My time at Berklee formed my artistic foundation, says Sid Sriram

Express News Service

At 10 am on May 9, a social media post announced a live concert scheduled for August––Heart & Soul 2.0 with Sid Sriram, Live in Kuala Lumpur 2022. By 12.28 pm, all 8,000 tickets were sold out. That, for you, is the magic of Carnatic musician and south India’s popular playback singer Sid Sriram. The numbers––ticket sales and playlist rankings––speak for his singing prowess. 

Closer home, in Hyderabad too, the singer is sending his fans on a click frenzy over his live concert on June 18. “What happened in KL was crazy. We had to add a second show after the first one sold out. That too sold out in 15 minutes. People resonate with the honesty in my music. When I sing, I tap into emotions that exist deep within myself and I express them through music. We as humans want to feel and express and share through emotions.  This is a need that exists at our core,” he says.

Decoding why Sid is a musical phenomenon is not rocket science. He burst onto the south playback scene with ‘Adiye’ in the Tamil film Kadal by AR Rahman in 2013. Next came ‘Adiga Adiga’ in Ninnu Kori in 2017, a heart-touching melody, with which he sealed his place in Telugu playback singing. With over 175 songs in four southern languages, he seems to be in a crescendo mode for over five years now. His musical outings are all chartbusters. His concerts are sold out. Every earphone is plugged into Sid’s playlist on a loop. Whether it is ‘Samajavaragamana’ from Ala Vaikuntapurramlo or ‘Srivalli’ from Pushpa, there hasn’t been a track by him in the last five years that doesn’t play at parties or radio stations. 

This Chennai musical prodigy from a Tamil family moved with his parents to California when he was barely a year old. His mother Latha Sriram, a Carnatic music teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area, nurtured his musical prowess during his growing-up years in Fremont. He graduated in music production and engineering from the Berklee College of Music, Massachusetts. “My time at Berklee was special as it formed so much of my artistic foundation. Here, I started the process of bringing together my musical influences to create my unique artistic vision. I’m inspired by so many different music styles, from AR Rahman and Stevie Wonder to Thelonious Monk, Aphex Twin and Kendrick Lamar, I’m constantly searching for new music to dig into and learn from,” the singer elaborates.

However, the singer is quick to add that his mother has been his biggest influence. “She is a world-renowned Carnatic vocal teacher. She is my guru and I owe so much of my artistic journey and discovery to her.”

To ensure that his ties with India and Carnatic music remain alive, he participates in Chennai’s Marghazhi Utsavam, the annual music festival that takes place in December. He is equally good at playing to the gallery with his hot tracks. As his recent song, ‘C’mon C’mon Kalavathi’ for superstar Mahesh Babu’s Sarkaru Vaari Paata turned a chartbuster again, what goes on in his mind? Does the 32-year-old singer celebrate it or has he grown indifferent to it? What are the emotions he goes through? “Music is about connection, and the way fans connect with these songs is humbling. Having said that, I don’t spend much time thinking about results. The joy lies in the creation of music, that’s what lights a fire within,” he states.

Live concerts are his way of connecting with his fans. For the Hyderabad concert at HiTex Exhibition Grounds, he will be performing with his band. “High energy and intensely emotional performance are what people should expect. I’ll be performing songs I’ve sung for Telugu films, a few songs in other Indian languages and some of my original work,” the singer promises.

Not many know that Sid is a composer too. In 2019, he composed for the Tamil film Vaanam Kottatum produced by Madras Talkies. For now, in terms of composition, he is focussing on his next solo album set to release later this year. To those who accuse Sid of getting his pronunciations wrong, he says his style is to submit himself to the composer. “My role is to help bring the music director’s vision to life. At times during a session, I might have an idea for harmony or an alaap. But even with that, I normally wait for the music director to bring it up. They’ve built a sonic universe with the song they’ve composed, and I breathe life into it by executing their vision.” When their vision matches his vocals, it’s sheer magic.

When he’s not singing or composing, Sid loves watching films, sketching, reading books, and viewing visual art. “I must admit that almost everything I do is connected to the search for a spark that could lead to a musical idea. My life revolves around music, it is the sun and everything else is like a satellite of sorts.”