Singer Vijaynarain’s homecoming grows into a heartfelt musical tribute to his roots in 'Oora Paaka Poren'

For me, ‘home’ has always been a layered idea. On a practical level, it’s Chennai, where I’ve spent most of my recent life. But emotionally, it also stretches to my native village, V Agaram near Viluppuram, where my grandparents lived and where we still gather for festivals like Pongal. Those visits kept me rooted, even when the house itself became run down over time. The song came out of a sense of homesickness I felt while living in Australia. No matter how long you spend abroad, there’s something about your people, your culture, that defines home. When I visited India on vacation, this longing to return to a simpler life took shape as music.

It felt natural, almost inevitable, that the video should be shot in my native village, near my grandfather’s house. We were there for a temple function and with my director Vishwanath and his crew in Chennai at the time. It felt like the right moment to capture it. Everything came together in just a couple of days’ notice. Because we didn’t over-plan, the video turned out intimate and honest. My parents, childhood friends and people from the village all feature in it, along with a group of school kids we happened to meet on their way home.

I’d call it ‘stripped back’ rather than simple. Most of the percussive textures were created organically, like tapping on cardboard, using the body of a guitar as a drum or layering found sounds at my desk in Sydney. That gave it a very earthy quality. Sonically, it leans towards acoustic folk with vocals up front and a landscape that feels open, like travel.

Oora Paaka Poren is just the beginning. I plan to extend it into an EP that also includes the already released Rayil Pogum Idam and other new songs reflecting my journey, so far. Some tracks lean towards blues, others touch bossa nova — all connected by this idea of movement and belonging.