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Anandan Siva Mani performs for a free Tibet

Music Tibet News Service

Dharamsala, India, 10 March 2004 Like music is all around Siva Mani Anandan, so is love. The proof was there during his visit to Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh, in March.

He was here to perform to show his support for the Tibetan cause. Accompanying with him in his spectacle was his girl friend, Jessica. Here's how it all started.

"I met His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Delhi during the Conclave on Buddhism and Spiritual Tourism, organized by Tourism ministry, where I gave a solo show. The President, Abdul Kalam, inaugurated the conference," Siva Mani said.

"It was a very special moment for me to be able to spent some time with His Holiness in a private audience. The room was full of energy. Wow, he is such a human – loving and very calm. What else can I say?"

"Then he offered me an invitation to come to Dharamsala and perform on March 10, the Tibetan National Uprising day."

This year marks the 45th anniversary of the 1959 Lhasa uprising against the Chinese occupation of Tibet.

The Dalai Lama received an invitation from the People's Liberation Army of China to attend a show on March 10 at a military camp around Lhasa. They ordered him not to be accompanied by any bodyguards or attendants.

Suspecting threat to the Dalai Lama's life, the people of Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, surrounded the Norbulingka summer palace blocking his way and called for the Dalai Lama not to attend the show and shouted slogans demanding Chinese to leave Tibet.

On March 17, the Dalai Lama traded his monk's robes to a Tibetan common soldier's uniform and fled to lead a life in exile in India.

The Dalai Lama may not have seen Tibet since then, but Siva Mani has last year. Swami Sidanand Saraswati Muniji brought him to Tibet.

Mount Kailash and Mansarovar was the destination of Siva Mani and the Swami ji and the company. They were there for about 20 days May/June 2003. It was during this trip that Siva Mani met his girlfriend, Jessica.

Jessica Cauffiel is an actress and a singer from California. Yes, she has acted in the film "Legally Blonde" and there are a host of other films she has acted in. "She has a great voice," Mani said. The duet is now working on an album, which will be a cut from their Mansarover trip.

"We performed together at Mansarover and around Kailash. It was amazing."

It was during this visit that he came in touch with Tibetans and became curious about them. "I went to many monasteries and met with many Lamas and performed for them. The whole experience was very fascinating."

Siva performs with music monarchs such as Zakir Hussain, A R Rehman, L Shankar, Louis Bank, to name a few. He has performed around the world except in China and Japan.

Even before he was influenced in conventional theory by his musical father, S M Anandan, Siva was introduced to music in an extraordinary way. "I heard a rhythm when I was in my mother's womb," Mani says.

"There is music wherever I am". And, he was right. As we began our conversation, he picked up the teaspoons and within seconds the chai-glass, the sugar-pot and the table began to emit their sweetest sounds – yes in a beautiful, upbeat melody.

Zakir Hussain, he said, had inspired him the most. "He called me to perform on short notice in a show in 1985. I felt very honoured to have that opportunity. I have been with him since then."

His real show set-up, he says, has instruments from all over the world. He collects instruments from wherever he goes and hence his music genre is called "World Music".

The piece he did on March 10 was for world peace. "To be sharing that piece in the presence of His Holiness and the monks and the Tibetans was an honour."

As you read this story, he will have finished a tour in Berlin and then will have gone on to the US to perform with L Shankar, Ginger and the band Toto.

He will go everywhere, but now he has a new cause to promote as he travels. "I will definitely continue my support for the Tibetan cause. Theirs is a fight for a just cause."

More on Siva Mani: www.sivamani.com