Mumbai-born British musician and producer Shri Sriram has been chameleon-like in his exploration of genres. The 46-year-old multi-instrumentalist played percussion with legendary Indian rock band Indus Creed in his early years and is also known for being one half of the electronic music duo Badmarsh and Shri. On December 7, his Just A Vibration album, which combines Hindustani classical music with the soul of Yorkshire brass, won the prize in the “Brass and Wind” category at the 2016 British Composer Awards.
Sriram was introduced to Yorkshire brass band music by his drummer Marc Layton-Bennet and was drawn to its “dynamism and energy”. For the album, he performed with the Hammonds Saltaire Band, a 30-piece brass outfit, and a sitar player. The album was released in the United Kingdom in September 2015.
Initially, Sriram says, the musicians were hesitant to his approach. “This is not brass band music,” they told him. However, now, the album has shaken up the community and reminded everyone what brass band music can also be like, he added.
Sriram is currently in Mumbai where he played a jazz concert at antiSOCIAL in Khar. At the performance, he did something he had always wanted to try – play with two drummers and an additional bass guitarist, leaving him free to experiment with different sounds and instruments. Watch this performance of Just A Vibration from the London Jazz Festival 2015.
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