En Kadhaa aligned with the way I want to make music: Sid Sriram

CHENNAI: It’s morning in the US and Sid Sriram talks to us right after his daily dose of music practice. We feel like we have just turned into Inkem Inkem in our sound bars as he begins to speak about En Kadhaa (Kanne in Telugu), not just another melody to his long lineup of music over the years but a testimony to why he stands out in the global music scene. “I have been either a part of path breaking music or I have been breaking music that was path breaking. I have never been under any sort of pressure since the beginning of my career in 2012 in the creative process. Probably, there is a little nervousness of how it would be received just before the release. One thing I was sure of is to make music that is singular and unique in its quality,” he begins.

En Kadhaa not only sounds unique but it is also intense and will stay relevant in terms of sound for years to come. “Sonically, En Kadhaa fell in line with how I wanted to make music. It is coming together melodically with the things I pull from my Carnatic roots and marrying it off with R&B in soul that has sculpted my musical vision since childhood. Production wise too it was sparse, as I wanted my voice to be the centre of the song. The kind of music I make comes from the subconscious bank of influences I have had over the years. Music directors I have worked with are a source of inspiration and even listening to them has been inspiring whether that be AR Rahman sir or Ilaiyaraaja sir or Radiohead. Listening to various genres as a child has been a great influence and after entering the movie industry, specifically working with Rahman sir has been the biggest influence on my sound and even in approach in terms of openness,” he elaborates.

The lyrics for the Tamil version of En Kadhaa have been penned by Vivek. Apart from the melody, Sid Sriram adds intensity to the numbers with his phonetics. Recalling the experience of working with them, he says, “I have collaborated with Vivek quite a few times before and this is the first time I worked with him in the context of my original music. I gave him a demo version of the song first to create an idea around it. Our conversations were mainly around the concept of the song and then the emotions around it. En Kadhaa is about the longing for love and people in love yearning to be closer to each other. Secondly, we spoke about phonetics and ensured that certain words sounded the way I wanted them to sound. We locked the lyrics when both these parameters were met and it was beautiful working with him.”

The musician has collaborated with Warner Music India for both Tamil and Telugu versions. “The partnership started about seven months ago. It has been an exciting situation because we both wanted music that has to be pulled from the roots but reimagine it for the future. That has been the ethos of our partnership and it has been great so far,” says Sid.

AI has been quite predominantly used in the music industry of all mediums. “I am still standing back and watching these progress. I have been busy doing shows, singing and creating my own music. I would love to dig into my own music and not pay as much attention to some of these stuff. My overall opinion of such technological advances is that they can be a very powerful tool for the creative pursuit and the onus is completely on the artist to use it as tools and not as crutch,” he signs off.