so I think there’s few things that are
as intimidating as talking in front of a
roomful of really smart students so wish
me luck
I’m used to singing a lot but I’m
looking forward to today I’m just gonna
play a little music real quick
[Music]
[Applause]
silently no oil crashes before me and
suddenly everything I ever know crumbles
before my eyes everything I’ve ever
loved
what I would love to
[Music]
so my talk today is titled
creating the future drawing from
tradition
specifically exploring applications of
South India’s classical music in modern
context true productive animation must
be grounded in a robust foundation I
believe that that applies to any field
and my field happens to be music again
thank you guys so much for having me my
name is Sid Sriram I’m a producer singer
songwriter playback singer and a
Carnatic musician I was born in Chennai
in 1990 and in 1991 my family decided to
move to the u.s. so that’s where I grew
up that’s where I spent all my school
years and I also went to college there
but I would make frequent trips to
Chennai to study a very very special art
form called Carnatic music so I come
from a family of musicians my
grandfather was a very prolific Carnatic
musician my mother is a Carnatic music
teacher so basically I was thrown into
this beautiful world from the age of
three that’s when I started learning and
Carnatic music basically formed my whole
foundation it formed my framework of how
I understood music how I understood
myself and it would then become my way
of exploring and approaching all of my
musical endeavors in the future so a
large part of what I’m going to talk
about today is my understanding of this
music form and how I’ve been able to
take it and apply it in a bunch of
different ways so just a raise of hands
how many you guys are familiar with
Carnatic means
have had any experience with it cool so
a fair amount of you so the first thing
I’m going to talk about is a very
complex somewhat abstract concept called
that a gyum so one of the most
fundamental backbones of Carnatic music
is this construct or concept called
adhigam very basically it is a melodic
framework but it is much more than just
that so before I continue let’s just
define what a melody is it’s quite
obvious but a melody can be defined as a
set of notes strung together in a way
that creates a memorable most of the
time memorable musical idea some very
memorable melodies to me you know this
is not just in Carnatic music but across
genres must take a fill melody nila I
gather them together yeah unless he
covers again then another melody that
comes to mind is a song by Nirvana
smells like teen spirit load up on guns
bring your friends he’s fun to lose and
to pretend and then here’s an example of
a Carnatic song used in the film context
so in all these instances your melodies
that have been composed so beautifully
that they instantly stick so coming back
to Carnatic music the ragam construct
what it is if you’re really digging deep
into what an argument is it is a very
nuanced and specific set vocabulary of
melodic phrases so I’ll sing a few
different ragams and just kind of give
you some examples the first one that
but the words above my butt of a mom but
so some of the phrases in thought he
would be but upon mama got my but I need
above mama
but then he buy them up I then he said I
so it’s a very distinct set of phrases
that make up this ragam another log um
can be combo G so near the bottom but
so I’ve just outlined three different
rockem’s and I think what makes Carnatic
music so special is that each dogyum is
almost like a human being where they’re
made up of these phrases that are quite
complex and full of dimension and
they’re so vastly different from one
another
isaw gum is like its own person carrying
a set of textures extent of emotions and
they really kind of come to life when
you hit the essence of what each dogyum
is another raagam which is the same
ah
ah
me my tiny pie got my DD
serge ibaka mighty sighs come on Ida
sighs any side needy so here we have a
very classical form of music possibly
one of the oldest musical traditions in
the world and with each of these lockers
I’ve just tried to outline what makes
them them what’s giving them their
identity and something very interesting
happens when you take something that is
traditional and something that should
not be diluted and when you take it in
its entirety and it’s in its complete
form but you juxtapose it against a
separate context and I’m going to just
[Music]
Bernie ma Papa still Canada then he said
is a Papa my god my third martini sir
these are deep aha Maddie’s Anna’s other
niece
[Music]
the nice upper mother Martha and he said
he got these upward ah a nice up among
um I did everything for everything rises
again we do it all together so what
happens here is you take Kannada you
take a log um that is very pure it’s
very Carnatic you take the essence of it
and you put it against the context that
would never be and see Indian classical
music is linear in that it’s all melodic
if you go to an indian carnatic concert
at least you’ll see a vocalist let’s say
a violinist who’s following the same
melodic motifs that the singer is is
kind of moving through and there’s a
percussion element but there is no
harmony to that there’s no idea of
chords that are outlining what’s being
played and it’s been like this for
centuries but something very interesting
happens when you take these essential
phrases of said raagam and you put them
against chords it colors it in a way
that is very unique and probably hasn’t
