At Kabar Vasuki’s concert in Chennai, which was the first stop of his first tour named Oorvalam, everyone is a friend of the artist. At least that’s how it feels. What else can explain the elaborate conversations and silly little jokes between the artist and his audience of 300 when the guitarist changes patches on the sidelines?

The audience and artistes seem to be fine braving the heat as they wait for the sea breeze to arrive at Taramani’s Bharat Kalanjali Natya School on May 4 at 7 pm. Despite the scorching heat, nothing can stop the crowd from watching the ‘sing-along’ concert. Suthanthiram Oru Dabba’ (Where freedom is a box) Sometimes with eyes closed, sometimes towards Kabar.

Everyone is impatient to get their fan favorite movies like ‘Raasathi’ and ‘Rockstar’. They give a signal to Kabar and start singing these songs of their own free will. Kabar intervened and asked, “Na Padlama? (Can I sing?) Everyone joins in on the joke so the audience laughs and allows him to continue. This is no longer Kabar’s concert. It’s theirs.

Kabar’s passionate audience comes often to all his programs and has a tendency to share. There are very few who listen for the first time. After concerts and meet-and-greets, one can see people waiting for the artist to tell stories of how he or she has impacted their lives. “Last year during a meet and greet in Chennai, a young woman came up to me, hugged me, cried and walked away saying she would talk to me next time. She was going through something. That one incident stayed with me for a long time but other such incidents of varying intensity keep happening. I didn’t know what to do. “I am also sensitive,” the artist says after the concert.

Kabar Vasuki

Kabar says that people often discover his music when things are not working for them. “They tell me music helps. If we were to be classified as an artist in the Jungian sense, I would be placed under ‘healers’, but I did not intend for it to be that way.

While the artist’s powerful lyrics and vivid imagery provide solace for most people, Kabar’s tracks are also full of mischief, often causing ridicule. He says that before releasing his independent songs, he often asks himself, “Is this who I am?” Is this what I feel?”

Is this authenticity what makes him the most celebrated rockstar in the Tamil indie music scene?

However, sarcastic lines sung in any context are not written just like that. Kabar says his songs often simmer and marinate for a while. He writes down lines in his notes app or book to keep track and pulls it together when he sees something that vaguely resembles a song. He says, ‘Suthanthiram Oru Dabba’ was written in two years, with some excerpts from Pallavi And Charanam Struggle for a place in the scheme of rhythm and meter.

Lyricists like Kannadasan, Pattukkottai Kalyanasundaram and Vaali have influenced him. “My father and uncle are very [former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister] MGR fan. The songs of that era are accessible. The words are not from Sangam literature, but the ideas behind the songs tend to punch you in the face,” he says. He says that early musical influences, including rock bands and rappers like Green Day and Kanye, did not try to be exceptionally literary. “They wrote in the language they spoke and it worked,” he says.

In his 10th year of being a musician with records and albums, Kabar now knows there are enough songs to tour that people are familiar with. “I’m doing it now because I can,” he says. The singer is set to perform in Coimbatore on May 11 and Bengaluru on May 18 and a concert at a big performance venue in Chennai next year. Will complete the full cycle of the tour with.

At the first pitstop of Orvalam in Chennai

Even after this he is continuously working on films. captain miller And ale, he is ready with four new independent songs that will be released by KYNrecords. He says many surprising collaborations can be expected.

How has the commute been between Chennai and Canada in the last five years? “Going there forced me to do other things. I produced, arranged and directed about eight songs there. It didn’t reach the audience and I wondered if it was all over, if I was forgotten. But I experimented and thought about writing in a different way,” he says.

However, getting back on tour this year may have boosted the artist’s sense of self. This answers the looming question of who Kabar Vasuki is in the Tamil indie rock scene. Here, “Uru pura parakudhu annan kar-yu. Annan Dhan Da Rock Star-U,

On 11 May at Kasthuri Srinivasan Auditorium, Coimbatore and on 18 May at Medai – The Stage, Bengaluru. Tickets can be purchased at www.bookmyshow.com