Rex Vijayan

In this Indian name, the name Vijayan is a patronymic, and the person should be referred to by the given name, Rex.

Rex Vijayan (born 26 April 1983) is an Indian composer, guitarist, singer, record producer and multi-instrumentalist from Kerala. He is best known for being co-founder and guitarist for the alternative Malayali rock band Avial. He started out his career as a composer in the Malayalam film industry through Kerala Cafe by giving the score to Anwar Rasheed's segment 'Bridge'.

Rex Vijayan
Rex live on stage
Background information
Born	(1983-04-26) 26 April 1983 (age 40) Kollam, Kerala, India
Genres	Alternative rock alternative metal
Occupation(s)	Guitarist record producer music composer singer
Instrument(s)	Guitar, keyboard, synthesizer, ukulele
Years active	1995–present
Member of	Avial
Formerly of	Motherjane

Early life

He is the son of Albert Vijayan, a music director in Malayalam films. He self-learnt to play various instruments at a very young age and began his musical career by mastering cover versions.^[1] He married Chintu Ramesh on 14 March 2008 at Kollam.^[2] His brother Jackson Vijayan is also a musician.

Motherjane

Vijayan was part of the popular Kochi based rock band Motherjane, as the rhythm guitarist from 2000 to 2003.^[3] Even though he left the band in 2003, He continued to associate with Motherjane as a consultant. He was the producer of the band's singles Jihad(2010), Clayplay(2015) and Namaste(2018).^[4][5][6]

Avial

He is the music composer, lead guitarist and synthesizer of the Trivandrum-based Malayalam alternative rock band "Avial" since 2003.^{[citation needed]}

Other collaborations

He was part of an amateur German hip-hop band "Intensive Erfrischung" (Intensive Refreshment), which was based in Munich. He is also actively involved with Daksha Seth's Dance Company, which is concerned with performing on stage contemporary dance. Gibson Guitar Corporation, USA offered him to be their endorsee for their latest high end series guitar "Gibson Les Paul Classic".^{[citation needed]}. He has also produced and composed music for some ad-films with Papaya Media, Kerala Tourism Dept. etc.

Film composing

Rex debuted into film music direction with Anwar Rasheed's 'Bridge', a segment of the portmanteau film Kerala Cafe. He then did the composing of Chaappa Kurishu directed by Sameer Thahir, 22 Female Kottayam, by Aashiq Abu, helped with the background score of films Second Show and Friday and did music for Shyamaprasad's movie English in which he collaborated with American clarinet player and music composer Shankar Tucker in the song Aakashame featuring Rohan Kymal on vocals. He then did the title track for Anil Radhakrishnan Menon's debut movie North 24 Kaatham starring Fahadh Faasil. Rex Vijayan become a playback singer with ‘Enthanu Bhai' in Aashiq Abu's film Da Thadiya. His work for Sameer Thahir's second movie Neelakasham Pachakadal Chuvanna Bhoomi (after his directorial debut 'Chaappa Kurishu') has set a path breaking trend in malayalam film music.^[7][8][9] Rex has also sung the title track 'Neelakasham' for the movie.^[10]

Sapthamashree Thaskaraha was Rex's next film, in which he composed songs such as Thaane Pookum and Nam Onnaayi.^[11] After that Rex went on to do the background score for Picket 43. He returned after a break with Parava in 2017. Later in the year he composed music for Aashiq Abu's Mayaanadhi. Rex's composition for the film was well appreciated. The song Mizhiyil Ninnum was a sensational hit^[12][13] and singer Shahabaz Aman won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Singer for the rendition.^[14][15] His latest releases as music composer are Sudani from Nigeria(2018), Thamaasha(2019) and Valiyaperunnal(2019), all were widely acclaimed.^[16][17][18] He also served as music producer for the 2020 movie Halal Love Story.^[19]

Discography

Original soundtracks

	Film	Tracklist	Notes
2009	Kerala Cafe		Background Score (Segment: Bridge)
2011	Chappa Kurishu	Orunaalum Kaanaathe Theeye Theeye	Also composed Background Score
2012	22 Female Kottayam	Melle Kollum	Co-composed background score with Bijibal
	Second Show		Background Score only
	Friday
2013	English	Maayumee Aakashame Nila Vaaname Shalabhamayi Thaarame	Also Composed Background Score
	Neelakasham Pachakadal Chuvanna Bhoomi	Doore Doore Thaazhvaram Neelakasham Neerppalunkukal Ami Hitmajare	Also composed Background Score
	North 24 Kaatham	Thaanaaro (Title Song)	Title Song only
2014	Sapthamashree Thaskaraha	Kayyethum Doorathu Naam Onnayi Sapthamashree Thaskara Thaane Pookkum
2015	Picket 43		Background score only
	Lord Livingstone 7000 Kandi	Aayiram Kaalamaayi Thaarangal Paadunne Kunnimani Dheera Charitha
2017	Parava	Pyaar Pyaar Ormakal Pakalin Vaathil	Co-composed Background Score with Yakzan Gary Pereira, Neha Nair and Sekhar Menon
	Mayaanadhi	Kiliye Uyirin Nadhiye Kaattil Mizhiyil Ninnum	1song (Kaattil) co-composed with Shahabaz Aman; Co-composed Background Score with Yakzan Gary Pereira and Neha Nair
2018	Sudani from Nigeria	Kurrah Kinavu Kondoru Cherukatha Pole	1 song (Kurrah) co-composed with Shahabaz Aman; Co-composed Background Score with Yakzan Gary Pereira, Neha Nair and Kishan Mohan
2019	Thamaasha	Paadi Njan Kaanumbol Ninne	1 song (Paadi Njan) co-composed with Shahabaz Aman; Also composed Background Score with Yakzan Gary Pereira and Neha Nair
	Valiyaperunnal	'Hey' Song Chemmanam Labbaikkallah Thazhvarangal Piraanth Kochi-Mattanchery Uyirullavaram Vandu Njan	Also composed Background Score
2020	Halal Love Story	Sundaranayavane Bismillah	Credited as Music Producer
2023	Neelavelicham

