Call of the drums

Percussion mania

You would have often heard the phrase ‘going back to one’s roots,’ and saying that you would think of wearing khadi, using organic products and walking instead of add­ing to vehicular pollution.

Now think even further. What if you were asked to dump your cell phones for a while, not connect with friends over Facebook, but meet and greet over the sound of congo, djembe and tambourines, ala Africa?

Apparently, in our urban jungle called Delhi-NCR, just such a group called the ‘Gurgaon Drum Circle’ does exist. It has over 1600 members at the moment, who meet every alternate weekend at the Gurgaon bio-diversity park and jam over all sorts of drums.

People from all walks of life come together to play djembes, tambourines, tabla, congo, angclung, guitars or even empty Bisleri bottles. Those who don’t know how to play these instruments, simply sing along, dance or clap. Together, they have a fun musical evening, connect with fellow Gurgaoniites and go back much happier and peaceful.

This unique group was started in mid-2011 by a Gurgaon resident Kapil Syal. Advertising photographer Kapil had already been a part of one such group in Mumbai and decided to replicate the same in Gurgaon as well.

He informs us, “Being an Army kid, I had never stayed in one city for more than two years. However, when I took residence in Gurgaon, 20 years back, I knew that this city would be home for a while and I’ll need to make new friends here.”

“Unfortunately, Gurgaon is a rather closed city. The people you meet routinely are either a part of your housing society, club or office. There are not even many cultural programs to meet your city mates over. That is when the idea of Gurgaon Drum Circle occurred. My experience with the Bombay Strummers – a group which would meet at the Bombay beach regularly to sing, strum the guitar and play drums – obviously helped.”

Kapil further informs that drum circles originated in Africa where tribe members would meet and spiritually connect with each other over drums. Even today, the most popular drum circle is in Africa called ‘Djembe.’ Over time, drum circles have become an international phenomenon with almost every major city in the world today having one.

He says, “Initially, GDC had few members. People were apprehensive as they thought that knowing how to play musical instruments would be essential. But as the word spread that this a rather informal group and that playing drums is just about following the mood and the beats, more and more Gurgaoniites started joining.”

“Today, we have over 1600 members, the youngest of whom is an eight-year-old girl who plays the tabla and the oldest is a 78-year old man who comes all the way from Delhi’s Patel Nagar to play drums for us.”

The biggest benefit, he adds, is that people from all walks of life get to meet each other and connect personally and professionally, “The biggest cause for tensions today is people not knowing each other. When we meet, we understand, suspicions reduce, trust and relationships rise. The fact that GDC is helping the cause is a great source of pleasure to me.”