really been done before now you guys
might be wondering why is he going on
and on about da gums and Carnatic music
and so on and so forth
and i think when i looked up the word
actus and I was telling them earlier
today I had to look up how to pronounce
that more times on how to remember what
it means but I think I got it and it’s
shedding old skin and you know that
really got me thinking what does it mean
to shed old skin what is that process
all about what comes with that process
and what is the significance of that
process in this day and age
so that led me to kind of think about
what does that mean to me you know as
sits fear I’m the singer Carnatic
musician so on and so forth and what I
really came to realize is that shedding
skin growing new skin evolving
innovating is a very interesting process
through the process of evolving you know
when you do shed old skin and you do
grow in your skin you internalize new
constructs you internalize new concepts
you let those realizations manifest in
completely new ways you’re thrown into
new experiences but one thing that
remains intact through all of this is
one’s core essence what makes a person
them in my case Carnatic music is my
identity
it’s what I grew up with it’s what I
spent all my years to this day studying
spending my time with really kind of
putting in my work so Carnatic music is
my heritage it’s my foundation so when I
think about growing new skin and all the
different ways that I’ve evolved over
the past five to ten years I think about
how is this music form that is somewhere
deep within me how is that still
remained intact even though I’ve kind of
had these different outgrowths of
musical experiences and I think the
realization the Epiphany that I came to
through the process of really preparing
for this talk is the fact that however
much you innovate however much you want
to evolve those processes are empty
without realizing that the foundation
that makes you you some would call it
heritage others would call it foundation
either would call it your essence if
that’s not kept intact then whatever
ideas you have to move forward ideas you
have to innovate our fairly baseless
so let’s rewind a little bit back in
2012 I was given the amazing opportunity
to sing for era monster he had called me
I wasn’t studying at Berklee College of
Music I’d sent him an email with some of
my music some original music I was
working on and he had responded to that
email miraculously so the first song
that I ever sang in films was from the
film cuddle for the the song was
something that was very peculiar to me
at the time because it really brought
together two completely separate worlds
one was the Blues and other worlds was
Tamil cinema so an idea happened I think
now that I think about it in retrospect
it’s a perfect example of how growing
new skin can really manifest in ways
that allows you to still keep you and
your identity intact – I thought I ain’t
good in the world I your knee hardy a
heartier
Ganga niku people yelling Ankeny Corti
Porter soccer I’m up I’m up oh my gosh
Sasha he’s up on my pie my god
he saw pom pom I got my bunny bomb I got
my guys and he’s a guy and he’s stopped
by me more by the booty a la una number
VAR na in the cart a pie or more erotic
could be Paula pumpin a cetera
hi da da da yen my anger Nico tipo de ah
so thank you so I think my experience
with Carnatic music is microcosmic I
think the realizations that I’ve come to
through my study of Carnatic music has
really opened me up to who I am as an
individual it wasn’t always like this
there was a long time before I came to
these sets of realizations where I tried
to keep my different worlds apart when I
was listening to hip-hop music I would
only listen to that and I for some
reason thought that that was so
completely separate than any of my other
musical endeavors like I said before I
was a kid that was born in India but
grew up in the US so that came with its
own set of identity crises and trying to
figure out who exactly I was I realized
the power in me as an individual moving
forward and the power of evolution and
innovation when it really clicked was
when I realized that these things can
all revolve around each other and
coexist when I realized that I don’t
have to separate myself from my
foundation my identity and my culture to
trailblaze and try new things out and
really push the envelope really I guess
in conclusion I think the most important
thing to realize at this stage of
anyone’s evolution I think it starts
with individual and then that can grow
out into being a societal thing and then
a country thing one has to really
embrace who they are one has to figure
out first and foremost what exists deep
within themselves whatever that is for
my in my case it was music so it took me
a while to come to my realizations but
once that realization is struck the
scope the potential of what can come
after
is infinite I’m gonna sing one last song
and then I’m gonna open up to questions
cuz I really want to interact with you
guys if that’s okay is that cool cool
there’s Ivan
can anyone guess what song I’m gonna
sing now based on what I just sang right
there you guys are good motive our tape
inside a mighty me the neat only he may
Paul and I are kind of I knew my DD my
dog a poor levied a loony but Adam minor
part of my would a hardening a room
we need only Naga he may thunder cooler
than a truly argon on sitting Curt alive
I can Arnold a mother and I don’t know
I mean a cardinal is like a beaten
No
[Music]
I might’ve are take their side a martini
[Music] thank you guys
