For singer Srinivas, Sri Lanka is familiar performance terrain. He has been visiting since the 1990s, first in his corporate avatar and later as a musician.
In his recent show for the Colombo-Indian CEO Forum’s 10th year celebration last week at the Taj Samudra, he had a special request from a member of the audience — a song from Bobby.
It was the President of Sri Lanka Ranil Wickremesinghe who asked for a song from the iconic album that made waves, exactly half a century ago. Wickremesinghe, who was the chief guest at the milestone event for the Indian business community in Sri Lanka, attended most of the concert, along with First Lady Prof. Maithree Wickremesinghe.
Srinivas sang ‘Mein shayar to nahin’, adding to his charming, largely retro Hindi playlist, dominated by the singer’s icon Kishore Kumar. It included Mohammed Rafi and Mehdi Hassan, apart from a couple of Srinivas’s own hits in Tamil.
“I am at my happiest while performing songs of Kishore Kumar and Mehdi Hassan, my sources of inspiration,” says Srinivas. He is also particularly delighted to perform in Sri Lanka, where the audiences have shown him “unconditional love”, the kind “you rarely see”.
He would know. For about 30 years now, Srinivas has sung to packed venues in Colombo, as well as Jaffna, including for a popular New Year’s Eve performance organised by the local television channel Shakthi TV. He says, “I still remember my first trip. I was amazed at how strikingly clean and green Sri Lanka is.”
Besides having forged strong friendships with music lovers living in Sri Lanka, Srinivas also points to the significant contribution made by Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora in supporting classical art and film music shows across North America, Europe, and Australia. “They have gone through so much [during and after the civil war], but their resilience, and passion for the arts and culture is enormous.”
Sharanya Srinivas, his daughter who performed with him in the show, agrees. “We perform in different countries and find each audience to be different. But Sri Lankan listeners are extraordinary in the way they express their appreciation and love. It means a lot to an artiste,” she says.
As a young singer in the ever-growing performance space, Sharanya sees the experience as a learning curve. From being “less guarded on stage”, to finding what works best for her as a performer, to expanding her repertoire, it takes a lot of effort and focus, she notes. “But it’s thoroughly enjoyable. All the more, when I perform with my father!”
Playback singer Srinivas at a performance in Amir Mahal, Chennai | Photo Credit: RAGHUNATHAN SR
The artistes who joined Srinivas and Sharanya on stage swayed to the old Hindi melodies, evidently having a good time. Most of them were local artistes who met the singers only on the eve of the performance.
With the CEO Forum facilitating the collaboration, Srinivas performed with the local band with apparent ease, just after one night’s rehearsal in Colombo. “The joy with which they sang and played with us…the energy was just infectious,” the singer said.
For Colombo-based independent musician Ridma Weerawardena, it was a “dream come true”. Having grown up listening to Bollywood and other regional music, the young musician says he has a natural affinity to Indian music. As he sang alongside Srinivas, Ridma presented Sinhala versions of popular Hindi songs — a trend popularised by Sri Lankan artistes such as HR Jothipala, Angeline Gunathilake and Milton Perera decades ago. “It was music producer Raj Thillaiyampalam who connected me to Srinivas sir. I was in awe right from our practice session. Performing with him and Sharanya was such an incredible experience, it was such a great platform.”
Ridma has taken some basic lessons in Hindustani music, and is looking to learn and deepen his understanding of Indian classical music, including carnatic music. “I also follow a lot of Bengali music, Malayalam, and Tamil music. I have a long way to go and so much to learn,” says the singer with a growing fan following.
