DC's Gamechangers: AJ, drumming up an electronics' storm

“I used to take part in drum battles when I was in school. I loved making music even if it meant making it with my bare hands!” Ajit Nambiar’s business-only demeanour gives way to a grin at the mention of his music. The Chairman and Managing Director of BPL, Nambiar is a man to reckon with the in Indian electronics market. When he’s not working, however, he returns to his lifelong passion: music.

We’re escorted into his office, as befits a man of his stature. With music, though, he’s the eternal student, making time for lessons apart from sessions with his band, Strange Blues. Where did it all begin? “It started with a fascination for drums and percussion,” he smiles. “I want to learn them for a while as well, to explore different types of drum kits. Percussion kits are one of my passions.”

What was the spark that started his lifelong passion? “Drums and percussion,” he says with a smile. “I am fascinated by drums and percussion and I want to stick to learning them for a while, I discover something new everyday.” His passion began when he was still a child: “I heard a musician whose skills blew my mind. It made me curious and I wanted to know more about it.”

Today, Nambiar listens to a wide range of music, from pop and jazz to Latino and funk. His heart, however, has and always will lie with classic rock. The students of St. Joseph’s High School where he studied, were besotted by rock from the 1960s. “Like my peers, I was highly influenced by musicians like Eric Clapton, Pink Floyd and Deep Purple,” he said. “I spent four-and-a-half years in the United States as well, where my love for rock deepened.”

An opportunity to learn music finally presented itself five years ago and Nambar found a teacher in Thermal and a Quarter’s Rajeev Rajagopal. “When we met, I asked him if I could learn to play an instrument at my age,” Nambiar said. Rajeev hastened to assuage his fears, saying age was no bar. “I have been learning at TAAQADEMY since. I was nearly fifty years old when I started going to classes and began learning how to read sheet music.”

Things took off from there. Nambiar and a group of like-minded buddies got together to form a class rock outfit of their own: Strange Blues. “It’s still in the early stages,” he admits, although the group gets together every chance they find. “We have a lot of extremely talented musicians joining us from time to time as well,” he adds, proudly.