The new noisemakers

At his humble home somewhere in preIlaiyaraaja South India a young percussionist picked up an empty clay pot Usually filled with the familyrsquos drinking water or buttermilk today the earthen vessel would find a new destiny Fifty six year old S Jayachandran cannot imagine what may have prompted his father to seal the lid of that pot and start taptapping on it but this much he knows his father Singaram invented the Gadasingari a Gadam or drum which therefore came to be suffixed with the inventorrsquos name During veteran dancer Daksha Shethrsquos recent performance at NCPA for which her son Tao crafted drums that could be lit fromu00a0the inside and whose sound varied according to the playerrsquos choice of sticks u00a0Pic Courtesyu00a0David De Souzau00a0 ldquoIt has a completely unique soundrdquo Jayachandran tells us sharing that the instrument has since been amply used in musical compositions for Southern films ldquoeven in songs composed by the famed film music composer Ilaiyaraaja with whom my father worked on many occasionsrdquo A chip off the old block Jayachandran too nurtures a passion for percussion Canadian Nadaka who made Auroville his home three decades ago has created an instrument which can be held like the guitar and sounds like the sitar Four years of crafting and designing after decades of conceptualising was what went into the creation of the lsquoGeettaarrsquo which allows Nadaka to play his pet instrument the guitar yet enjoy creating the innately Indian svar of a sarod or sitar Explaining that he plays 50 percussion instruments and like his father mainly contributes his efforts to film music Jayachandran tells us ldquoThough Irsquod like to I donrsquot have enough time to pass the skill down to others so I have created DVDs in association with Geethanjali a Chennaibased company so that anyone whorsquod like to learn how to play unique Indian instruments such as the one my father fashioned or traditional and folk instruments such as Nagara Udukai Dhukki Tarang Jamuku Pambai Dhup may be able to do so at their conveniencerdquo Beat it These DVDs are available online and even at local music store Rhythm House we found so enthusiasts can learn how to play up to three such instruments by shelling out a reasonable Rs 350 Goaborn FrenchAmerican Neptune Chapotin is the organiser of the World Harp Festival on February 7 and 8 at Arambol Goa He visits remote areas of Rajasthan to place large orders with the makers of traditional mouth harps which he then distributes to buyers around the world Pic CourtesyMiriam Groener In Mumbai in the meantime percussionist Taufiq Qureshi son of legendary tabla player Ustad Alla Rakha is also doing his part to drum up enthusiasm for percussion instruments Not only does he teach music enthusiasts how to play the tabla but also teaches them how to interpret Indian rhythm and sound on the Arabian goblet drum or Darbuka and its close cousin the African Djembe Aanchal Gupta of Arts in Motion the Sionbased studio that hosts Qureshirsquos classes says ldquoInitially people familiar with these instruments signed up to perfect their skill now however a lot of people have taken it up as a hobby We even have children signing up for classesrdquo The response says Gupta has been so encouraging that the studio plans to focus on developing its music division in 2013 So while most of Mumbai is now familiar with the Darbuka and Djembe and the rest of the city is keen to get acquainted with them native instruments such as the Morchang mouth harp Khartal clapper and Bhapang a sort of drum have receded to the background So when we hear that Shahid Datawala head of design at premium furniture store Pallate plays the Morchang our curiosity is piqued Wersquore keen to trace the root of his fascination for the traditional wind instrument sometimes referred to as the Jewrsquos harp Shahid Datawala head of design at premium furniture store Pallate is learning to play the Morchang mouth harp A return to tradition Not surprisingly it was a foreigner mdash possibly as intrigued with Indian musical instruments as Indian musicians are with foreign ones mdash who first introduced a very young Datawala to the instrument thatrsquos an integral element of Carnatic music ldquoMust have been around rsquo92 or rsquo94rdquo estimates the furniture designer flipping through his mental diary ldquoI was in my twenties and I was holidaying with friends in Goa when a friend invited this Swiss gentleman over for dinner He used to play the Morchang and I was fascinated by the sound so I asked if I could learn how to use it He taught me a few basic techniques and lent me his Morchang for a few days so I may practice At the end of that period I had to return the instrument of course but a couple of months later when I was back home I received a package from him with three different varieties of mouth harps from Hungaryrdquo Thatrsquos how Datawalarsquos hobby blossomed but says he ldquoNo one really knows where the instrument originates mdash itrsquos played all over the world really and while it has a key role in Carnatic and Rajasthani music itrsquos also frequently used in Assamese musicrdquo Almost every part of the world in fact boasts some variation of the mouth harp and while Datawala has a little collection of these Goaborn FrenchAmerican 28 year old Neptune Chapotin has a collection thatrsquos large enough to form a small exhibition Describing himself as ldquoa man who does many thingsrdquo Chapotin takes us through his photographs showing us stalls he set up at various locations as he travelled around India ldquoto show off my mouth harp collection and also to teach anyone who wanted to learn how to use the instrumentrdquo You can play too The organiser of the World Harp Festival which he has scheduled for February 7 and 8 this year in Arambol Goa Chapotin even visits remote areas of Rajasthan placing large orders with the makers of traditional mouth harps which he then distributes to buyers around the world While his photographs give away his