Shri is a musician from Bangalore, United Kingdom, who is best known for his work as one half of Badmarsh & Shri and for his solo releases. He grows up in Mumbai, India, in a musically inclined family: his father plays sitar, while his mother and sister play Carnatic violin.

Early training and instruments

Shri trains as a classical tabla player for around 14 years at Pandit Nikhil Ghosh’s school in Mumbai. He later teaches himself bass, guitar and flute after becoming dissatisfied with the rigidity of classical music. His signature instrument is a fretless bass guitar that he designs and makes himself, and he uses it with a bow as part of his own playing style.

Career

Before moving to London in the 1990s, Shri plays percussion in Indus Creed, a leading Indian rock band, and bass in the jazz group Azure Hades, with which he records an album. In London he works with UK-based Asian musicians including Talvin Singh, Nitin Sawhney and DJ Badmarsh, and this leads to the formation of Badmarsh & Shri.

Shri tours for five years with Sawhney, and in 1997 releases his first solo album, Drum the Bass, produced by Sawhney and issued on Outcaste Records. As Badmarsh & Shri, he records Dancing Drums in 1998 and Signs in 2001, both for Outcaste Records. His later solo album East Rain appears in 2005 on Drum the Bass Records, and Seven Steps follows in 2007 on the same label, featuring the single “Just for a Minute”.

Style and collaborations

Shri’s releases combine electronica and drum and bass with traditional Indian ragas. He also works in theatre and dance, composing for Akademi’s 2001 Coming of Age dance project at London’s South Bank, the Builder’s Association and Motiroti co-production Alladeen in 2003, and Tamasha Theatre Company’s Strictly Dandia in 2005. He continues to compose for theatre productions and has also written music for several Bollywood films.

Later work

In 2011 Shri produces and performs bass and bowed bass on “Quest” with mridangam and kanjira player Vivek Rajagopalan and violinist and vocalist Embar Kannan. The track is released by Folktronic, a sub-brand of Day 1 (Sony Music Independent).