.

'Like this, for every movement, people clapped and expressed their appreciation. They were unable to contain their happiness on listening to the music. Our people like to express their appreciation then and there,' an elated Ilaiyaraaja said.

'This is a symphony that has been appreciated by all musical experts. It is because of all your heartfelt wishes and happiness that has turned this event into a major one, bringing pride to both Tamil Nadu and India,' he said.

/IANS