An oblivious enrollment in a music audition – that’s all it took for Sreeju Premarajan to embark on a fulfilling musical journey. It was the year 2007 and one of Sreeju’s friends, without informing him, signed him up for an audition. Soon, the world saw him emerge as a finalist on the Indian Idol 3 stage.
Recalling the early days, Premarajan says, “As kids, my mother signed up both me and my sister for Carnatic classical music classes but I had no interest in it and decided to rather learn congo. Music really happened when I started playing congo in school and took part in an inter-school singing competition in 12th standard and grabbed the first position.”
With no formal training prior to the Indian Idol days, Premarajan thought about learning music and got under the guidance of various able gurus. He started with singing bhajans and soon associated himself with ‘The Art of Living’.
“Indian Idol gave me a major boost, in terms of music. After the show, as I received my training, I started doing shows and uploading my music videos online. Indian Idol instilled a sense of curiosity and interest in me. In 2009, I was approached for another show named Sitaaron ko Choona Hai wherein I reached till the top six,” informs Premarajan.
What started as a simple journey with singing devotional songs has now completed a full circle. In 2017, Premarajan formed his own band and started performing at various places in India. To name a few, the band performed at The Mango Festival and The Happiest Food Festival organised by the Delhi Government, called Horn OK Please. The year 2022 proved to be a highlight for Premarajan when he was invited by the High Commission of India, London.
“In October 2022, I was invited by the High Commission of India, London, to perform for the Indians with all the big delegates, commissioner, and mayors of different counties present. The event was a part of Diwali celebration as well as India’s 75th year of independence. Getting through to the international audience was a big milestone. I always knew music will some day or the other, some way, will land me in a foreign country and it did,” asserts Premarajan.
Currently working in a full time job at Malayala Manorama, Premarajan has been conscious to not let musical pursuits affect his work. He believes in the theory of managing.
He affirms, “Life is all about balancing things. If you can balance in life, that’s the best strategy one can lead in life. Doing only one thing in life creates only monotony. To excel in anything, your mind should be really refreshed and productive and for that you need some rejuvenation. Music is my rejuvenation that brings a dose of freshness into my life. And music is something that I do on weekends in my own home studio.”
A never-ending zeal to learn combined with talent makes Premarajan a great artiste. Being a self-taught music production pro and a professionally trained singer, he also teaches music to kids in his residential society. He believes to teach is to learn.
Being from a family with no music background, Premarajan has come a long way with earnest effort fuelled by passion and early success. He cites support from family and blessings of God as factors on the journey.
He will soon be coming up with his own original Malayalam song which has been recorded. It will be available on streaming platforms. And so the musical journey goes on.
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