We are called Tapatam and we are from southern India.
We too are from Chennai and the remaining eight people are from Coimbatore and Tanjavur.
And Tapatam basically is primary folk instruments of Tamil Nadu.
That's the state we are from and it comprises of tapu and that's also something called
Tudambu that's a bigger bass drum which is similar to a kick drum kit and Thavil.
He plays the Thavil, it's a very very loud instrument that's Vinod Kumar, Vinod Kumar
plays the Tudambu, Rajendra plays the Tapatam, Maharimuthu plays the Nadaswaran, Rangaraj
he plays the Tapatam, Rangaraj Thavil, again Rangaraj he plays the Thavil and I am Alap,
I play the electric bass, I am Rob Kumar, I am the Robo, Raj Kumar the Tapatam, that's
Raj Kumar he plays the Tapatam, that's what he's holding, Vignesh Kumar the Tapatam, Vignesh
Kumar the Tapatam, Swaminathan the Tudambu, Swaminathan he plays the Tudambu.
So this is the team and basically we have eight folk musicians and we are the two western
musicians just to complement the team.
They all love what we are doing because for them when they play in their hometown it is
always what they do, it is just that, they don't fuse it with any other element of music
but here they are aware of the fact that we fuse the western element with the folk element
and they absolutely love it.
EarthSync is an organization based out of Chennai and Sonia Mazumda special thanks to
her and the India Earth exchange program because it's their idea, they are the brainchild
for this concept.
It is just to add color basically see it's when we talk about fusion music it's a very
global genre that everybody is aware of where you mix two, three genres together in this
case it's a South Indian folk especially Tamil Nadu folk and just to add some color
you know just to spice things up they are adding the drum and the bass, bass just to
bridge the Mavaswaram that's the reason we have an Indian percussion element with western
percussion element with a western harmony element so it is just to fuse everything together
and make it sound interesting.
It was their idea to bring folk musicians out of their homeland come to the limelight
in a place like Chennai where it is a congregation of many genres from film music to fusion
music to jazz and all that so it was their idea to bring these kind of musicians and
collaborate with modern musicians like western musicians or karnatic musicians as we call
it you know.
So a lot of they have been playing like this for the past 7-8 years they initially started
with a project called the Laya project they have extensively toured the world with a lot
of other musicians you know so when they play their native instrumentation it is just not
that as we just spoke some time back and they also fuse other elements of music along with
that be it drums or electric bass or tabla or mrdangam and things like that so these
are all Indian percussion elements you know so they have been doing that for the past
7-8 years but it is always with guest musicians you know see it is my first time with these
guys Ram Kumar who is playing the drums he has played with them before but between them
they have been playing for a long long long time so every gig it is a new initiative you
know to bring in a new sound so it is basically a collaborative effort you know it is a communicative
thing that is happening on stage.
We do meet before not just we just jam on the stage and when we travel we get to know
each other that is more important and the off stage relation is very important to translate
what is happening on stage it is just not you know we catch up we look at the sheet
of music and we play it is not that kind of music at all.
Since the primary element of the show is rhythm we have to sort of get their idea and perception
of how they want to do it and they just do not play they also dance and play so they
are a very unique kind of instrumentalist with very very very special abilities you
know because as Ram said it is a package they enjoy what they have it is just not playing
but they also have this body language and all that so they have a lot of things lined
up you know especially music festivals but in the native place they do a lot of their
own shows they are very well known musicians in their native place they actually dance
and play they have a rhythm to the body they just do not stand static and they are more
of an act than just a pure musician you know it is good to not just listen to them but
also watch them it is a visual treat for anybody who is watching them because they
groove to their own music and that is about music you should enjoy your music first that
is when it is going to reach the others who are actually listening to it and witnessing
the act so that way these guys are phenomenal so that is what they do.
I think the biggest blessing that we all have is the word music and to be able to travel
the world and meet people like you and to be part of different culture I think it is
a great thing and because music is not something that is going to be confined to one place
all of us believe in travelling a lot and all of us believe in meeting a lot of people
because of all those things reflect on our music and of the people.
Thank you very much.
