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Siddharta - Biography


This band's profile is 'invisible', meaning that it's much less prominent on the site - either because it's incomplete, or maybe doesn't entirely fit MS format.


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Biography

Siddharta was formed in 1995 when four friends - Tomi M. (vocals, guitar), Primo? B. (guitar, back vocals), Primo? M. (bass) and Bo?tjan M. (drums) - got together and named themselves after a well-known Hermann Hesse novel because they liked the sound of it. Soon they started developing their own sound and enriched it with the saxophone. Cene R. joined the band, who at that point mostly played club gigs and in the end of 1996 they played their 14 demo tapes in a famous progressive club in Ljubljana, K4.

The debut album Id was recorded at Studio Tivoli in cooperation with Dejan Radievi and Anders Kallmark between April 1998 and February 1999. A help-out in the studio at the beginning, the keyboard player Toma? O. R. later joined the band as full member. The Id promotion began in May 1999 in the Hound Dog club in Ljubljana and met an outstanding media response. The band overstepped club gigs and played as an opening act for Liquido and Dog Eat Dog in the biggest Slovenian festival, Rock Otoec and in Ljubljana open-air theatre Kri?anke for the Leningrad Cowboys. Due to disagreements with their first one the band looked for a new record company (they signed with Multimedia Records, a Universal Music Group licensee) and new management in September 1999. In a year, during the Id tour, the band played over 50 live concerts all over Slovenia.

Their live performances gave the album a new dimension. Siddharta's presence in the media increased considerably. The debut album Id went platinum. It has now been sold in 13,000 copies. Six months of Siddharta silence later their second album Nord broke out in May 2001. An English version was also recorded. Peter Penko (Laibach, Silence, Coptic Rain) and ?arko Pak (Big Foot Mama, Radyoyo) worked as producers; many guests were invited to work with the band for Nord: Toma? Humar, Anita Kay, Bo?tjan Gomba, Bojan Cvetre?nik, Robert Rebolj and others. The sales of Nord broke all known records of that time as over 7,000 copies were sold in less than two months after release. In Slovenia, the only band to top that was U2. Nord has been sold in 30,000 copies. In the spring of 2001 the band set sail on an all-Slovenian stage expedition, playing nearly 80 live performances, selling out even the largest sports halls. In spring 2002 preparations for a remix album began. Many recognized Slovenian artists and DJ's were invited to work on it, such as Laibach, Umek, Kanzyani, Jamirko, McBrane and others.

The remix album Silikon Delta was released in June 2002. In March 2003 Jani H. became a full member of the band; he stepped in as bass player after Primo? M. decided to leave the band. In July 2003 Siddharta and Multimedia Records, the company they had worked with for four years of their successful musical journey and had released all their previous discography projects: their debut album Id, the single Lunanai, their second album Nord and the remix album Silikon Delta, agreed to discontinue their cooperation.

The band thanked Multimedia Records for the support received on their way and proceeded to work with KifKif Records, announcing the release of the new album. The studio work lasted many months, during which they had worked with Peter Penko, Dali Strni?a, Rok Golob and ?are Pak. On August 13th, 2003 the result was released with KifKif Records: Siddharta's third studio album Rh-.

A month after the release of their third studio album Rh-, Siddharta opened the Rh- tour with a concert on Ljubljana's central football stadium, a concert which astounded all who were there and those who were not. On 13th September Siddharta, accompanied by the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra and 60 dancers, played before a crowd of over 30,000 people and a few thousand who could not get in as the concert had been sold out way in advance. It was an event never yet seen in Slovenia and it received incredible media coverage. The preparations for the project had begun many months beforehand, from careful stage-planning to the choreography and music arrangements for the orchestra. Siddharta chose to work with those who had proven to be the men for the job. The choreography was entrusted to Miha Kru?i (choreography for the Go Easy video) and the music arrangements to Milko Lazar and Slavko Avsenik Jr (the arrangements for the 2002 Kri?anke concert). What sprouted was a sight for sore eyes: three stages, breathtaking choreographies and costumes, eye-watering orchestrations, Siddharta at their best, and a blanket of over 60,000 hands.

In June 2004 Menart Records presented to their bands achievements and popularity awards. Siddharta won the highest possible recognition of sales in Slovenia named a Diamond record. Siddharta expressed their deep gratitude to their devoted fans for all the support they had received from them. The band has finalized their new album. Petrolea was released on June 4th 2006.

(Source: http://www.siddharta.net)