Shri Sriram | |
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Shri at Canal Street Music Festival, Arendal, Norway, July 2015
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Background information | |
Birth name | Shrikanth Sriram |
Born | Bombay, India |
Genres | New-age, electronic, drum and bass, brass band |
Occupation(s) | Musician, composer, producer |
Instruments | Guitar, bass, flute |
Years active | 1990–present |
Labels | Drum the Bass, Outcaste, Tommy Boy, PIAS, Sony |
Associated acts | Badmarsh & Shri, OkWorld, Ragatronik |
Website | www |
Shri (born Shrikanth Sriram in Bangalore, India) is a British Asian multi-instrumentalist and producer. Shri specializes is acoustic, electric and computing based live performances. Shri incorporates traditional Indian instruments into his music.
Shri grew up in Mumbai, India in a musically inclined family. Shri's father plays the sitar, and his mother and sister play the Carnatic violin. He trained as a classical tabla player for about 14 years at Pandit Nikhil Ghosh's school in Mumbai. Tired of the rigidity of classical music, Shri went on to teach himself bass, guitar and flute. His trademark instrument is one he handcrafted and designed himself - a fretless bass guitar suited towards his unique approach of playing bass with a bow.
Having previously played percussion in Indus Creed, a leading rock band in India, and bass in the jazz outfit Azure Hades (with which he recorded an album), he moved to London in the 1990s and collaborated, as a bass player, with the London-based Asian acts like Talvin Singh, Nitin Sawhney and DJ Badmarsh (forming Badmarsh & Shri).
Shri toured for 5 years with Sawhney, which led in 1997 to Shri's first solo album, Drum the Bass, produced by Sawhney and released by London-based label Outcaste Records. Later, Badmarsh & Shri produced two albums for Outcaste Records as a duo, Dancing Drums in 1998 and Signs in 2001. Shri released another solo album, East Rain, in 2005, with Drum the Bass Records. All of these albums mixed blended Electronica and Drum 'n' Bass with traditional Indian ragas.
Shri has also collaborated musically with theatrical productions - composing for Akademi's 2001 'Coming of Age' dance project at London's South Bank, the Builder's Association/Motiroti co-production 'Alladeen' in 2003, and Tamasha Theatre Company's 'Strictly Dandia' in 2005.