Meet Vijaynarain Rangarajan, an Indian-Australian singer-songwriter and composer who’s known for songs like Ei Suzhali, Aiyo Kadhale, Kaarkuzhal Kadavaiye, and the Bhairava Anthem. His music is rooted in Indian melody with elements from various other genres like country, blues, RnB, and acoustic-rock. This World Music Day, we chronicle his journey with music and share some stories behind his songs.Vijaynarain’s journey with music began when he was in second grade. While in Delhi, he was enrolled in Carnatic vocal classes and learnt under the guidance of the late Sri O.V. Subramaniam for about two years and then took a break in between. “My dad had a transferable job,” he stated, “So, there was a break for two years or so when we shifted to Salem, and then I started again in eighth grade.” He was in Mumbai at that time, and there, he continued training at the Sri Shanmukhananda Fine Arts and Sangeetha Sabha.After moving to Chennai in his 11th grade, he returned to his first guru for about six months. He later decided to focus on his academics.
Vijaynarain on ‘Oora Paaka Poren’, a collaboration with Super Subu, a lyricist duo.
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Vijaynarain heard how a phone call from A.R. Rahman could change people’s lives. “So, that piqued my curiosity and I started listening to more of him, which really inspired me.”He did his engineering in Chennai and got exposed to a lot of other genres, including rock music. And so he began a band with some college mates in 2006 or 2007. “Apparently, we were the first Tamil rock band in Chennai at the time. I don’t know how sure I am of that, but we enrolled in this televised band hunt.”The television show was called Ooh.. La La La… It was telecast on ‘Sun TV’, and was judged by playback singer Vasundhara Das, percussionist Sivamani, and bass guitarist Paul Jacob. The finale of the show was judged by A.R. Rahman. “A lot of established musicians today like Anirudh Ravichander and Kalyani Nair were part of that show,” he said. “We continue to have a great relationship with all these musicians.”Routine and riyaazYou may think a musician’s life is filled with discipline, strict schedules, and a lot of practice time. But Vijaynarain Rangarajan doesn’t claim his life to be like that. “To be honest, there is no structure in a musician’s life. That is the truth,” he stated. “The discipline part is just things like regular practice or prep for a show. But there are stretches where nothing happens, and then there are days which are just packed with work.” We should note here that he also balances a day job as a tech consultant (work-from-home) although his main focus is music.“I have a pretty boring routine, to be honest,” he jokes. “But then I love the fact that I get to, like, you know, do these musical escapades now and then go for a recording and all of that.”Tales behind the songsVijaynarain was also kind enough to share some tales behind some of his most famous songs. He shared the backstory on his song ‘Ei Suzhali’ from the 2016 Tamil film Kodi (or maybe it was ‘Poyi Vazhva’ from the 2016 film Manithan). “I can’t remember which song it was, but I used to live in a tiny studio apartment in Sydney, Australia,” he recalls. “I had to do a remote recording of the song. I was recording well beyond nine p.m., and the next morning, I found a letter slipped under my front door from a neighbour who was disgruntled with the fact that I was singing. It was about how council laws are against noise after 10 p.m. and that my singing was a nuisance.” Irrespective of the tone and content of the letter, he still keeps it as a reminder of a fond memory. “Back then, I was quite naive. I thought as and when I recorded the song, I would slip a CD of it under their door. I never got to know who that said neighbour was though.”