as intimidating as talking in front of a
roomful of really smart students so wish
me luck
I’m used to singing a lot but I’m
looking forward to today I’m just gonna
play a little music real quick
[Music]
[Applause]
silently no oil crashes before me and
suddenly everything I ever know crumbles
before my eyes everything I’ve ever
loved
what I would love to
[Music]
so my talk today is titled
creating the future drawing from
tradition
specifically exploring applications of
South India’s classical music in modern
context true productive animation must
be grounded in a robust foundation I
believe that that applies to any field
and my field happens to be music again
thank you guys so much for having me my
name is Sid Sriram I’m a producer singer
songwriter playback singer and a
Carnatic musician I was born in Chennai
in 1990 and in 1991 my family decided to
move to the u.s. so that’s where I grew
up that’s where I spent all my school
years and I also went to college there
but I would make frequent trips to
Chennai to study a very very special art
form called Carnatic music so I come
from a family of musicians my
grandfather was a very prolific Carnatic
musician my mother is a Carnatic music
teacher so basically I was thrown into
this beautiful world from the age of
three that’s when I started learning and
Carnatic music basically formed my whole
foundation it formed my framework of how
I understood music how I understood
myself and it would then become my way
of exploring and approaching all of my
musical endeavors in the future so a
large part of what I’m going to talk
about today is my understanding of this
music form and how I’ve been able to
take it and apply it in a bunch of
different ways so just a raise of hands
how many you guys are familiar with
Carnatic means
have had any experience with it cool so
a fair amount of you so the first thing
I’m going to talk about is a very
complex somewhat abstract concept called
that a gyum so one of the most
fundamental backbones of Carnatic music
is this construct or concept called
adhigam very basically it is a melodic
framework but it is much more than just
that so before I continue let’s just
define what a melody is it’s quite
obvious but a melody can be defined as a
set of notes strung together in a way
that creates a memorable most of the
time memorable musical idea some very
memorable melodies to me you know this
is not just in Carnatic music but across
genres must take a fill melody nila I
gather them together yeah unless he
covers again then another melody that
comes to mind is a song by Nirvana
smells like teen spirit load up on guns
bring your friends he’s fun to lose and
to pretend and then here’s an example of
a Carnatic song used in the film context
so in all these instances your melodies
that have been composed so beautifully
that they instantly stick so coming back
to Carnatic music the ragam construct
what it is if you’re really digging deep
into what an argument is it is a very
nuanced and specific set vocabulary of
melodic phrases so I’ll sing a few
different ragams and just kind of give
you some examples the first one that
but the words above my butt of a mom but
so some of the phrases in thought he
would be but upon mama got my but I need
above mama
but then he buy them up I then he said I
so it’s a very distinct set of phrases
that make up this ragam another log um
can be combo G so near the bottom but
so I’ve just outlined three different
rockem’s and I think what makes Carnatic
music so special is that each dogyum is
almost like a human being where they’re
made up of these phrases that are quite
complex and full of dimension and
they’re so vastly different from one
another
isaw gum is like its own person carrying
a set of textures extent of emotions and
they really kind of come to life when
you hit the essence of what each dogyum
is another raagam which is the same
ah
ah
me my tiny pie got my DD
serge ibaka mighty sighs come on Ida
sighs any side needy so here we have a
very classical form of music possibly
one of the oldest musical traditions in
the world and with each of these lockers
I’ve just tried to outline what makes
them them what’s giving them their
identity and something very interesting
happens when you take something that is
traditional and something that should
not be diluted and when you take it in
its entirety and it’s in its complete
form but you juxtapose it against a
separate context and I’m going to just
[Music]
Bernie ma Papa still Canada then he said
is a Papa my god my third martini sir
these are deep aha Maddie’s Anna’s other
niece
[Music]
the nice upper mother Martha and he said
he got these upward ah a nice up among
um I did everything for everything rises
again we do it all together so what
happens here is you take Kannada you
take a log um that is very pure it’s
very Carnatic you take the essence of it
and you put it against the context that
would never be and see Indian classical
music is linear in that it’s all melodic
if you go to an indian carnatic concert
at least you’ll see a vocalist let’s say
a violinist who’s following the same
melodic motifs that the singer is is
kind of moving through and there’s a
percussion element but there is no
harmony to that there’s no idea of
chords that are outlining what’s being
played and it’s been like this for
centuries but something very interesting
happens when you take these essential
phrases of said raagam and you put them
against chords it colors it in a way
that is very unique and probably hasn’t
really been done before now you guys
