How Mumbai Singer-Songwriter Sri Executed a 15 City Tour on His Own

For Mumbai-based singer-songwriter Srijit Bhowmick aka Sri, the arts were always around him in some form or the other for as long as he can remember. He says, “Everyone in my family and around could sing, dance, write, appreciate poetry and parallel cinema.” Through his adolescence, Sri dipped his toes into everything from Rabindra Sangeet, Bangla rock, Bollywood and indi-pop, rock, and even heavy metal, with all the styles creeping into his music at some point or the other.

While the pressures of work-life presented itself, Sri realized that his music began to take a back seat and in 2016, the then 22-year old quit his job to take up music full-time. “I had been writing good material for two years then and this solo project was bound to happen,” says Sri. The singer-songwriter released his debut EP Sri in 2017 and in January of this year put out its follow-up, the crowdfunded five-track The Only Find, which was supported by a mammoth 15 city and 27 shows tour.

The new EP– tracked at Pune’s Gray Spark Audio – highlights Sri’s hauntingly unique vocals all throughout it. The opening track “Hunger of My Soul” is Nineties nostalgia with grunge vibes and a crunchy guitar solo. “[It] is about this person going through a mundane everyday existence with the push and pull of routine work versus passion,” he says. The EP moves onto the lullaby ditty “Losing” which is “a song about realizing how much you love someone when you’re losing that person and you don’t want to see her go.” Next is the rocky “Unfairly” and melancholic “Fun” before record closer, the country-leaning “Darlene” which according to Sri “is sort of another similar sad love track but it talks about that stage where the lover long gone is still there lingering on your mind every day.” The record was co-produced by Sri and Gray Spark Audio’s Nitin M Krishna.

Ask Sri how he managed to plot a massive tour for himself to support the EP and he says, “I was getting in touch with people since last year when the production was going on. Along the way, it has become a part and parcel of life and I’ve picked up more skills.” He adds, “In a nutshell, it has been a series of many firsts. And then one thing led to another. The planning, traveling and finances worked out even with last minute ticket bookings and half a dozen return trips to Bombay because it was planned in phases.” Armed with just an acoustic guitar, Sri has played shows in his hometown, New Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru, Goa, the North East and even Ahmedabad among others during his The Only Find Tour. “Overall, it went really smooth,” he says.

Next, Sri has plans to make his merchandize available for sale online as well as shoot a music video for one of the songs off the record. The singer-songwriter is also working on a Hindi track titled “Gulaam” he wants to release later this year. “At the end of the day, you got to travel through life and there may or may not be a fixed answer to all the puzzles and choices and questions that are there. You just gotta keep on going and figuring things out along the way. And here I am,” says the musician.

Check out all the dates Sri has played as part of the tour below:

Sri’s tour dates. Photo: Nikita Borges/Chitran/Abhishek Dey.