#MusicInTheAir Podcast hosts this week :
SHRII

Today debuts for #MusicInTheAir a new artist for Villahangar and its Podcast: SHRII, singer-songwriter, composer, music producer and independent performer.

Her musical sensitivity has been outlined by years of formal training in Carnatic classical music, resulting in an exceptional ability to perfectly blend classical and contemporary vocal elements, both live and in studio.

Thus, drawing influences from Indian classical music, jazz, blues, electronic, hip-hop and other forms, her vocal and music style merge and evolve guided by music and by the aesthetic narration through lyrics and voice. Her Dj sets are a mix of electronic and voice through genres including house, disco, dub and global sounds.

Half of the electronic dance music duo Gods Robots, she traveled around India and the United States, performing in numerous cities, including New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, and Festival, including Burning Man Pre-Compression.

With her band, whose early works were selected by Bit Torrent for the Artist Spotlight program and with whom she released and album with Sony (India) in 2014, she had the honor of being selected by MTV World to perform at the Asia Society’s prestigious annual awards dinner, intended to improve the visibility of Asian culture in the West.

In 2017 she then began her solo project, debuting in 2017 at the Global Salon held in Lucknow – a prestigious platform for the meeting between art and culture for artists from all over the world curated by the former MTC World Vice President Nusrat Durran, that led to a series of interesting events and festivals – to then perform at a technology and art meeting called Kinnernet, held in Paris.

She was also invited to join Algebra in Delhi, a monthly socio-cultural-political meeting curated by Shoma Chaudhury, one of the most prominent Indian journalists, which was attended by the actor Naseeruddin Shah.

Since then Shrii has performed in all the clubs of the country, appearing alongside famous names such as Daniel Waples, the musician and producer Hand Drum based in the UK, the German live producer and live act Parra For Cuva, and the Argentine dj and producer Chanca Via Cicuito.

Her 2018 ended in beauty, debuting at the Mysa (Forest Hills, Maharashtra) and Locals District (Jaipur) solo festival.

In addition to producing music for the live solo sets, se boasts long-standing collaborations with producers around the world, lending voice and lyrics for their music.

Some of her key collaborations include David Starfire (California), Youth (Killing Joke) Stephan Jacobs and Ahee (LA), Tash (Greece), Invoker (France), Simone Vitullo (Italy), Nopi and more and have been released on labels including Deeva Records, Loot Recordings, XYZ, Mango Alley and Movement Recordings.

The recent collaboration with David Starfire and Stephan Jacobs titled “Season” garnered tremendous support from industry advocates like Bassnectar and others.

And her most recent collaboration with Stephan Jacobs and Ahee titled “Colors Of The Sun” reached the first place on Beatport’s Leftfield Bass Charts chart.

Her last track on Go Deeva Records was #4 on the Beatport Afro House chart.

But Shrii’s activity also involves collaborations in filmmaking and dance: she also dabbled in writing music for Bollywood and Tollywood and hers is the credit for the title of the song from the 2013 movie Jackpot.

She also sang and wrote lyrics for a song from the 2018 hit Telugu Pellichoopulu, which won a national award in the Best Picture category

Her most recent work includes vocals for the Murthovic Ensemble in Hyderabad which was part of the dance opera Antariksha Sanchar supported by Red Bull, staged live at the Royal Opera House in Mumbai and at the Kamani auditorium in New Delhi in recent months.

Her entry into the djing world has seen her protagonist in almost fifty dates in 2019 and 2020, while now, focused on bringing back her live and dj sets in festivals and clubs all over the world, she is working on some pieces in collaboration with renowned producers which will see the light soon, as well as she continues to work on her solo productions: in fact, she is ready to release her EP called “Echno” on Lump Records and Deep Bali Records.

What’s in your present on the musical and human level?

I live in India. As of now with the many parts of the country that are under partial or complete lockdowns, the gigs are non-existent. So I have been spending a lot of time focusing on creating more and honing my skills as a singer and a producer.

I have had a lot of releases this last year, both collaborations as well as my solo EP debut ‘Echo’, released on Lump Records in May. A massive collaboration track called Divine with Tash (Movement Limited), I also made my first official remix for this release; another one with Simone Vitullo and David Herror called Higher on Go Deeva Records. I collaborated with artists including Nopi, Nora Mirma (House Music With Love), Aetius Boutefoy, Folic State, among others. So musically it has been very rich and very rewarding.

I also teach Indian classical (Carnatic) online. This is a great exploration into the depth of human brain vis-a-vis learning skills. It has taught me so much.

How do you live now and how have you experienced in the recent past this particular moment for humanity of epidemic?

The epidemic has been one of the most brutal experiences for humanity as a whole. The collective energy has been so intense; but at the same time, I feel it is also time for contemplation and going within. With music being a source of deep inner work, it has been a blessing. I truly appreciate the beauty of music in my life.  

What are your musical plans for the more immediate future?

I plan to release more solo EPs and there are some very exciting songs in collaboration brewing.

How do you foresee your summer, both in your everyday life and from an artistic point of view?

Summer in India is officially ending. I am hoping that the next season will be a virus free one 😀 and that I will be able to travel to play gigs. I also plan to experiment more with my series called #TimelessExplorations on Instagram where I explore different styles of music. My everyday life in the immediate future seems to be going deeper into my musical journey.

What are your hopes for your artistic future at the moment?

Right now I am focusing on producing more music.

In the future, I hope that I will make lots of good music. I hope that my music travels far and wide 😀 I would love to someday play festivals all over the world and to work with the best musicians.