SHRI

b. Shrikanth Sriram, Bombay, India. The multi-instrumentalist Shri was brought up in Bombay where he trained as a classical tabla player from an early age. As a teenager he developed a taste for jazz, in particular the fusion styles of John McLaughlin, Jaco Pastorius and Joe Zawinul, and consequently developed a more groove-orientated approach to playing, learning the bass guitar. He later played percussion in Indus Creed, one of India’s most successful rock bands, and bass in the jazz outfit Azure Hades, with which he recorded an album. On the strength of this, he was invited to the UK by Simon Dove of the Yorkshire Dance Centre to work with Talvin Singh, and he subsequently returned to work on a contemporary dance project. On the strength of his work in Nitin Sawhney’s live band, Shri signed to Outcaste Records and released his debut album Drum The Bass in 1996. Here he blended his own particular approaches to percussion, bass, flute and other instruments with the sounds and techniques of UK dance music, to produce a collection of evocative, atmospheric tracks. In 1998 he released a second album, Dancing Drums, a collaboration with the DJ and producer Badmarsh that tended towards a drum ‘n’ bass and breakbeat sound. The title track from this album and Shri’s own ‘Meditation’ were included on Outcaste’s excellent compilation, Untouchable Outcaste Beats. Shri’s second collaboration with Badmarsh, 2001’s Signs, was less club-orientated but another fine collection of tracks. The artist’s next major release was his second solo album, East Rain, which was issued by Remote Control at the end of 2005. In addition to his recording career Shri has collaborated with a wide range of artists, worked with contemporary dance troupes and theatre companies, and completed several commissions for radio and television.