Tiny Desk, global stage: HT Brunch interviews Sid Sriram
Carnatic music tends to sound incompatible with R&B, jazz and the Blues. So, how did Sid Sriram get it all to blend so well?
Remember the fusion wave? When every song seemed to be a mix of genres cobbled together like a hasty, desperate Tinder date?
Indian music has, thankfully, moved on to more stable relationships. In fact, Indian fusion (one kind of it) recently had a showcase at the Tiny Desk Concert. The intimate series, put together by the American media organisation, NPR, is possibly one of the internet’s most popular music events. It’s recorded in a small room, but it’s no small feat. Dua Lipa has played a gig, as have Wu-Tang Clan and BTS. Chennai-born musician Sid Sriram, 33, joined that elite set in May.
Sriram, now based in Minneapolis, performed an original set, with unreleased songs from his upcoming album Sidharth. It blended R&B, Soul and Americana with Carnatic music. The concert has had just under 3 lakh views on YouTube. Among the 700+ comments is one from singer Monica Dogra: “You’re amazing”. Another listener writes: “Simply fabulous set. The way he mixed the principles of different music genres was simply mesmerizing.” Indian indie musicians such as Kamakshi Khanna have shared it on Instagram.
“I’ve been in music for over a decade,” says Sriram. “My only pursuit is honest expression. That performance was a celebration of it. I wear it as a badge of honour that maybe more people will know what Carnatic music is or look up the term and dive into the beautiful rabbithole that is the form.”
Early start
Sriram’s family moved to the US in 1991, when he was barely a year old. His mother, Latha Sriram, a Carnatic musician, started her music school in San Francisco’s Bay Area in 1992. He practically grew up with the music. “It’s always been there and been the framework through which I’ve come to understand music and the world.”
There have been other influences, of course – Stevie Wonder, Lauren Hill, hip-hop, Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós, and British-Irish electronica DJ Aphex Twin. He recalls downloading music off file-sharing sites such as Limewire and discovering new sounds. There was Indian film music too. One of Sriram’s earliest memories is of singing when his mother had guests over. One of them was reduced to tears. It made him realise, he says, that music could do more than just entertain.
Like all Indian-American parents, Sriram’s were strict. Even about music. “They knew I had this gift, so they were firm about things like practising regularly,” Sriram recalls. The 15-year-old may not have loved it. But that discipline has been an advantage, a constant.” It’s what helped him graduate from Boston’s prestigious Berklee College of Music in 2012, with a bachelor’s degree in music production and engineering. And it’s what’s shaped his music.
“My parents – and this is true for many who came to the US from India – really bring a part of their home with them,” he says. “It’s provided me a sense of rootedness with music and daily life.”
It was when Sriram was taking a semester off from college in 2010 that he sent AR Rahman one of his covers. Rahman responded, asking Sriram if he could sing in Tamil and Sriram’s debut in the industry, Adiye, was recorded in 2011-2012. He’s also composed music for the likes of director Mani Ratnam (Vaanam Kottattum-2020).
His breakout year was 2016, when he sang the song Thalli Pogathey (Don’t Go Away) for the Tamil film Achcham Yenbadhu Madamaiyada (Fear is Foolishness) alongside AR Rahman. He began spending more time in Chennai, developing in independent relationship with his homeland and the centre of Carnatic music.
Root causes
Sriram’s work on the NPR concert sounds fresh and contemporary largely because his footing in music is firm, but there’s room for a little two-step. “In Carnatic music there’s a gamak, in which we ornament the melody and add vocal embellishments, with turns and twists. I was searching for something in Western music that felt similar.” He found it in R&B. “It was fascinating,” he says. “There are fundamental similarities despite the technical differences. You sing from the chest in Carnatic music, you use your full throat for the Blues.”
He experimented with R&B chords with an alaap in the end. It felt contrived at first. By 2021, when he started working in the album with a few other musicians in Minneapolis, he finally found a way to smoothen out the rough edges. There’d be a “tinge of Carnatic ornamentation to a lyric, which would melt into a Soul riff the next minute.”
When Tiny Desk Concert came calling, he was ecstatic. “Some of my favourite music has been on there.” His sole focus leading up to the gig, he says, was staying quiet. “Because it’s literally recorded in an office, without amplification or monitors. I just wanted it to be super fire,” he says. It did.