might be wondering why is he going on
and on about da gums and Carnatic music
and so on and so forth
and i think when i looked up the word
actus and I was telling them earlier
today I had to look up how to pronounce
that more times on how to remember what
it means but I think I got it and it’s
shedding old skin and you know that
really got me thinking what does it mean
to shed old skin what is that process
all about what comes with that process
and what is the significance of that
process in this day and age
so that led me to kind of think about
what does that mean to me you know as
sits fear I’m the singer Carnatic
musician so on and so forth and what I
really came to realize is that shedding
skin growing new skin evolving
innovating is a very interesting process
through the process of evolving you know
when you do shed old skin and you do
grow in your skin you internalize new
constructs you internalize new concepts
you let those realizations manifest in
completely new ways you’re thrown into
new experiences but one thing that
remains intact through all of this is
one’s core essence what makes a person
them in my case Carnatic music is my
identity
it’s what I grew up with it’s what I
spent all my years to this day studying
spending my time with really kind of
putting in my work so Carnatic music is
my heritage it’s my foundation so when I
think about growing new skin and all the
different ways that I’ve evolved over
the past five to ten years I think about
how is this music form that is somewhere
deep within me how is that still
remained intact even though I’ve kind of
had these different outgrowths of
musical experiences and I think the
realization the Epiphany that I came to
through the process of really preparing
for this talk is the fact that however
much you innovate however much you want
to evolve those processes are empty
without realizing that the foundation
that makes you you some would call it
heritage others would call it foundation
either would call it your essence if
that’s not kept intact then whatever
ideas you have to move forward ideas you
have to innovate our fairly baseless
so let’s rewind a little bit back in
2012 I was given the amazing opportunity
to sing for era monster he had called me
I wasn’t studying at Berklee College of
Music I’d sent him an email with some of
my music some original music I was
working on and he had responded to that
email miraculously so the first song
that I ever sang in films was from the
film cuddle for the the song was
something that was very peculiar to me
at the time because it really brought
together two completely separate worlds
one was the Blues and other worlds was
Tamil cinema so an idea happened I think
now that I think about it in retrospect
it’s a perfect example of how growing
new skin can really manifest in ways
that allows you to still keep you and
your identity intact – I thought I ain’t
good in the world I your knee hardy a
heartier
Ganga niku people yelling Ankeny Corti
Porter soccer I’m up I’m up oh my gosh
Sasha he’s up on my pie my god
he saw pom pom I got my bunny bomb I got
my guys and he’s a guy and he’s stopped
by me more by the booty a la una number
VAR na in the cart a pie or more erotic
could be Paula pumpin a cetera
hi da da da yen my anger Nico tipo de ah
so thank you so I think my experience
with Carnatic music is microcosmic I
think the realizations that I’ve come to
through my study of Carnatic music has
really opened me up to who I am as an
individual it wasn’t always like this
there was a long time before I came to
these sets of realizations where I tried
to keep my different worlds apart when I
was listening to hip-hop music I would
only listen to that and I for some
reason thought that that was so
completely separate than any of my other
musical endeavors like I said before I
was a kid that was born in India but
grew up in the US so that came with its
own set of identity crises and trying to
figure out who exactly I was I realized
the power in me as an individual moving
forward and the power of evolution and
innovation when it really clicked was
when I realized that these things can
all revolve around each other and
coexist when I realized that I don’t
have to separate myself from my
foundation my identity and my culture to
trailblaze and try new things out and
really push the envelope really I guess
in conclusion I think the most important
thing to realize at this stage of
anyone’s evolution I think it starts
with individual and then that can grow
out into being a societal thing and then
a country thing one has to really
embrace who they are one has to figure
out first and foremost what exists deep
within themselves whatever that is for
my in my case it was music so it took me
a while to come to my realizations but
once that realization is struck the
scope the potential of what can come
after
is infinite I’m gonna sing one last song
and then I’m gonna open up to questions
cuz I really want to interact with you
guys if that’s okay is that cool cool
there’s Ivan
can anyone guess what song I’m gonna
sing now based on what I just sang right
there you guys are good motive our tape
inside a mighty me the neat only he may
Paul and I are kind of I knew my DD my
dog a poor levied a loony but Adam minor
part of my would a hardening a room
we need only Naga he may thunder cooler
than a truly argon on sitting Curt alive
I can Arnold a mother and I don’t know
I mean a cardinal is like a beaten
No
[Music]
I might’ve are take their side a martini
[Music] thank you guys
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