At 29 years of age, Sid Sriram has emerged a favourite in both popular and classical music circuits. An alumnus of Berkley College of Music, Sid is a popular playback artiste in Tamil and Telugu cinema, and his work in crossover genres has won him acclaim.
There was a crowd for his Carnatic music concert at Abhishekam Convention centre, Tripunithura. It was a concert that comprised familiar kritis with due accent on ingenuity and technique. Sid adapts differently to each of the varying genres, from playback to R&B and Carnatic music, which employs markedly varying modulations and voice projection techniques.
His concert started with Swati Tirunal’s ‘Devadevakalayamithe’ in Mayamalavagowla with sprightly swaras to go with it. Papanasam Sivan’s masterpiece, ‘Kapali’, in Mohanam and Tyagaraja’s ‘Teliyalerurama’ were sung with short raga sketches and swara passages. The vocalist’s strong grip on laya could be noticed right from the start and was evinced further in misra chapu kriti ‘Pakkala nilabadi’ in Kharaharapriya raga.
With a sharp voice, husky in the lower registers, Sid is armed with supple vocal techniques quite suited for Carnatic singing. This came forth in his alaapana and he followed the linear build-up structure for most raga essays. Niraval for ‘Tanuvuche vandana’ in the second speed was well-supported by J Vaidyanathan on the mridangam and S Karthik on the ghatam who filled the spaces with short, brisk phrases. Melodically, in a slower pace came Tyagaraja’s ‘Ramabana’ in Saveri and the peppy ‘Raghuvamsa sudhambudhichandra’ in Kathanakuthoohalam.
Sid Sriram during the concert
His alapana of Kalyani delved on a nyasa on nishada for long with a few thrilling variations and this continued to the upper registers with bhava-laced sancharas. The song was Tyagaraja’s ‘Etavunara’. Violinist L Ramakrishnan put up a better show in the Kharaharapriya rather than the Kalyani follow-up by lapping up the richness of the raga. However his essays were short and progressed fast compared to the systematic approach by the vocalist.
Sid employed atimadhyamakala for most of his kriti renditions. His skills were visible yet again for the niraval at ‘Seetha gowri Vageeshwari’, which saw an amalgam of melody, karvais and bhava, and was a high point in the concert. The second speed of the niraval was packed and the rhythm was intact. The percussionists supported him through this and the swaras. Taniyavarthanam was bleak in most parts. Sid’s lighter numbers proved to be the icing on the cake. ‘Jagadodharana’ in Kapi was followed by Dikshithar’s ‘Rangapuravihara’ in Brindavanasaranga on the request of the audience.
The singer touched quite a few hearts with his sombre singing of ‘Enna kavi padinalum’ in Sivaranjani raga. And as a buzz from the audience turned into a strong request for a film number, Sid, with visible hesitance, wound up his concert with his hit number ‘Maruvarthai pesathe’, with just ghatam accompaniment.
The concert was organised by Poornathrayeesa Sangeeta Sabha.
