Sid Sriram: Hyderabad has a robust live music culture

Ahead of his live concert in the city, singer Sid Sriram discusses the change in approach towards his music and why he does not take the easy route

Singer Sid Sriram will be performing live in Hyderabad on June 18, at HITEX, and has in store what he terms “a curated show” featuring his Telugu film hits, a few hidden gems, his independent numbers as well as Tamil tracks. A query he had posted on Instagram asking his fans what songs they would want him perform had a flurry of responses. Some of those will also feature in the show.

In this telephonic interview with The Hindu days ahead of the concert, the singer recalls performing in Hyderabad weeks before the pandemic and reckons that the city “has a robust live music culture”. 

The lens through which he looks at music — as a playback singer, Carnatic vocalist and independent musician — has witnessed a shift during the pandemic: “I value the scope to connect with people in a space like this, more than before. New songs and new memories have been made in the last two years; I am looking forward to channelling all that energy on stage. I hope it will be magical.”

He was in Chennai just before India went into lockdown in March 2020 and travelled to Freemont, California, USA, to spend most part of the pandemic with his parents: “I was the busiest before the lockdown, travelling and singing, with less time to focus on health. It felt like the early stage of burnout. In the initial year after I debuted as a playback singer (for Mani Ratnam’s Kadal, composed by A R Rahman), not much work came my way. Once things picked up, I had forgotten the initial restraint with which I went about my career. The pandemic made me reconnect with music for art’s sake and not as a means to an end. I went back to practicing Carnatic music with no agenda.”

There was a steady inflow of work after the initial weeks of lockdown and he recorded songs that went on to become hits. “The frequency of requests is still more, but I have learnt some restraint. I ask myself if I can resonate with the song and give it my best, or politely decline.”

The Hyderabad concert will feature hits such as ‘Kalaavathi’, ‘Srivalli’, ‘Hrudayama’ alongside a few lesser-known songs including ‘Yemunnave’, ‘Ye kannulu choodani chitrame’: “A few beautiful compositions do not get widespread appreciation if a film is not a success, but I cherish them.” There will be his English originals and Tamil hits as well. 

Sid Sriram’s songs have become a staple in Telugu cinema, with several filmmakers considering him a lucky charm. While there are the soaring hits, eyebrows are sometimes raised about his pronunciation or intonations. As someone who grew familiar with Thyagaraja krithis, he says he works his way through Telugu words with the help of lyricists and composers: “The time that I would spend learning the words has reduced now. I have better phonetic familiarity now and spend more time on getting the emotional intent of the song.”