INTRODUCTION:

Siddharth Nagarajan, the 8-year-old percussion prodigy has been mesmerizing audience round the globe for the last 6 years.

Believe it or not!  His first show was on 16th April 2000, when he was barely 2 and a ½ years old!

“These are the tender hands that gave us so much happiness in the last few minutes,” said our Honorable President Dr.A.P.J. Abdul Kalam stroking Siddhu’s hands affectionately when he heard Siddhu play for his birthday celebrations at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on 16th October 2004.It is indeed the greatest honor for Siddharth that the President has remembered to mention his name in quite a few cultural gatherings and also send a New Year greeting card (click here) personally signed to Siddharth.

Siddharth just drummed his way into the Limca book of Records for 3 consecutive years (2003 – 05), as the Youngest Drummer to perform and compose ‘Bols’ or ‘Jathis’ (rhythmic syllables) on the spot at that tender age. Isn’t it amazing that Siddhu started saying ‘bols’ before he actually began talking!

Profile

Siddharth was born on 25th September 1997 in Chennai to Vidya and Nagi.  Siddharth has always been amidst music, hailing from a family of musicians.  His grandfather G.Narayanan is a tablist who worked with the legendary cine music director Sri K.V. Mahadevan for more than 45 years. 

His father Nagarajan (Nagi as he is popularly known), is one of the most sought after percussionists of the South Indian music industry today.  He is the rhythm programmer for several music directors including Shri Vidyasagar, S.A.Rajkumar, Anu Malik to name a few. 

His mother, Vidya is a classically trained singer who hails from Mumbai.  She has been singing for the last 25 years.  She runs her own music troupe catering to weddings and corporates. 

His sister Dhanashree is also a good singer who has many awards and prizes to her credit.  Siddharth is presently in Class III in Padma Seshadri School (K.K.Nagar). 

Siddharth is a born musician.  “He responded to music as soon as he was born when music was customarily played in the labour room”, says his mother proudly.  He continued to display his craving for rhythm as he grew.

It all began like this:

Siddharth was just 1 and a ½ then.  One afternoon, when everyone in the house was fast asleep, they suddenly heard the sound of the Dandia beat being played in the adjacent room at short intervals.  What they saw was truly amazing!  It was little Siddharth who had groped his way in to his father’s music room and playing the beat happily on the Dhol which Nagi had kept for drying (Nagi is also a professional drum manufacturer).  Nagi was thrilled and sensing his keen interest, immediately got down to making a special drum kit to suit his size.  This drum kit was taken to Thiruverkadu temple during the Chitra Pournami festival (16/4/2000) to be placed before the deity.  Siddhu was asked to just play something he liked and to everyone’s amazement the little lad ended up giving a spellbinding 12-minute solo performance! 

INITIATION AND TRAINING:

Siddharth’s initiation was done by none other than the world famous drummer Sri Sivamani in Mumbai on 1/09/2000.  He then started learning from Mr.Gopal and is presently being coached by his father Nagi and when time permits the little master scoots off to Malaysia for special classes from Mr. Lewis Pragasam.  He is presently undergoing tutelage in Mridangam from Sri Seshadri (s/o Madurai G. Srinivasan).

THE OTHER SIDE OF SIDDHARTH:

With so much rhythm already in him, the inquisitive Siddharth does not want to lag behind in melody.  He has started composing pieces of syncopation music for his shows and is also trying his hand at singing and playing the piano, though he has not had any formal training in them as yet.  The other aspect of Siddharth is being a naughty prankster, a total Spiderman freak, a car and bike buff.  His hobbies include watching Pogo and Cartoon channels, drum videos and playing video games.