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His heart beats for music
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India's youngest drummer Siddharth Nagarajan performed in the city recently
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SCORING WITH SKILL Siddharth Nagarajan PHOTO: S. R. Raghunathan
The Drum Fest 2006, presented by the Rotary Club Of Chennai Samudra, saw Siddharth Nagarajan, India's youngest drummer give a rousing performance that enthralled one and all. The eight-year-old prodigy drummer and winner of several awards is a student of Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan. But proving that age is just a number, he has entered the Limca Book of Records for three consecutive years (2003 - 05), as the youngest drummer to perform and compose `bols' or `jathis' (rhythmic syllables) on the spot and was the Wisdom International Child Prodigy in 2004. A veteran of many shows, both abroad and at home, Siddharth's confidence is a wonder.
Born into a family where music is more a norm than an exception — grandfather G. Narayanan is a tablist, his father Nagarajan is a percussionist and mother Vidya, a singer. Siddharth or Sid as he is better known started playing when he was only one-and-a-half years old. He made his debut with a 12-minute solo performance at the Chitra Pournami festival in the Thiruverkadu Temple.
Skilful presentation
He has an uncanny ability to understand the nature of sound. Whoever said that only musical instruments could make music? Any object that can make a noise when touched and used intelligently can add to the musical score. That's just what Sid proved when he used a tiny stuffed parrot to add depth to his opening number titled "Angel's Song". This also may have a lot to do with the influence of his mentor Sivamani, who drums on anything he can lay his hands on.
At the fest, besides the music, great attention was paid to creating the on-stage ambience. Each composition was presented in a carefully panned sequence. So while the first one had fish swimming in the background, the next was about cleanliness and had the drummer and stagehands dressed as ONYX cleaners, tapping away with their feet and casuarina sticks to a catchy beat.
But it was not all about drumming. This was also an occasion when the noted ghatam maestro and Grammy award winner, Vikku Vinayakram, released the "Hanuman Chalisa" CD composed by Siddharth . But the finale was yet to come and the cheering audience was amply rewarded when Sid and his mentor Sivamani played together.
PAROMITA PAIN
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