This Indian singer making the world groove to Telugu tunes

Indian singer Shriram Alluri all set to release yet-to-be-titled, multi-lingual third album

Hyderabad: Keen on raising the bar of Telugu music at an international level, Shriram Alluri is one of the few independent rock artistes to sing in his native tongue on global platforms, including Europe.

The indie singer known for his albums, ‘Man of Truth’ and ‘O Katha: Tales of This Telugu Man’, is now coming up with a yet-to-be-titled third album. The multi-lingual offering will have numbers in Telugu, Hindi, a bilingual track in Malayalam and Telugu, and one in Punjabi and Tamil. “I love to play in the native language to connect with the audience,” he says.

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Born and brought up in Hyderabad, Shriram was introduced to music at the age of four by his father and sister, who pushed him to learn western classical violin and piano. However, he stopped after a couple of years and at the age of 12, discovered his passion for guitar. “When my cousin introduced me to ‘Smoke on the Water’ by Deep Purple, I asked my dad to buy me a guitar,” the self-trained guitarist says.

The 32-year-old moved to the UK to pursue his Bachelor in Music Technology followed by Masters in Music, Mind and Technology in Finland. Even after accolades for his debut album ‘Man of Truth’, Alluri sensed a “lack” in his compositions and wanted to embrace his culture and identity.

“I had given my life’s passion, time and energy to English, and then thought why not write in Telugu, my language,” says Shriram. With this thought, he composed his second album ‘O Katha: Tales of This Telugu Man’ in Telugu, which he recorded in collaboration with Grammy award-winning Italian music producer Tommaso Colliva.

He says, “My music is anglicised and my Telugu is very basic. Taking feedback from the audience, I have worked with a lyricist to improve my work.”

Shriram enjoys a culture in which the music industry has its own identity. “There’s no appetite for people listening to indie music still but the onus is on the artiste also to create something compelling. It will take some more time for the indie-music scene to catch up but it will definitely happen.”

Shriram’s upcoming album recorded in the UK, with indie-rock band Razorlight’s drummer Andy Burrows helming the production, will be out this summer. Interestingly, his song ‘Endukala’ has also been commissioned by director Tharun Bhascker in his upcoming film ‘Keedaa Cola’.