Vijaynarain’s back! And how! After spending years in contemplation of a return to Chennai, the singer had but a singular aspiration in mind — perform before a live audience in the city. With more than enough original compositions in his kitty, his performance next week called Vijaynarain Live promises to be a significant one. After having some ecstatic releases like Rayil Pogum Idam and the most recent one being, Kamakshi, the musician is all set to rock the stage. We rope him in ahead of this performance curated by Quriosity and learn about his journey, what this show means to him, the lineup he has planned for the audiences, and more.
This is your first major performance in years, where you will perform your original music. Tell us about the journey.
I’m doing a full-fledged show by myself for the first time with a band and supporting singers. It’s been a fantastic journey. It started 10-12 years ago when I was in Chennai doing a lot of live shows. But once I moved abroad, even though I was composing my songs and doing film recordings, the opportunities to perfor m live were quite limited. That is one of the reasons I moved back to Chennai because my heart truly lies in performing live — doesn’t matter if it’s for an audience of five people or 5,000 people. The feeling of being able to connect with a live audience is something unparalleled and for an artiste, it’s like the pinnacle of artistic satisfaction.
What is the song lineup for the performance?
I will be performing some of my popular film songs. You can expect an Ei Suzhali or a Maya Visai or a Kaarkuzhal Kadavaiye or a Poi Vazhva. I will also be performing my originals that released last year like Kaikku Ettinadhu, Rayil Pogum Idam, Yedho Maayam and many more but I’m also excited to be performing some of my unreleased independent compositions, which are mostly in Tamil. I might do one Hindi original as well. However, the majority will be Tamil independent songs, written by Super Subbu and me. I’ve got an interesting song called Korange. It’s a great way to test these songs out, and I also want to see who my core audience are. I have an amazing lineup of musicians performing with me as well.
What do you think about the changing music trends in the country?
I think audiences have always been ready for all sorts of music and not just film music. It is the mainstream media that’s had this tunnel vision of only promoting popular faces and popular films. They (mainstream TV and radio) have a collective responsibility to the artistic community to promote not just film music but all kinds of music. Hence, social media is a great tool for music promotion, which is one of the reasons why non-film artistes are being discovered right now.
Tickets at Rs 499. April 6, 7:30 pm onwards. At Barracuda Brew, Nungambakkam
