How Sid Sriram loves to hit high notes

Sid Sriram. , Photo Credits: Akhila Easwaran

Every few years, a musician with a distinctive style and signature arrives on the Karnataka scene. One of the most interesting singers of the decade is Sid Sriram. He arguably has one of the best skills for a newcomer – perhaps he is no longer in this world. The mystical mix includes Sufi-style, gay abandon singing of the upper octave.

The sight of queues outside the venue is indicative of Sid’s rockstar tag. His concerts for Brahma Gana Sabha also revealed that he has absorbed many aspects of the leading composers of the past – the musicality of Ariyakudi, the Kalapramanam of Semmangudi, the alapana spirit of TN Rajaratnam, the brevity of KVN (Chittai in Tamil). And emotional tukkadas galore that DKJ would be proud of. Sid’s hold on the vocal space at such a young age is also commendable. So there are all the best tools in the toolbox.

Sid Sriram. , Photo Credits: Akhila Easwaran

‘Viribhoni’ (Bhairavi Ata Tala Varnam) was a shock to Sid’s new listeners – it was high voltage stuff at the beginning sounding like a bullet-train from there. ‘Vallabha Nayakasya’ continued on a similar course with short alpana and swaras. If anyone wondered how Tyagaraja would have sung the Dixit kriti, this was one such glimpse. Pantuvarali Alpana was followed by ‘Sankari Ninne’ (Mysore Vasudevachar, Mishra Chapu). Pantuvarali at its best was presented with sharp kriti and carelessness in niraval and swaras, none of which exceeded four incarnations. It seemed as if every song came with a deadline!

TN Rajaratnam Pillai died in 1956 after writing a few chapters of the Raga Alapana Bible. It has served four generations. Sid borrowed some pages from his book to write an essay on Karaharpriya’s Equestrian Alapana. The origin of some associations was unclear. ‘Senthil Andavan’ (Papanasam Sivan, Roopakam) was the complement between the rich alapana and brilliant niraval in ‘Vadivelan’, with HN Bhaskar on the violin moving fast stroke for stroke. In an era when swarakalpanas were considered the height of manodharma, and therefore overused, Sid chose to keep them short and sweet.

‘Entha Mudho’ (Bindumalini, Tyagaraja) and ‘Mokshamu Galada’ (Sarmathi) are works presented as interludes, like the Semmangudi or Alathur brothers, as a means of introducing different colored notes between larger pieces. Were. ‘Mokshamu Galada’ required a more thorough approach and perhaps a gentler gait to better reflect the raga and the composer’s intention. Rahul Dravid style batting is needed on difficult pitches.

Sid then set himself the task of constructing a vintage Kamboji Alapana. It seemed as if Kaveri was in spate around Thiruvaiyaru. ‘Maa Janaki’ was performed at a fast tempo in all its high-pitched glory in exactly three minutes, lacking none of the joy. In ‘Rajaraja’ Niraval brought out the full strength of Sid’s accompaniments in the upper octave as the second Niraval and was attacked through an avatara swara and a volley of Kurappu. Bhaskar stepped on the pedals to give an engaging response to the whirlwind vocal output. The taunt lasted a relatively short ten minutes and was generally gallery stuff, as frenzied fingering took over. Neyveli Venkatesh on Mridangam and Aniruddha Atreya on Kanjira handled the fast pace of the concert.

There was another small section of classic tukkadas – ‘Poonkuyil Koovam’ (Kapi), Dwijavanti Thillana, ‘Baro Krishnayya’ (Ragamalika), ‘Enna Kavi Padinalum’ (Neelmani) and ‘Sapasya Kausalya’ (Jhopuri). Sid got into the spirit of each of them and presented them with poignancy while still maintaining passion. The entire segment lasted about 20 minutes and the young singer has an understanding of where to pause for more fun.

Sid Sriram’s style may be in contrast to today’s trend of ultra-slow presentation. From that perspective, it’s a breath of fresh air. The occasional screams are an aspect that Sid needs to address as he rises to the higher levels of Carnatic music performance. He would probably be aware that more work needed to be done to get to the bottom of the lower registers.