Shri (born Shrikanth Sriram ) is a British multi-instrumentalist and producer. Shri specializes in acoustic, electric, and electronic-based live performances and incorporates traditional Indian instruments into his music.

Biography

Shri grew up in Mumbai, India in a musically inclined family. His father plays the sitar, and his mother and sister play the Carnatic violin. He trained as a classical

tabla A tabla, bn, তবলা, prs, طبلا, gu, તબલા, hi, तबला, kn, ತಬಲಾ, ml, തബല, mr, तबला, ne, तबला, or, ତବଲା, ps, طبله, pa, ਤਬਲਾ, ta, தபலா, te, తబల� ...

player for about fourteen 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.

Career

Having previously played percussion with the rock band

Indus Creed Indus Creed is an Indian rock band based in Mumbai. The group was founded in 1984 as Rock Machine and renamed in 1993. They disbanded in 1997, only to regroup in 2010 with a new lineup. In its 2014 listing of "25 Greatest Indian Rock Songs of ...

, a prominent rock band in India, and bass in the jazz outfit Azure Hades (with whom he recorded an album), he moved to London in the 1990s and collaborated as a bass player with musicians such as

Talvin Singh Talvin Singh OBE (born 1970) is an English musician, producer, and composer. A tabla player, he is known for creating an innovative fusion of Indian classical music and drum and bass. Singh is generally considered involved with an electronica ...

Nitin Sawhney Nitin Sawhney , D.Mus (; born 1964) is a British musician, producer and composer. A recipient of the Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement award in 2017, among multiple international awards throughout his career. Sawhney's work combines Asian ...

, and DJ Badmarsh, with whom he recorded under the name

Badmarsh & Shri Badmarsh & Shri are an English electronic dance music duo from London. The pair consists of DJ Mohammed Akber Ali, aka Badmarsh, who was born in Yemen, and tabla player Shrikanth Sriram, aka Shri, who is from India. They have released two alb ...

. Shri toured for five 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 his second solo album, '' East Rain'', in 2005. Shri has also collaborated musically on theatrical productions—composing for Akademi's 2001 ''Coming of Age'' dance project at London's South Bank, the Builder's Association/

Motiroti Motiroti was a London-based organisation which used the arts to achieve intercultural innovation. Since the mid-1990s the company made internationally acclaimed and award-winning art that transformed relationships between people, communities and sp ...

co-production ''Alladeen'' in 2003, and Tamasha Theatre Company's ''Strictly Dandia'' in 2005. In 2007, Shri released the album ''Seven Steps'', which featured the single "Just for a Minute". In 2011, the artist produced and performed bass and bowed bass on the track "Quest", with Viveick Rajagopalan on the

mridangam The mridangam is a percussion instrument of ancient origin. It is the primary rhythmic accompaniment in a Carnatic music ensemble. In Dhrupad, a modified version, the pakhawaj, is the primary percussion instrument. A related instrument is the ...

and

kanjira The kanjira, khanjira, khanjiri or ganjira, a South Indian frame drum, is an instrument of the tambourine family. As a folk and bhajan instrument, it has been used in India for many centuries. The kanjira's emergence in South Indian Carnatic m ...

, and

Embar Kannan Embar S. Kannan is a violinist in the fields of Carnatic Music and Tamil Film Music. Trained in Carnatic as well as Western Classical methods, he is a Grade 'A top' artist of the All India Radio and is universally acclaimed as a soloist and an ...

on violin and vocals. "Quest" was released by

Folktronic Folktronica is a genre of music comprising various elements of folk music and electronica, often featuring uses of acoustic instruments – especially stringed instruments – and incorporating hip hop, electronic or dance rhythms, although ...

. He also launched a new collaborative project, titled ShriLektric. The same year, the musician was featured in Season 1, episode 5 of ''

The Dewarists ''The Dewarists'' is a musical television series on MTV India. The series is part music documentary and part travelogue. The show casts musicians from various parts of the world, collaborating to create original music while travelling across In ...

''. In 2015, Shri published the album ''Just a Vibration'', a collaboration with Hammonds Saltaire Brass Band.

Discography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shri Asian Underground musicians Desi musicians Tabla players British people of Indian descent Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Musicians from Bangalore 21st-century Indian musicians