Raj of Raj-Koti Passes Away

Veteran music composer Raj of Raj-Koti duo has passed away. He died a while ago. Raj’s original name was Thotakura Somaraju. Raj-Koti was among the many prominent South Indian composers for whom AR Rahman has worked as a keyboard programmer for 8 years. AR Rahman called Raj and Koti as his brothers. The untimely passing away of Raj has left the music fraternity in a deep shock.

Raj was known for conducting the music and giving notes to the orchestra. This was revealed by Koti. However, Koti gave equal credit to Raj in the composition of all his songs. He stated that they have equal share in the credit for every song of theirs.

In a notable career spanning a decade, Raj and Koti composed music for about 180 films. Out of their 3000 songs, about 2,500 songs were sung by popular singers SP Balasubrahmanyam and KS Chithra. Raj and Koti bagged Nandi Award for Best Music Director in 1994 for Nagarjuna’s Hello Brother.

In a television interview wayback, the duo announced that they were teaming up again and reinstate the Raj–Koti brand. However, the duo’s plans didn’t take off and didn’t succeed for unknown reasons. After separation, Koti went onto compose background music for over 300 films.

Tollywood is mourning the demise of Raj. More details are awaited. Several music composers, singers, film directors and actors have expressed grief over Raj’s passing away.