Drums of heaven in namma ooru
This unique event, will see a group of strangers huddled together in a circle and drum up their own beats
By : soumashree sarkar
Update: 2015-10-18 00:40 GMT
Ever notice how you tend to walk to the rhythm of any song that you are listening to and how the strangers sharing the sidewalk with you have the tendency of falling into the same pace? It’s no wonder then that when complete strangers sit in a circle and begin playing their own beats on bits of percussion, it is only a matter of time before a unified beat emerges. This October 23, the city will see one of its very largest drum circles — comprised for the first time, entirely of strangers!
At the helm of it will be the city group Agnii – Art for All, that has performed in shows ranging from Comedy Nights with Kapil to India’s Got Talent. Agnii founder Saravana Dhanapal – himself a youngster of considerably diverse artistic talent, says, “We have become used to seeing a show on stage and sitting behind passively. This is the first time that completely unknown faces will come together to create a communal beat.”
With participants of all ages coming together in a group that does not know itself yet, the onus is on the members of the band to make them feel comfortable with each other. Mahesh Kumar, who is one of the youngest members of Agnii’s band, says, “We are the ultimate troubadours. You take us to a corporate setup, we’ll make them whip out a beat, the next day you take us to a slum and we can do the same routine. We are very excited to try this with a crowd like the one coming together at the Church Street address – it’ll be a team building exercise among strangers!”
Ramachandran Sudalaiyandi, who orchestrates the drum circle and begins the process of beat assimilation sees the circle as a vehicle of musical joy. He says, “Technicians are invisible in the music concerts of today, so only when people hold an instrument do they realise the mechanism of it first hand. So we provide them with instruments and give them the story behind the instrument. We also want to debauch the hierarchy that is prevalent in classical music – our idea is to make a participant feel happy, the minute they hold a drum!”