‘There’s no need to ape the West’

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Breakbeat pop performer, Shrikant Shriram, who’s a leading artist in the British-Asian music scene, says that he worked long and hard in India to make a niche, but things did not workout for him them and he moved to London. Now the multi-faceted musician would be seen in the November 13 episode of the Star World

series The Dewarist, for which he collaborated with the Rajasthan Roots.
He says, “The collaboration with Rajasthan Roots and Monica Dogra was great fun. There was a lot of respect for each other’s music and a lot to learn from each other. Working with the Rajasthani musicians like Aditya, Nathoolal Solanki, Kutle Khan and Bismillah Khan was a real pleasure. Sri is particularly impressed by Monica’s lyrics.
Describing his role in the show he says, “I played the role of composer, producer and muti-instrumentalist and played bass, percussion, bansuri, Bowed bass, tabla bols and programmed all the electronic beats and parts, and then finally mixed it all. That was the toughest part because there was so much great playing and music,” adds Shri, as he explains his move to London, “People thought I was strange and also the concept of writing your own music was not common in India. The moment I landed in London and played my first concert, I was much appreciated for my style of playing. I realised that India would be my spiritual home, where my cultural and musical roots were, but UK and Europe would be my musical home.”
Shri, who combines drum and bass and electronica with Indian ragas and jazz, believes in the young Indian talent. “Many people are trying new things and stick by their ideas. I do not believe there is any need to ‘ape’ the West, as Indians have a vast plethora of heritage and culture to choose from, but it would be great to look at the West and understand why there were such massive and great musical movements through history, and there still are. This is because first the music has to be right, then it has to be performed well, and then one can start thinking of the money that can be earned from it. A lot of times Indians start the whole music career with the first step being a business model,” adds Shri, who has collaborated with Talvin Singh and Nitin Sawhney, and signed to Outcaste Records.
The Led Zeppelin inspired bassist, who had his first Indo-jazz album Inspirational Satisfaction out in 1993 informs that he has forayed into Bollywood as a composer with Barah Aana and Striker and is looking for more opportunities.