President A P J Abdul Kalam plays the drums with noted percussionist Anandan Sivamani at the Rashtrapati Bhavan's Mughal Gardens on November 13.
Earlier, the President felicitated the artistes of the fusion music group Shraddha, who performed in the Mughal Gardens as part of the Indradhanush programme organised by the Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Club. Shraddha is formed by musicials Shankar Mahadevan, Mandolin U Srinivas, Sivamani and Loy Mendonsa.
President Kalam had started the Indradhanush series of concerts at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in December 2002, to highlight India's rich cultural heritage, with Pandit Jasraj kicking off the series of concerts. Sivamani is the son of S. M. Anandan, a Chennai-based percussionist. He began drumming at the age of seven. Sivamani started his music career at the age of 11, and later shifted to Mumbai. He was inspired by Noel Grant and Billy Cobham. In 1990, he actually shared the stage with Billy Cobham at Mumbai's Rang Bhavan. He touts S. P. Balasubrahmanyam as his Godfather.
Sivamani's earliest experiments with music were with Carnatic maestros including Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan, T. V. Gopalakrishnan, Valliyapatti Subramaniam and Pazhanivel, and L. Shankar. The tabla player Zakir Hussain invited him to share the stage with himself and Trilok Gurtu at a fusion concert in Mumbai. Sivamani has since collaborated with several musicians including Louis Banks.. He has done world tours with A. R. Rahman and collaborated with him for Bombay Dreams. He has also been a part of a musical group called Shraddha which comprises Shankar Mahadevan, Hariharan, U. Srinivas and Loy Mendons.
Shivamani has a music band named "Asia Electrik" with Nilathri Kumar, Louiz Banks and Ravi Chari. He also plays at another world music band named "Silk & Shrada."
Sivamani has played drums for many notable film score composers hailing from Tamil Nadu including A. R. Rahman and Ilayaraja. He has played drums for many Indian films including Roja, Rang De Basanti, Taal, Lagaan, Dil Se, Guru, and Kabul Express. Some of the notable songs that he has contributed to include "Kadhal Rojave," "Pudhu Vellai Malai" and Chaiya Chaiya..
Sivamani has performed in Dubai, Moscow, New York, Doha and Toronto. He has also worked on Galli Galli Sim Sim, an educational series on Pogo and Cartoon Network.
Sivamani has also acted in movies. He co-stared with Thomas Jane in he Telugu movie Padamati Sandhya Raagam.
Sivamani is the Brand Ambassador for Xone - wirefree music. India's newest brand is Xone and their web site is www.xone.in Album * Golden Krithis Colours, (1994) a Carnatic Experimental album. BMG Crescendo (collaboration with Dilip, Zaakir Husain and Srinivasan and Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan)[]
* Pure Silk (2000)
* Drums On Fire (2003). New Earth (collaboration with James Asher)
* Kaash (first ghazal album with Hariharan)
