Harshavardhan Sreedhar is a sound artist who lives in the Suburbs of Lingampally in Hyderabad, India.
Shivacult, his primary music project was born out of a fascination for the ever pervading Dravidian-Aryanized God Shiva: His attainment of cosmic powers by the conquest of the unstable mind and his dwellings on sexuality and spirituality. The Shivacult project is necessarily an anthropological take on the Shiva customs of India; merely an observation of the colorful rituals and the history of the Indian land’s spiritual thought.
Marrying a thousand year old Indian Carnatic tradition of music with the latest cutting edge music tools, Harshavardhan strings intricate phrases of melody with electronically synthesized elements surpassing sonic capabilities. He brings alive the ancient Carnatic tradition of India, focusing on the aesthetic aspects of the “Raga” system and its emotional capabilities.
Harshavardhan was influenced by his mother Smt Anuradha Sreedhar’s music since he was an infant. Subsequently, he learnt to sing and perform Carnatic Classical under Sri Nedunuri Shyama Krishna and later under Smt Sundari Janakiraman. His music took an extra edge when he explored the use of computer software on his own and was then, importantly, introduced to global spiritual sounds by Dakta Dub under whom he learnt to use a set of turntables.
The internet has played a crucial role in developing and shaping Harsha’s thoughts, ideas and music. Having been born into a Tamil Brahmin family and later moved into a different Telugu speaking culture, Harsha’s cultural output is an amalgamation of different cultures adopted from different aspects of his life.
Harshavardhan is also associated with Quokka records, Australia and Mindplug Records, Berlin. He is also a visual artist who does club visuals. Harsha also contributes for Euphoric Magazine as a writer who interviews Artists and reviews tracks for the Dubstep Genre.
His music can be accessed here – http://soundcloud.com/shivacult
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