Sahi Siva sat down with Tamil Guardian to talk about his musical journey, what has inspired his work and his UNNAALE Album world tour which will be hitting Jaffna this week.
Musical beginnings
Sahi, who grew up in East London, started playing the miridangam and learnt sangeetham from the age of four. As a teenager, Sahi taught himself how to play the piano and guitar and then went on to sing covers of famous Tamil songs at university shows.
Sahi then went on to perform his own compositions when he was noticed by Tamil rap pioneer MC Sai and was signed by Oru Nation which produced the songs ‘Naan Kudikka Poren’ and ‘Nenjinile Rebirth’.
When asked about his inspirations and the impact of his British Tamil identity on his music, Sahi said:
“I think the majority of the Tamil we absorb is either from the media we get from Kollywood films and songs or your upbringing. My parents are both Tamil school teachers and I’ve been in Tamil school for almost all of my youth and we speak Tamil at home. It’s a collaboration of what we see from cinema and the life experiences we’ve had - it just fuses together in a unique perspective.”
He went on to say that he “tries to hit the standard and quality we see from Kollywood but bring in our own British Tamil style.”
Sahi told the Tamil Guardian that whilst he’s a “huge R&B” fan, his “biggest inspirations” are MC Sai and Ratty Adhiththan, both Eelam Tamil diaspora artists, who he also looks up to as older brothers.
He added that he also draws inspiration from top Kollywood music producers and singers A R Rahman, Yuvan Shankar Raja and Anirudh.
Collaborating with Eelam Tamil artists
Since he began his music career, Sahi has collaborated with various Eelam Tamil artists, namely MC Sai and Ratty Adhiththan on songs but also, choreographers such as Canadian Tamils Jesi Sadayar and Arththika Vimal, who choreographed two of Sahi's music videos - ‘Ammamma’ and ‘Thaali Thevaiyilla’ - which have garnered millions of views on Youtube.
“It’s definitely been an eye-opening experience. What we don’t really appreciate is that there is so much talent amongst our own Eelam Tamil community but the thing is, we’re all scattered around the world. But you can take that as a positive because I can go to any country in the world and there are talented Eelam Tamil individuals that are willing to work, hungry to work and are open to work.”
“It’s so nice to see like minded people working together and when you love what you do, the product that comes out of it will always be something you’re proud of.”
World tour
Sahi is currently touring the world and has hit 25 cities so far and is planned to end in his hometown London in April 2025.
“It’s been crazy. It’s been a very tiring year, a lot of travelling, a lot of jetlag, and I haven't been home for a lot of the year. It's one of those things where I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to travel to many places through what I do as a career so I’m just trying to take it as a positive.”
“I’ve performed in countries for the first time - like Italy and New Zealand. To see that my music has gone to these places and there is a sizable population that follows the music and are fans of the music - that's been a great experience for me.”
Later this week, Sahi will be performing in Colombo and in Jaffna for the second time. Sahi joined the renowned composer and musician Santhosh Narayanan at his Yaazh Gaanam in October 2023.
Sahi Siva performing at Yaazh Gaanam in Jaffna in October 2023
“I didn't realise it was possible to perform back home. But Santhosh Anna kindly requested me to be one of his acts when he did his free concert in Jaffna. It was easily one of the top five moments of my life […] it changed my life.”
Speaking about his upcoming show in Jaffna, Sahi said:
“For me, it’s just important because I have family in Jaffna. It only makes sense to pay back and show respect to the fact that I learnt Tamil from my family and this is my way of saying I want to perform to my people. I’m super excited for it.”
“Even when Santhosh Anna performed there (Jaffna) for the first time, I think it was the first few concerts that have happened in Jaffna, so we wanted to try to change that outlook. Jaffna is a place where we can host musical and cultural events.”
“When I go there, I’m just hoping people come and support but also motivates them to carry on and more artists will be willing to add Jaffna to their tour when they do shows in the future. It’s about trying to instill some kind of change in the way things are right now.”
Sahi's world tour has taken him to the US, Canada, Australia, India, and he’ll be performing in Germany, Paris and London this year.
“London is where I was raised, so I wanted that to be the last stop of the tour.”
Advice to newcomers
When asked if he had any advice for young Tamils considering music as a career, Sahi said that “either you have to know 100% that you want to do it or you don't.”
“If you’ve decided that you want to do it, then don’t stop. You have to keep believing in yourself and surround yourself with people that believe in you more than you believe in yourself because you need that on those low days.”
“You have to be able to take on constructive criticism, you have to always be on the lookout to learn and improve your skills every single day. At the end of the day, if you’re not having fun then it’s not for you - so make sure you have fun along the way!”
Sahi will be performing in Jaffna on January 26.
You can listen to the album Unnaale here.