The students of Jus Drums Music school managed two things impressively on Sunday night — keeping the audience rooted to their seats as well as tapping their feet to the rhythm. And if one were to be amazed that the audience was so diverse in its age, the ‘drum’ students weren’t far behind — there was even a person as old as 86!
With an ensemble of roughly 20 students and different drums from around the world, the drummers began with one percussion instrument moving onto a whole orchestra playing different drums like the African Djembe, the Korean buk and so on.
Half an hour into their drums and percussion performance, the show is packed and just a few seats are vacant towards the back. Murali Krishnan and his students, dressed in red tees, began with renditions of Illiayaraja hits like Putham Pudhu Kaalai, Kaatrai Konjam from Neethane yen ponvasantam and Netru Illathe Maatram from Puthiya Mugam, to set the tone for the evening.
The real fun part came when the young drum students showed their prowess at playing along to ad jingles as well — everything from Chota Bheem’s theme song to old classics like washing powder Nirma and Leo’s coffee — brought the audience to life.
After all the music, It was time for Aruna Sairam and Pete Lockett to be invited on the stage by Murali and they presented awards to the students of Jus drums such as the Steve Smith award for most cheerful drummer and few other awards also before handing over the certificates to the students graduating this year from Jus Drums.