Hyderabad will witness the World Music Day celebrations this Sunday at nearly fourteen venues with more than 200 musicians from varied age groups participating in different various genres of music.
Parvathy Krishnan is probably the only woman drummer from the city, who will be participating with her band, Staple Diet.
“The name of the band is inspired by our choice of songs, nothing exotic but nice melodies from the Blues and rock genres. Ever since I read the Phantom comics in my childhood, I have been dreaming of sending out a message through the medium of drums. Eight years ago, stepping into my forties I finally started learning drumming. I have a great teacher in Daniel Benjamin, who understands my difficulties. I try not to bang the drums hard lest they disturb my neighbours!,” says Parvathy who lists famous drummers James Sullivan and Shannon Larkin as her favourites.
“It’s a bit tricky to manage time from my work and get to practice. But it's important to have an alternate source of income other than a musical profession. As a woman, drumming has never been tiresome. In fact, it gives me energy and happiness to work better,” she adds.
Salim David, the lead guitarist and vocalist of the band, did his schooling in Hyderabad before travelling across India. “As a kid, I was always interested in music. But it took me nearly two years to convince my father to buy me a guitar for Rs. 300,” recalls Salim, adding, “I used to sing most of the songs of yesteryear musicians Neil Diamond and James Taylor. In fact, I was nicknamed ‘Neil Diamond’ in school. Hyderabad has been very inspiring and I have even written a song titled ‘Driving on the ORR’ which will hopefully debut this World Music Day.”
Salim believes that playing in a band gives a lot of satisfaction as it makes everyone equal. “Everyone is different, but the challenge is to make everybody sound better as a team. It’s important to get the finer nuances right to touch the heart of a common listener,” he says, adding a word of advice to the younger generation - “Don't ever stop playing. If you play regularly, you will always become better.”
The rhythm guitarist in the band, Venkatesh, happens to be Salim’s classmate. “Although I left music for pursuing higher studies, I finally got back into it in 2007,” says Venkatesh, citing the work of Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones as his inspiration.
“Having seen many gigs worldwide, I feel that the sound production in most spaces offering music in Hyderabad is not very encouraging. Also, the younger generation has many challenges making it difficult to jump full-time into music,” he observes.
