Musically Yours

FOR SID SRIRAM, MUSIC IS NOT JUST AN ART FORM OR EVEN A CAREER – IT FORMS THE BASIS OF EVERYTHING IN HIS LIFE. THE AIKYA 2018 STAR TALKS ABOUT HIS JOURNEY THUS FAR, HOW HE STAYS GROUNDED IN THE FACE OF COLOSSAL SUCCESS, AND WHAT HE IS PLANNING FOR THE AIKYA AUDIENCE THIS YEAR

- Yamini Vasudevan

On December 31, 2015, a song titled ‘Thalli Pogathey’ with music by A.R. Rahman was aired. And went viral. With it, the singer suddenly shot to stardom in India and among the Indian diaspora. Sid Sriram became a household name. The young and not-so-young loved his voice. He was called by all the top music directors. He was given prime slots in the Chennai December Music Season. Tickets to his concerts were sold out. Put simply, success came in spades.

Today, he divides his time between Los Angeles and Chennai, wearing multiple hats and working (literally) on parallel tracks. “These are things I dreamt of when I was younger, even as recently as two or three years ago,” he says in a matter-of-fact tone. Might I suggest he was lucky? “Ultimately, the onus is on the artistes to figure out how they are going to break the glass ceiling and make their way into whichever performing spaces they feel they deserve to be in,” he responds after some thought. He adds that he has no secret formula for success. “The most effective and impactful thing an artiste can do is to stay the course and keep getting better. What is amazing about this day and age is that, with technology and the way it works, if you have content that deserves to be seen or heard, it will be seen or heard. And you can connect with people directly.”

There is something sage-like about Sid. He is the polite, well-behaved person that every parent hopes his or her kid will grow up to be. His willingness to sing a song of your choice, off the bat, is endearing. He does this on stage, too, when the crowd screams for an encore – gently waving his co-artistes back to their positions and then announcing that he is happy to do a couple of “bonus tracks”.