Museek
Mag
“Thaalathin Thalaivan”
The first time I saw Sivamani Sir was when I witnessed him playing the drums, solo, as a part of Music
Maestro Ilayaraja sir’s concert in Madurai…way back in 1980.
But it was only during the year 1989 when I first met the great and humble Sivamani sir, personally.
I had just started to program drums in the film industry and Sivamani Sir called me over to his place to
check out a new Yamaha Rx 7 Rhythm machine which I had bought. Meeting him was wonderful and
inspiring.
After those initial interactions, I met him again when I was doing a corporate video which also featured,
A.R.Rahman, Harris Jayaraj, Gautham Menon and Louis Banks apart from him.
I once requested him to be a Judge for the Ohh La la la TV Band Hunt that I did with A.R.Rahman for
Sarigama… A few years later I called him for a photo shoot when making
“ Reflections”, the coffee table book with A.R.Rahman. He was very comfortable shooting with me and
introduced me to Roland Corporation to do his endorsement shoot for Roland V Drums.
I really thought it would be an honour to feature him on the
Museek Mag cover, so I approached him. He was so obliging that he called me over to YMCA.
His simplicity struck me and I must say he is much the same person as I met him first despite being a
legend.
-selvakumar
20
COVER STORY