Sid Sriram, Global Heritage Music Fest 2017, 13/Dec/2017

[sankark]

Published in YT on 29/Jan/2018

With BUGaneshprasad & TanjorePraveenkumar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdxS953SdtU

Lend your ears for sometime and you might be enchanted, as I am.. I am a sucker for chakravAgam and this chakravAgam @ #3 delights one

And Praveen's playing for mukhAri is very refreshing.

[MaheshS]

Sid Sriram - Carnatic Vocal - Global Heritage Music Fest 2017

Sid Sriram - Vocal
B.U.Ganesh Prasad - Violin
Thanjavur Praveen Kumar - Mrudangam

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdxS953SdtU

Vakra Thunda - Ganapathy Slokam - Saveri
Sarasuda - Saveri Varnam
Parithaminchite - Bilhari [NS@rokkamicchutakunE...] - PSI
Sugunamule - Chakravaham [A,NS@snAnAdi su-karmambulu vEd)dhyayanambulruga] - T
Kshinami - Mukhari - T
Vidajaladhura - Janaranjani - T
Meenakshi - Purvi Kalyani [A,NS@Madurapuri Nilaye] - MD
Thani
Shivanar Manam Kulira - Jonpuri - Thirupugazh
Sapasya Kousalya - Jonpuri

[HarishankarK]

He reminds me of the blind singer from old tamil movie - Kadhal Oviyam - dunno y
He sings well if you can ignore the mannerisms and hand gestures

[Sivaramakrishnan]

The review seems to be quite belated!

[MaheshS]

The review seems to be quite belated!

The video of the concert was only recently released on YT

[hnbhagavan]

Looks like he is in a hurry to catch flight.No melody content.Looks like he is suited for film world.

[Sachi_R]

He reminds me of an established vocalist with a good voice and an unhurried style. Sid would do well to slow down a bit, and focus a bit more on sruti alignment which seems to suffer on account of his relentless style. Whenever Sid pauses on a note, it seems slightly offkey, like the ball hitting the wrong side of the lines for a tennis master on his off-day making "unforced" errors.

After I saw this thread, I checked Sid's bio and it seems he is very successful as a playback singer!

Here is an interesting couple of minutes:
https://youtu.be/rI5hqgAhHmk

The younger singer here holds much promise for me.

[hnbhagavan]

In recent times Ramakrishnan Murthy's style is appealing to him.Obviously Comparison takes place in our minds.The bio data and training not with standing he needs to slow down the tempo and use the accompaniments effectively.

[ram1999]

Singing at breakneck speed showcases one's virtuosity but KILLS the BEAUTY of the music. Couldn't progress beyond a couple of minutes of the recording !!

[rshankar]

I have heard him just once: on one of the clips from this year’s Natya Kala Conference - his topic was how to bring SRngAram into vocal music. I have to say that in general, the convenor Dr. Srinidhi had made excellent choices for the speakers/demonstrators, except for this one. To his credit, he did not sing at breakneck speed, but neither was he able to emote SRngAram through his voice, IMO. I felt that more experienced artists such as Smts. Radha Bhadri, Vanati Raghuraman, or Nandini Sharma would have been much better choices for this slot....

[Vocalist]

Singing at breakneck speed showcases one's virtuosity but KILLS the BEAUTY of the music. Couldn't progress beyond a couple of minutes of the recording !!

I agree; totally overrated in my opinion. To be honest, I don't think the issue is just breakneck speed either - the issue is that he is taking being "different" to an unpleasant extreme.

I have heard him just once: on one of the clips from this year’s Natya Kala Conference - his topic was how to bring SRngAram into vocal music. I have to say that in general, the convenor Dr. Srinidhi had made excellent choices for the speakers/demonstrators, except for this one. To his credit, he did not sing at breakneck speed, but neither was he able to emote SRngAram through his voice, IMO. I felt that more experienced artists such as Smts. Radha Bhadri, Vanati Raghuraman, or Nandini Sharma would have been much better choices for this slot....

I rather expected that to be the case when I had seen him listed as a speaker for this conference; I expect he was chosen to see if there would be a greater audience because of his fame in film music. I too feel that artists like Radha Bhadri would have been a much better choice.

[hnbhagavan]

Musicians not only adhere to the Classicism in Music,but they also make it pleasant to even lay listeners.I did not find it in this gentleman.As Ram put it i could not progress beyond a few minutes of the record.With such lovely accompaniment,the effect should have been to sing at reasonable pace and not at breakneck speed.

[sankark]

Singing at breakneck speed showcases one's virtuosity but KILLS the BEAUTY of the music

Agree. But, hnbhagavan, ram199, Vocalist - if not in early 20s, do you expect vocalists to display speed & acrobatics when they are into 40s and 50s when their vocal felicity could desert them or be on decline?

Total non sequitur: And I recently came across a cine song where the charanam & navarAgamAlikai varNa swarams were put to use

[ram1999]

Singing at breakneck speed showcases one's virtuosity but KILLS the BEAUTY of the music

Agree. But, hnbhagavan, ram199, Vocalist - if not in early 20s, do you expect vocalists to display speed & acrobatics when they are into 40s and 50s when their vocal felicity could desert them or be on decline?

Total non sequitur: And I recently came across a cine song where the charanam & navarAgamAlikai varNa swarams were put to use

Why should there be speed and acrobatics in the first place, irrespective of the age of the musicians, be in 20s or 40s or 60s .

