[2000-2004]
In 2002, Siva joined “Oikyotaan” a group experimenting with Baul music which was rooted in ancient
Bengali culture. Whilst learning and performing with this group, Siva was deeply moved to find his
sound. Siva’s interest in drums led him to explore the plethora of percussion instruments that the
world had to offer, such as Djembe, Udu and Darbuka. In 2003, Siva with Tanvi Shah formed
“Zahrra”, a band that performed South American, Cuban, African and Arabic music in local stages. It
was during one of the performances of Zahrra, that Siva was tagged with “Darbuka” in his name, due
to him being one of the few individuals who played the Egyptian percussion instrument in Chennai.