Swayam Siddha Priyadarshi takes the road less travelled with his sitar

If his personality were a raga, Swayam Siddha Priyadarshi says it would be Malgunji, a little unconventional and not quite what you expect. A raga that grows on you the longer you listen, and perhaps that says something about the way he approaches music, too. He likes to experiment, but there is always a thought behind what he does, whether it is the sound of his sitar or the way he presents himself on stage.

Sitarist by design

For Chennai, he has a raga in mind, too. Asked which one he would associate with the city, he picks Jhinjhoti, drawn to its timeless quality and what he sees as its connection to Chennai’s musical and cultural life.

Swayam is bringing his sitar to Chennai this weekend as part of The Road Less Travelled, a tour across India. He will be accompanied by tabla player Gajraj Mohini, with a set that moves between original compositions, classical music, and familiar melodies. For Swayam, the concert is another opportunity to see how far he can take the sitar without losing what makes the instrument distinctive.

“I see my concerts as an experience rather than just a musical performance,” he says. With a background in product design, he thinks about what happens around the music as much as the music itself. Lighting, visuals, the venue and the way a performance unfolds all matter to him. Even his personal style, including his distinctive ear cuffs, feels like an extension of that approach. He sees a connection between his two worlds: “In UX, you’re guiding a user through a journey to achieve something; in music, you’re taking a listener through an emotional journey,” he explains.

For all the experimentation, though, one thing remains non-negotiable. “The sitar is always at the heart of my music,” he says. Electronic sounds and percussion help him build atmosphere and give the music a cinematic quality, but they are there to complement the instrument, not overshadow it.

His interpretation of a tarana by Vidushi Veena Sahasrabuddhe is a good example of what he means. He has revisited the same composition in three ways: with an orchestral arrangement, a traditional Indian ensemble and a more minimal treatment. The melody stays the same, but each version takes it somewhere else. “I enjoy exploring these different possibilities, thinking not just about the melody but also the layers, textures and arrangement,” he says. “It’s fascinating how the same piece can reveal an entirely different character each time you approach it differently.”

Experimenting with classical music inevitably raises questions about how much a musician can change before the tradition itself gets lost. Swayam believes the two need not be at odds. As long as he understands the grammar and fundamentals of the music, he feels he has room to play. “For any art form to survive, it needs to remain relevant to new generations,” he says.

There is plenty he still wants to explore. While composing for films is not an immediate ambition, Swayam is keen to develop his original music and hints that an album could be on the way. Beyond that, he hopes to take the sitar into spaces it has not traditionally occupied and reach listeners who might not otherwise encounter Indian classical music. He also has ideas for future tours, including more elaborate visual narratives and collaborations with other musicians, many of which currently exist as sketches and doodles in his notebooks.

From Rs 799 onwards. On October 17, at 7 pm at Bharata Kalanjali Natya School, Taramani.

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