[sankark]

Singing at breakneck speed showcases one's virtuosity but KILLS the BEAUTY of the music

Agree. But, hnbhagavan, ram199, Vocalist - if not in early 20s, do you expect vocalists to display speed & acrobatics when they are into 40s and 50s when their vocal felicity could desert them or be on decline?

Total non sequitur: And I recently came across a cine song where the charanam & navarAgamAlikai varNa swarams were put to use

Why should there be speed and acrobatics in the first place, irrespective of the age of the musicians, be in 20s or 40s or 60s .

It just is. Someone indulges in it. Someone else likes it. Someone else is totally indifferent to it.

If you want, take it. Else leave it.

[sureshvv]

Singing at breakneck speed showcases one's virtuosity but KILLS the BEAUTY of the music.

You are missing 2 words at the end. FOR ME.

[hnbhagavan]

I wish Sid Sriram the very best in his career in CM.But he should not hesitate to take a leaf out of yesteryear Musicians and even present day Musicians like Ramakrishnan Murthy.To me Ramakrishnan Murthy,Amritha Murali represent young genre of musicians who have developed and adopted good practices in CM.If one gets addicted to speed singing,suddenly he/she cannot stop.Hence development of style has to happen gradually and from early career.

[sureshvv]

You already have RKM & AM. Let him be himself.

[HarishankarK]

[/quote]
You are missing 2 words at the end. FOR ME.
[/quote]

That would be obvious, wouldn't it ? We are giving our own opinions / likings / dislikes here

[ram1999]

Singing at breakneck speed showcases one's virtuosity but KILLS the BEAUTY of the music.

You are missing 2 words at the end. FOR ME.

yes and obviously

[sureshvv]

Not so obvious. We start pushing opinions as some kind of gospel truth. And gullible readers may take this as some kind of "expert" opinion.

[hnbhagavan]

Not at all.If you cannot post your opnions then why this website should continue?Read it and ignore if you do not like.

[ram1999]

Not so obvious. We start pushing opinions as some kind of gospel truth. And gullible readers may take this as some kind of "expert" opinion.

Of course it is my view and did i force anyone to accept my views !!
And did i ever claim that I am an expert

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Sid gave a concert a few days back for Sriram Samaj at suburban Chromepet 'before a never before crowd' consisting a lot of youngsters at the modest venue, (thanks to the media especially his very recent appearance in a TV show where he sang some film hits and trendy numbers in the presence of none other than AR Rahman).

He rendered core kritis including those of the Trinity with Alapana, niraval, swaraprastara etc with fidelity and verve. Pakkamelam of veterans S Varadarajan, J Vaidyanathan and Kartick was a plus factor. The concert that started with Sri Ganapatini (Sourashtram) had Kaligiyunte (keeravani) as 'main' and was good and appealing.

I however observed that he is more than comfortable at upper sthaayi notes even for a pitch of 2.5 Kattai (D#) but needs to practice sancharas in lower swarastanas certainly up-to mandrapanchama with clarity and confidence.

Sid's calendar, they say, is busy up-to season 2018! Best wishes, Sir!

[sankark]

Sid gave a concert a few days back for Sriram Samaj at suburban Chromepet 'before a never before crowd' consisting a lot of youngsters at the modest venue,

In Vasanta Mantapam, was it? Ah, a bad miss on my part.

[Vocalist]

Agree. But, hnbhagavan, ram199, Vocalist - if not in early 20s, do you expect vocalists to display speed & acrobatics when they are into 40s and 50s when their vocal felicity could desert them or be on decline?

Total non sequitur: And I recently came across a cine song where the charanam & navarAgamAlikai varNa swarams were put to use

Why should there be speed and acrobatics in the first place, irrespective of the age of the musicians, be in 20s or 40s or 60s .

It just is. Someone indulges in it. Someone else likes it. Someone else is totally indifferent to it.

If you want, take it. Else leave it.

Right, but the issue was never just that as I said. I personally felt that during Margazhi, Sid Sriram butchered (to death) the beautiful Misrasivaranjani Thillana composed by Maharajapuram Santhanam. Speed and acrobatics to one side, there were other issues such as voice, breaks, breath control, sahithya degradation, lack of melody, trying to do too many things at once, etc.

Even limiting the focus to displaying speed and acrobatics, I hold the view that the time to display speed & acrobatics is when the voice is capable of doing it to enhance the quality of the music. So to answer the general question, certainly in a musician's younger phase is when it is more likely to be effective (and therefore appropriate). However, the issue being raised here is the manner in which it is done by this particular musician - that is, the consequence of doing it in excess and/or without perfection.

If I look for an example or two of singers from a yesteryear who managed to pull crowds, who were singers in Tamil films, and who showcased speed and acrobatics effectively, I could pick a young GNB or MLV; there was no doubt that the speed and acrobatics in their music sounds incredible - the music quality is enhanced in many ways, it sounds different, and it sounds pleasant. While their music was sometimes questioned as lacking bhava, I never recall anyone seriously considering that it sounded so unpleasant to the point that the music quality was being murdered.

[Sivaramakrishnan]

In Vasanta Mantapam, was it? Ah, a bad miss on my part.

Yes, Vasanta Mandapam, Radha Nagar, Chromepet.