Bhai the way

Shridevi Keshavan aka Shrii

Shridevi Keshavan aka Shrii is lucky to have Neelakantan PK, her elder brother, in her life because when she was in school, he played an instrumental role in broadening her musical horizons, letting her blossom into the artiste she is today.

Here's why. Keshavan's foray into singing took place when she was only about three years old and her parents - who are huge fans of old Hindi songs - entered her into a singing competition where she sang the Mohammad Rafi classic, Kya hua tera wada. "They [her parents] realised that my voice is not bad and enrolled me for Carnatic lessons," says the Mumbaikar who originally hails from Kerala, adding, "But it was boring for me, because that music is really difficult to comprehend for a child."

That's when Neelakantan stepped in. He was listening to complex stuff - jazz-fusion bands such as Shakti and avant-garde musicians like Björk - at the time, and he told his little sister how important it was for her to explore different sonic dimensions. She says, "He was into intellectual, academic music and would play these violin pieces and say, ‘Imagine your voice transcending boundaries; think about what that can do for your soul.' It was then that I started learning the keyboard, got into acts like Nirvana and realised that it's not about having a great voice, but more about the message that the music portrays."

That's the sort of advice that informs Echo, Keshavan's debut EP as a producer, which marries her varied musical influences with modern, down-tempo beats. It embodies the sort of sound that can help clubbers get their brains in order after three hours of techno bangers, before they start raging again until the sun comes up. But Shrii, the artiste, also has another side. In the future, she plans to launch an easy-listening album that showcases her talents as a singer-songwriter, not an electronic music producer who also DJs at gigs.

In the interim, her plan is to release more material in the same vein as Echo since, in her own words, the more dance-friendly albums she releases, the more gigs she will get as a DJ. The point being that here is an artiste whose music blends Carnatic influences with electronica, but who feels equally comfortable donning the hat of a traditional Western music singer composing tracks on a keyboard. She has her parents to thank for that since they initiated her into the art form.

But her artistic trajectory might have taken a narrower direction without Neelakantan's intervention, and he deserves all credit for that.

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