His drum kit and conga made out of waste bins and scrap look like colourful devils from fiction. Bangalore-based designer and percussionist Montry Manuel collects junk and discarded material to make eco-friendly percussion instruments. He picks up a waste pipe used in construction work, tapes it on both ends and taps the ends with drumsticks. Boom! A drum set with a wonderful bass sound is ready. The self-crafted plastic didgeridoos are his favourite. At the studio, Manuel starts blowing into a didgeridoo, and dexterously multitasks between the drum set and the wind instrument. The subtle bass grooves resonate in his room full of many such musical instruments made out of junk and waste material. There is no dearth of sounds in Thaalavattam (the circle of rhythm in Malayalam), Manuel’s sound project.
He is as serious about the musicality and the sound of Thaalavattam as about the process of creating the musical instruments. Gongs crafted out of steel drums, chimes made out of discarded metal rods, shakers made with plastic soda bottles are some of the sounds in his percussion paraphernalia. These also help promote his eco-friendly lifestyle through music. Manuel who works at a marketing communication firm crafts these instruments from reused paint boxes, soda cans, PVC pipes and a variety of material collected from a dumping spot near his house a few years ago. “I was thinking of how I could reuse them and make music out of this so-called ‘garbage’. It worked. Each container was different than the other.” Interestingly, the musician was not so much into the idea of ‘reusing, reducing and recycling’, (also the motto of the outfit) until he discovered a cause in and through music. Manuel grew up in Cochin in the late 1970s. “I would listen to bands like Boney M.” He started learning the conga and found “musical fulfilment” in the drums. Manuel now aims at collaborating with different artistes through the project.
He finds the freedom in Thaalavattam where he has performed with artistes playing the trumpet, keyboard, didgeridoo, native American flute and other musical instruments. It’s “adaptable”, he says. “I play at corporate events and conduct workshops on team-building with drum circles,” he adds. The musician also enjoys performing at street jams where he gets the opportunity to interact with music lovers who show interest in his sounds, musical instruments and equipment. He has performed at various events, including the “Cartons to Classroom” initiative in Bangalore, and a concert in Mandi.
“People from the West are really thrilled to see my musical instruments. I feel they are more aware of reusing and recycling products than people in India.” The musician does his bit for the environment in other ways. He is part of various cleaning drives in Bangalore and wants to work with NGOs in the future to reach out to more people in the city. On weekends, you might find him conducting music workshop for children. “Catch the kids young and speak to them through music. They love it. It’s easier to tell them about the environment through music.” Sustaining an environmental cause isn’t easy. “I quit my job. I struggle with money sometimes. People come up to me and tell me what I am doing is awesome. That helps.”
Keep up the tempo, Manuel.