As playback singer^[20]

Year	Song	Movie	Co-singer(s)	Music Director/ Composer
2011	Oru Naalum Kaanathe	Chappa Kurishu	Rashmi Satheesh	Himself
2012	Enthanu Bhai	Da Thadiya	Bijibal, Jayaram Ranjith	Bijibal
2013	Neelakasham	Neelakasham Pachakadal Chuvanna Bhoomi		Himself
2015	Tharangal Padunne	Lord Livingstone 7000 Kandi
2017	Pyar Pyar	Parava
	Uyirin Nadhiye	Mayaanadhi	Neha Nair
2018	Cherukatha Pole	Sudani from Nigeria	Imam Majboor
2019	Thazhvarangal	Valiyaperunnal
2020	Jaalame	Trance	Lal Krishna, Divya S Menon, Namitha Raju, Gagul Joseph, Jackson Vijayan	Jackson Vijayan
2023	Manuja	Romancham		Sushin Shyam

Awards

Year	Award	Category	Film/Album/Song	Notes
2018	Filmfare Awards South^[21]	Best Music Director	Mayanadi
2018	Indywood Academy Awards^[22]	Best Music Director	Mayanadi
2018	Mazhavil Mango Music Awards^[23]	Best Music Director	Mayanadi
2018	Movie Street Film Awards^[24]	Best Music Director	Mayanadi
2018	CPC Cine Awards^[25]	Best Music Director	Mayanadi, Parava

References

1. "Oh brother!". The Hindu. 21 November 2012. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
2. "Two Becomes One". The New Indian Express. 13 January 2015. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
3. "The King of six strings". The Hindu. 25 October 2013. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
4. Anand, Shilpa Nair (9 January 2015). "Motherjane set to 'play' - Thiruvananthapuram - The Hindu". The Hindu.
5. "Listen to Motherjane's new single Namaste".
6. Kolkata, Retro (16 December 2018). "Interview with Motherjane | India | Guest Band | World Music". Retro Kolkata. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
7. C, Sharika (11 August 2013). "Neelakasham Pachakadal Chuvanna Bhoomi: A riveting ride - The Hindu". The Hindu.
8. "Neelakasham Pacha Kadal Chuvanna Bhoomi – Music Review (Malayalam Soundtrack)". 8 August 2013.
9. . Archived from the original on 14 June 2015.
10. "Neelakasham Pacha Kadal Chuvanna Bhoomi (Music review), Malayalam – Rex Vijayan by Milliblog!". 3 August 2013.
11. . The IndiaGlitz. 20 August 2014. Archived from the original on 28 July 2018. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
12. "'എനിക്കങ്ങനെ ഒരു പാട്ട് ഉണ്ടാക്കാനാകുമെന്ന് കരുതുന്നില്ല. ആഷിഖ് ഇക്കാര്യം പറഞ്ഞപ്പോള്‍ ഞെട്ടി'".
13. "'നിത്യകാമുകാ ആഷിക് അബൂ, ജന്മദിനാശംസകള്‍' -ഷഹബാസ് അമന്‍".
14. "Shahabaz Aman and I composed Mayaanadhi tunes like band members: Rex Vijayan - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
15. "Rex Vijayan's soulful and nostalgic music- Cinema express". Cinema Express.
16. "'Sudani from Nigeria' review: a magical delight laced with football". OnManorama. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
17. "Warmth and sensitivity in equal measure - The Hindu". The Hindu. 8 June 2019.
18. "Rex Vijayan crafts a colorfully experimental pop soundtrack in 'Valiya Perunnal' | by Dhinoj Dings | Film+Music | Medium". 29 December 2019.
19. "ഹലാല്‍ ലൗ സ്റ്റോറി മോഷന്‍ പോസ്റ്റര്‍ പുറത്തിറങ്ങി".
20. "List of Malayalam Songs sung by Rex Vijayan".
21. "Rex Vijayan feels honored to have won an award at the Jio Filmfare Awards - Times of India ►". The Times of India.
22. "Indywood Academy Awards".
23. "Home".
24. "Home".
25. "CPC Awards announced; Thondimuthalum Drik Sakshiyum Best Picture".

External links

• Rex Vijayan on IMDb