Lydian Nadhaswaram 

Chennai-bred 18-year-old Lydian Nadhaswaram, a prodigious musical talent, has captured attention with his unparalleled mastery of the piano but he’s now a multi-instrumentalist who plays up to 25 instruments. Nadhaswaram’s musical journey began at the age of three, displaying an innate gift for rhythm and melody. His rise to fame came with his stellar performances on the global stage, including American reality talent show The World’s Best in 2019, catapulting him into the spotlight in India and abroad. With an impressive repertoire spanning classical, jazz, and contemporary genres, Nadhaswaram’s virtuosity is at the forefront, leading to composing music for an upcoming Malayalam film. 

Read our interview with Nadhaswaram below: 

Take us back to your early years. You began playing drums first at a very young age and then moved to piano. How was that transition? 

Yes. So I started playing drums when I was three years old. So this was long before I can remember too, but we have video proof of that. I started in 2007 and was a drummer until 2014. Then I shifted my main instrument to piano. From then on, I turned into a full-time pianist, learning a lot of genres and instruments. Now I can play 25 instruments. This is how my career started. 

Would you say the piano is your primary instrument, though? 

Yes. I can say I have two primary instruments: drums and piano because I don’t want to leave drums alone; that’s my first instrument. 

You attended KM College of Music & Technology, what were those years you spent there like?  

Well, even before I joined KM, I was performing in a lot of shows and concerts and was sent a lot of albums and other things. But, mainly I joined KM to learn tabla, Hindustani style tabla, and then I used to go around the college and explore a lot of instruments. This method of piano playing really impressed me, it’s called the Russian piano style, and the faculty and the tutor there was Dr. Surojeet Chatterji. I learned under him for like two years, and it has a unique style. And then I also explored more genres and piano such as jazz and blues and other things, although that was not in KM. The Russian piano learning was in KM. 

How did you first come across this style of piano playing?  

I used to see them performing, and also when some guests that [A.R.] Rahman sir brings to KM, we all used to go there into the Russian piano studio, and they used to perform there. So that style really impressed me, you know, and it felt a little unique other than other piano styles and I just wanted to learn that and explore that a little bit.  

What’s your relationship with A.R. Rahman like? 

He’s like one of the sweetest and one of the most humble humans. He encourages me and he’s very caring and whenever he sees me he gives me advice on a lot of things. He’s been a really big support.  

You’re dabbling as a film composer now — what’s that been like? 

Yes, I’m doing a film and it’s my debut film. It’ll come out this year soon and it’s a very big film, a commercial project in Malayalam. 

Could you tell us about your experience on being part of the reality show The World’s Best and also winning it. 

It’s an unforgettable experience for me. Honestly. I mean, [I was] going all the way from here to Los Angeles and competing with 195 countries and the only one who who’s representing India. It felt really special and there were five rounds. In each round I did something unique and special. Then I finally won the competition. I believed in my practice and I believed in music and it didn’t let me down. 

You recently met Jacob Collier, how was that interaction? 

If you ask me, Jacob is one of my biggest inspirations in music. The stuff he does is absolutely out of the world. I mean even his recent album [Djesse, Vol. 4]; I heard a few songs before the release and it was absolutely amazing. And I’m sure that he’s going to bag the Grammys this year or the next year. Meeting Jacob in Bangalore, it was a real pleasure. I saw that he was going to perform in Bangalore during October and the show was on November 6th and I immediately DM’ed Jacob on Instagram saying I’m so happy that you’re coming to India and he was like ‘Brother come over to Bangalore. Let’s meet up sometime.’ He’s was so kind to reply. We saw his full show and then after the show, he invited me all the way to his green room, we nearly spoke for like 45 minutes, just two of us standing. I’d brought my small traveling keyboard, too, so we were playing on that and jamming. And I also gifted him a South Indian percussion instrument. He’s a wonderful human being and he also signed my guitar.  

What are you currently working on and what can we expect from you for the rest of 2024? 

We had this idea for like over eight years to do an album that highlights the identity of the Tamil language. There are over 1,000 couplets and each couplet has so much meaning in it about life lessons, about material life and relationships, morality and everything. We want to let the next generation and the current generation know these beautiful life lessons musically. So it’s a very meaningful project and massive project. 

What according to you is the future of music? 

Well, in my humble opinion, there’s a lot of scope and a lot of young artists who are coming up, and I have seen many artists. Of course, Jacob Collier is the biggest and he’s the biggest example in today’s music world. He’s bringing new sounds. Exploring new things in music and he’s inspiring millions of people. Even from India, I’ve seen a lot of other artists who are rising. In India, we basically have a vision that music only comes from cinema, but I want to take it to the next step and I want to break that barrier and bring independent music as the mainstream thing here. I personally have plans to release independent music, I have albums lined up in different genres such as jazz, blues and Indian fusion, rap and pop and rock and R&B and indie. I’m seeing people who are executing these ideas too, which really gives hope to the next generation of musicians.