HYDERABAD: Don’t we just love how free and uninhibited we were, as children? We would bang or drum a bucket, table, utensils and everything that was in sight. We often talk about going in time to those days and indulging some of those silly things that made no sense. Making a small part of it comes true is an organisation Rhythm Moves World through the use of percussion instruments. How and why is that interesting you ask — well, they allow not just adults but people of all age groups to go all crazy on their 70+ percussion instruments. Musician or not, you’re welcome to make sense of the noise.
Swapath from Rhythm Moves World started an interesting concept called Drum With Freedom that helps people participate and play any kind of drum with no demand for perfection. The event at Sacred Earth Cafe, Madhapur, saw a great response from Hyderabadis who just drummed away to joy.
Swapath chose easy-to-play instruments that any lay person would be able to play. “There’s no pressure of playing well — this gives you the freedom to express your own rhythm — hence the name ‘Drum With Freedom’. When people who have no idea about the instrument start creating music, it might initially sound chaotic but slowly they get into each other’s rhythm, harmonising it all — you see how we move from chaos to sense? I feel everyone is born a musician — no wonder we created music with spoons, drums and plates. As we grow up, we tend to become sophisticated and shy away from continuing.
The idea here is to bring out that child in you,” says he. Asked about choosing Hyderabad as a venue, the Nashik-based percussionist says, “My mother is from Hyderabad and I had always wanted to come here but the pandemic stole two years of that plan.” Speaking about the ‘wonderful’ experience in the city, he concludes, “This tour was magical and that is evident from the numerous videos that went up on my Instagram. The people, their language and culture are just beautiful.”
Their youngest guest was 6 years old, and had mothers, daughters and fathers who had a great time co-creating music and wanted Swapath to do this again