own affliction mdash life in Goa has clearly not immunised him against that stereotypical foreigner fascination for cattle and large moustaches mdash they also reveal the wonderful bond he shares with these artisans On one of his trips Chapotin tells us when a late delivery meant hastened packing and a quick sprint to hop on the train a la Bollywood he was sitting in the cabin and preparing the packages hersquod mail to clients when this sariclad lady asked him if she might give the harp a go ldquoI taught her to play a littlerdquo Chapotin recalls with a merry glint in his eye ldquoOf course she didnrsquot master it but she did enjoy itrdquo Thatrsquos the thing with music one imagines mdash it awakens that curious child within Thatrsquos probably why watching his friends a bunch of Delhibased musicians play the Bhapang about a decade ago once again inspired Datawala to experiment ldquoOnce I broke that drum though I just stopped playingrdquo he admits Right now hersquos more interested in the Khartal a clapper commonly used in folk music ldquoI want to learn how to play thatrdquo he tells us ldquojust to see what sort of music one can create with itrdquo Others are similarly curious about the Ukulele typically priced onwards from Rs 1400 and the Mandolin about Rs 4400 says Santosh Vora of Furtados at Dhobi Talao telling us about a spurt in the demand for these ldquoWe donrsquot teach these in our music classesrdquo admits the showroom manager ldquobut theyrsquore fairly easy to learn and so we do stock chord books and instruction books for these Most people find thatrsquos all they needrdquo Find your own sound While amateurs may be satisfied thus professional musicians rarely tire of experiments that may enrich their musical lexis Veteran dancer Daksha Sheth who performed at the NCPA just weeks ago understands this all too well For the past 25 years her husband Davissro has been crafting and creating musical instruments which serve as impressive props for her performance and also create an entirely unique sound ldquoYet now the performance generates much more interest than ever beforerdquo she tells us Offering us a glimpse of how it works Sheth explains ldquoIn a production that centred on Vedic chanting we wanted sounds that would endorse the theme so we used conches and while that may sound simple enough each conch has a different svar so it took us almost a full year just to put the right assortment together so as to hit the perfect notesrdquo On another occasion the family experimented with different bamboo shapes striking these with mallets to create a sound that would match the theme of the dance performance ldquoWe didnrsquot use bamboo to fashion wind instruments as may have been expectedrdquo Sheth points out For the recent Mumbai show though Shethrsquos son Tao had crafted drums that could be lit from the inside and whose sound varied according to the playerrsquos choice of sticks ldquoWersquore still experimentingrdquo offers Keralabased Sheth explaining that itrsquos a continuous process thatrsquos fuelled ldquoby our passion and love for musicrdquo Change is constant It was necessity that led Canadaborn Nadaka who made Auroville his home almost three decades ago to create an instrument which can be held like the guitar yet which sounds like the sitar Four years of crafting and designing after decades of conceptualising was what went into the creation of the instrument which allows Nadaka to stay in his comfort zone mdash the guitar being his pet instrument mdash yet enjoy creating the innately Indian svar of a Sarod or Sitar ldquoAlthough Irsquom a westerner Irsquove always nurtured a passion for Indian musicrdquo says Nadaka Modifying instruments in Nadakarsquos view ldquois only naturalrdquo He believes ldquoEvery individual is different and as people get more and more involved with their own discipline theyrsquore bound to start looking for ways to modify their tools so as to best express themselvesrdquo In fact Nadaka says it would be hard to find any musical instrument that hasnrsquot been transformed thus over the years ldquoThe Sitar as we know it today is completely transformed the Sarod didnrsquot have steel strings before the 20s These experiments often born of necessity and sometimes inspired by an artistrsquos curiosity will persistrdquo Nadaka says Mumbai watched wideeyed as British singersong writer Imogen Heap conjured her ldquomagicrdquo with the data gloves she invented as she performed at Blue Frog in November 2011 Will we see anything to top that this year It seems entirely possibleu00a0 The sound of music mdashu00a0in an egg whisk For France resident Freacutedeacuteric Bevilacqua and his colleagues the process of experimenting has only just begun Winners of the 2011 Georgia Tech Margaret Guthman Musical Instrument Competition Bevilacqua was part of a team that has created the yettobelaunchedcommercially MO an ensemble of hardware and software modules that makes it possible for anyone to invent a unique digital musical instrument or at least as the Interlude Project team puts it ldquoAlthough electronic music has made the manipulation of sound and rhythm ubiquitous the interaction between physical movement and sonic elements remains mostly untapped MO musical objects respond to physical gestures with aural feedback The bowtie shaped central module contains motion sensors other parts can be linked to everyday objects or musical instruments allowing users to configure an orchestra out of any objects they likerdquo In other words your eggbeater hairbrush or pretty much anything you can gesture with can be used to create your own absolutely individual sound MO wasnrsquot built in a day of course and just briefly touching upon the labour that went into it Bevilacqua shares ldquoWe have been pursuing research for several years on how to use gesture and motion to control digital sound and music instead of using standard lsquopianolikersquo digital interface Several concepts and ideas emerged from sustained collaborations with artistsrdquou00a0