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Sivamani rocks the city
Anandan Sivamani created magic at the concert and his band member Niladri, gave a mind-blowing performance with his sitar.
A Sitar, keyboard and a drum set is all it takes to rock Delhiites. Or so proved Anandan Sivamani and his band at the Ballroom, The Oberoi, on Wednesday evening, as Enercon Windfarms (Jaisalmer), a subsidiary of Enercon India, announced the commissioning of a 24MW wind energy project in Jaisalmer. To celebrate the power of wind, who else but Sivamani, the man famous for power packed performances, could be the right choice.
The performance that started with intriguing music on the sitar and keyboard by band members Nalidari and Harmeet respectively, received a punch when Sivamani took over the stage.
Inspired by the surroundings and environment of Asia, the theme of the evening was Rhythm Asia. So, the performance gave a lot of importance to the sound of birds and wind, rendered by Sivamani himself, or with the help of various instrument.
For Sivamani, there is nothing more in life than music. “Without music I do not exist. I don’t know anything besides it. For me it is magic and I treasure it most because it is a God’s gift for me,” says the percussionist.
The man who started to experiment with music by playing violin soon discovered that he is better off playing drums. He said: “When I was studying at St. Pauls, I used to get beaten up by my teachers as I was a horrible student. Music attracted me and I started to play violin and then moved to other instruments. Soon, SP Balasubramanium spotted me and called me.” And the rest of course is history.
Sivamani meditates for 45 minutes before and after his shows without fail. Well, the logic is simple: It helps him get in touch with his inner self and give better performances.
He has also composed for films like Roja, Hum Paanch, and Himmatwala among others but, for him the most challenging ones were Taal and Lagaan. “I composed the music where Aishwarya Rai marks her entry in Taal. That was my solo effort. Whereas Lagaan belonged altogether to a different genre but no doubt it was fun to compose for the movie,” he says.
Although Sivamani is settled in Mumbai he finds the crowd of Delhi very encouraging during performances and he loves to perform in the Capital. Good for us!
